Settling in

Fun Fact: I have moved at least once during each of my pregnancies. With Claire and this new little unnamed munchkin, I have moved twice.

The nesting instinct has served me well.

When I was pregnant with Claire, nesting helped me rip out walls and carpet and baseboard in 90 degree heat without air conditioning.

This time, it helped me move in. Fast. And all I had to do was place furniture and hang pictures [much of it with help from my mom]. And that, friends, is much more fun than ripping out walls [which mom also helped with. but I'm pretty sure didn't like doing that.].

We don't have any fancy furniture so there's nothing special about our house except that it's neat and it's tidy and it's ours.

Do you know how much easier it is to clean a bathroom or mop the floors in your own house? I think I can count on one hand the number of times I mopped the floors of the apartment we just moved from. I know. Disgraceful. I shouldn't admit that. But it didn't look any better clean than dirty. So why bother?

I wanted to thank all of you for posting your suggestions for the layout of my bizarre living room. Someday when I have the right furniture, I will implement them. Until then, here are some photos of what we've got [and be patient with the house--we still need new doors and closet doors and blinds and such]:

{Living Room}

{Dining Room from Living}

{Master Bedroom}

{Girls' Bedroom}

{Girls' Bedroom--Framed hangings courtesy Lorraine}

{Study nook from entry--our next project!}

{think built-in desk and shelves and cabinets a la younghouselove.com}

This house has come a long way.