Getting Settled

Wow! A lot has happened since I last posted to our blog! I'm happy to say we have been living in the house for over a month now and it has been awesome! Here is what has happened in the last month and a half:

Moving in! ... it started with just the basics, but now we are getting more settled. :) Of course as you can see, most of our rooms are still in need of rugs, pictures, etc.

Ralph checking out his new home! He thinks the stairs are his own personal jungle gym. :)

The view down from the loft ...

Our laundry room! Woohoo! It's funny the things I have gotten most excited about - like having my own washer and dryer!

Below that, you can see that Emily's room is starting to look really cute!

This last weekend, in preparation for what looked like a really cold forcast, Gage got up on the roof to install the chimney (despite 50 mph winds!) It was quite the ordeal, but we got it done! Just in time, too - the weather turned cold on Sunday and turned really cold yesterday - 8 degrees with a wind chill of negative 9 degrees! I don't think our poor little furnace could have kept up!

Amazingly, once we got a fire roaring, we haven't had to turn our furnace back on. In fact it is downright HOT in the living room and loft. We may have to open the windows. :)

After letting the fire die down last night, and leaving the furnace off, it was still 72 degrees in our bedroom this morning - 12 degrees outside! Looks like we won't be using our furnace much any more. We don't have our radiant heat floor hooked up yet - our pump was backordered - but once it is hooked up, we should be able to keep the fire low and have a more stable temp. Otherwise, I may have to start wearing shorts around the house!

Now with the stove in, last projects include: finishing the stonework behind the wood stove, installing interior doors (!) and finishing my kitchen counter!

Here is our cute little kitchen - we got the range hooked up last weekend, and it has been wonderful getting to cook with it! Of course, it will be even better once I have a sink and dishwasher. :) ;)

We also got our lights installed over the island - see picture below...

You can also see in the pictures above and below the walnut planks that Gage has cut and oiled in preparation for installation - it is going to be beautiful!

The only problem now is trying to stay motivated to finish our last few jobs while resisting the temptation to snuggle down in front of the fire and just enjoy our house. :) I suppose there is always time for both ...

My last picture is of the first snow on our house. Merry Christmas!