DINING ROOM NEW HOUSE TOUR

 Now it's time for the dining room.

The dining room is off the kitchen and is at the back of the house.  It measures 13'4" wide by 11'4" deep.  To the left (as looking from above) is the living room and screened in porch, on the right is the hallway to the garage, utility room and pantry and on the other side is the kitchen.  When you walk in the front door after you go through the foyer, you'll see the dining room at the back of the house.

No, we haven't been holding back details on our progress, this isn't ours, ha.  This is from a model that was being built of our exact (well, with changes but this part identical) floor plan.  It's always fun to see it at this stage and we can't WAIT until we have pictures like this of ours in every stage of construction!  Another reason to get pics like this of our own will be to know where pipes and wires are throughout the house.

This is the almost finished dining room from our actual floor plan (later progress of the above framing photo).

We made some changes to the original plan.

First of all, we made our kitchen bigger (longer) so we could have a bigger island and make some appliance changes.  That, in turn, lengthened the dining room.  And that in turn gave us the space to be able to have the screened porch.  This picture is the bigger dining room we will have (minus that door with the X on it, ha).

When we opted for our porch to be larger...and then decided to make it screened in...and then decided on the opening doors from the living room, we decided we didn't need this door.  That will give us that much more wall space both inside in the dining room and then on the outside wall of the screened-in porch, we'll have more room as well.  Win/win!

We also chose for a continuous windowsill here (we like that look) and these windows won't open, so they'll be big sheets of glass (double pane/insulated) to give us a view.  This will be the view of what we used to see from the back of the farmhouse, the orchard area will be visible from here and the 200 acres behind us that is used for cattle (we should get some fun views).

Here is the electrical plan for the dining room:

    As with our other rooms, you can never have too many electrical outlets.  Here, we have one on every wall (and two on the window wall).  This room will not have recessed lighting like the others and no ceiling fan of course but will instead have a hanging fixture.  We picked one, from the list of the ones that are included, but they are simple (like the one in the photo above).  We want something dramatic but without having to finance it for years in the mortgage, ha.

Maybe something like this.  We like it, it's kind of retro cool.  But we'll find just the right one and may even have it put up before closing.

We'll use the dining table and chairs we have at the apartment (and had at the house we sold) in the new dining room.  The farmhouse dining table and chairs will go onto the back porch.

We also have this matching buffet and hutch.  They'll fit perfectly in that dining room space.

The dining room, being at the other end of the kitchen so to speak will make it kind of like an eat in kitchen but still in its own defined space.

We'll even have easy dining room table access to a wine fridge in the island...oops, we're getting ahead of ourselves!  More on that soon.

Next week, the laundry room...

THE HOUSE IS EMPTY

 THE.

HOUSE.

IS.

EMPTY.

Saturday was a busy day.  A coworker came with a friend and a big truck because we gave her our bed frame and mattress/box springs for her son.

I had moved it to the barn to get it out of the house using the farm truck but he had a much bigger truck, ha.  In fact, they also took the guest room mattress/box  springs for her mom.  We kept that frame because we want to use it in the new guest room.  We'll just buy a new mattress for it.

She also took some other pieces for herself so it was nice to give stuff to someone who will enjoy it for years to come.

Then, the movers came and took the rest of the furniture, the big pieces we couldn't move with the pickup truck.

We were worried about the steps from the porch.  Well, they had this brilliant solution (I'm sure lots of movers use it but I'm easily impressed, ha).  They backed the truck close to the porch and then got out this two piece "bridge" that arched up over the stairs.  Then they just rolled everything in like it was all at the same level.

The guy told me it was the easiest move they had that day, ha.  It took them about 20 minutes to get everything out of the house.

The other thing we were worried about was fitting it all in the remainder of the storage unit.  We kept the small things about halfway over and left the rest empty.

We had three bookcases, the dining table, the yellow kitchen hutch, the bedroom dresser and armoire, a filing cabinet, coffee table, end table, sideboard, the marble top kitchen table and two more cabinets.

Would it all fit?

Here it is...all in there!  It was like the game Tetris for sure and there was still a little room to spare.  Now we don't have the eight dining room chairs in there.  I put those in the barn (all eight fit nicely in the back of bed of the truck).  If they had gotten there and they didn't fit, they'd charge extra to take it back so I figured the barn was good, at least temporarily.  I used the empty space to bring a couple more items...

...the orchard rack and couple more boxes I missed the first time and a few smaller things.  Oh, and I moved that top box before I left and put it on the floor, it was smashing the one below it (books).  2nd Man is worried about the dining chairs being in the barn since it's not climate controlled but I reminded him the house has not been climate controlled for years.  Plus, we're going to put them on the screened in porch so non-climate controlled again.  If we get a nice cool day when I'm out there, I might move them.  I bet I can make them fit.  I'm great at Tetris!

The last thing I had to do after they left was clear off the porch.  I moved the plants over by the barn where they'll be in mostly shade like they were on the porch.  And bonus, if it rains at least once a week, I won't have to worry about watering them.  If I do have to water though, I'll have to fill up 5 gallon buckets from 2nd Family until our well is up and running.  Then I moved the clay pots and some misc things we are keeping and that was it.  I was finally ready to leave.

I was driving down the driveway and then I remembered something...

...the construction string lights that I put under the house last year for the freeze!  They were good, heavy duty and kind of pricey, so I figured we should keep them.  You never know when we could use them again.

  We could put these under a tree or between the barn and shed if we put in a concrete pad there, heck we might need them in a chicken coop or the garden or something.  So, I crawled under the house and pulled them all down and put them in the shed.

When I left, I didn't lock the doors and yesterday two guys came out to strip the house of anything they could use.  They are taking the stove of course, the furniture we left (couch, loveseat, a few small tables), they are going to save the shelving from the mudroom, the ceiling fans, light fixtures, even the mudroom sink.  At least things will continue to live on.

Wednesday is the big day...the house is being demolished.  We'll both be out there, filming and taking pictures as this chapter comes to an end and we prepare for the next one.

And of course, we must remember today to say thank you to all who serve our military!  Thank you and your families for what you do for us.

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Yesterday was busy and lots of work. I was there almost 8 hours (2nd Man had to work).  More on that in an update tomorrow.  It was hot and sunny and clear and today it's cooler and overcast.  We're off to run some errands that we need to do but in the meantime, here as our (mostly) regular tradition of some good food and some Hobart!

After a busy day at the farm, I came home and 2nd Man made one of my new faves.  It's just a variation on something we used to make but with healthier ingredients.  This is whole wheat pasta with tomatoes, low sodium tomato sauce, onions, and turkey sausage.  All topped with a little shredded reggiano and parsley.  Oh and a nice glass of red wine and of course our salad before the meal.

It was delicious and much needed after my long day.

When I came back, Hobart was laying by the front door and I think he gave me the stink eye for being gone so long on a weekend, ha.  Notice he's laying on a towel.  We bought some new bath towels and decided to give him this old one for a new place to sleep by the front door.  Because...

#notspoiled

LIVING ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

We are going to have a large living room.  Family room?  TV room?  Never sure what they call them these days.

It's open to the kitchen and nice and large.

Here it is, it measures 16x20 feet.  Remember, you saw a bit of this in the teaser for the screened in porch because we are having this opening wall/door to the porch.

Normally, this floor plan has a wall of windows and the door to the screened-in porch would be off to the side of the dining room.  But we changed it to this so can enjoy (on those nice days) the indoor/outdoor vibe.

We're going to put our TV on this wall.  This is from a similar model to ours, only we'll have the opening wall of windows.  We are having them put extra support studs in the wall for a wall mounted TV as well as the outlet and cable wires mounted up high so there are no cords running down below for the clean look.  We're also going to buy a new, bigger TV.  

The ceiling is almost 11 feet high in this room so guess what means?  GIANT CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE CORNER!  It will be nice to have a big, open space.  We'll have plenty of room for furniture.

A nice sectional would be good so we can relax and maybe even nap.  Maybe L-shaped and leather. We'll just have to see what we can find when the time comes.

  

Or maybe U-shaped and fabric. It might even be cool to have an L-shaped sectional with swivel chairs on the opening wall side. Then we could open the doors to the screened-in porch so guests can sit and still be part of the conversation in both spaces.

As we have mentioned before, a lot of this will be easier once it's drywalled and we can walk around in it and visualize the space in 3D.

The one thing we didn't get but really contemplated, was a fireplace.  But alas, it was just so expensive.  We might regret it someday but literally the cost to put one in (on the big wall just like above which is a version of our floorplan) was over $15,000.  That was money better spent in the kitchen and other spaces to get what we really wanted there.  There are some options we've seen for something later, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, ha. 

The room will have recessed lighting and a ceiling fan.  For the ceiling fan though, we went with the standard option.  We actually did that in each room so that it will be easier to swap out later (for something like the above) and get what we really want without "mortgaging" the cost of a ceiling fan, ha.

Next time, dining room, then laundry room and then the posts about kitchen and pantry.

ONE OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

No house teaser today, too much going on yesterday and I didn't finish the post.  So, to get something new up, I thought we'd share this.

Look at this rose bush.  It's got some pretty roses, a couple ready for gathering and some not so much.

But wait...this is artificial!

As I was moving stuff to storage I moved this and realized I've probably never blogged about it.  My Mom found this once upon a time.  I have no idea where she found it, it's certainly not some heirloom piece, ha, but we've always thought it was so cool.

There are almost over done roses...

...some new buds and even one that wasn't "cut" and has lived out its life with petals getting ready to fall off.

There is one that is almost ready...

And one that is perfect...

Even the pot and the soil and the moss are artificial!  It's crazy realistic and one of our favorite things to put on display.  It'll be on a stand in the guest room at the new house for sure.  Our color scheme in there will be pastel pinks and pale yellow so it will look perfect.

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

There is rain!  This weekend has been rainy.  Just relaxing today since the last couple of weekends have been double day working at the house.

It's nice to rest.

We usually mention salads before most of our dinners but I never think to take pics.  This one was iceberg and green leaf lettuce with red cabbage, radishes, shredded carrots, pea pods and pickled beets.  We made an Italian dressing and topped with some shaved parmesan reggiano.

Mahi-mahi pan seared and served over some couscous with mixed veggies.  It was a wonderful and healthy and very filling.

And speaking of a resting weekend, Hobart is doing his best to copy us, as long as we make sure his afghan is freshly fluffed and the sun is streaming in at just the correct angle.  Because...

#notspoiled

REPURPOSING SHELVING UNIT

 So, as I was clearing out the mudroom, we have wooden shelves.  On one side of the room, they are deep, 18 inches deep to be exact.

Here is a picture from when we first put them in about ten years ago.  I thought about moving them to the mower shed (the larger barn/workshop is full with shelving so there's no space there) but they were too deep in the smaller space of the shed with the mower in the middle and needing space to walk around it.

But then, behind the door in the mudroom, I forgot that there was a single set of shelves, shallower at only 12 inches deep.  Because they are fully assembled, I just carried them out and put them in the truck (along with the other stuff head to the barn/shed) and drove it over and crossed my fingers.

Here is the end result:

Look at this!

It fits PERFECTLY in this spot! This will give me more space to store things like the supplies for the mower and the weedeater as well as stuff like wasp spray, fire ant killer, tools I use for the mower, etc.  It was the only one in that size we had, but it's good we had it.

Once we get out there, I'll have my hands full organizing the barn and the shed, but it'll be so easy because I'll have plenty of time to do it whenever I want.  Right now, it's just the weekends and there was always so much else to focus on.

Not only are we building our dream house, I'm going to be able to turn those two buildings into my dream workshop and shed!