New Home

Well, it's been over a year since we've updated the blog, but there have been a few huge changes in our lives that have been keeping us busy. Change #1 = We said farewell to our beloved barn with the Walkers, to enter into our next adventure, a new home! Ryan and I moved in to our new house around the first of the year, January 2010 and have been working on making it our own ever since!

We both wanted a bit more land, so our home is on .8 acres and backs up to open space. This is the front yard, and we now have a few fruit trees that are thriving, planted in this area.

This is our back yard, and it extends up the hill. We get all kinds of wild birds, coyotes, rabbits, foxes and deer back here. This time of the year we have seen buck and doe with their fawns ambling by on our back porch. It's beautiful, but we need to get a better system down to protect our garden!

Here are a few before and after pictures entailing the work we have been doing on the house. First, this was our entry way.

With the help of Atascadero Mutual Water company, we converted it to a dry-scape with flowers and lots of climate appropriate plants. Best of all, the entire area is watered by a recycled grey water system. Our washer hooks up to the drip line that extends to each of the planted areas.

We couldn't leave our chickens behind so Ryan built a coop and a big yard for them to scratch around in. We have nine ladies right now, so when they all start laying we will be searching out all the good egg recipes we can find...any suggestions?

This was the living room before. Notice the large sliding glass door. Right where the picture is being taken, there was a huge brick fireplace blocking the entryway and closing off the room.

Yep, that's about what it felt like, huge and right in your face.

Kitchen before, we really like the cabinets!

Kitchen-dining area afterwards.

This is the living room afterwards. First, Ryan took out the 10 foot sliding glass doors and put in french doors and side-light windows. Next he took out the huge fireplace that used to stand in the foreground where the small gray couch and rug is. That opened up the room and made it so much more light and cheery. He patched up the ceiling and added a light and fan there. We wanted the natural heating though, so recently he put in a slate hearth for a wood stove and a matching slate entry on the ground in front of the french doors. The fireplace is now located in the corner, the top, left of the picture (you can't see it in this photo).

This is the guest room before.

This is the guest room after. Thank you Granny (Carolyn) for decorating this room. She is amazing. We also replaced the old, single pane windows with double pane ones in the entire house. It made an immediate difference in heat retention and has been great both through the winter and now in the summer.

Guest bathroom before...

Guest bathroom afterwards! Ryan had the vision for this room and our good friend Dave helped him tile the floor.

Well, there you have it! A quick update on Change #1. both Ryan and I have been hard at work on our home. There have been lots of big projects, and lots of little projects that we have managed to squeeze in around work this past year. Thankfully, we've managed to have quite a few other memorable times, weddings, backpacking, spending time with friends and family, along the way.

And as if that weren't enough to keep us occupied, wait till you hear about Change #2! I promise you won't be waiting another year to find out, I'll let you in on the secret soon! ; )