...That Deeeelux Apartment in the Sky-yyyyyy

For the last 8 years we were living in a shoebox.  That's not true.  It only became a shoebox when we added L to our family.  While it worked for awhile, we were just outgrowing the space.  H and L can't share a room forever.  When we bought our 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath home more than 8 years ago, we had NO intentions of staying in it for more than 5 years or so.  The best laid plans...

After an incredible amount of searching:  soul-searching, financial planning/saving, and a great real estate hunt, we finally found our house - at nearly twice the size of our first home.  A real forever home in a community we always dreamed of living in - with incredible schools, great restaurants in walking distance, and an adorable neighborhood.  

And so we packed and packed and packed.  And by we, I mean B, my mom, Amee, H and I tried to pack faster than L could destroy our efforts.  On July 11th, we signed our names a million times and got our keys.  

Now I will post an absurd amount of "before" pictures.  Most of these were taken on day 1 - the house is empty and my mom and I started cleaning right away.  Our new home is going to be a work in progress for quite some time.  But we couldn't be happier here.  At least finishing rooms will give me something to blog about?

Our first photo!
I can't wait to have a Christmas Tree in that bay window.
And we could use a little landscaping.

The upstairs bathroom
Pink and burgundy were apparently all the rage in the 40s

Upstairs bath 

View from the master into the hall
2 linen closets
I'm in love with all the doorknobs

H's lovely closet doors
These beauties can also be found in L's room and the family room
Must go

Because there are 4x as many cabinets in our kitchen, my mom brought me my grandma's crystal
I just like to open this cabinet and dream of the fancy dinners I probably will never host

L checking out the grapevines and planters on the patio

I put L's bed together all by myself
Well, my mom helped a little

Spice Rack

Dining room chandelier that I hated.  But now I LOVE.
It's a keeper

View from the kitchen into the dining room.  Family room is on the right.

L's bedroom - before

Lovely fixtures found in H and L's rooms.
Must go.

Move in day.  These are all toys.  Can you say garage sale?

My dad's first meal in our house

After one of many dinners on our new patio/back porch
L checking my progress with pride

Before rugs - these kids make the mess, they might as well clean it up, too!

Bike injury caused by endless riding up and down the driveway
We have a driveway!  Unfortunately for H, it ends in a garage door.

Sweet dreams in her big girl bed.
Within one week, we moved, she no longer is in a crib, and the paci-fairy came and took her pacifiers.
Big Girl, indeed.

Play time in the formerly formal living room
Now it's a formal playroom

Quite possibly the perfect top shelf

Selfie on the new family room rug
I guess it's comfier than the kitchen floor?

View from family room through dining room to the living room
All three rugs are finally down!

Worn out kiddos
Why?  Why is she always topless?

So that's it.  For now.  I'm dying to get some paint on these walls, but everything must happen in time.  First the basement must be waterproofed - so the toys can move downstairs - and the storage stuff can be organized.  It's just so hard to be patient!!!