Two and Two

I've been in my house for almost six months now. I built it from the ground up, designing the plans with the help of my brother. We created a fireplace mantel from a cedar tree that our cousin picked out for us from his land in the Dallas area. People say it looks like it should be in a museum. I found 2" thick, old pieces of pine wood for my kitchen shelves, and my brother made the metal brackets that hold them in place. I struggled for weeks on the wall and floor colors, and just about died when I first saw the walls and ceilings all the same color, not expecting that much blue. I chose the colors to coordinate with my granite countertops, and feared that I had chosen something that would clash instead. I was entirely unsure of my choices until the granite was installed. When it was all done, I went to my car and cried with relief because it had turned out to actually be a bit breathtaking. There were a lot of things that didn't turn out as I imagined, and I had th...