Drapes are DONE!!!

Yes, we have finally finished all the window coverings for the house.  Mom has been nothing short of tremendous in her love and dedication to getting this done.  Not only did she teach me how to make professional looking pleated drapes, she got some cushions made too!  We have a cushion for the garage where we will change shoes from snowy and muddy to inside-appropriate footwear.  She also made a cushion for an antique rocking chair that we found in a yard sale, as well as a cushion for the Great Room Bay Window Seat.  She truly is the best!!!


We haven't gotten out much, it's been quite cold and just perfect weather for working inside... LOL.  It is beautiful but it does hamper site-seeing.  We went to the Corning Museum of Glass up in New York, that was a great day.  Saw the demonstration of glass blowing and watched a beautiful bowl be made from a blob of glass.  Lots of information at that Museum!

Here are some pics.

Our first attempt at actually decorating.  This needlepoint
piece on the chair was our original plan, but ended up
making a cushion instead.  This piece just wasn't the
right size.

Jake and I relaxing after a long day
of opening boxes and trying to
get organized.

Mom jumped right in and spread
around the rock as Larry placed
it in front of the garage doors once
we got the permanent garage
doors installed.

Mom hard at work making the first
pleats.  We finished the brown drapes
and the white lace drapes for the
Great Room first.

Isn't she too cute?!?!

Mom "dressing down" the brown
drapes in the Great Room.

That's me putting the drapes on the
rings, ready to go on to the next.  Not
exactly a good "hair day" for me,
but that's not a surprise to anyone
who knows me well.

Curtains for the guest room.  There is
nothing behind the house except trees
so we didn't need anything very
heavy for this window.

Great Room brown drapes with white
lace behind them.  The window seat
cushion is matched with the tie-backs.
Once the wood work is done
around the window, the drape will
hang straighter on the outside edges.

Window seat cushion for the Bay Window
in the Great Room.  Both sides are useable,
we placed different focus portion of the
fabric so that both sides are the same, but
one shows more deep purple flowers and
the other side more red flowers.

Master Bedroom done.  The drapes
go very well with my "retirement" quilt,
not shown in this picture... sorry.

Sewing Room is done too!!   This larger
window on the right has the best view
in the house.  It is so relaxing to sit at
my machine and glance outside to
such a great view.

                                                                                                                             Back Door, we made a Roman Shade. My
first one of those!  Turned out pretty
dang good.

I have some more pictures, but have run out of battery life on the laptop.  I will post more pictures soon, I promise.  I know it has taken a while to get these in, but we have been soooo busy with all the little things that need to be attended to for the house so that we can officially get it "done".  We have been sewing up a storm and Larry has been working hard and long on woodwork, tile and even installing a toilet in the Master bathroom.

It's been hectic here for Mom's visit, but we sure have been enjoying having her around.  We've gotten a LOT done and our list is much smaller now.   Will post more soon, enjoy whatever you are doing!!!
Debbie

It's All Coming Together

Yes, we are truly moving in and our muscles are sore!!!  You always want it to be done NOW, but it does take time.  I'll just do one more kitchen cupboard and then I'll quit... yeah right!  Just unpack one more box and I'm done... yeah right!

Well, we are at least to the point of being organized and now we are taking our time getting it done just right.  Here are pictures we've taken after a week of hard work.  Enjoy!!!

Our view from the front room the day after Mom arrived.
It is truly beautiful, we're loving it...

Attaching the top of the chimney, the last step in that
project.  Now we can start building three small fires
to cure the chimney then we can blaze away!!!

Guest Room.... aka  Mom's room.
Notice the view!!!!

Adding the microwave oven vent and upper
cabinets... soon the kitchen will be
complete.

The garage after we brought everything
over from storage.  All piled in the
middle and looking very full.
But the garage doors are being installed!!!

The garage after we did some
organizing of boxes.

Master Bedroom

Our view from the Master Bedroom,
we laughed that first night when
we realized we'd be looking at the
trailer first thing in the morning, we
wanted to get out of there so bad,
then it is the first thing we see in
the mornings... LOL

Our first spill in the new kitchen.  Making pancakes and
the batter got the best of me and Mom... LOL
It actually cleaned up real good... whew!!!

The kitchen is finally done!  Am
loving it.... more than a 2-butt
kitchen.

My canister set and of course a bottle of wine!!!

Dining room area... plenty of room.

The fireplace end of the "great room".  Notice the view
from the window, the snow is gone.  Melted away in
one day.  It's actually warmer here today than it is
in Tucson.  It's 52 degrees here and 39 degrees there.

The TV end of the "great room" and our front door.  The
small avocado plant to the right in the picture is
doubling as our Christmas Tree this year.... LOL

Our Christmas Avocado Tree.  There is one ornament
hanging on it, hard to see, but it's crystal from one of
our antique lamps.  

Moving Day Pics

Yes, we have all of our things in one place now.  I can't believe I didn't purge more things when I packed!  We'll see if we need to do a garage sale once we are settled in.  Here are a few pics of our moving day.  Of course, we had the most snow in one day that we've had since we got here.  Oh well, we got it done.

Here we have upper cabinets... on the floor.  Got my
fingers crossed, but not holding my breath.

Garage before move-in time

Snow all morning and here comes
our first of two loads in the rental
truck!!!

Opening the "garage door", still waiting on them to be
delivered and installed...

After.... All our boxes in the garage.  Furniture is inside
the house waiting to be cleaned and properly placed.

We are IN!!!

Yes, we are in the process of moving from the trailer to the house.  Although the kitchen cabinets are only sitting on the floor, they will be installed first of this week.  We moved all of our things from storage and now our garage is fairly full.  Lots of boxes to go through and get ourselves organized.

I'll add more pictures later, I left the camera in the trailer and it's snowing very hard right now so I'm not ready enough to venture outside yet.  It gets slippery, even when it looks nice and fluffy... LOL

Couch and Love Seat are ready to use and enjoy the
view outside.

The fireplace is almost ready to use.  Hearth was
put on yesterday and it looks great!  Sorry, that
is one of the pics I'll post later.  Have to
get the face-plate and the cap on then we
can build a few small fires in it to prep the
chimney for a real full-on fire.

Of course, the most snow we've had at one time and it's on
the day we scheduled to move all our things from
storage.  Thanks to a few GREAT neighbors, it all got
moved in just 2 hours!!

OK, we're ready for that picnic we've been
thinking about.  Burrr!!!

We are almost in!!!

Yes, we are almost in the house.  The bathroom vanities are done, the kitchen sink works, we even have one out of two toilets in working order!!  Still waiting on upper kitchen cabinets, but all the appliances were delivered today.  They should all be put in except the microwave, which attaches to an upper cupboard, by mid week.  We even took our washer and dryer out of storage today!  Not hooked up yet, a few minor glitches... of course this whole process has been filled with minor glitches... LOL.  That's the biggest frustration factor for both of us.  BUT... we should be in the house by the end of this week!!

Bathroom sinks in the master bath!  And they work too!!!

Kitchen sink is also up and running!

Fireplace all laid out and starting to take shape...

Board is in to attach the mantle to.  It's looking great!  Love it!!!

Here are the couch, loveseat and all the appliances...
aren't they nice... OK, they are still in the boxes and
all wrapped up, but they will look great once they are
actually in the kitchen and arranged.  Can't wait!

Couch and Loveseat being delivered...

Kitchen coming together and more...

Yes, the lower cabinets, most of them, are in for the kitchen.  The counter top and sink are being installed this Friday.  Upper cabinets hopefully next week then appliances to be delivered and installed!  The fireplace is here and they have started on it too.  Once we get a working sink and a working restroom, we can get our "occupancy permit".  Probably won't move in full time at that time, but we can at least sleep in a regular size bed!  Will probably still cook from the trailer until all the work is done in the house, so we'll be going back and forth for a while.  At least we will be able to start moving in furniture and emptying our many many boxes!

Working on finishing the utility room.

Can't wait until I get my washer and dryer hooked up, I know
that sound weird, but I'm really getting tired of using a
laundromat!

Lower kitchen cabinets going in...

On the left will be the sink and the dishwasher to the
left of that.  Turning shelves in this and the back corner, as
well as the upper corner cabinets.

The fireplace is going in.  It's extremely heavy, has to be framed with metal and concrete board.

The backside of the fireplace,
a discussion about installation.

I know it won't put out much heat
this way, but that template will come
out soon...LOL

Always checking the installation
instructions... can't afford the time to
have the inspector say something
is wrong.  We're getting it right the
first time, every time.  Haven't failed
an inspection yet!!!

Our log splitter works great!  I don't know if you can view the "movie", but try just clicking on it and see if it plays for you.  If it doesn't, it's obviously Larry splitting some logs.  The wood is nice and dry because it splits almost immediately for him.

Try clicking on this and see if
it runs the short video.

Log splitter working GREAT!

It was definitely a tad cold this morning.  I believe it was 18 degrees when we woke this mornin!

The center pipe is the exhaust from one
of the systems, I think it's the heater...
Notice the icicle hanging from it!!!

The platform is ready for the whole-
house backup generator along the
backside of the garage.