Year ones comes to a close

Joe and I have now been homeowners for over one year!! I had completely forgotten it had been a full year until Joe brought it up a few days ago. This is the first time that neither one of us has had to pack and move to a new place in awhile! It feels wonderful to not only have a place to call home, but a place that we know will continue to be our home for the forseeable future. We have done a lot to our house since we first moved in, and I put together a few of the photos and a list of all our projects. In the next year or so we plan to knock out a lot of our large renovation projects i.e. renovating the master bathroom and kitchen, adding new stair railings and stone to the fireplace, and replacing all the windows and exterior doors.


1. Removal of all pre-existing landscaping to the front and back yards
2. Adding granite and new landscaping to the front yard
3. Painting all interior walls
4. Replacing all main living area lighting (foyer, dining, loft, living room)
5. Replacing sliding patio door with french doors (and painting them)
6. Replacing interior living room mini blinds with wood blinds
7. Removing and replacing all pre-existing carpeting
8. Adding laminate wood flooring in the loft
9. Renovating Guest Bathroom - replacing sink, paint color, flooring and hardware
10. Replacing front and backyard gates
11. Backyard renovation - paver patio, curbing, sod, side yard fire pit, granite around the curbing, adding palms and trees

There have been lots of smaller projects to spruce up things here and there as well. We were able to fill out a lot of our home with new furniture when Costco Home closed down and our new hobby, oil painting, is quickly filling up the walls with original art. We are very excited for our second year as homeowners and our upcoming fourth year as husband and wife!

Trees

Back in August, we made a run to Moon Valley Nursery and came back with some trees and palms to plant in our backyard. We also added granite rock around the curbing and sideyard/firepit area. I just realized I never posted any photos but couldn't run outside and take some because we are in the process of transitioning to winter grass.

These photos were taken just after planting and before the granite rock went in. You can see a Queen Palm on the left and the right and a Navel Orange tree to the right of the gate.

One of the Queen Palms.

A Mexican Fan Palm. I love our flagstone stepping stones- you can see them peeking out in the picture below.

We planted a Tipu Tree between our garage and our house. I'll have to take another photo of it because it has grown a lot since we first moved it. It is a fast grower and will bloom yellow flowers in the spring.

And here is how Jake and Joe dug the holes for all of these lovely trees!

Reclaimed Space

Let me preface this by reminding everyone who reads this that we have FOUR dogs. Our house is definitely not large enough for all of them, so we slowly tinker around with our set up trying to find a way to make living with them manageable for us and living with us manageable for them.

Lately, we have done quite a bit of tinkering. We set up a dog gate (extra tall) in our hallway to block access to the rest of the house. This gives us a nice, pen like space to put the Dobes when we don't want them to have free run of the house but we don't want to kennel them either. Look- it even has a small door small enough for just the pugs!


Then, we decided to reclaim the dog room as our own. We had used one of our extra bedrooms as a space to keep the dogs kenneled. However, we realized we could use the extra space and it was better to get used to having the dogs in the main living area since that is where they will ultimately need to be.

Where were we going to put the dogs? We ended up pushing our couch forward which solved two problems. First, it created the extra space we needed for Max's kennel (which is huge). Second, our living room rug now fits perfectly inbetween the couch and the entertainment console whereas previously there was a gap of tile.


So far, keeping the kennels in the main room of the house has worked for them and us. Joe recently found out that he is allergic to dogs and we have had to find ways to make living with FOUR dogs as undamaging to his health as possible. We have four air purifiers, an Animal Dyson and have also insisted upon a "No Dogs in any carpeted area" rule. More than anything, this rule has eased up on the allergens in the house because dust and fur are much easier to spot and clean on tile then on carpet where they linger in the fibers. An old, unused dog gate is now positioned on the stairs and keeps the dogs out of the loft as well.

So, how are the humans enjoying their new, extra space? Very much! We are using the extra bedroom as a studio and spend a lot of our down time painting. Eventually, this room will become the nursery but until then we are enjoying it for ourselves :)

Oils

Here is some more artwork that Joe and I have been working on. We spend a great deal of our time painting and reclaimed the dogs room (more on that later) and transformed it into a studio room for us.

Joe's Gargoyle

My Tiger Lily (work in progress).

Joe's Rose. This is his first painting.

Joe's portrait of the Dobermans (work in progress). I think he is doing a wonderful job!!!

Hobbies

It seems Joe and I are getting to that phase in life where we start developing new hobbies. Joe and I have most recently taken up oil painting. Our lovely friends George and Jeanine offered to let us come to their studio and give us a painting lesson. Since then, we've begun stocking up on supplies and spend quite a few days a week painting.

To do this, we cover our dining room table with a giant beach towel and set up our palettes, easels, canvas, medium, turpentine, brushes and oils. Then we're off!

Joe has been primarily painting roses and he has a work-in-progress Gargoyle. I have been sticking to landscapes and seem to end up with a beach scene no matter what I do. As our desire to paint has increased, so has our need for additional shelving to display our art work. We've already run out of room! Oil paints take time to dry- Mine take an espicially long time to dry since I tend to slather on the paint. This means that we have to find a place to display our finished artwork but also our works-in-progress while they dry.

Joe and I each have one finished painting. I have 3 pending paintings and Joe has 2. I'll post pictures as they start getting completed.

The painting above is one I finished last night. The only reason it was finished is because I did it in one sitting (as opposed to adding several layers). Joe has a beautiful rose painting which I need to take a photo of and then will post as well.

Pool

The kids came right at the beginning of the nasty heat wave we had in July. I've been so grateful for the cooler temperatures over the last few days (and so have my plants!). The kids spent a lot of time at the pool and all three went home darker then when we got them. Even Alec, so affectionately known as the Great White Hope by Joe, became more of the Great Cream Hope, by time he left.

A Frisbee, courtesy of Rachael's Dave & Busters winnings, provided the entertainment.

We had to stock up on pool accessories. I had to stock up on oxygen after trying to blow them all up.

Alec = Great White Hope

Rachael is throwing the frisbee-- Look! Over Brooke's head!

Relaxing. Cooling off. Burning to a little red, sun baked crisp.

The beach ball, Brooke, myself, Rachael and the frisbee.

Park Day

When the kids were here, we took the dogs to the park just down the street from our house. It ended up being too hot to let them play a lot, but Joe managed to get quite a few great pictures.

We were hot too -- I don't know why Alec, who burns the easiest, was sitting outside of the shade canopy.

Max and Sadie enjoying the shade too.

Look how big his tongue is!

Sadielicious
She blows kisses.. That puts them boys on rock, rock and they be linin down the block just to watch what she got!

My Dobes!

O-T-I-S. Number one, the original.

Sadie loves the grass. Laying it, rolling in it...

Oh, Baby Brady. He is adventerous enough to keep up with the Dobes, but he wears out quickly.

All four of my pups!! You'll notice Otis sat himself down right behind him, he is a Mommas boy for sure.

Just to show you how big Max is... bigger than me!!