Interior Pics: Kitchen and Family room

Here's a few shots of our kitchen:

And a longer angle of the family room and kitchen:

Here's the family room:

There's so many more things I want to do and buy and decorate, but I'm definitely trying to be really patient and make good choices.  I'd rather wait and get things I want vs cluttering up the rooms with stuff I don't love.  I do love this cute little yellow sofa table I have behind my couch.  When Cami was here over Christmas she painted it for me.  It's so much cuter than it used to be.  I love having such a talented sister in law that lives relatively close!

Interior Pics: Entry way, living room and dining room

This is the view when you walk into my house from the front door.  You can see into the family room on the right, and the kitchen is on the left.

When you enter and look to the immediate right, you will see our formal living room:

 

And to the immediate left you will see our formal dining room:

This is the view of the front door and entry area from the family room:

Tile Work

The guys from Monterrey Tile who helped me pick out my tile choices asked if I would send them some pictures of the finished work.  Here's some of the shots I sent them:

Kitchen backsplash:

Powder bathroom:

Girls' Jack and Jill bathroom:

Master tub:

Master shower:

Of course we all know that Jerry, the guy who actually DID the tile work was the real genius behind this.  He was such a great sub and his work speaks for itself!

Christmas on Plum Court

Somehow we managed to move two weeks before Christmas and still have an amazing Christmas season!  I kept the decorations pretty minimal and focused instead on fun with the family.

Here's the living room:

And the kids in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve:

Our kitchen dining area, proudly displaying our Christmas cards from dear friends and family:

Our bookshelf with some decorations on the lower shelves and the gingerbread houses the kids made:

And finally a shot of the tree and mantel:

 

It was a truly Merry Christmas indeed!

Blogging to you live from...my new office

Well obviously I've been MIA for a while.  The past few weeks have been so incredibly crazy and busy.  We've officially lived in our house 9 days, we moved our stuff in on Dec 5-6 and slept here for the first time on Dec 6.  Well Stephen actually slept here on the 5th to guard our stuff that we had already moved in.  We had our first final inspection on Nov 26, two days before Thanksgiving.  It did not pass, which is pretty typical for a first inspection.  Because of the holiday and the busyness of some of our subs we weren't able to fix everything requested and call for a second inspection until Dec 3.  I was present for this one and feeling pretty good, I knew everything on the list had been accomplished and they are only supposed to re-check the list.  However, we got the bad fortune of getting one of Gilbert's most notoriously difficult inspectors for this inspection.  I gave him the original failed inspection report but he decided to start from the beginning.  Apparently this is not really legal, but he claimed that the original inspector didn't fully complete our original.  Sounded pretty fishy to me but you sure have to play nice since they hold all the power.  So he failed us and gave us an entirely new list of things to fix.  I nearly had a heart attack!  We scrambled really fast after he left and our subs were so good to come in either that day or early the next morning and fix the requested items.  I'm using the term "fix" very loosely, they are just stupid little things that have no bearing on whether a house is functional or safe and they are very individualized to whatever inspector you get.  So frustrating.  So I was able to call for my THIRD final inspection for the very next day, Wednesday Dec 4.  I was a nervous wreck during the entire thing.  My nephew Kelton came down for the week to help me and was trying to keep my calm but it wasn't really working.  After 3 failed inspections you have to start paying for them to come back, plus I just really needed to get into my darn house!  (Side note: Paul and Heather got married in my backyard of my old house 2 days after Thanksgiving and were going to be renting that house.  They were living separately until we moved out because they couldn't fit all 7 of their kids in either of the houses they were living in, plus they didn't want to move twice...so a little bit more pressure or incentive for us to move out!!)
Anyway, at the end of the third inspection Kelton and I were standing near the inspector in the garage watching him fiddle with our electrical panel sending out mass prayers, when he turned around with a smile and said "You Passed."  I nearly hugged him.  For real. 
And with that, we were given the green light to get moving.  And we did.  And we haven't really stopped since.  The house is beautiful and amazing and we feel incredibly lucky to be here.  I will start posting more pictures of some of the final stages soon. 

Other highlights

Our faucets have been going in, which is fun.  This is Alyssa's bathroom:

This is the master sink:

The glass guys also installed all the mirrors and glass shower enclosures.  This is Jaren's bathroom:

The precast guy also began framing in the hood over the stove top, and Jerry also started the backsplash.  ALL the countertops are finally installed as well as all the sinks and faucets.  It looks like a house!!

 

Paint!

Yesterday was very exciting, the exterior of the house was painted.  I have been pretty nervous about this color.  I knew it was a little bold, but I love yellow tones so much and I'm so sick of all the brown and beige homes around here.  It's kind of a beige/yellow and I love it.

Weston also stained the exposed beams in the office, which looks great.

Today the electricians are hard at work installing all the exterior lighting.  The solar guys are putting the panels on the roof, the plumbers are putting all the fixtures in and the precast guy is supposed to be finishing up the columns.  Our hope is to call for the final inspection for Monday or Tuesday.  Crossing my fingers that we hit that deadline!