the latest on the house

so the house addition is pretty much ready for her...

the people who designed it & built it maybe knew they were part of something more than just a job and maybe they didn't.  but they were.  creating a new space in this world for a little girl...to be warm & fed & loved...oh loved so much!  i wonder if they know they were a part of something so wonderful.  i sometimes wanted them to & even once showed a picture of lena to a guy working, trying to explain to one of the framers that all of this was for her....let's just say things were lost in translation & he just wanted this crazy lady to leave him alone so he could finish his work:)  

lots of small details are still undone...the ones that eventually matt & i will get to.  things like hanging the blinds on windows & hooks in the bathroom for towels & oh, any decor whatsoever:)  but, for the most part it is done & we love love love it.
the whole thing started with needing a place for our sweet lena.  then our neighbor & architect & now friend, did an incredible design that was better than we could've imagined.  we entered into this project hardly knowing how to change a lightbulb & the other day i was talking about "quarter round" & actually knew what i was saying.  our builders at penny lane were more than patient with these novice folks who know nothing about building or the process...especially with me!  (anyone who says there are no dumb questions wasn't around for all of my questions during construction)

through all the white powder & cluelessness, it turned out so great & i am just thankful.  thankful that God has provided more than we need, thankful for the pitter-patter of little feet that run through this place now & hopeful for new sounds to come...sounds of giggling lena & rolling wheelchair through this little place in the world.

there are not very many "before" pictures, but i tried to do a few for comparison:

before -- behind garage

after -- behind garage, now lena's bathroom/room

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before -- looking at back of house

after -- looking at back of house

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before living/dining

after living/dining (the hallway to the right goes to lena's bathroom & room)

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before living/dining (behind me in this pic is a door to garage & wall)

after living/dining (if you compare to the pic above, i would be standing at the white column between the 2 orange pillows...as you can see, definitely not a garage anymore:))

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these windows & below were the garage door, facing the road

looking upstairs that go to matt & i's room/bathroom

view from the stairs of addition looking down to existing living/kitchen.  i always put clean clothes to fold on the couch & the set up of the renovation is funny to me because when i come down the stairs i can simultaneously see all the dishes that need to be cleaned in the sink & all the clothes that need to be folded on the couch:)

matt & i's bathroom.  first time in 10 years of marraige that we've had more than 1 bathroom that had 1 sink.  in this new bathroom we have 2 sinks...we actually brush our teeth at the same time!  thanks ikea.

our bedroom.  it is lofted to lena's room.  eventually the plan is to have some sliding doors in front of the railing to be able to have the option to close or open the loft...a project for later.

looking over into lena's room from our room. (we have a toddler bed in there right now, but we will borrow a crib from a friend it is all she's ever known &

 another shot of lena's room from her entry way

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