Build the Nest Archives - Inkwells & Images

We are finally settled into our new house!

Mostly.

The counter in our laundry room is still covered in random cleaning supplies and tools that don’t quite have a home yet, and only 2/3 of our closets have any shelves in them. There are still a few boxes still to be unpacked, but all of them are stacked in those closets that don’t quite have shelves yet. #Winning

But mostly, we’re settled. And it’s even starting to feel like home.

Life in Our New Home | Inkwells & Images

The cats have fully adjusted to being fireplace-owning cats. #Spoiled

It feels like I can be a human again. I can think about something other than timelines and packing and moving preparations. And it feels so good. Deep breaths are easier. The little, mundane tasks like packing a lunch and brushing my teeth aren’t as annoying as they were while we were in transition, constantly looking ahead to the next thing that we needed to check off our list.

Instead, now we’re slowly checking off the days on the calendar toward a baby, which is just as life-changing, but much more on autopilot in some ways.

Scott MADE the hanging beam light fixtures over our island and dining room table. As I’ve said before, I will be worthless in an apocalypse, and am glad I married well.

Since we moved in the Saturday before Christmas weekend, we chose not to drive ourselves crazy trying to rush out a buy a tree and decorate. Instead, we hung the stockings on the mantel, noticing that it is our last (and only) year with only two hanging there side by side.

Almost everything you see made out of wood (pantry doors, trim, mantle, railing, etc.) were made by our good friend Gordy at Gordon Miller Woodworks. He does a fabulous job, as you can see, and really enjoys taking unique slabs of wood and creating one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture and picture frames and things.

We’re settling into new routines, and while we’re still in the stages where we have to think about where things like extra toilet paper live now, daily life is so much easier. A real kitchen sink. A dishwasher. Our own washer and dryer. These are the things that I will not take for granted again.

Our “nursery” – which is still almost this empty. Probably should start doing something about that.

My office is pretty boring at the moment.

But it has a nice view.

It’s good to be home.

There are things that can be true and untrue at the same time. Or maybe the term is not-yet-true. That sounds right.

We are building a house.

Those words have been in the back of our minds for two, three, four years. But there was always a “someday” word attached to it, a not-quite-yet or a maybe-in-another-year.

It was true and it was not-yet-true.

And now it is all true. We signed papers yesterday to actually do this thing this year. It’s not really, truly felt official until now. But now it does.

It amazes me that something so simple as words printed on paper and written in ink can make something real.

But then again, it doesn’t surprise me: Words do make things real.

Real hurts start with words, often. Words like “I hate you” or “No way” or “We got your test results back.”

Real happiness with words like “Will you?” and “I do” and “Me, too.”

Real can be created in our minds and in our hearts. Ideas can become real, much like Velveteen Rabbits.

But very often, we need something to validate our real, to make it, well, more real. In our case, it was a bank. We needed them to say yes, you can do this thing.

And now we are.

What was not true yesterday is true today.

We are building a house.

Photos taken Saturday, as we cleared some brush to make room for a home.