It's official!

The house is for sale. Have a look at the listing here. I hate for anything to be drawn out once I've made up my mind, so I'm hoping it sells soon and I don't have to deal with the suspense.

So close...

Yes, these are the cabinets. They were hand-made by Tim, from mahogany. I've learned I really like this wood; it has a beautiful "glow" to it. Now we just have some tile to lay and we are DONE!!!

Goody and Misha napping on the couch. This couch really is comfy. I slept on it a lot when I was pregnant.

Roo really want this duck that Goody is holding. It has a squeaky inside it, which makes Goody crack up, but kills Rupert. He loves to get the squeaky!

I'm back!

Well, I've actually been back online since last week, but this morning, Goody decided to stay in bed after I got up! I thought I'd use that rare opportunity for a quick post.

I had hoped when I left that my first entry would be titled, "The House is Finally Done!" Unfortunately, it is still under construction, although we are down to a manageable list: the master bath needs the remaining half of its tile installed; the kitchen cabinets need to be built and installed; and the landscaping completed. Whew. We are so close. The house is awesome. Tim ran into a realtor at the grocery store who said he could have a buyer for it in a day, even though Tim told him we would ask $450K for it. The realtor didn't bat an eye. Of course, that's really made us consider selling...wouldn't you!?

Check this out...

Before:

After:

I hadn't realized that I don't really have a total "After" shot. The porch is not totally finished here and there's still a ladder on the house. Check back to this post in a couple of days to see the real finished front. The screen door is so cool.

I'm sure you've all seen this photo of Goody by now, but it's my most recent favorite so I have to include it. She really does enjoy looking at books. Even at 12 weeks, which she is in this photo, she looks at the pictures very intently, and has started touching some of the images. I need to get her a touch-and-feel board book.

I really, really hate going to Walmart anymore. I prefer Target or Fred Meyer, but I have to admit that the Walmart photo center is cool. You can upload your photos there for friends and family to print or view. Much easier that trying to email 50 pictures. If you are not on my account and would like to view my photos, reply to this post and I will add you.

Now we have a front door!

I always hated the front door that came with our house. This one is awesome. We orginally wanted for Tim to build a giant door with 2 sidelights, but time contraints forced us to look for a ready-made one. We found this set at 2 different liquidation stores, oddly enough. It is the same style door we would have built ourselves, with the added bonus of a nice stained glass insert, which I doubt we would've been able to afford. Anyway, the door and sidelight were at the liquidation stores because they had been milled too short. So Tim just bought some more mahogany (did I mention the door is mahogany?) and added some to the bottom. Viola! We now have a door tall enough for Tim to use without hitting his head!

I took a detail photo of the stained glass but it came out blurry. I may try again soon, but for now, it's a lotus branch the starts in the sidelight and carries over in the the door. Probably not the exact colors we would've chosen, but it does look nice. Click on the photo to bring up a larger version that will allow you to see the branch. Basically, thanks to Tim's excellent woodworking skills, we ended up with a door that would've cost thousands of dollars for about 400. I can't wait until the rest of the house is done! The siding is complete, and today Tim is putting the cedar shakes in the eaves. It is really coming together and will be such a nice house when we are done.

Progress on the house

This is the back view of the house. Note the position of the laundry room door. It is in the same spot, so you can see the house is much wider than before. And the French doors open into the dining room. In fact, if you open the french doors, it will create a breezeway through the entire first floor, directly across to the front door. We really like that idea, sort of homage to old Mississippi architecture. Plus, not a bad feature as most houses here, including this one, do not have air conditioning.

To the left of the new back porch, you can see a new, small window. That is the window over the jetted tub in the new master bathroom. I can't wait!

By the way, the siding is not going to stay that color, although really it doesn't look so bad. Tim wants it to be an olive green, while I think that is too dark and "army colors" with the brown trim. I'm totally down for green, just a lighter shade like celery or sage. I also like the idea of federal blue. We're going to have to discuss it a little more.

Soon, the siding will be done around the front of the house. I'll post more pictures then. I have some photos of the inside of the house, but they are a little scary to post, knowing that the house is supposed to be done by the end of April (was December, then February, then March).