a virtual photo tour

I've been wanting to take pictures of our home for so long now! And now with the basement completed, and many of our own pictures hung, I've decided I couldn't wait much longer. So here are pictures of our house! There's plenty of pictures, so hope you're sitting somewhere comfy.

You walk in to the front entry (split level). You look down, where you could go, but instead, you veer right:

Mark was away for Halloween, so I didn't pass out candy! So now, every time we pass the front door, I see Mark grab a bag of skittles, and I grab a twix. Okay... not every time; have to maintain our figures.

Once at the top of the landing, you turn around, and this is what you see. The paint is a dark navy, matt finish. Reaching the very top was very challenging! Mark on a skinny ladder, with me holding it steady, while it balanced on a stair. I think I was praying the whole time!

What we would like to do with this area is put down hard wood on the bottom two steps. It's an awkward space when you walk in, because guests don't want to step up onto the other landing step with its carpet, so it is a tight squeeze with how the door swings. Hard wood would double the space, essentially. Step up, step down, turn around - all the way around!

Living Room/Dining Room:

Having all these rooms smooshed into one, it was very hard deciding where to paint, or even what color to paint. The light blue of the kitchen was here from the previous room, and it looks like it should be in the song: "one of these things is not like the other." We're still coming up with ideas. It was 11:00am when I took these pictures, but it was too cold to open the curtains still. Those curtains have helped with our gas bill significantly this year!

And then one more view, including the screen from India that I took most of my belly pictures in front of. Oh, the memories!

Kitchen:

We just put the track lighting in last week, after 2 months of the fluorescent not working, we wanted not only a different brightness, but a whole new look. We LOVE it. And it now coordinates with the dining room.

The Master:

Not a master 'suite' because the bath is not secluded to the master bedroom. It is piggy-backed to the master through the closet. Quite the little maze. But it can be closed when we like. In our next house we are hoping to score a double vanity! With a hair-dyer, curling iron hideaway. That would be faaanntastic.

Closet:

Loads of clothes! Remember when Mark did the shelving in here? We are still loving them.

Bedroom:

Yes, the wall is bare above the bed... it's such an awkward place! If we hung a picture, would we center it above the bed? or in the middle of the wall? See? Awkward. We're working on it. Mont still sleeps in his basket on my side of the bed. I love having him so close. I think it will be harder for me than him to move him down to his crib.

his and hers. On my dresser are my grandmother's crystal perfume bottles, and to the right is a baby bjorn for us to try, on lend from a friend, and those wires lead to a monitor, and to a humidifier (just out of the picture's reach). We would love crown molding in this bedroom, and other rooms, so we may add that on to our project-list soon. AND, a possible wall-color change. This color is the same as the kitchen.

ALRIGHT, back to the stairs..

Office/Reading room:

The bookcase Mark smuggled in last December for my Christmas present; came from Washington in his C-17. On the right is the softest chair known to man. Or at least, to me. The painting was a gift from Mark's mom. It is actually a painting of Lake Amistad, which was in our former town, Del Rio, TX!

Curtains closed.... then opened. And a head on view of the bookcase.

It's a little bare on top, I know. And to the right, too.

On this wall, we just recently hung these three photos Mark took in China. So glad we covered up this wall! Now, on to finding a filing drawer (since the desk has nothin' to offer!), and perhaps another book case. With Ikea not shipping here yet, I'll be browsing Craig's list. Unless Mark gets another McChord trip and can bring a matching book case back with him. That would be splendid! Then I can get a bit more organized..

To the right of this wall is Mont's nursery. That we only use for rocking, and some naps for now. Soon, it will be a full time bed crib-room.

Nursery:

On the wall left of the window is a real German cuckoo clock Mark's parents gave us for Christmas last year. We took the weights off for now, but I can't wait until Mont enjoys the sound. I'll do a close-up of it for its own post. It is too cute; a man cutting wood in front of his cabin, with a pooch there too.

On this wall I think I'll put something having to do with animals... a polar bear? another chalk drawn canvas? who knows? OH! And this is the crib (my old crib from baby-hood) I refinished and painted. I finished it 2 hours before I went into labor. Close one!

And there are the canvases (see how tiny they turned out?). I heard once that girls are not as good as men when it comes to scaling; that's for sure.

I should have straightened this before adding it here, but oh well. See the two pictures on the top shelf? They always make me laugh. Mark as Elvis, and Buckwheat covered in snow. Mark's mom gave Mont and I that book "Mothers of the Prophets," with President Benson on the cover. Below that, are two harmonicas my grandfather gave him (quite the big bander), then a toy trolley with a mended wheel from San Francisco, a toy train from London that comes apart into colorful donuts, and a few other treasures.

Stepping out from the nursery, we keep moving along this tour:

2nd bath:

Not too colorful, so we are thinking of painting... but what color? Also, I want to put different art in here. Too boring! But it's okay for now.

Back to the main area of this story, and right out the door from the bath, is the garage.

Mark built these shelves as well, hung his bike, rakes, shovels, and even the stroller. What an organized husband I have! In here we also have our trash cans (stinky.. but you have to keep away the bears), our 63 gallons of water storage. It's a lot! And here's the best thing about the garage; the heater! lovely, lovely heater.

Back to stairs!! Time to go down again:

Newly finished basement:

Recognize that picture? It's the photo I took of aspen trees on a neighboring street, and used it for my blog's banner. Had it framed at Joann's, and voila! Adds a burst of sunny yellow in a dark stairwell. To add even more color to this darkly painted space, we added lots of pictures; taken by both Mark and myself. 

*Dad, recognize Vidya's flowers? 

Keeping right, we turn into the second half of the stairs, continuing downward:

Mr. Miyagi!! Here is the first glimpse of the Chinese warriors Mark brought back on his mighty plane. This room we have set up for movies, but our pockets only so far. Thus, the camping chairs. They're surprisingly comfortable! Even Mont likes them. 

Here is the view from the camping chair on the right. 

It has been so fun watching movies with Mark! We either hold Mont while he sleeps, or we bring down his basket and put it in the guest bedroom. Someday soon he'll be submitting movie requests. 

Guest Bedroom:

I also too that photograph last fall. Is it hanging crooked? 4 days before Mark's family came for Mont's blessing, Mark was put on a flight to McChord and was able to pick up the bed from my parent's home. It was PERFECT! Though I wish it had been here in time for THEIR visit as well; they had only the mattress. But hey, it's memory foam. So the only thing was that it was low to the ground; Japanese style, right? But now it's complete. 

Another view:

I love this bedroom. 

Back to the hallway:

I try to play for Mont about 20 minutes a day; usually after we let Buckwheat out for his midday romp in the yard. He enjoys listening for a good amount of time before he decides he's had enough. It's been lots of fun!

3rd Bath:

This is my favorite room (though small) in our house. I LOVE the paint color, the vanity, the accessories, and color combinations. So peaceful. Here are three photos Mark took on Diego Garcia:

one. two. three.

Back out the door. 

Crawlspace:

We have loved having the door moved. Our contractor moved the door into the hallway, and made it a standard-door size. Mark put in extra carpet down and moved in shelving units from Costco that we used to keep in the garage. I 'shop' down here frequently. 

I still had to put away a few extra fall decorations... oops. 

The mighty guard-dog:

Raarr!

That concludes our tour today! Refreshments are not included. Our apologies.