The outside done.

I realized today that we have not posted a shot of the outside of our house now that it is done and has the landscaping. Everything up front is drought resistant and most are native to our area. We like all the flowers and the kids like climbing on all the big rocks!

A testament to building green... we have lived here almost 4 months now and have not had a combined set of utility bills (gas and electric) over $110. That is what I like to call NICE!

Housewarming Party!

So we had a real fun housewarming party last Friday and we would like to thank everyone that came by. We fully intended to take more photos of everyone that came but the margaritas were flowing and the camera did not come out much. This is Teagan in the clothes off (for 1 year olds) portion of the party.
The HM crew taking full advantage of the nook.

John and the Baum girls getting a snack...they needed it since we were up late finishing the margaritas.

Thanks again to everyone for coming by!

Photo Shoot!

Happy 4th of July to everyone!

This week our house was used as a location for a photo shoot touting energy efficiency for customers of electric co-ops around the country. It came together very quickly. Our architect, Jeff Day, recommended our house to a location scout, who showed photos of our house to the client, who decided to use our place for the shoot. Potentially 4 different scenes may be used in ads. Below are a few pictures showing what they were doing and how they took over the house.

It was pretty neat to see how it all came together. All together there were about 15 people involved with the shoot at the house most of the day. They were all very nice and they really liked the house. We were glad to show it off!

USGBC House Tour

Long time no post...

Things have been busy around the Pocius house and we are enjoying our new home to the fullest.

Today is an exciting day because our home is part of the US Green Building Council tour of homes. About 50 people are scheduled to arrive this afternoon to walk through our soon to be LEED Silver home. I hope to post about how it went tomorrow...along with some pictures if time allows.

We would like to thank in advance Go Green Clean (www.gogreen-clean.com) for doing a wonderful job cleaning our house yesterday. It is looking the best it ever has and not a day too soon!

1st Floor Pictures

Heading downstairs to the first floor.... this really shows how beautiful our stairs, banister, and newel posts are.

The locker in the mudroom.... Love it!!!!! Thanks Sergei!!!!!

A shot of the study (this will eventually be a spare bedroom, if we ever get around to purchasing a murphy bed...)

A shot of the stair case - this is what you see when you walk in the front door.

And this is where I'm sitting right now... watching a tivo'd Southland and blogging! Hooray for wifi!

This is a shot of the front door, taken by the base of the stairs.

Here's a shot of the dining room. I tried to get the built-ins in the shot, so it is kind of far away. We've already had some great pizza in this room!

Now, the kitchen. Please pardon the dishwasher with little handprints all over it! I should've cleaned it before the pictures. But we love the kitchen, it is really set up nicely for prep work and cooking. We've made some really great meals so far - crab legs, spaghetti and meatballs, stuffed peppers... yum. The cooktop is induction - kind of crazy to hear the magnets "whirring" when it first starts up. But there's no flame and no big orange ring - it actually keeps the cooking area cooler. The only heat is from the pan.

We also love our big giant farmhouse sink. It is surprisingly easy to keep the cast-iron clean and the size is great. I also love, love, love our chalkboard. And our lights. Oh, really I love the whole thing.

Here's a good shot of the nook with the table. The kids love hanging out here.

We'll post pictures of the basement, yardwork, pimp shower and master bedroom tomorrow... I'm tired!! Thanks everyone for your patience. And thanks to Jason Stone and Sage Homebuilders for building our dream home. This house is truly amazing and we are so happy. It was all worth it!!!

We're Home! And (mostly) Settled!

It's been 16 glorious days and we are so happy to say... We're home!!!!!

We're exhausted, sore, and loving every minute of it. We moved in on 5/1 and we've had very few glitches since. There's nothing that we've said we wished we did different, and we really can't believe how quickly this house felt like home to us. There's only one thing left for "others" to do - and that's yardwork, which will hopefully happen tomorrow. Otherwise, we're just working on the basement and a few boxes here and there.

Enough already... you are here for pictures, right? :)

Outside - the garage (first night with both cars in is tonight! Hooray!) and the gorgeous front door with the wheat glass.

Detail on the front columns. Our painters suggested two-tone and we love the way it turned out. They color-matched our exterior window trim with the door and columns.

Here's John's bedroom - can you guess the theme? Thank you, Fatheads!

Teagan's room is a little more understated. We still have some decorating to do in here.

1st Floor will be on the next post...

Moving Along!

So things are flying along at the house. This picture above is to prove that not all the work has been done by our dedicated subs. Amanda and I were at the house Sunday putting together some closets. This is in Teagan's room. Special thanks to the Belgeri's for watching the kids and the Baum's for recharging us with refreshments.
Today the plumbers put in their final fixtures, the kitchen faucet and garbage disposal. They also had their final inspection and passed.
Sergei, the finish carpenter, was in the garage putting together our bench and lockers for the mudroom. This is the base of the lockers. Above will have an area for hooks and some storage.

The big ka-pow today was the glass tile back splash. It looks amazing. It does a great job pulling the countertops and moss cabinets together. It should only need grout tomorrow and the kitchen will be nearly complete.

Painting was nearly finished inside when we were there at lunch. It looked like the inside should be done except some touch ups. Rain is predicted most of the week so I am not sure when the exterior will be painted. The electricians were putting the finishing touches on their work too. They need to hook up the appliances in the kitchen and get their inspection tomorrow or Wednesday. Our site superintendent Jim is working his tail off getting everything in place for the tradesmen and doing things around the house like hang towel bars and re-assemble vanity doors. It is a lot of work but it seems like it is all coming together quite nicely!