missing/almost finished!

sorry to be such an absentee blogger, but life has been hectic, to say the least.  in our last stage of closing in our screened-in porch, we decided to get our whole first floor re-finished.  they're amazing!! moving out for a loooong weekend to my parents, cramming all of the furniture into the kitchen, bathroom, garage and everywhere else that wasn't being worked on, not so amazing.  but the floors. beautiful!  we haven't let the dogs in because their nails need clipped, i want to sweep after every single meal, i love them.  

and we have reached our final stage of adding on: the built-ins.  yippee!!  a storage bench will line the back wall and the windows will be framed by bookshelves.  i took a few pictures just now because i had the time, but will definitely post the finished product (which hopefully will be done by tonight!).  our contractor is doing these himself and surprisingly, we let him kind of do what he thought would look the best.  turns out, he knows what he's doing.  enjoy!! we are...