Mike the Builder

My husband and I are in the midst of finishing our third home...and this will be the last time we build. It has been the never ending project. The inside is pretty much done, but the outside has taken forever!! Michael was the general contractor, and I was over the draws. He has put in hours and hours of work, and I know that I am not an easy gal to work for! This time around, he made me help prep, paint, sand, etc. and it was NOT my favorite. He likes to have projects and would probably build 10 more houses if I'd let him...but this is IT! Several of my friends and family who live away have asked me to send them pictures...so here is my effort.

The outside is James Hardy siding, which is NOT maintenance free.Michael really liked it and wanted to use it. He did all of the siding himself and will now paint it himself. We are testing colors and waiting for the weather to cooperate. It snowed yesterday. :(

I will post another picture when and IF we ever get the outside done...

This is the entry and the living room when you walk in the front door.

I obviously love yellow. If there ever were a happy color, yellow would be it. I wanted the sunny color to flood my home, and maybe it would positively influence our family...
Michael does live with 3 girls and having them happy is key.
If you turn to the right when you walk in you will go down a short hallway to our bedroom...

I love our doors!! I begged Michael for them and also whined until he cut out the windows above. He is the BEST! He likes them too, but he just didn't see what was so important about these doors in my mind. They remind me of older homes, and I just fell in love with them.

Anyway, the pics below are a few of our room. Again, another shade of yellow. Michael thinks I went a bit crazy with all of the shades of yellow, I may have...but I had yellow on the brain I guess. I have an armoire on the wall facing the bed and then we have built in cabinets in the area between the walk in closet and master bath in lieu of dressers.

This is a pic of the master bathroom. There is a soaker tub opposite the vanity and the toilet is in it's own little room. I really like our bathroom because we both have lots of room to get ready and I love my little vanity area! I sit there and primp and the girls primp, it's a useful area!!

From the entry, you enter the living room. It is kind of combined

with the kitchen, so we have a really nice big open space there for our family to spend time together, or to entertain our friends.

Kitchen...we have a dining room to the right of the bar area (looking at the above pic), but I couldn't get a good picture because of the large window. I'll put one up later because I LOVE the braided rug I bought to put under the table. It has all of the colors I've used to decorate and it really pulls the whole area together. I got it at a pretty decent price at Country Furniture & Gifts located at Gardner Village in Utah. Check it out ...http://www.gardnervillage.com/shops/index.php?ID=25 There are a ton of fun shops there and it is amazing during Halloween!! We are headed there this weekend to celebrate Wee Witches Weekend.

Kent VanOrden did my cabinets, and I think he did an amazing job! His shop did the oatmealish color custom for me. I choose the granite to pull it together with the contrasting black. Let me tell you how awesome distressed cabinets are. Your kids beat them up and it looks intentional! Although, the black can be a challenge...

The pic on the left is of our guest bath across from the kitchen. I LOVE my sink! I got it at Home Again in Utah. (A furniture store that is so fun ~ you need to go!) A friend from high school owns it, and I wish I could buy nearly everything there! She has used and refurbished pieces, new pieces, unique pieces, great accessories. It's right around the corner from Gardner Village. If you are interested, let me know and I'll get you the info. Anyway, I also put marble in this bathroom. I got it on a sweet closeout sale. I bought it and when I showed people, they thought I was nuts. Every piece is different and it is unique and fun.

Yep, I have red cabinets in my extra bath and laundry room. Not so shocking these days, a lot of people are doing them now. I can't say enough good things about my cabinets!! I can't really believe I'm displaying my laundry area as it is always cluttered. But, it is highly functional and those bins on the end hide a LOT of dirty laundry! I HATE laundry...it's my worst thing.
I want a laundress ~

Opposite from the washer and dryer is another bank of cabinets. There are benches, hooks for coats and bags, cubbies for shoes, and baskets that I put the laundry in so that each family member can put it away. I've never had a fully functional laundry room, so this is sweet!

There is one more room upstairs, the office. It is the room in which I sit now as I type. It has a ton of storage and is always the catch all room. I refuse to show you my disgraceful messes!! So, imagine instead a wonderful office that is clean organized, and doesn't have a stack of bills sitting atop a cluttered desk

The girls live downstairs...in the dungeon. DUM,DUM, DUM. Just kidding. It's a happy place too. You guessed! It's yellow ~ but pale yellow!! Michael fails to recognize the difference in my yellows. I'll post pics of the family room later because I'm doing a few things to it right now and am sick of posting pictures tonight.

First, the room of 4 year old Abbylicious, aka, Little Miss Drama:

Can you guess what her favorite color is? Yeppers! PURPLE! Sorry, the second pic is dark. Her Grandma Wendy painted on her wall for her and she LOVES it. The little door under the "tree" is a little playhouse under the stairs. It is great for stashing all of her babies, play food, princess outfits, and whatever else she hides in there! She also has an antique vanity dressing table that matches the dresser from the picture. You know? With a huge old mirror? She sits there and pretends to get ready for a concert and then, just like that, she's Abby Alabama (like Hannah Montana). She sings in the mirror and struts around her room. She's full of something for sure.

Olivia told me when she was 5 that she wanted a Paris bedroom. I don't even know where she discovered her love of Paris, but when I found this bedding at Bombay Kids (now out of business ~ BOO HOO!) I had to get it for her. I painted things on her walls that are displayed on the bedding. The fun black toy box/bench is from Home Again, and the bed and dresser are antiques that we refinished. Oooo La La!

Abby's bedding is from Bombay Kids too. They had the cutest stuff. Still not over it obviously. There's always eBay...

I already put some pictures up of the girl's bathroom...

So this is the quick tour of my house. We are FAR from unpacked! The garage and extra room downstairs are full of rubber containers that need to be sorted. Plan on attending a HUGE garage sale next summer!