The Goodrums

So, I guess the office would be an appopriate subject for this morning - as this is my first day back in my home office in almost a week. Wednesday through Sunday of last week I was in Houston to help with an all so familiar project - MOVING! Over the past 3 years, my company has fundraised for, built and bought a new office building. This past weekend was moving weekend.

Minus the rain, it all went smoothly. We thought that it would take much longer than it did to transport everything. Thankfully we were done by mid-day and had some time to unpack/organize. Hopefully everything is up and running for the office folks this morning. Moving is always quite the adventure.

So on the subject of office places... here is a sight you may never see again - the Office. I am loving having an actual room with a door. When the office gets messy (when is it not?), I can just shut the door and leave it. Yay!

This is my stomping ground - where I spend at least 9 or 10 hours a day.















My desk
Check it out - we even have pictures on the wall!

Panning to the right...















Hutch & credenza + filing cabinets = way to much fun (Ha!)

This bathroom is actually our home base right now while we wait for the tile guys to come and tile around the top of the showers. Michael really likes the curved shower rod. Sometimes it's the small things in life...

This may look familiar if you've been following our blog for a while. We posted pictures that were very similar to this from the apartment - when we first got this bed. We have plans to add to this room eventually - night stand, dresser, etc. The additions will have to be very strategic - because there's not much room to work with here.
















Come visit - the bed is waiting!
















The Highpoints map

We need to get out so we can add some new pins to this map. Our last highpoint was in July 2005. Slacking...

This room really cracks me up right now. It is a void and empty space, featuring the Dust Buster. Ha ha ha!
















We'll eventually fill it up with something. I have dreams of a Baby Grand Piano someday. That's probably a dream on...

More pictures - a few each day... We'll get there eventually.

One of the things we love about this house is the big, open living areas. We are still trying to figure out how to best arrange the furniture we have. We don't love it right now - but this is where it landed for the moment. Eventually we may get new furniture that better fits the space we have.

We also finally have room for end tables, a coffee table - and maybe even an entertainment center. Stay tuned...















Looking toward the back of the house

The Zebra painting has made its debut on the mantle over the fireplace. The colors in the painting go so well with the wall colors. But one of our friends brought up a good point the other night - when we were testing out our fireplace. The fireplace puts off a tremendous amount of heat. I guess that is one perk of having chimney-less gas logs. But we are going to have to be careful not to melt the zebra - since it's an oil painting.

Another angle featuring the couches, formal dining and entry.

Yummm....















Kelly - you might recognize these placemats. Guatemala at its best! We are trying out some color this week. Normally we use the standard black placemats. Got to spice things up from time to time!

The plants are currently hanging out inside - along the floor in the back of the picture. It's cold right now. They don't so much like the cold.

Our little bookshelf is also back up. Cookbook central... And the "Mississippi Stinks" picture. Here's a close-up for those who haven't seen it:




















There's a story to go with this. This picture was taken at the Mississippi highpoint. I'm standing on the highpoint marker. There was a dead and decaying Nutria Rat about 15 feet away. Auughh that thing stunk. Stunk to the point it made your eyes water. The picture captured the moment. Later it got deemed the "Mississippi stinks" picture :) - pretty well summing up our initial experience here. Thankfully, we have since found things to appreciate about our new locale.

More pictures. Today we'll do kitchen areas.

The kitchen is probably the biggest upgrade we received in moving from our apartment to the new house. Before our entire kitchen was the size of the sink and refrigerator half of our new kitchen. We have about 20 extra cabinets now. The spiffy KitchenAid mixer that we have had for the past 3 years finally got to come out of the box (it's been in storage since our wedding because we didn't have space for it in our old kitchen). And I finally used it on Sunday to make cupcakes. It's ridiculous how much easier baking is when you use a mixer!















Overview Picture

More pictures - moving clockwise from bottom left above...




















We finally got rid of the ugly blue plastic trash can from college. A grown up trash can! :) The blue one was fine when it was hidden away - but this one is much better, especially given that it's out for all to see!















Lots of counter space... Such a great thing!




















A fun, new gas range (I'm having to reteach myself how to cook - but everyone says that gas ranges are so much better once you learn how to use them). Michael hasn't made much use of it yet - as excited as he was about it. :)

The pantry is off to the right of this picture. It's not a walk-in (darn) but it's still an upgrade over what we had before.

The laundry room is to the right of the pantry (12 noon in our clockwise rotation from above). And then we circle around to the other side of the kitchen...















New refrigerator - and the mixer I mentioned. Fire extinguisher not yet put away in the lower cabinet (still have a few unfinished projects).




















Close up of the spiffy mixer :)















We are also loving our deep sink - and the little spray hose that I was never allowed to use as a kid. Sure makes doing the dishes easier.

So the closet in the Master Bedroom is kind of small - but thankfully everything fits. We've made some real creative use of a bookshelf (the latest and greatest shoe rack). We have lots of overhead storage space - but I'm not tall enough to use all of it - even with the nifty little stool that I refinished. I'm quite proud of that little guy.




















Closet space















Creative use of a coat rack...















Lots of work went into this little step stool

This bathroom is a prime example of well-used space. It's not super big. But every inch is well used. And it all fits.

Going counterclockwise around the room...















Double vanity
We don't have to fight for space anymore when brushing our teeth! :)




















Window & Original Towel Rod

This is a south facing window so we get lots of natural light. This picture also showcases the original shower rod I referenced in a previous post ("Settling In"). It's across the bathroom from the shower - so you were in trouble if you forgot to move your towel before showering.




















Whirlpool tub

Can't wait to try this out... It's going to be such a nice upgrade from the squishy apartment tub with no water pressure and no hot water. Also, we mentioned that we are going to add tile above our showers to prevent water from splashing up on the walls. It will look just like the tile above the tub.

Now turning the corner...




















Shower and Toilet area

You can also catch a glimpse of the towel rod that Michael installed on the right edge of the picture. That towel rod is much more convenient to the shower.

So, as promised, I will start putting up pictures of the unpacked new house. Keep in mind that we still need to decorate. :)

We'll start with the Master Bedroom and its associates.















Unfortunately all of the office furniture didn't fit in the office. So here we have our bookshelves. Not ideal - but we'll make it work...

To the left of the bookshelves is the closet (and the entrance to the room to the left of that). To the right of the bookshelves is the bathroom.















Bed & Nightstands




















The Dresser has come out of the closet...
(it's old stomping grounds at the apartment - consequence of not enough space)




















A refinished papasin chair
(Another project that took a ridiculous amount of work. Mom Brashares helped us a ton with this project!)















The other dresser

It all fits with a little room to spare. Yay! We love our new house!

Mud covered cars, trash in your yard, golf balls in your flowerbed ???? ... A neighborhood under construction.

The first two make sense. We have no idea where the latter came from. Very odd...

Thankfully we haven't had any nails in our tires yet. But the banging and power tools do begin roaring by 7 a.m. - at latest... even on Saturday.

Even though we cleared the trash out of our yard a week ago, it continues to blow in. I will be so thankful when they finish construction on the house to the south of ours. It's annoying to have to pick up other people's trash every couple days.















Our trashy backyard...

Yesterday I got a major haircut - 12" chopped. Short hair again - whoop! It's so much easier to take care of.

There's a neat program called Locks of Love that takes hair donations and makes wigs for children that have suffered from medical hair loss and can't afford to have a custom hair prosthetic made. One of my coworkers donated her hair a couple years back and planted the idea. Today I got to make a donation too.

Here are a couple fun pictures:















Chop Chop!













Before & After

We are so enjoying our two car attached garage (especially given the cold weather of late). We have some work left to do on it... but here's a preview.












Stewie hanging out with lots of tools

We got nice new bike racks to keep our bikes standing (you will notice them off to the right). Dad Goodrum assembled them for us. It's so nice not to have to worry about bumping the bikes and having them all come crashing down.

The door on the left is a storage closet. Right now it's housing lots of house-related items - extra tile, extra paint, etc. The door to the right is the entrance to the house (utility room). We were so impressed that they painted the garage - complete with finished baseboards.















Tools galore!

Michael is currently working on a pegboard to hang all the yard tools on. Coming soon... We will post pictures. He has done a great job with it. The work bench in back will also soon have a pegboard. Garage organization at its best!















A fun new toy! :)

Here's a picture from Week #1 in our new house. What a beautiful sunrise!

We are long overdue for an update. Sorry! It's been a busy month with unpacking and random house maintenance items.

Over the past month, Michael has stayed busy working on small maintenance items here and there. He's really had a lot of fun with it so far. Here's a small showcase of his handywork...















Check out the new towel bar in our master bathroom!
(The original towel rod was over the whirlpool tub - which is not all so close to the shower. The new rod is directly across from the shower. Now we won't have to track water across the bathroom when we forget to move the towel over by the shower...)







































7 sets of blinds later
(once they finally came in 2 weeks late - grrr Home Depot)


































Painting the bathrooms

For some reason unbeknownst to us the bathrooms were originally painted with flat paint. Flat paint absorbs moisture like a sponge - especially in crazy-humid Mississippi. Combine usual shower steam with shower walls that are not quite tall enough (water sprays up on the walls when you shower) and we had a real problem. We were worried that in time we would have mold or mildew problems. Sheetrock + water = BAD!

Painting was a first step - satin finish paint has helped a lot. We have tile guys coming to tile around the top of the showers this week. That is the permanent fix. It was a little thing that you don't notice when you're buying a house. You have to actually use the shower before you catch that one.




















Our new mailbox looks great
(Michael installed it - more challenging than you might think given our nice clay soil)

There have been a number of other miscellaneous projects including rewiring the dryer connection, installing a dimmer switch in the living room, reversing the bathroom light switches (having the fan as the first switch is quite confusing - normally the light comes first), minor carpentry - filling small gaps, etc. Michael has really enjoyed his new power tools. He gave the circular saw a workout this weekend. We'll have to showcase his carpentry work soon.

We are also very thankful to be done with all the unpacking! Woohoo!

We finished unpacking the last box yesterday. Everything is unpacked and put away. We even have some pictures on the walls. :) I will try to give a little photo tour this week. Maybe I can post a room a day.

Now begins the fun of decorating and filling the empty spaces. That will take some time...

Here's a piece of evidence to confirm that life really is returning to normal. :)















Michael - working on fixing the jeep















Test Drive

Here are a few pictures from our move...




















Michael chillin' with the office furniture















Wipe out! Eric takes a break...















Kevin & Michael study the dryer wiring
(and soon rewire it...)