THE House Post

So here is the house blog posting that many of you have been waiting for. There are MANY pictures to look at as I felt like I had to include the before and afters. There are not pictures of the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Those rooms are not changed too much or finished at this point. Other than that here is the tour and timeline...ENJOY.

March 8 - Close 1007 Nana is OURS

House Wine gift from Tom's mom and our cheers to our new home.

The outside of the house in March - check out the grass and trees

The outside of the house on April 7

March 8- the painting begins

The basement - This is the view from the other half.

This is half the size plus a laundry room and full bathroom.

Our new sectional - the first big purchase we made

The back deck after we stained it and added our new patio furniture

Before: Breakfast Room

After: Breakfast Room

After: Breakfast Room

Before: Dining Room (All the wood floors were refinished)

After: Dining Room

Before: Kitchen

Before: Kitchen

Before: Kitchen

Kitchen work

Kitchen overhaul

Installing countertops

After: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Before: Living Room

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room - Shelves and Mantle built by bro in law

After: Living Room

After: Living Room

These are the biggest changes we have made to our home. Lots of decorating still to take place but we are comfortable and happy for now. We have been so blessed to have received tons of help from family and friends and love our new place. Thanks for all of your well wishes! Please come visit soon :)

Open House

Today is one month since we closed on our first home! I would be lying if I said it hasn't been just a bit chaotic :) We closed March 8th and after a day of painting I left town on March 9th. The following week our floors were refinished, a mantle and shelves were built, and Tom and company continued to paint. I was very anxious to return home on March 16th and check out all the progress. It looked incredible. March 17th we moved everything in finishing just minutes before a huge storm hit. Since that day we have been busy painting, installing cabinets, decorating, buying more furniture and trying to get the yard in order. We planned for a May open house but decided at the last minute that we would have people over this weekend instead. House photos will be on the next entry. For now, here are some pictures of family and friends gathered for an absolutely perfect evening at our new home.

Tom and I - first mantle pic before guests arrived

A little spread of food including a "M" pretzel from the pretzel shop on the corner

and cookies from the bakery. Our local favorites :)

Gathered in the sunny dining area

The kids had so much fun running around and playing in the back yard

Joe sang and walked around the deck...

much safer than the 20 times he almost walked OFF the deck

sisters (an in laws), mom (and in law) SO FUN!

A good night for kids ends in the bath tub!

We had such a wonderful time having our family and friends over. We cannot wait for many more gatherings.

chaos

A little over a year ago Tom moved into a lovely apartment close to downtown Kirkwood. That was the best perk of his new place. We enjoyed many evenings of walking to downtown Kirkwood for dinner and drinks. However, as the year progressed the other tenant in the building became kind of a pain. There are far too many stories to share so in short I will simply say she made the place hard to endure. By the time December came around it was hard to envision a whole extra year in that location so he signed a month to month lease and the search for a new living arrangement began. I narrowed the search to mostly duplex and houses and eventually came across a lease to own. It was a cute house in a cute area so I told Tom we should look into it. Heather was in town and it was Super Bowl weekend, but Saturday afternoon we looked at the house. We loved it. Sunday we went back and looked with my parents. It was a cute house but the asking price was simply too high. Also, lease to own means additional dollars each month.

SO...the wheels started turning. Could we buy? That night during the Super Bowl we filled out a loan application. We decided we would see if it was even possible. We also searched houses in our price range in Des Peres, Kirkwood, and Glendale. The next morning I decided we should contact a real estate agent. By 4:00 Monday afternoon we were walking through two houses we found online. Tuesday during lunch we walked through three more houses. I didn't like the first house we walked through on Monday but Tom raved about it, so I decided it deserved a second look. Our agent agreed to walk through that house with us one more time. I loved it.

Tuesday night we talked and decided we really wanted to see what my dad thought of the house and if it went well we would make an offer. We let our agent (who was leaving town the next morning) know on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning she connected us with a different agent to take us through Wednesday at 4:00. Everyone loved the house! So, we made an offer. We walked through our first house on Monday at 4:00 and made an offer by Wednesday at 5:30. The whole time we were asking ourselves if we were crazy. But, everything worked out. We couldn't be happier. It's a great house in a great area for the right price. Close is a week from tomorrow, March 8th, and then that baby is ours!

Our house with the Under Contract sign

The move has been interesting to say the least. Renting a POD was Tom's best idea ever. The POD arrived Saturday, we filled it Sunday, and it was moved to the house on Tuesday. Awesome. So easy. All the stuff is now in our driveway waiting for us for two weeks and homelessness isn't too bad.

TJ was such a huge help.

He and Tom worked VERY hard filling the POD just right!

Sharon and Terry supervising!

YAY! On the way to being Homeowners.

Sitting at Geyer and Manchester...there goes our POD

The POD is delivered and waiting...one week and this baby is ours :)

Although it was difficult at times I should say,

"Thank you, Carolyn, for pushing us into home ownership!"

Life is Crazy...More to Come Soon

It's been a bit since I have had a chance to blog. It is not because life has been boring or mundane or lacking any news. A LOT has been going on. Here's a rundown:

* Last week was terrible- speeding ticket, team drama, honeymoon reservation issues...ugh. It was bad. I was over it. I needed a vacation.

*Wednesday night I had a great dinner and glass of wine with a friend. It was exactly what I needed

*Thursday Heather came into town and it couldn't have been a more timely visit. We laughed, cried and just enjoyed having time together. It was so great having her here. Sunday, she was gone and it was back to the grind.

*This week has been a whirlwind. Not quite ready to report the happenings of the week, but I will soon.

All in all I have just been too busy and exhausted and mentally drained to blog. I'll get back at it soon .

-Katie

My Favorite Gift

I haven't posted in a couple weeks because life has just been normal. I have been working and and cooking and hanging out and enjoying a not too crazy St. Louis winter. I have enjoyed all of those things. Lacrosse started this past week. It's nice to be back on a more strict schedule and be back in the gym with the girls. I have been quite impressed by them in these first couple of days. Everything is pretty normal. Not ho hum, but normal. This past weekend was wonderful and relaxing. Friday was a night in watching a movie. Saturday morning I ate my dad's famous french toast and hung with a couple siblings and their kids. Pretty laid back and fun. Saturday during the day I hung out with these guys....

Claire and Dane showing off their Valentines they picked out

And Relaxing in the cart together

Saturday night we went to dinner and hung out with Tom's family. Today was spent sitting on the couch watching football. What a wonderful weekend of family time and relaxation. As I was considering finally blogging after a week hiatus I remembered I never blogged about my favorite gift I GAVE this year for Christmas. I love to give unique gifts. I spent a ton of time creating this little gem for my four youngest nieces and nephews. I stole the idea from Jodie Allen at Fresh Art Photography. When I saw her alphabet book on her blog I knew I had to do it for my young nieces and nephews. They absolutely adore each other and I knew they would love a book full of pictures of their favorite people and things. Here are some of the pages... An alphabet book with family pictures.

I LOVE the drool pic

and the kiss pic

and the scared pic :) All awesome expressions from this little guy.

All four of them yawning

And sleeping.

This was such a fun gift to create. I took, gathered and organized pictures. Then, I categorized them on my computer. Threw some out. Took some more pictures. Created the pages. Added the words. And had it printed. I love how it turned out.