Dining Room Table

While we were home after the honeymoon we decided it was time to buy a table for the dining room. We looked around and almost bought a large, marble topped table with leather chairs. We knew it would be heavy and hard to move but we liked it. We decided we would buy it but first, we wanted to check another store to see if they had the table for a better price. We walked in and couldn't find the table, but found a completely different table that caught our eye. After some debate we decided that this new table was the one that was meant to be. So we bought it, picked it up and put it together once we got home.

As with the TV stand, Steph took the lead and began putting the table together. It was actually pretty easy. The table sits on top of a center stand, instead of having four legs. So we just had to put together the stand, which has some storage space and a wine rack, and mount the table top to it.

First here's Steph putting the stand together.

Pretty easy. It only took about a half hour to put the stand togther. Luckily, my parents showed up to look at the table and my dad assisted in lifting the table top onto the stand.

The chairs also had to be assembled, which was my job. That was definitely a pain in the ass. That's why there are no pictures, because I was frustrated and cussing the chairs out! We had people over the night we bought the table and Rick and Travis each put one together. Garrett also helped put one together.

The final result looks pretty nice, I'm definitely happy with our choice.

TV Stand

One night we decided to re-arranging the living room. Yes already we are re-arranging our house! So out went the purple, leather couch that was given to us by Mike and Andrea ...

... even though it was pretty comfy and I'm a fan of leather ... Steph had another idea of what might be a better fit for the room and what might look a little better. So we moved the other couches we had stashed out of their hiding spots and put them around an area rug we bought at Target. The room was instantly changed!

Then, at the late hours of the night we completed the new layout. We decided the TV looked a little ghetto sitting on a coffee table and that was not the look we were going for. So we went on a late night/early morning run to Wal-Mart to see what we could find. We wanted to get our new layout done ASAP so we could have all our friends over. Luck would have it that they had exactly what we were looking for, a TV stand for a corner spot. We were ready to start watching movies but of course, it had to be put together first. This was our first chance to use the new tools we bought with the Home Depot gift cards we received for the wedding.

There are some tools in there, we promise!
So we got on to putting the TV stand together ...

Excited to use the new tools, Steph took the lead building the stand and I just watched ...

... until it was put together and heavy. At that point it was my turn.

We had specifically looked for a TV stand that would fit nicely in a corner, as we thought this was the best place for the TV to go. When it all got put together it looked pretty nice!

Post Wedding Updates

Man, the house (or at least the front portion of it) is really coming together. With all the wonderful gifts we received for our wedding our kitchen is pretty much complete and ready to use. The living room and dining area is now all set and has already been used as we had most of the group over to hang out before we left for Ohio. Since our last update we've had a lot of additions. Unfortunately we didn't take a a whole lot of pictures of every step but we have tried in the last few weeks to take as many as possible.

This first after wedding post actually happened before the wedding.

When we got home for the wedding Stephs cousin Matt had a great and very important wedding gift for us - a new AC unit and the use of his crane to lift it on to the roof!

That's Matt's son Chase in the operators chair and, yea, he's actually operating the crane ... you'll see! But meanwhile .. Garrett looking confused!

And there it is, Matt giving Chase the directions. He actually worked it pretty smoothly, without any close calls or scary moments.

Smoothly up over the house .... and onto the roof!

Big Update - Lots of pictures!

First, Geoff replaced the toilet in the master bathroom. Voila!

He also started on the built in shelving ... and finished.

Steph decided the kitchen needed to be started, and began painting before the range came in.

The mess of a sink that Geoff created ....

The guest bedroom is finished!

Meanwhile ... Tiffany painted the fireplace....

... and Billy and Garrett trimmed the tree in the front!

Then they installed the range ..

... and Geoff pretended to be working on the new master showerhead ...

Then Geoff stopped pretending to do stuff and just stood around!

To wrap it up.. the sink miraculously cleaned itself! JK, Steph and Jacque teamed up on it.

After we cleaned up a bit we brought Shadow over for her first visit. She was timid at first, but eventually was walking around like it was her house.

The House is Comin Along

The kitchen isn't really that clean, except for the floor (thanks mom!), but it looks pretty nice in this pic for some reason.

On Sunday Matt came over and did a good job painting a lot of the trim. This corner is in the kitchen, pretty clean!

Here's the little temporary fridge we finagled. It keeps my water, beer and milk cold so I have no complaints!

Here's Matt finishing painting.

After he painted the trim we decided to put the handle on the front door. We had been needing to drill a hole through the door to install the handle and since you can't really mess that up, we had Matt do it!

Yup, he's actually using a measuring tape. Something I probably would not have done...


It didn't take long before he had the whole thing installed. I'm working on getting the video turned, but for now you'll just have to tilt your head!

On Monday night I decided to try and get my office finished. This entailed painting the rest of the trim, edging the tops and bottoms of the walls and painting the shelving unit. I thought I had taken more pictures of the process but apparently I didnt!

By next update I hope to have the shelving unit finished and the master bathroom finished!