Home Tour

Since we have been in our home for almost a month now, I figured I should probably give you the promised tour. These are pictures I took before we moved it. It looks a little more lived in now. :)

As you enter from the garage, this is what you see: The 1st door on the left goes into our "walk-through pantry" (Jared's creation to make it easier to get groceries to the pantry shelves and the fridge). Then there is a large storage closet next on the left. The 1st door on the right leads into the laundry room. Then there is our mud room area, then a powder room. At the end of the hall is my desk.

Here is one side of the laundry room. The opposite wall has the washer and dryer with a shelf and pole above it.
Our "mud room" area

Here is the powder room (it is HARD to get a good picture of a room...at least for inexperienced me)

And my desk area. I really wanted my computer right off of the kitchen and living space rather than tucked in a corner somewhere as it has been the last few places we have lived. I am loving having this space!

(Just to the left of the desk is an arched entrence into the kitchen)

Our kitchen

Some favorite features are the 2 pantries, the 2 level bar, and the under-cabinet lighting. We also love our granite. We went on a wild goose chase to get it, but found some in Chicago. It is called Toffee Classic and is all browns which was hard to find. We also changed our kitchen floors at the last minute (cancelled the install of the lighter wood at 10 pm the night before install). We are really happy with the darker floor.
Here is the range wall. We really like how the backsplash turned out.

The shelving in the walk-through pantry

View from kitchen into living and dining areas

View into the dining room...in the day time those windows offer possibly my favorite feature of the house, a beautiful view of trees, farmland and beautiful sky...with a red barn in the distance. Aaaah. I love Wisconsin.

View into the great room from the dining room
The foyer and staircase (with Mom holding Baby Jacob). We have couches for you to sit on now Mom. Hooray.

(The hallway to the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms is to the right of the foyer)

Foyer and hall closet. I love having the transom window above the door to let in more light.

View of the great room from the front door.

Downstairs...the only thing that is finished down there is the bathroom. Jared will finish the rest over the next year or so. He loves having a project and did a great job on our old home, but we never finished the bathroom there because he didn't feel comfortable taking that on. So, we did the bathroom first this time. Pretty soon we will have ample room for visitors...hint, hint. :) And you don't need to wait until the basement is finished. The kids are glad to share their rooms.

The main bathroom with space to do hair (put curling irons etc) instead of a dual vanity. The cabinet was the best medicine cabinet we could come up with. For some reason they were really hard to find.

View of the bath as well

The master bath vanity

From the vanity area there is an arched entrance into the shower and toilet area...

Master bedroom (at least half of it). The window is my favorite feature...especially at night as we go to sleep. I feel like I am camping under the stars. The trey ceiling is a new thing out here in Wisconsin. We didn't like them at first, but it has grown on us. The walk-in closet is on the right as you enter the room.

There are 2 other bedrooms upstairs, but it was hard to get a picture that showed anything so you just get to hear about it.

And that completes the tour. Now you can come and see it for yourself.

We are LOVING living here. The longer we are here, the more settled we become and the more I love it.

Okay, quick update. Here are some pictures I just ran and took.

Our living room with couches. Hooray. It is amazing how living without something for 5 months (especially during the last stages of pregnancy) makes you appreciate it so much more when you get it. We still have a lot of decorating to do, but we were able to find a few autumn decorations to spruce things up until we can get everything the way we want it.View from foyer (please don't mind the pink streamers...we had Brielle's princess birthday party today. I will get that blogged sometime).Front view of the couchesWe have a few decorations for our foyer.And my beloved desk. :) Everything is right here...thank you cards, files, phone, crafting supplies, writing utinsels, paper, a printer...everything. I am used to having to run from one end of the house to the other to get things that I need to get paperwork stuff done. Not anymore. Aaah.

Grandmas are Great

I mean, really, what would we do without them. My mom arrived in Wisconsin the day I came home from the hospital and she was an absolute lifesaver. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, took care of kids, did laundry, went grocery shopping (she even braved Walmart…she HATES Walmart…that is selfless sacrifice), did laundry, read stories, packed, made yummy food, did laundry, kissed, hugged and loved. I was so grateful to her…not only for her hard work but for her companionship. It was wonderful to have one of my best friends there to talk with for a whole week. Thanks to her hard work, I was able to really enjoy my precious newborn. Thank you Mom! We love you!