mi casa es su casa

well, we moved in nearly 7 months ago and i figured it's about time to give you a little tour of our house since everything's unpacked and projects are slowly getting checked off the list.  luke, of course, still has a to-do list that's a mile long, including building a garage and putting tons of energy in the garden, but for now, installing heat pumps, and blowing insulation into the attic will have to do it for him.  we've not only enjoyed getting settled into the neighborhood, but have  loved having a place to call our own, as up to this point, our home as been out of backpacks in south america, parents' homes, house sitting or our wonderful time at the swoopy roof house with roommates.  this is the first time in our married lives that it's been just us!  we're also having fun picking out all the little details/fixing things just the way we like them to be.  come on in- no need to take your shoes off at the door.

 when we moved in, we had electrical radiant heat in the ceiling, which was about the most inefficient thing you could imagine.  heat rises, after all.  after a few months of exorbitant heating bills and an energy audit by Energy Trust of OR, luke installed this ductless heat pump.  bonus: it also doubles as an AC for that ONE week in the summer when temperatures will be over 80!

 our living room is the place we spend the most time: greeting our day, hanging out with friends, playing with our niece/nephew, playing music, etc.  we have a huge window that currently looks out at our chicken coop, but will soon look out over the garden.  we call our four hens our entertainment, as they're just as much fun to watch as TV. 

 moving on to my favorite part of the house: the kitchen.  i love the red accent tile!  below, next to the stove, used to be a small cabinet half that size that smelled terribly.  during the summer, when i was making salsa, i realized we needed more counter space.  we knocked it out and replaced it with one from the rebuilding center, topped with a great slab of marble.

 and then we come to this sweet little room that used to only house the washing machine.  now, it's my pantry, prep space, cookbooks, spice rack, and laundry room.  i am in love with the reclaimed barnwood that luke found and used for the wall.  this room also is filled with repurposed things, like the cabinet from DIY Cabinets and the marble slab was a reject piece from one of our local stores. our pot/pan holder is a bike wheel that we mounted and can now hang from.  our wine glass holder?  an old rake!

and then comes the bathroom, which we tiled (would you believe that i didn't know how to tile before we got this place?  then, i ended up doing multiple rooms with lots of help.  it was one of the biggest ways that i felt i could contribute to all the projects.) 

bedroom: a few notable things here are the quilt on our bed made with love by many for our wedding!  also, i love the shelf that luke made with more of that barnwood.  not pictured here are the curtains that i sewed this week... (i'm learning how to sew!)

our room has two other bedrooms, but one is the permanent guest room and the other houses our computer and canned goods.  i haven't really spent much time making either of those spaces something special.  

well, there you have it.  coming soon will have to be a tour of outside as we get the garden beds going.  today, i spotted my first daffodil, so that means spring is coming and with that news, i let out a huge exhale, ready to breathe in all the new life that's coming our way.