Busy, busy bees!

Things have been so busy since we moved in at the beginning of the month! Every day has been devoted to some project around the house, and we still have tons and tons more to do and plenty of boxes to unpack.

One of the biggest projects has been getting the backyard ready to be fenced in and safe for Lucy to roam and eat sticks. Since dismantling the shed that once stood in the back, we've had to rake up endless amounts of debris (nails, glass shards, wood planks, etc.) and build a retaining wall to prevent the neighbor's chain link fence from toppling in a landslide.

Here's the site where the shed used to be, with the retaining wall in place:


You can really see how having it gone has opened the whole place up considerably. Here's a before and after:



We're getting a delivery of 10 yards of top soil on Monday, which we'll spread over the sand. Then we'll be able to lay some grass seed and get some green growing!

Inside, the living room is definitely the furthest along of all of the rooms. We've still got some things to work out and change, but it's the one room in the house that feels almost complete.



We need to get a much smaller chair for the computer and some new throw pillows for the couch to coordinate with the curtains. I'm actually happier with the ceiling lights than I thought I'd be (and they really don't look like boobs as much after they're installed...) I'm in love with the wall color, which changes during the day from a beige to putty to a deep mocha, depending on the light. Since the room is so big (it's something like 20x13) the rich color works beautifully and doesn't make it seem small, which was one of my fears. Lucy loves having all the extra room, and one of her favorite spots to stretch out and sleep is between the tv and the coffee table.

Yesterday, on a whim, Branden started priming the mudroom. This room had dark brown paneling on the walls and needed to be brightened up.

Here's the mudroom before we started painting:


And here's the mudroom currently, with most of the room primed:

Doesn't look great, but it's already an improvement!

There's still tons more to do. And since moving in, we've somehow lost electricity in all of the upstairs bedrooms aaand I put a hole in one of the windows while hanging blinds. Don't ask me how that happened. We'll hopefully be able to get an electrician in this week to figure out what in the world is going on upstairs, and with luck it won't require any major rewiring. The joys of being a homeowner!