Welcome Home

It has been 18 days since my family and I made the trip across the pond from Germany and to the Great State of Texas.

Beau and I were able to tour our new home shortly after departing our 10 hour flight while my inlaws so graciously watched a jet lagged Jude.  I was carried over the threshold as we entered our new abode.  Waiting for us was a bottle of champagne chilled in my late grandmother's sterling silver champagne bucket that we recently inherited and had shipped home.  Accompanied included a cheese and cured meats platter, an antipasti salad, and fresh fruits all prepared by my mother in law.   A welcome and much appreciated surprise after a long journey.  Champagne flutes in hand, we walked around our new home admiring months of work that we had only appreciated through pictures.  It was perfect...

  

 ..It has been a whirlwind of new home owner preparations since.

Building a home, I naively expected we could just move in once our stuff arrived.  I didn't account for sealing grout, installing bathroom fixtures, and the endless list of cosmetic touch ups that included painting, new kitchen hardware, replacing lights, building our door, etc.  A million other things were done before we even arrived thanks to my wonderful inlaws, many more have been finished since we arrived thanks to their help, but still a never ending list of tasks are waiting to be completed.

All of the beautiful tile work required 2 coats of this bad boy.   Kitchen floor, kitchen backsplash, entry way, laundry room, 1/2 bath, 2 full baths, master bath and back splash.  

So far we've painted Beau's office, sitting room, alcove, dining room, upstairs accent walls,  Jude's room, our room.   

To give our home more of a modern twist, we went with a mid century style door through Crestview Doors.    Of course to get the deal we wanted, it required my father in law forsaking yet another afternoon installing the five windows.  I've lost count of all of the hours we have to pay him back for.  

Jude was a champ through the multiple days of prep.  Here he is playing cars on his new big boy "sheep" (Serta) bed.

Two weeks of prep, including multiple errands, and IKEA furniture to build, our movers arrived on  13 September 2012.

Currently we are sitting in the midst of "almost" complete.  Our door is hung but the interior still needs to be painted.  Our new lights are mostly installed, one will require a 3rd trip to Lowes due to cosmetic errors, and we are waiting for extension rods for our dining room chandelier.  Kitchen hardware has a few drawers left while upstairs needs knobs.  2 story living room accent wall and kitchen will get a coat of paint in a couple of weeks.  Guest bedroom needs an accent wall and a king size bed frame re-painted and converted for a queen size mattress   Bedroom has a hodge podge mix of furniutre while we wait for our next paycheck so we can order our new.  Master bath is screaming for some inspiration.  Our new l-shaped sofa that we got on a super saving discount came with the super wrong color/material on one piece so we are waiting for replacement that can take up to 8 weeks.  Boxes are unpacked but pictures need to be hung.  One car is in but waiting on the other.  Garage is full of stuff we need to donate/sell while we wait for an additional shipment of unaccompanied baggage to arrive.

So much more to be done to make our house into a home.  For now, all I can do is breath, take in the view, and imagine the day when "almost" is complete.