Making our house our home

So Dave and I have really been trying to add the little touches that give our house some personality over the last week or so. We hung some of our pictures up in the family room downstairs, some of out funny tin signs, our clock and this awesome mirror that Dave wasn't really able to put up in his apartment, so I hadn't seen yet, and it just is really cool. So our family room has now taken on our personality, a bit of humor, and some nice style - if I do say so myself. And we got very good at hanging these large pictures and heavy items by drilling in anchors and using a leveler and stud finder.
To say we've been "drill happy" might be a bit extreme, but I'm going to go with we've been drill happy. In addition to the pictures and clock and mirror, we've installed a hand towell ring in the upstairs bathroom, a hand towell bar in the downstairs bathroom, I drilled in my hook to hold my Hawaiian wind chimes that my old roommate Tracy brought me, and some great outdoor blinds to go in our covered porch. So now if we're out in the morning, we can pull the shades down and not have the sun right on us, and they just look really nice. So we installed 4 sets and they're great, and of course, Camille helped.
And then Dave was just so cool and surprised me by installing my kitchen under the counter iPod player for me. We bought me a player to go in the kitchen cause I really like listening to my iPod pretty much wherever I am, except now at work I have the sound of tv in the background instead of my iPod. But he knew how much I wanted that up, but I was nervous about putting it up myself. So he brings up the drill and starts looking at the directions and the template for where to drill the holes and when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was just taking a look at the set up. Next thing I know he's laying on the counter under the cupboard, wearing sunglasses like protective eyewear, and he's drilling away. Few minutes later I have my iPod player up and running! I love having it in the kitchen, and I've used it almost everyday. While I'm loading the dishwasher, cooking something for lunch or dinner, whatever. It's already gotten enough use to have justified it's purchase. So I'm very happy with my kitchen iPod setup. I swear we've got enough iPod players that our house is practically iPod central. But it's great, cause we can be anywhere and pop one in. I especially love having it in the bathroom so I can rock out in the shower.

Our house is definitely coming along, but we've still got quite a ways to go. Dave's mom is coming to visit for the 4th of July and she's going to be yet another visitor who has to deal with boxes being in the way. One thing that's been cool though, as we've moved some around to create more space, is that it's like we've forgotten how big a room is, until some of the boxes are gone. Then I'm just amazed at how much space we have. So once our living room is cleared out (that's primarily where all the boxes still are) we'll have a really nice big conversation area with a couple couches and a couple chairs. That will be really nice. And when we have our dining room set up, we'll have this really great rug on the floor and our black dining table that is so pretty, and that will be another area to gather. So I think once our place is really done, it will be a great entertaining spot. Lots of areas to sit and talk, or gather to watch a movie on our awesome tv system and audio set up. I really love our house, and as it gets more and more cleared out and gets closer to how it's going to be, it's more and more our home. And I love that!!