Damn Boxes

For some reason this is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of boxes, probably because 75% of my brain is full of Simpsons episodes

The sentiment is dead on though - currently our life is only boxes. We are now 8 days out from closing (got pushed back to the day after Memorial day) so things are pretty hectic, but wanted to share a few shots me and my mom grabbed this morning.  Here's a truncated list of what's been going on in Sellersville:

- Kitchen countertops and appliances are in
- All bath fixtures are in
- All lights are in
- All floors are in
- Door and doorknobs are in
- Lampost installed outside
- Sidewalk and walkway framed out
- Probably lots of stuff that I'm forgetting but trust me it's all good!

Sorry been lagging on the posts, but have a lot brewing in my head including an extra large "Favorite Things" list, a little nostalgia about Pottstown, and what Blake made for Mother's Day.

Wish us luck - the next time I post we'll hopefully finally be in our new zip code!

T Minus 16 days

If everything goes as planned, and the weather cooperates, that is when we will be closing on this beauty...I like the super small Jon standing in front of the garage w/umbrella and GOB in the Bjorn

We were hoping for a nice Sunday to take my mom, dad, sister-in-law, and nieces to see the new Casa de Boehmke, as well as the model home, but we got a pretty rainy/dreary morning.  It actually worked out a lot better though!  I don't think the sales rep really wanted to leave the trailer so she just gave Jon the keys to the model home and we got to spend quite a bit of time touring that (and playing with the Lego decorations and trying on the Tutus in the girls room), as well as freely walking around the new place (which was incredibly exciting!)  There were great surprises everywhere that have sent me into super planning spiral...poor husband.

From could I can see, this is a list of the things that have gotten done, but I'm sure there's a ton more that I couldn't see:

- Stone up on the facade
- Outdoor lighting fixtures installed
- Drywall patched
- Kitchen Cabinets Installed
- Fireplace Installed
- Doors Installed
- 1/2 Lighting Fixtures Installed
- Kitchen Flooring Installed
- Stair Railing Installed
- Bathtubs/Showers/Sinks Installed (still waiting on the faucets)

There's still a lot to do, but now you can really see how the whole thing will look.  It even has that new house smell already (it is totally a thing!)  This was the first time I had butterflies in my stomach going to see it - probably a combination of knowing that we're almost at the two week mark and that our townhouse is slowly starting to be cleared out (I think we got about 5 boxes packed now!  Shoot for the stars team!)  I snapped as many pictures as I could...was a little too in awe taking things in to remember to get everything...but here are some highlights



Kitchen
Ahhhhhhh!!! This is what I really went to see.  We sacrificed some other upgrades to get what is a dream kitchen and I couldn't be happier!  Right now I have 5 drawers total in my kitchen...in the new one I have 5 drawers just in my Island (which is currently sitting in front of the fireplace but will eventually curve around the front of the kitchen and have a little place for stools).  There's even a super skinny drawer all the way on the left hand side which will be perfect for bottles.  I won't know what to do with myself but it'll be fun filling up all of those cabinets

 

Loft Area

Have tried to show this space before but was hard without the banisters there to mark it off (these will be stained dark brown eventually).  One of the main reasons we picked this layout was to have this great space, and it gives the upstairs a much more open feeling when you walk up (which you can get a feeling of in the right hand picture)

Master Bathroom
I like Grayson checking out the new tub....the two things we looove about our new master bath - 1) the window above the bathtub (we have an interior unit so we have no natural light in our bathroom right now) and 2) The seat in the shower (I think I'm much more excited about that then Jon actually)

Master Bedroom
I'll try to get more pics of this space when we have the furniture in so you can see just how HUGE it is!  But wanted to grab some pics of Jon's big suggestion for this house - the Tray Ceiling.  Was really surprised and happy that they actually added crown molding to it...was sure that would have been an upgrade

So there you have it for now....probably won't get a chance to get more pics until we do our walk through - but you never know!  It looks like some people are getting ready to move in this week so curious to see if that actually happens, and we might be in the area again on Sunday....hmmmm

Does a bird live in it yet?

That's the question Blake asked me every 30 seconds while we made this craft....he's really excited for a bird to live in this little birdhouse we made together, but for now it's sitting next his Babba Fett alarm clock and dinosaur nightlight on the shelves in his room.

I found this little wood birdhouse for $3 in the Target "OneSpot" section and gave it to him for Easter.  He was really looking forward to painting it (and so was I).  I was going to have him just paint the raw wood, but thought if I gave it a base coat of paint it would turn into something really cute to display in the house in the spring.

So I gave it a quick coat of primer, and a coat of the leftover ceiling paint that we had (which is a tiny bit off-white and really flat so it made a great base).  I thought for a minute about painting it a fun color, but thought in the end the white would let Blake do whatever he wanted.

 

 

On the next Tuesday he was home from school (which was an incredibly rainy day so perfect for being crafty) I broke out the paints and the newspaper.  The birdhouse came with a tiny 3-pack of tempera paint, but those looked pretty dried out, so I bought some cheap bright acrylic paint instead.  I limited the colors to just 4 because I didn't want the whole thing to just end up brown when he inevitably mixed all of the colors together.  Overall we had a good time, with only one knocked over water cup!

Since he seems pretty adamant about putting this thing outside now, I bought a can of glossy acrylic sealer to give it a nice polished, waterproof coat.

So here's our finished product for now....will probably end up drilling some small holes in the top so we can hang it from a tree, but with all the rain I'm kinda hoping he's ok with it being an indoor birdhouse at least until we move.  Then we can ceremonially hang it somewhere outside and see if any winged friends take up residence.

Pie, Pumpkin, Pizza, Polenta.....and Lots of Lamb!

Yummy food pics from the last few weeks!  Since most of my dishes will soon be packed away and we'll be relegated to paper plates and leftover soon, this may be the last food post for a while (but just you wait...my double ovens and gas stove are just waiting to be installed!!!)

Brownie Pie....Proud of my walnut spacing proportions

Jon's Favorite Bday dinner...Braised Lamb Tacos

Also snuck in this reallly good Quinoa and Hearts of Palm Salad

Easy kids recipe..Cheese Tortellini w/Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

Getting close to having the perfect pizza crust timing figured out...

...but FINALLY mastered the perfect Fried Polenta!! Been living on leftover triangles and goat cheese for breakfast