IN BLOOM

I can't believe how long it has been since I've written anything here! I used to be so faithful, I guess life got busy.

PROGRESS

Well it didn't take long for the real transformation to begin! When I came home on Thursday I was greeted with what you see below. Is it sad to say I think our poor naked house looks better than what we had? Needless to say I was pretty speechless on Thursday.

But today. Wow today is even more exciting! We really can see the look we envisioned taking shape and we are in love! As you can see we've got the darker shakes above the windows upstairs and lots of pretty white trim going on. Essentially the front and east sides are done with siding and there is only a little on the other two sides to go.

Come Monday we will start to see our stone go up and hopefully by Tuesday I can show you some complete before and after photos. This has been such a gratifying project. Stressful yes, but I can't wait to pull up to our "new" house next week!

IT'S HERE!

Ok, I say it all the time but how do I manage to blow off an entire month and not put a post up?! FAIL. So let's play a little catch up.

Winter has stunk. I, like everyone else am sick of cold weather, dry skin and being the color of skim milk. I just want it to warm up! Because the weather has been so crummy we have been super lazy and it's been pretty shameful. However, there is some big news here and we are so giddy. Work has begun on the exterior!!!!

Let's take a peek at where we were .....

This week we've had a new roof put on and new windows put in and the change is already so crazy amazing, I just want to jump for joy! It's hard to see in the photo below, but the roof is a fresh new black color and there are new vinyl double-hung windows in place. You will also notice we decided to remove the 1/2 round window. There were so many reasons I loathed that window. 1. There are no simple clean lined window coverings available for an arch window. 2. Because of this light streams in our bedroom from streetlights and the sun at the crack of dawn in the summer. 3. It iced over this winter ... on the inside. So yeah, we decided to let her go and not look back. Even our contractor agreed it was a good move since a replacement window would cost upwards of $2k.

Tomorrow the siding starts and the real change will begin. By this time next week we will have a new house on the outside. We also ordered a new front door and some exterior lights this week. Here's what will be on either side of our garage door as well as outside the patio door.

And this is the style of front door we went with to match what we have done inside. I still haven't decided on what color to paint the outside of it yet. Yellow, green, navy blue or red? I will have to mock up some different options to see what we are loving.

 It has been a long year of saving and saving and saving for this project, but we know taking care of it now is the best move for us and we will be able to enjoy it for at least the next decade.

2 Weeks!

Some good news came to Hawthorn Drive last week, actually some GREAT news! 2 weeks from today I will be starting a new job in the marketing department of a large credit union here in the metro and I am so, so, SO excited! I will be a business development specialist and it will be a creative sales position so it will merge my two biggest passions into one job, that I will hopefully deem a career. Murph and I have been praying for months that a position like this would open up and that I would be a good fit, and I am confident this is where I am supposed to be. It took two interviews and a box of warm cookies but I got it. Woot woot! Celebrations have already commenced and I have been the lucky recipient of some amazing office goodies that I just can't wait to use. I also spoiled myself a bit and picked up a new Naked2 eye shadow palette and a Clarisonic.

My last day at my current gig will be on a Wednesday so I will also make sure to enjoy 2 days to myself before the transition begins. Fingers crossed all goes well, and thank God for answered prayers!

QUICK UPGRADE

Two new lights went in this weekend at Hawthorn Drive as well as a new ceiling fan. One ceiling fan to go, one closet light fixture and possibly another new fixture in the laundry room (not loving the $15 fix we did in there) and we will be calling it a wrap in the lighting department! I can't believe we've got them almost all changed out! We went from a pair of mismatched brushed nickel fixtures to some ORB beauties that match the other fixtures in the house. Do you know how hard it is to find a flush-mounted ceiling fixture that does not look like a boob light? I'll tell you nearly impossible. Thankfully after some hard work I found two non-offensive fixtures at Lowe's for only $49 a pop, that's a steal in my book!

These old guys made my eyes bleed

Much better .... now about the oak EVERYWHERE!

We are also almost done with the great outlet / switchplate change out with only our bedroom to go and a switch in the laundry as well. For me it's the little things like fresh white switches and covers that make me breathe easier when remodeling this 90's gem we live in. 

What else is on tap in the reno department this year? We've been talking about painting our 2nd guest room and our bedroom, then every room and ceiling will have a fresh coat on it. I've also got plans to get some furniture repainted and some photos up on our walls!

PROMOTED!

Now that it's official I can officially announce it here. Murph got a promotion! If you asked me what he does I would have a hard time explaining it though :) You see he's a computer programmer, which means he is insanely logical in his thinking processes, whereas this girl ... not so much. What I can accurately report on is that he works in the claims area at a large insurance company here in the metro and has been there since he graduated college. While we were on vacation in October I received a call from his boss on my phone, which was odd, and when Murph called him back I watched his jaw drop as they talked. He told me he had the opportunity to take a promotion, and after some conversation he took the leap! Then we waited, and waited, and waited .... two months later he was finally able to transition into his new role as a Lead Application Systems Analyst. Congrats Murph, I am so insanely proud of you!