This is the office. Which is still a little in progress.
We do have our diplomas hung, and I'm currently looking for organizational supplies for the closet. I'm also thinking about getting a daybed in here later down the road to have another guest room.
The guest room with Chris' family's antique bed.
The guest bathroom. Doesn't really photograph very well ;)
This is our magical new bed. The mattress is wonderful and new and I love the bed. The Sferra sheets are great and have a little bit of detail.
The color in these pics are a little off, but you get the idea. You can also see that my side of the bed is undone. I can't decide on a bedside table and accessories. I kind of like that it's in the works. Gives me something to shop for!
I have more to share, but this is just a tasting. As you can tell, we are loving our house!
One week ago we walked into our empty house for the first time. Then we filled it with boxes. Now, we're unpacked and are able to enjoy it! We don't mess around in Cook house. No boxes left!
We've (Chris has) hug our porch swing, and it fits perfectly on our front porch.
In the living room, we've hung the paintings that I bought last year at the North Little Rock Art Walk. You can also see our Alltel nesting tables, and the trunk that once had our TV on it.
This is Chris' man nook with his Man Chair and Barry Thomas sketches.
Behind the front door is this space, perfect for our table and photos.
Our dining room with mom's sideboard and mirror. Our table doesn't exactly match so I'm shopping for a pretty table cloth, and I'm considering either covering or stripping and staining the chairs.
This is my nook! It's in the kitchen and I have a comfy chair and my Jack Vettriano prints.
Also in my kitchen, Chris rigged me a TV. It began its life as a computer monitor and now is a TV. It's the perfect size, and there's nothing better than cooking while watching Food Network. You can also see the wine refrigerator that the Cooks gave us. It's the perfect fit right there!
My KitchenAid mixer has its own little counter and my rooster--my wedding present from Chris-has a home on top of the refrigerator.
That's the downstairs tour of our house. New post: the upstairs!
We bought a beautiful house and filled it with box
After box
After box!!
Grace decided she needed to be in the middle of it all.
While Porter found a spot high away from the action...it also let him oversee our progress.
Phase III is quickly approaching thanks to a lot of unpacking and hanging pictures on Chris' end. And, we had the very exciting event of meeting our neighbors. They came by the other night to introduce themselves. How nice! We're happy to report that they are our age with a dog and don't appear to be serial killers, filthy people or all-night partiers. Hopefully they will even like us and we'll have some friends right next door. Yeah!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to Chris' Alltel gang. They are the ones responsible for our beautiful nesting tables. When we received them, there was no packing slip or gift card because of a glitch in Viva Terra's system that day, but today they resent us the information.
We are so grateful for these tables. They are totally beautiful and exactly what we need in our new house. Someone (maybe Judy?) had noticed Chris' affinity for the Viva Terra catalogs, and had our style down perfectly.
I know you all are waiting to see pictures of our new house, and I will post them as soon as possible, including pictures of our nesting tables' new home.
Chris and I got home today to find a huge box at our doorstep. Inside we found these. A beautiful set of nesting tables from Viva Terra. They are so nice, and fit our style so perfectly, but there's no card. No packaging slip and no card. We even called the company, but they can't disclose the billing address.
Hmmmm
It's a mystery. If they are from you, call me! We need to thank you!!!!
This morning, I got up early because I had to go the bank to deliver all of our paperwork for our loan. As I left the house, thirty minutes before I usually do, I discovered one of my back windows had been left open the night before. Last night we had a huge storm with crazy winds. I had also parked underneath a tree/bush with lots of pink flower. This morning the tree/bush had no flowers, bu the inside of my car was an operational florist.
When I discovered that half of my backseat was wet and covered in flowers, I made the decision to continue on to the bank as scheduled. The car was wet and would be wet, but our money can't wait!
Our loan officer told me to go to the Bank of Tennessee branch on Court Street and someone there could scan all 40-plus documents and send them to her (her office is in Germantown).
I knew exactly where Court Street was. I drove down it, found a large building that said Bank of Tennessee and pulled in the visitors parking space.
I went in and found the building to be more of a corporate operation than a full bank with tellers. I thought this was part of the plan since I don't want to task any old teller with all my personal financial documents.
I told the lady at the front why I was here, and she called someone to help me.
The new lady ushered me into her office, and although she seemed a little confussed, she said, "No problem," as she went away to her scanner with all my documents.
Several minutes later she returned and asked me to confirm who she was sending these to. I told her our mortgage officer's name. She said, "I don't have her in our system." I pulled out my trusty iPhone and looked up her email address.
As I was doing this, the nice lady said, "You know it's okay, but we don't usually do this."
Ice cold water slid down my spine. I realized that I was in an unfamiliar city, at an unfamiliar office with all my financial documents in the world.
I read my broker's email address aloud.
I said, "Am I at the right place?" Already knowing the answer.
"We are First Bank of Tennessee," said my helper/scanner.
"That's different than Bank of Tennessee, isn't it?" I said, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, and this is the recruiting office."
Ahh, I wasn't even at a real bank! There was no turning back at this point. "Can you send those documents to my email?" I say. I stand there waiting on my iPhone to chirp at me.
"I am so sorry," I say. "I'm at the wrong place aren't I? So sorry to waste your time, but I really appreciate it. I'm new in town and my husband and I are buying a house, and..."
Have you heard about the Stimulus Package? We're it. Christopher and Allison Cook will remake America's economy.
In the middle of the recession, we have both secured new jobs, moved, purchased a home, and now we're buying furniture. Yes, America, you're welcome. The increase of the GDP is due to us.
Because America is so stressed about making money, everything is on sale!
We've been so fortunate. We found a bed a Bassett that was on a huge sale. We got the bed with the upholstered headboard and the wood panel foot board. There's not a picture that shows that option so you'll have to imagine. It is the perfect blend of Chris (who wants all wood all the time) and me (who doesn't mind wood, but enjoys a lighter side). We found combining both the upholstery and wood would allow for more versatility in bedding and no worries about wearing the foot board from foot traffic, cat interest, etc.
Then we visited Macy's and purchased the mattress. They not only had a huge sale, but also paid the sales tax. Thanks Macy's!
Because mattress aren't really exciting to anyone who is not sleeping on it. Just believe us that it's wonderful, and we can't wait to enjoy it in our new home!
We've had a big day of spending money, but thankfully, no debt was actually incurred. The funny part was that at Macy's we pulled out our American Express card--to get the points--and the charge was rejected. Chris got an immediate call saying there was a potential fraud charge on our account. AMEX isn't use to us being big spenders and buying beds every day. Good to know they are looking out for us.
So America, you're welcome. Chris and I are on the forefront of growing the economy. We've probably held off the next Great Depression.
