The Christmas Tree Adventure 2008

It's been raining for nearly two weeks here in Chattanooga. And with all the work in the basement, we STILL didn't have a tree. So...the sun peeked out for a mere 30 minutes this AM which tricked us into thinking we could have a pleasant drive through north Georgia.

As we got off the interstate, the perpetual fog rolled back over Lookout Mountain, and by the time we neared the Blue Goose Christmas Tree Farm, it was misting. Again. As we got out of the car, it was starting to rain. Lucky us! Despite the weather, we found a nice tree.Here in TN, the cypress grow better than the pines, so we picked a fairly tall Leland Cypress. Taller than my car is long, in fact. And quite heavy. Hefting this tree onto the car was an interesting event...especially because by this time it was starting to pour.

All in all, we got the tree wrapped and properly tied to the car. Where it remains. It's STILL RAINING!!!!

Our giggle bug

Elizabeth loves to be tickled. Everywhere. Daddy's gotten the best of her this time!

The basement is no longer a "basement"

Though not completely finished - the trim still needs to go in, the floor needs touched up, the TV isn't here yet, and the entertainment center is therefore not finished, and the backsplash needs to be tiled. OK, that's still a lot to do. But, it's ready to be lived in. In fact, we had the UTFP Holiday Party here on Friday night. 30+ people was nothing for our ground floor living space.

Where did it all come from? Well...I designed the kitchen area and entertainment center with a tool from HGTV.com; Jeff gutted the space of paneling, old carpeting, removed the linoleum floor, cleaned off the glue, and finished the concrete floor with products from Behr/Home Depot. The cabinets and countertops came from Southeastern Salvage, and were assembled and hung by Jeff and Casey. The drywall/framing/electrical/plumbing/carpentry were carefully mastered by Jeff with help from Casey (and a few tips from my dad). Did I mention that Jeff did all this while watching Elizabeth? The range was upstairs and we replaced it with a salvage model from the Habitat store until we redo the space upstairs. Our groovy vintage stove that was just too big to save went to the Habitat store. The dishwasher also came from upstairs, and we treated ourselves to a nice new Kenmore Elite for upstairs, which we worship daily. The fridge was in the house when we bought it, and will be replaced with the french door stainless fridge upstairs when we remodel the kitchen.

Before: Can you say dated and dark? And who puts carpet in a basement?











After:




This project has been 2.5 years in the making, and I think that we never thought it would be done. The office furniture will move down here once the trim is in, and we'll never need to be upstairs...This is why the "great room" idea is so functional. We're already enjoying spending time together as a family, instead of all of us in different parts of the house.

In fact...I'm sitting at our cool new mod pub table as I type...

Did I mention that we have a guest room down here? And that once the bathroom is finished, it'll be nicer than the Hyatt? And much cheaper...we're easily bribed with food and wine...