Cookies For The Party!!!

Our granddaughters are having a party at their lake house this weekend and I wanted to do a little baking.  I don't know how many dozens I made, let's just say it was a lot.   

Starting from the top.  Triple chocolate fudge cookies, Giant chocolate chip cookies, Soft molasses cookies, and Chewy cherry, double chocolate and pecan cookies.

 Since we are at our vacation home I had to improvise on my containers. 

Stole a few for the neighbors.  Again, no cute packaging so I am a little bummed but I hope the cookies themselves make up for it.

I am tired now and have a little bit of sugar overload.  Think I will be eating salads for a few days.

And napping.

Diana

Moved into the Carriage House

Two weeks ago we traveled down to Georgia and moved into the carriage house.  We stayed 12 days and got it in pretty good shape.  All the furniture is in, with a few exceptions, and a lot of the decorating is complete.  Come see what we've done.

 You walk into the first floor foyer and go up 16 steps to get to the second floor living area.

 You can also enter from the garage.  This picture was taken before the new hardware was installed.

 Hardwood floors.

 Stainless steel appliances.  We decided to go with full size appliances instead of apartment sized ones.  I was worried they would take up too much space but they don't at all!  

 Even though we worked on the carriage house much of the time we were there, we did take breaks to enjoy the lake.

 I love our bedroom.  It is so relaxing.

 I got this really cool table for the TV at a local decor shop called Dirt Roads Restoration.  I love her shop.  She has some of the prettiest furniture and decor.

 This is our dining nook.  I am still debating curtains.....

 Laundry closet.  I got my washer and dryer delivered while we were there.  Can I tell you how nice it is to be able to wash your clothes while on vacation!  And to come home with all your clothes already clean!!!

 Got a Kitchen aide mixer too!  I am so happy with how much space this little kitchen has.  This counter and breakfast bar are 8 1/2 feet long.

 One of three doors that lead to tons of storage in the dormers.

 Our great room is small but we are able to get a lot in that space.

 We got these rustic bar stools at Homegoods.  The carpet protects the floor from the metal legs.

 Is is weird that my favorite room is the pantry?  The next three pictures show more of it.

 A place to store cookbooks and stuff.

 Mobile baking cart.  How cool will this be to roll out to the kitchen.  I already used it to bake chocolate cookies with chocolate chips.  Yum.

 And of course the lighting has to be just right.

One of the last things we did was hang this picture.  Now for some random pics.

So this catches you up on our sweet little vacation home.  We can't wait to get back there!  Next time we will spend more time exploring Gainesville and Lake Lanier!

Diana

Carriage House is Done, Well Almost

Just got some more pics from our builder.  We are about a week out from the walk through!  It looks like just a few things still need to be done.  Appliances, a little grading and some bark.  I am sure there are tons of little things they are still working on but it looks so good.

 Above is a view of the dining nook, back of the kitchen counter, laundry closet and entry door.

 The garage doors are in and the corbels (still need to be painted) are installed.  They also got the gravel in.

 This area will have my fridge, stove and microwave.  We will be adding tile behind the stove sometime in the future.

 Here is my sink area.  The dishwasher will go in on the right side of the sink.

 Part of the bathroom.  I love the square sink bowl!  And my lights are mason jars!

 This is our bedroom.  Our bed will go on this wall  And I had to have a ceiling fan.  The carpet still needs to go in.

 Another view of the kitchen from the great room.  You can also see the door into my pantry.

 One of the reasons we choose to build this particular plan was the huge garage Ron will have to store his boat and stuff.  Four garage doors!  And he will have a few storage closets too.

I can't wait to move in and start decorating this little vacation home, not to mention all the fun we will have on the lake!  

Diana 

One Step Closer

Another post on the progress at the carriage house in Georgia!

 Starting out with a pic of the tile we chose for the bathroom, laundry closet and entry.  Love the color, hate that they messed up the layout.  Second tile from the top is not right.  Sent them a note and that should be fixed soon.  Our builders have been great so far about everything including last minute changes so can't complain too much.  Can't wait to see the tiled floors in person once they are all done.

 The wood floors have a few more steps til they are finished but I really like the color they turned out to be.  This picture is from the kitchen into the small pantry.  The cabinets should go in this week.

 Living area and doors into bathroom and bedroom.  That wall next to the doors will be where our TV will go.  I want to get a white painted buffet to go below the TV.

Here is the painted exterior, during a rain shower, as taken by our daughter.  The garage doors still need to go in and will be white.  The front door will be painted black.

Here is the dormer area in our bedroom.  Don't know what I will end up putting there but I have always wanted a house with dormers so I am excited about just having this area!  

We are getting really close to the finish line.  We will check with the builders this week to see if they have a "finish" date for us.  Then we will rent a little uhaul and move in.  Looking forward to vacationing on Lake Lanier and just getting away from the everyday life.  I can already picture us sitting on the boat dock or taking a ride in the boat while my husband fishes.  Or maybe exploring the area, stopping to shop at all the fruit and vegetable stands.  I have already mapped out the bakeries nearby including a pie shop that looks really good.  Sounds like I better put on my stretchy pants!

Diana

Carriage House Nears Completion

 This is going to be a really long post with lots of pics so sit back, relax and see what we have been up to,

 

We made a quick trip to Georgia to check on the progress at the carriage house and were we ever surprised.  The drywall was up and the mud was drying.  We has so much fun seeing our plans come to life!

 Here is Ron's three car garage.  We had it built with no posts in the center so there are huge beams supporting the ceiling and second floor.

 This is the other side of the garage.  He has an entry into the foyer, a utility closet and a storage closet.

 This is the foyer that leads to the staircase.

 Going up the stairs.  The ceiling is about 25 ft tall!  There is a huge window that brings in a ton of natural light.  

 

 This is the window that lights up the stair area and you can also see the entry doors to both the garage and stairwell. 

 Once you climb the stairs you come through another door that leads to the main open area.  The kitchen will be behind the half wall, the opening to the right of the kitchen leads down the stairs and the large closet on the far right is my laundry area.

From this picture you can see the kitchen and the door that leads to the pantry behind the half wall.

The pantry is housed in one of the three dormers you see in the front of the carriage house.  In the pantry I have a half door that leads to some additional unfinished storage and the attic access.

 Just to the right of the laundry closet is a dining nook with a huge window.  The ceilings are all 9 feet tall so even though the square footage is small (under 800 sq ft) it seems very spacious.

 Another view of the dining nook.

Here is the laundry closet.

Looking from the kitchen you can see the small sitting area and the doors into the bathroom and bedroom.

Same two doorway plus the wall we will probably put the TV on.

The dormer in the sitting area.

Another storage area reached from the dormer. 

The bedroom also has a dormer.

Really large walk in closet in the bedroom.   

 The shower is small but should be OK.

The sink and toilet share a wall opposite the shower. 

 Another pic of the walk in closet.  Plenty of room for the stuff we will keep there. 

 This window on the 2nd story is also in the bedroom.  This side of the house stays shady and we should get good cross breezes between the two bedroom windows. 

 The back of the carriage house.  The large 2nd story window is the dining nook area.  There is a small wide window to the left that is in the bathroom. 

 View from one of the bedroom windows.

Another view of the back of the house.

 And in case we have forgotten the reason we bought this particular acreage, here is the dock on the lake where we will be spending most of our time.  The lake is above high water level so our little cove is really full right now.  We replace the ladder that you climb out of the water on.  The old one was rusty and gross.  We are slowly replacing any spongy deck wood we find with new boards.  It will take some time to get to all of it but we aren't in a rush.  Unlike the cabin, we hope this getaway is truly a place to relax and enjoy some down time.

Diana