New Floors on our Second Floor

 For the last three years we have rented our precious house in Littleton, and knew when we returned we would want to start to make some changes.  We allowed our renters to have cats in the house knowing that we were going to rip out the carpets, but with Finley, Cainan and I all being allergic - that had to happen before we moved back into the house.

We have spent months looking for the right floor and we finally found it.  We wanted something that had various shades in the boards.  Something that had knots and rustic flair.  Something not shiny and not too dark and not too light, and I think we found it.

We hired a local company to do the flooring (and they will be doing our major remodel in the spring - stay tuned!) and they did a phenomenal job.  And quickly.

We put the hardwood floors (the are true hardoowd, Hickory, 5 inch wide boards) in our master bedroom, hallways, and Finley and Cainan's bedrooms.  Arlington's room got new Carpet (she is on a different floor and we just decided that soon this will be a guest room, so we held off putting wood there)  It looks GOREOUS.  Here is the process;

When the floors arrived, they had to spread them out in two rooms because of their weight.  We received all the floor we will need for second floor and our first floor project.

The floors are removed but so are the baulsters!  Glad we aren't staying here

They started the lay the floor and it is looking amazing.  This is going into the master closet

Project is complete!  We are very pleased.

Arlington's Room

We also decided to save some money on the stairs (and when I say some, I mean thousands), and have them restained, handrails painted, and new bausters put in.  Our installers did a great job matching the stair stain to the rest of our floors.  We did an oil based black paint on the railings (I don't really me we - we had this all done professionally), and put in new wrought iron bausters.  Look amazing.  We are so pleased and it has completely transformed the house.

Matching the stairs to the flooring was tough, but we are pleased with the result

Baulsters are in!

In March our entire first floor (except for the bathroom) is getting gutted and redone.  New floors!  New kitchen!  New mudroom!  Walls coming down!  IT is going to be amazing.  We have been working tiressley with our contracting company and architect, and the plans are really coming together.  Stay tuned.

Christmas 2020

 Well, as much as I was hoping by the time we got to this Christmas we would be out of Covid, out of travel restrictions, and able to see family - sadly that was not meant to be.  We were really hoping to travel to Pennsylvania this year for the first time in 3 years, but it wasn't to be.  Hopefully next year.

We had a nice quiet Christmas at the rental.  We are only in this house a few more days and then we will at the house permanently.  The house is undergoing a transformation as we speak- our entire second floor is getting new wood flooring!  That is a post for another time.

We played several games of Pandemic Legacy and our new board game for this year Scythe (took us DAYS - but it was great)

We made cookies and watched movies, and enjoyed our time together.  Kids got a lot of great presents. 

Early December Catch Up

 Arlington has been busy working, and we are busy going back and forth between the rental and our house moving things in from our storage unit.  Finley and Cainan are still in the hybrid schooling, and will remain that way at least until the spring.  Lots of running around these days now that we have our house to organize on top of everything else.

This is our ornament this year.  Seems fitting

                   Scooby is not sure what to make of us going back and forth between two houses.

This year the kids wanted Advent Calendars.  Cainan picked Marvel, Arlington Harry Potter, and Finley Pokemon

Mat tore down our old playset at the house.  It is time.  It will be nice to have the yard open

Arlington has also passed her driver's permit!  The Swiss don't drive until age 18, so she did not have the "right of passage" at the age of 16 like other American kids.  She is excited to start to learn to drive.  We figured we would use her winter break from college for her to start to get some practice.  We also bought her a car so that she can have it to take back to school next year.  And there was no way she was driving our two cars.  Just sayin'

We got a lot of snow, and having to plow out the rental and the house wasn't the best, but not terrible.  It looks pretty

Mat started to organize his home office with all of his collectibles.  The amount is enormous.  Here is a taste

Scooby did so many errands with me around town and back and foth between the rental and the house.  He was a trooper.  He actually fell asleep when I turned the heated seat on for him.

Thanksgiving Weekend

 This year, we are still in our rental for Thanksgiving, however, we do have access to our house.  We don't mind knowing that our house is getting ready for flooring installation and then our final move in.

We don't eat Turkey, so we had Chicken for Thanksgiving, and played some board games.  Then over the weekend we all headed over to our house to start paiting Finley's room.  She and Arlington both want to change their rooms from the browns we painted the walls when the renters moved in.  Finley was a huge help with her room and painted almost the whole thing with me.

Semester One Complete

 Today I picked Arlington up from college.  First semester classes are complete and because of the ongoing Coronavirus, her dorm had to be completely emptied so the school can deep clean over the holidays.  She will be moving to a new dorm next semester anyway (a lot more kids are coming back to campus, so everyone is moving) so no choice but to grab the entire amount of stuff she has accumulated and bring it home.

I went alone to pick her up because there was no way to fit it any other way.  Mat was working, so I volunteered.  It went rather quick, and now she is home and settled in.  She has some finals over the next few weeks and then is off until her January class begins (remotely).  She doesn't return to campus until February first.  

Returning Home

 Today - for the first time in 3 years and 3 months I am standing in our home.  Our renters have finally moved out and the house is now ours.  This coming year the house will go through a huge transformation, but for now I just relish in the fact that it is now back in our posession.  Such a relief.

Celebrating 23 years of Marriage

 Today Mat and I celebrate being married for 23 years.  23 years of moving to many places, traveling, kids, animals, houses....endless memories together.  We started dating when we were 15/16 years old in 1991 and next year will celebrate 30 years of being together.  Twice as long as we weren't.  Hard to believe.

We did go out to a nice dinner tonight to celebrate.  Delicious steak and dessert to wrap up a day that I will always treasure.