2011 HGTV Dream Home: Stowe, VT

Last night on HGTV, they unveiled the 2011 dream home. It's appropriately named, because it is in fact a dream home of mine (for the east coast at least.) It's up in the heart of the only place on the east coast with decent snow conditions, Vermont. I actually had the opportunity to head up to Killington 2 years ago, and would love to get back to visit some of the other mountains [cough]Stratton[cough] at some point. I feel like living in the HGTV dream home, would more than likely provide me (and 13 of my friends, the home sleeps 14 you know) that opportunity. I'm entering twice daily until the registration closes on winning this house. Assuming I win, who wants to move there with me? To apply, I'll need you to help pay taxes, and also earn your keep by providing the house with some service. Please respond in the comments on why I should pick you, when I win this house. In return, you'll be granted a living space, and lifetime of amazing memories. Pretty good deal if you ask me. Here's a couple pictures of some of my favorite spots of the house.

Front of House. Massive windows and right next to the slopes

Massive two car garage, the Challenger will hibernate in peace with it's own protected parking spot.

'Gathering Room' - again, massive windows reminding you just how close you are to the slopes. Oh, and the gas fireplace, that's nice too.

Huge Kitchen. I hope one or more of my roommate applicants will be able to put this to good use!

Deck. Perfect spot for some after dinner beer pong, we may need to buy a space heater or two though.

Master Bedroom. Not really crazy about that black dresser over there, but I suppose I'll let it slide....this time.

I have a feeling my hot water bill may be a tad on the high side with a bathroom like this.

Ski Vermont? Okay.

TV/Movie/Game Room. Yep, that'll do.

First Roommate Room. Think you can live with that? Yea, you better be able to!

Guest/Secondary Roommate Room, pick a bunk and stick with it.

Outdoor Grill. I'm much for suited for this type of culinary art.

Outdoor Hot Tub/Fireplace. The best for last. After a long day on the slopes, who wouldn't want to unwind with a cold beer and hot tub session?!

You may have noticed that "a couple favorite spots" included the entire house. Trust me, I planned it that way. So, if all goes as planned, I'll be moving in sometime this spring, and will be accepting roommate applications from now until then. Of course, if you win this home instead of me, I get dibs on the room of my choice. You can enter twice daily, here, and here. Good luck folks! :)

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Wow, when was the last time anyone saw this much snow? I know it's been a loooong time. These photos were taken around 12:35pm on Saturday, it snowed all night and it'll probably go for at least another 12 hours. Who knows, maybe we'll actually have a white Christmas this year! Good thing my house is all stocked up on the "essentials!"

Back Yard

Front Yard & Street

Operation: Garage Remodel, Part Deux

Alrighty, here's an update to my earlier post about redoing our garage and yard and stuff. I'll let the pictures do the talking, but basically I got two coats of paint down on the entire garage, Chris resealed the driveway, I hung up a few flags I ordered online [a few posters coming tomorrow, so those will be added as well], and we decided to rip up the one side of the yard and get rid of all the crap that was over there [a truckload of bricks, random bushes, bunch of random gravel, etc], and just level it out and plant new grass seed in hopes of making next summer's lawn that much nicer. [It helps to have access to a Bobcat in times like these!] There's quite the difference from before and now after. On with the pictures!

Operation: Garage Remodel

Alright so in even more preparation for the Challenger coming home, I decided our garage needed a face lift. When we moved in there was this ugly dark wood paneling on the walls so we ripped that down pronto, and it's been this nice dark yellowish color for the past year....also not so pleasant. Well, now it's getting painted white. I decided to start on the wall that had the most surface area so I could get an idea of how the whole thing might turn out. It took me about an hour yesterday afternoon to lay down this first coat. A second coat will hopefully go down today. It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but it makes a huge difference when you're standing in the garage. It makes it look a lot bigger, so I'm excited. Also, I ordered a bunch of stuff online to put up once all the painting is done. There will be more updates to come.

Oh and my roommate also cleared out and cleaned up the area in front of our house as well. He wants to re-seal our driveway, so that'll get done as soon as it stops raining. Here's a few pics for now. Enjoy.