Recovering a lampshade...

Super easy pinterest project. But now I want to recover every single shade in my house...

I wanted to put the final touches of the lamps I repainted over the summer. I found the perfect zigzag fabric at Jo-Ann's for only $2 per yard. Score since I only needed little over a yard. Im all about a deal now since Dave is probably going to take my credit card away from me soon... Here is the Pinterest posting with the instructions I followed: http://sarahelizabethinteriordesign.com/blog/how-to-recover-lampshades-with-fabric

Super cheap. Super easy. Completely changed the look of the lamp.

583,200 minutes...

9,720 hours...
405 days...
57 weeks...

What a year it's been since we signed the P&S.  We are officially in the new house.  YAY!  We closed back on February 1st and it's been amazing ever since.  I feel like I've been in hibernation.  I never want to leave.  The week leading up to the move was a whirlwind.  I felt like I was losing my mind with all the stuff that is entailed.  You would think that we were pretty much set since we had moved the majority of our stuff into the garage back in November.  However...that was not the case.  Let's just say I was a one woman moving machine.  Thanks to a little bad luck...parents who help out more than they know...and easy going builders...and coffee...I was able to move, unpack and even hang a few curtains before we officially closed.

Dave was already in his busy season so I had awesome task of moving the rest of our belongings to the house.  How the heck do we have this much crap?  And how the heck did I think I was going to move all of it solo with two children attached to my hips the week of the move?  Thankfully my parents stepped in when I was about to have a full fledged panic attack...

I started out taking my first trip down to the house on Wednesday before the closing.  I thought that this would be no problem.  I would take two trips on Wednesday in between gymnastics and dance class and then a trip in the morning on both Thursday and Friday.  I had it all planned out.  In my fantasy...I would pack the car...the girls would be angels...I would unload each box before I brought more the next trip.  It was going to be perfect.  Then I realized how much crap we still had at my in-laws.  Then I realized i could only fit 4 boxes at a time in the back of the 4Runner.  Then the check engine lights started flashing in said 4Runner.  Things were bad and it was only 8am.  After stopping at the Toyota dealership and getting it checked by my man Corey (he's seriously the best EVER) they told me that I really shouldn't drive it until they checked it further for fear the engine would seize.  They must have sensed tears coming on as I looked in my rear view mirror at my two unhappy kids and the boxes that I artfully shoved in and prayed that my back door would close because they offered me a loaner until my car was fixed.  It was a minivan.  The best minivan ever.  It was like the clouds parted and a ray of sunshine came down on it when they drove it around from the back.  Let me just tell you...I used and abused that minivans storage....

My parents came to the rescue by taking the girls off my hands until after we closed (thank you thank you thank you!).  I was able to unload almost all the boxes before we closed and make our house a home for the first night we slept there with the girls.  It was CRAZY...but well worth it.

Here is a picture of the living room from that Thursday night before we closed.

The kitchen...

The entryway...

The dining room...

The playroom...

The master bedroom...

Master closet (it's hard to keep children and dolls out the pictures)...

Dave's office...

Master bathroom...

Olivia's room...

She insists on having this tent set up at all times "in case" she wants to sleep in it...

Sophia's room (a separate post about the curtains will be coming)...

Yes she's in a toddler bed.  Day 1 in the new house meant day 1 of being a big girl!

The girls bathroom (curtains are in the making...separate post about them will be coming)...

Half bath (post about the roman shade is coming)...

 

 

It's been so amazing to finally be in.  We are beyond thrilled and love every part about it so far.  Thank you to everyone who helped us along this journey.  We seriously couldn't have done without any of you.  To our parents especially...THANK YOU!!!  

 



Could it be true???

Could we be actually closing in two weeks??? I pray...I pray...I pray...

Here are some updates from this week. The built ins are finished. The painters are finished. The yard is grated and the back fence post have been installed.

And we have built-ins...

Here is a picture of them in all their unfinished glory. They are shaping up better than I even imagined in my mind this past year. The painters are there today painting them as we'll as the rest of the house. This gives me hope that the house will be finished soon!!!

Getting there...

There has been some progress in the past few weeks.  So we are getting somewhere...right!?!?  Last Thursday we finally got the certificate of occupancy which is what the bank needs in order to start their paperwork.  So maybe we can move in a few weeks???

Here are some recent pictures from phone. All of the hardware has been installed (the orb looks amazing!!!). The stairs have been stained. I built the island stools (wishful thinking...i know). Two rooms have been repainted. The bookcases have been started. And the yard was being filled today. Ohh...and we set up the girls tent so the poor things have something to do when I drag then there daily...

Hopefully we will have a closing date soon...

Delay...

I feel like that's all I know about this house.

Seeing how the final inspection has not happened yet and the fact that our mortgage lender needs two weeks from that time...we will NOT be moving in on the 12th as anticipated.

Needless to say, Dave and I are kinda frustrated at this point.  The end is in sight...we know that.  We just want this process to be done.  We just want to live in our own house.  We just want to live in Walpole. 

Some things have been finished in the past two weeks...

All the shutters are on now and we have front steps and a walkway.

They also poured a patio under the back deck.

The kitchen is 100% complete now with the missing cabinetry, cabinet legs and even under the counter lighting.

The master bathroom is finished...can't wait to take a shower here!

Things seemed to be going smoothly until I found this...

And this...

And this...

And this.

We had 3 leaking windows and a leak in the roof.  Wait...are we buying a new house or an old one?  So we have had the windows addressed and fixed and supposedly the roof was fixed but we are still finding water in the bucket that we put it up there.  It looks like it's coming from where the furnace is vented out.  Great.

Soooooo...here is the new and improved checklist that we need to get done before we can think about moving into this house:

- make sure the roof and windows are fixed
- patch up water stain marks on wall and ceiling
- paint entire house again with one more coat
- clean the house
- fill and grade the yard (the fill in the back and the planting of the shrubs will not be until the spring)
- put the final coat on the driveway
- put in all the floor and ceiling grates (which were half done last week and 2 out of the 6 were broken)
- install all the inside door hardware
- build the built-ins
- install the garage door openers
- get the two ac condensers delivered (we are opting to have my cousin install them)
- get final inspection 

I'm guessing it will be February 2013 before we move in at this point...  But as always...my fingers are crossed that it will be sooner.