Our First Christmas!

We just had our first Christmas in our new house.  It has been a wonderful home to entertain in, to have our kiddos stay with us, and to "make memories" in!  We are loving it.   We even got a bit of rain, so we now have alittle water in the lake behind us.  We had so much fun decorating for Christmas and putting things out that we have had in storage for years.  It has been so beautiful!  Here are a few pics...

Making It a Home!.....

Well, we have been living in our new house for a couple of weeks now.  It is wonderful!  We are getting used to the new feel, the new sounds, and the new pathways thru the house.  We absolutely love it here.  The only thing better would be to look out of the back door and see lake.  The water is pretty much gone from the lake behind our house.  It is so sad...hopefully, it will fill up soon!  We have spent the last few weeks moving furniture and dressing up the house with "pretties" and such.  We haven't hung any pics on the walls or done any window treatments.  We are working every evening pretty late trying to get things out of boxes that have been in storage for 2 years.  It is quite an ordeal, but we are finally feeling like we are making progress.  We have a Sunday School party scheduled here in a couple of weeks and are expecting at least 25 people, so we working as fast as possible to get things put away.  Here are a few pics of our progress.  I will try to post a few in a week or two as we make more progress!

The greatroom and my piano...just moved it a few days ago...

We haven't put shutters or such on the large clawfoot tub window...so we applied a window film temporarily until we decide how to make the window more "private"......looks like stained glass...

Our wonderful walk-in pantry!....

Starting the Transition....

Well, the guys didn't show again today to finish cleaning the windows, so I am assuming that we will have to finish the "clean up".  We did quite a bit of cleaning on Friday.  Some of our furniture was delivered.  The window guy is supposed to be here tomorrow to repair the 2 windows that aren't working properly.  We won't move in until we have our post construction "closing" with the bank and builder on Thursday.  Until then, we will start transitioning to the house.  We are taking things over there bit by bit, but the real "moving" will have to be after Thursday.  So...with that being said...the house is pretty much finished...so there is really nothing to "blog" concerning the construction of the house.  It has been quite an experience...one I hope we will never have to do again.  It was exciting, frustrating, and emotionally draining.  It was exciting and fun to make creative choices and have them build what we want, but it was also overwhelming!  I think that we did a pretty good job "keeping it together" considering the whole ordeal.  And, we are happy with our creative choices.  The house is absolutely beautiful...it was all worth it!  The contractor and crew did a great job and I would highly recommend them.  There were issues that came up, but they always handled them promptly and tried to satisfy our needs and get things corrected.   I won't be blogging daily now that the house is finished.  I need to spend my "after work hours" getting moved into the house...I will post pics every few days as I get the house furnished and decorated....Thanks for sharing our "house building" experience with us!  Can't wait for all to see our "Oak Haven Dreamhouse"!

A Quiet Day....

No one showed up here today.  We thought they would be back to finish cleaning the stickers and goop off of the windows but no one showed.  So we don't know if we will be responsible for finishing that part of it, or if they will come Monday to complete things.  Michael and I spent the day cleaning at the house.  We cleaned dirt, drywall dust, sawdust, goop, and other things from the floor, cabinets, drawers, etc.   The window guy will be here on Tuesday to repair the 2 windows.  Other than that, I believe they are finished!   We should have our official "closing" next Thursday.  Then, they will hand us the keys!  Then...the work really begins!  We plan to have an "open house" after we get some things moved in and settled.  Can't wait for everyone to see it!!!!

Getting Close.....

They are sooo close to being finished with the house that I can't stand it!  I am ready to move in!  They came out today and cleaned windows, picked up around the yard, took care of some of our concerns, and checked things off of our "to do" list.  We still have a couple of windows that aren't working properly so we are waiting on the window guy to repair them.  The wood floor is looking so beautiful now that they have pulled up the protective paper from around the rooms.  Everything is so beautiful!  We are so blessed...I get so teary-eyed walking around the house and admiring it's beauty...we will certainly make many, many memories in this wonderful home!....

This and That...The "Other" is Done!

Things are winding down out here...Yea!  The guys were back today to install the appliances, finish the stone fireplace hearth, clean a bit, finish some trim work, etc.  They are getting things completed step by step.  There are now just a couple of things that need taking care of.  We have a couple of windows that aren't working properly and we have some caulking that needs to be completed in a bathroom.  The electricians need to come back one more time and re-wire our porch fan and light.  Other than that....I think things are getting close to finished!  They are coming back tomorrow to clean and pick up around the yard, etc.  We are loving our appliances.  It will be so nice to have a washer and dryer in the house and not have to walk to the shop to do the laundry (which Michael does).  Our new dryer even has a screen that says "Welcome"!  Oh my!  That is pretty fancy!

This, That, and the Other...Part 5

The painters finished their last minute touch-ups today.  They are done.  We did find a couple of things that they didn't get done...but I guess it's too late now?  The guys finished the screened porch today.  It looks really good.  Can't wait to spend some time there, watching the lake dry up!  The guys still have a few things to do to finish up, but it's almost done!  Can't wait to get over there and spread out again....