A past due update

We've been in the house 7 months and I'm surprised how quickly this house felt like home.  Everything about it just feels right.  I was so excited to decorate for Christmas, I couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving.  I'll try to get some updated pictures in soon.  I'm going to try and jot down a few things that others may want to know, not in a particular order, just as they come to mind. But first, our house in the snow.

1) We put our own hardware up on the kitchen cabinets.  We used the same hardware we had recently updated in our old house.  We liked it there and we like it here.  In regards to the dark cabinets, I do feel like I have to wipe them more frequently than I had to wipe the lighter colored cabinets at my previous home.  That being said, they wipe pretty well.

2) I still like the darker kitchen engineered wooden floors, but they do show all kinds of dirt.  It needs to be swept frequently to avoid looking nasty.  

3) We got a one level upgrade on the appliance package.  As some others have mentioned, the only appliance I don't really like is the dishwasher.  It is noisier than my old one.  I also miss having a delay wash cycle, especially in light of the noise factor.  The microwave is fine, although there is quite a bit of cold air inside this time of year.  My husband wonders if they forgot to install the damper.  It's going to go on our one year check list just to make sure.

4) We have only painted one wall in the house; in my studio.  We painted it because we were installing shelving so it made sense. I am looking forward to painting the rest of the house.  We have quite a few nail pops coming in and a small crack above the sliding door, so I think it's going to make sense to do that after our final walkthrough.  My husband (a structural engineer) says the house will likely settle more over the winter, so we'll just hold off.  The picture below is of my studio.  Love love love the way it turned out.  

So much I love here, the table slides under the desk so I can still put an air mattress in here if we have a lot of guests. I also love the chandelier.  Being the only girl in my house, I love that this makes my room girlie.

My children occasionally use my room.  At this time, it was being used for legos.  

We found these maps at Costco.  They are a great reference for the kids (and us!).  I'm going to try and carry a bit of a map theme through the room.

5) We've had two service calls out, both in regards to the master shower.  The first was the soap dish fell off the wall.  In the middle of the night.  That gave us quite a stir.  They had used the wrong adhesive stuff when they initially installed it.  It is supposed to stay up now.  We also had two hairline cracks in the basin of the master shower.  They were not severe enough for water to get through, but might have if we had let it go.  In both cases I made a service call through the website.  I wasn't sure at first if I was going to need a log in, but you do not.  You just put your address in and your issue.  It was very simple and they called my back both times very quickly and everything was resolved to my satisfaction.  

I have a few more things to post about and I will try to get some more pictures.  I'll do that soon!