Monday, September 7, 2009

The Great Unveiling: The Unit

One quick announcement: this is officially post #200 in my blog. I just popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate. I know you're wondering, it's Andre. Only the finest for blog milestones such as this one.

Okay, okay. I slacked off big time. But here are the pictures I've been promising for so long. I'll start with all the move-in pictures so you can see what we were up against. Then we will get to the post-move-in, pre-finished pictures, which is where we currently stand. Or sit, really. I wouldn't write this blog standing up.

Things left to do include:

1. Finishing--more realistically, starting--the guest room/study. We need to find a bed and either one big desk or two small desks to go in there. Right now, it is packed full as our storage room. Outlook appears hopeless. Not pictured below: mess in guest room.



2. Getting all of our art on the walls. Hard to do when you're not sure where all the furniture, etc., is going to end up. But I think we've waited long enough. Main issue: too much wall space, not enough art.

3. Getting either a love seat or a chaise lounge for the living room. One couch just doesn't cut it for the GHS (Gross Household Seating) level when you want to have social events.

4. Getting a TV stand for our newly re-acquired big screen (the original TV from last year's condo is now in our possession, free of charge).

So, without further ado, the pictures!


The living room on moving day.



Dining room on moving day.


The first meal in the house. Picture isn't perfect, but it was phenomenal. We had tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, and balsamic glaze as an appetizer. For dinner, Melissa made a chicken pasta pesto. A+.




The kitchen on moving day...though it looks much worse now so I won't post current shots. We had a busy weekend.



The guest bathroom on moving day. You can barely catch a hint of the horrendous shower curtain that was included with the condo. Quickly removed.


The guest bathroom currently. With our own southwest-themed curtain, etc.



Not naming names, but one of us tuckered out a little early on Day 1.



Master bathroom on moving day.


Master bedroom on moving day. The balcony outside the door connects the guest room to the master.


Master bedroom, looking at entrance and 'hallway' with closets on either side leading to master bath.


The master bedroom, as it currently stands. The end table on my side of the bed is missing due to pseudo-man cave construction, to be pictured shortly.


And now for the downstairs in its current state.


The living room, as viewed from the stairs just inside the front door (front door would be immediately to the left as you descend the stairs).



The pseudo-man cave. I say 'pseudo' because it's really not a cave, but a real live living room. And basically the only room in the house, since it's all opened up. But this was my college football Saturday set up. Sadly, our Hokies couldn't pull out the big win against Alabama. We couldn't even look good trying. But the gurus seem optimistic about the season still, so I will hold my tongue.



The dining room, complete with a Melissa doing homework.



Looking from the dining room into the living room/fireplace area.


The last thing to include is maybe the greatest part of the house. At least it will be once the weather improves in a few months. Our 'waterfront' back patio.


Deacon followed me around helping with the photos.


This is our living, breathing, fruit-bearing lime tree.


Looking the other way, back into the house.


The tree-obstructed, road-leaping waterfront vista.


Well, that's all she wrote. Welcome to our home. If you want a better look at it, you'll have to come visit and see for yourself. There is a chance we will be doing guided tours via webcam by appointment only.

3 comments:

Julie said...

hooray! Thanks for giving the people what they want!
The place looks great.... I expect updated pictures when you've completely set the place up (art, guest bedroom & all)... I get a free pass for not being able to see it in person this year.
p.s. why 2 TV's in the living room?? will one eventually go in the bedroom?

Sam Says said...

We will definitely take more photos once the place is finished. We are having trouble figuring out what to do with our artwork. We bought mostly small prints and frames because it was cheaper, and we had smaller walls in the old apartment. Now, it all looks dwarfish.

The two TVs was just temporary for the college football opening weekend. The smaller one is in the bedroom now.

Julie said...

Well, I'm glad to hear you moved that 2nd TV to the bedroom... if Tim found out you had 2 TV's in your living room, I'm afraid our basement would need to be upgraded!

Anyway, I'm impressed at how much progress has been made in setting the new apartment up already... nice work!