Wednesday, August 26, 2009

home sweet home

Amazing! The change that has happened in our family over the last 2 weeks. For starters we moved 2 1/2 weeks ago. One day after we moved we closed on our house, and the next day bought the land we will build our new house on. The day after that we started the process of clearing our land. With help from friends and family we estimated we cut over 250-300 trees. Ranging from 2-16 in diameter. Some friends taking the wood for fire and burning the rest. Ten days later 3 of my 4 kids went to school. Leaving me at home with one little Suzy. The first time in all of my mom career that I have had one 3 year old all alone.

And just yesterday we got our Internet finally!!! It's been a little busy to blog, but I've missed you friends. So here's a look of our rental while we build....




A look into our bedroom....Suzy fast asleep. The shelving we used to use in our laundry room...now serve as a closet very well. There is one small closet in the room that I use for some of my hang up clothes.
There's not exactly room for our night stands...so I'm happy the exposed wood beams can help me out with shelving.
In our living room a book shelf from our basement serves as a linen closet just perfect.
Here is one view of the kitchen.
Here is a look into our living room, the office desk is on the right.
In the kitchen I have a set of shelves I got from my friend Kim's garage sale that serves as a pantry.
This is the west wall of our living room. Three closets, Donovan uses one for his clothes, the 2nd closet is cookbooks, my bill paying binders, church backpack, and other misc . The 3rd closet looks like this in the inside......
Each child has a shelf. And the bottom of the closet is our shoe crisis we've always had. I need to work on that....but not today. The striped containers used to be in my laundry room, and now work well as a sock/underwear container for each child.
The end of that wall used to be just open. Donovan built 2 rods into that space and strung a wire that I clipped a curtain onto. To be closed when we don't need to see it. It works for the kids hang up clothes very well.
Here's a look of the ladder that Donovan built going up to a loft, the wood he got from his brothers barn...so free! He also built railing that will later be taken off and turned into canning shelves in our new home. The first door is our bathroom, the second door is our bedroom. The door on the very right is the front door to the the porch.
Here is a look into the loft. Never used as a loft...but working well for us. The carpet was a remnant that we got free from a local flooring shop. :)

A view looking down from the loft.

We love our new little cabin. There is a downstairs....that if you go outside you can get to. So it does not work for us to use that as bedrooms because of the age of our kids. This rental is usually used as a duplex. But it works well as a 2nd living room to store our furniture, an office for Donovan and storage. It is so nice to have a place to store things. But there's LOTS of things that are still needed to be stored and that is snug in Donovan's parents house and our previous neighbor's basement. Still other garage junk being stored in brother Jon's barn. We are hoping to complete our building project by the end of December but may take until February. So thankful for this place we call home right now. Thank you to Al and Donna for renting it to us, with no paperwork, commitment of how long we have to be here, etc. And by the way this rental is for sale, if your in need of a little cabin. But the agreement the owners have is that you have to rent to us until we've completed our building project. :)

Yesterday the basement was dug, and the footer is going in this morning. Things are moving right along, and we are totally excited!! It is such a blessing to be able to do this. More pictures to come tomorrow.

2 quotes of the day:
(see what you get when I skip blogging....2 for the price of one)
From Jack the other night....
"mom, this cabin is SO cool you can sit at the table eating and see the T.V. if it was on."
From Suzy....
Suzy: "Mom, do I put my dishes in the dishwasher?" (while putting them in the sink.)
Me: "Suzy that is called a sink not a dishwasher...Mommy is the dishwasher now."

10 comments:

krista said...

Thanks for the tour, Heather. You have made very well use of the space, which I knew you would. I feel like I can picture you all there now! Have a good day!

Holly said...

Yes, thanks for the tour! I can't wait to come see it! Maybe we could have Thanksgiving dinner @ your place this year. :o) It looks so cozy! How exciting you got your internet back! I keep checking EVERY day to see when you might have blogged. As for the quote about the dishwasher...really? I don't believe you are the dishwasher! heehee I thought Isabella, Jack, & William were & Suzy did the laundry (or at least did the folding). :o) hehe Thanks for blogging! I love to read them!

Stacey said...

Love the tour of your cute cabin! I love the way you make it your "home" for now. You have a really neat way of making the most of what you have! Can't wait to see progress on the new house, praying for you guys!

Jen Bontrager said...

That's the cutest cabin I've ever seen. Looks like you've made it your own!

Anonymous said...

wow! i can't believe you guys are so on it already w/ the new place! awesome

the cabin almost has an extended vacation feel to it--you did great w/ making home. loved the pictures

Bobbie said...

LOVE IT!!!! As expected.....as cute as can be!!! You have such talent!!!! I am sooo happy that you have internet again....I felt lonely without your blogs!!!
I can not believe that your house is already that far a long!!! I am excited for you all!!! LOL!!!

Jewel said...

Wow, what a great looking cabin!!! It looks like you have made it fit for your family perfectly! You are so creative & useful! Is this place in Middlebury? Are you building in Middlebury? I bet it'll be nice to be in a place that you know you'll be staying in for good tho!!!

Kim said...

Heather, it was so good catching up today and letting the girls play! I am so glad they will be friends! And you have done an amazing job of space management in your log cabin space. Nothing but the bare necessities! I feel your pain and excitement at the same time! :)

sherri said...

It's even cuter than you described...and you have made it look and feel so cozy and organized. Love it! You'll never forget your little rental by the lake.

cheryl said...

It is cute. I'm sure the coziness may feel like a bit much when there are 4 little people doing what they do best, but it still looks nice. It will be a fun memory. Way to maximize your space and still have a nice home.