Makin' it "Home"

Wow. We were busy little bees this weekend. Last week, in my excitement over our recent move (as in the day before), we eagerly offered to host this week's Life Group meeting at our new house. Well, that put a little pressure on to have the house company-ready before our small group of 15 was introduced to the Mehaffey Manor.

First thing, Friday afternoon, Brad started hanging wooden blinds and curtains on oall of our windows. We dressed the bay window in the dining room as well as each window in the living room and bedroom. What a difference some window treatments make!

Look at our gorgeous dining room. The wall words were a Christmas gift from my grandma, and they say, "The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table." It fits perfectly.

Remember this perfect apartment spot? I'm still sad to see it go...

Moving the aquarium was quite a task. It's a 30-gallon tank (each gallon weighs about 10 pounds) and has three 5-pound bags of rock pebbles scattered across the bottom, not to mention the heavy glass itself. Even with 3/4 of the water drained, I was still impressed by the boys. We stuck it in Brad's trunk for the (very slow and careful) drive to the house.

Here are the new homes for the tank and board games. The fish enjoy the Cubs decor in the office, while the games knocked the extra towels and sheets out of the linen closet. They definitely took over the little nook and left the surplus of linens to reside in the guest room closet. (Hey, we need easy access to our favorite entertainment! And besides, only guests would use those towels anyway. It makes sense for them to be in their room.)
Speaking of the office, here it is. Brad had it basically all decorated when I got home from work on Saturday. (Yes, people. It's tax season. We're working on Saturdays. Booo.) I was really surprised and thoroughly spoiled. I love that we were able to add our personal pictures of us at Wrigley Field to the decor. What a perfect touch.
Since you mentioned pictures.. Look how much better our hallway looks when it's full of friends and family that we love! Yea!

We also hung a collage of prints in our living room. That was Brad's idea. (Isn't he great?) I like the mantle better with the clock above it, as well. It took a little convincing to get Brad to comply, but I think he likes it now. Besides, with those wonderful red curtains up, how could anything look bad?
Needless to say, we were a little worn out by the time the small group came over, last night. (Especially since Brad had to ref basketball games at the church building all afternoon for the Jamaica mission trip fundraiser.) But, somehow we were able to get prepared and even cook the dinner in plenty of time. And, it was exactly the "unveiling" I had hoped it would be! Everybody was overly complimentary, just like good friends should be. Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, we did access that game closet for some rousing rounds of Phase 10. :)

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to put the wall words above our bed. I'm crossing my fingers that we can get that done tonight. That'll be the last big project that will add our personal touches to our humble abode.

Tomorrow, we hand over our keys to the apartment complex. That means we need to have it completely gutted and cleaned tonight before the formal farewell tomorrow evening. I thought it would be more painful, but I couldn't love our new house any more if we had built it ourselves. (Now, if we could only get our hands on a lawn mower for our ever-growing jungle of a yard...)

Of course, there are even more pictures, if you're interested.

(This is my 100th post! Whoa!)