welcome {home}

Photo By: Ashley Otte

We've been living in our new {red} home for a little over 2 months now . . . + we're loving it!  Many of our close friends + family know that we relocated from Owatonna, MN to the DSM area starting with me last November {2010} and Nick followed in the spring.  We fortunately sold our home in Minne in March + a job for Nick in DSM followed shortly after.

Why We Built:
The original home search started out with Nick telling me that we weren't going to do brand new - we'd look at something established and go from there.  Well. . . .then our realtor took us to all these brand new homes that were so shiny + clean!  The only thing most of them are missing is a finished basement, but that really wasn't a huge deal to us.  We found a house we like to refer to as {the Michael} house because it was on Michael Ct. in Ankeny . . . clever, right!?  We LOVED it . . . but this was before we had sold our Minne house + before Nick had a job in IA.  The realtor + builder were to keep in close communication to let us know if it was getting close to being sold . . . well of course that didn't happen + before we knew it we're trying to take another walk thru + the basement is being finished + it's SOLD!  Nick + I both loved the floor plan of {the Michael} + once the Minne house sold + he had a job here, we decided to put in an offer to build a house similar to {the Michael}.  We used the same floor plan, but made it a little bigger + got to pick out all the final details, such as the red siding, antique white cabinets + hickory wood flooring.  It was so much fun - we wanted a {country} feel!  Not sure if Nick would build again, but I would!

Come on In:

Here's one thing we changed from {the Michael} - their built-in wasn't as functional as this one.  We decided to do a bench at a perfect height to sit and tie shoes for adults or little ones - the bench seat also lifts up to store gloves/hats + Mitsy things.

A funny picture of Nick in our kitchen the night of our final walk-thru, but you can see the back-splash, cabinet color, paint color + granite countertops well!  Nick also had us put in a gas stove - very {country} + different!  We love it -- so much easier to clean than the glass top stoves.


Here's a view looking into the dining + kitchen.  Some of my favorite pieces is the kitchen table {bench on other side} + the wine rack on the wall . . . so cool - thank you, Jane for that!

Here's a view of Nick enjoying the living room!  Check out those blinds - real wood blinds purchased from Select Blinds!  Awesome website with great deals - so easy to install.  We had surround sound put in the living room, so Nick is definitely loving that during this football season.  It was something we had in our main living room + basement in Owatonna so definitely needed it again.  I'm actually falling in love with it + am a little bummed we didn't do it in our bedroom too -- yes we watch a TON of t.v.!

Another cool thing we added were the {night-lights} or stairway lights - I just thought they were really cool.  Nick leaves them on every morning for me . . . kinda cute now that it's still somewhat dark out when we get up + around for work.  Plus, they will be a good thing for little kids - I already have talked to an electrician to add a couple more in the hallway upstairs!

My {FAVORITE} Room:
So can you guess my favorite room!?  The laundry room . . . it's nice to have clean clothes!  Ok, the real reason it's my favorite is because it has this amazing folding table + a high shelf to hang from when drying items.  Nick loves his t-shirts to be folded a certain way, the way his {mom} did it, so I told him I needed this table to do it.  :)







Be Our Guest:

Here's a view of the {guest} room.  We had this room painted as well - I was going for a more grey color, but it turned out more blue.  I still enjoy it + I absolutely love this bedding . . . I sure had to beg for it!  It's one of my favorites from West Elm.  A reason we went with this builder + floor plan is because this 4th room upstairs has it's own full bathroom -- I mean, how handy + comfortable is that for our {guests}!?  Plus, our {guests} even get their own t.v. + cable!  So, we're ready for visitors + we've already had some great ones!  Thanks for visiting!




It's so great to finally be {home} + to be settling in.  We still have a few boxes in the garage to unpack or put into storage, but for the most part it's all coming together!  Thank you to anyone + everyone that was involved with our job + home moves -- we appreciate all you've done for us!

xoxo
k