Cue Cards

All the 'actors' must be reading off the same cue card this week. You know, the cue card that says, "Of course you'll be in by Tuesday!" I'm thinkin' Wednesday maybe, probably Thursday. It's not a real problem either way as we scheduled the movers for Monday, Nov. 3 just to be safe. It's almost surreal to think it will be OUR house this week. It's like this project we've had going for 7 months and you almost forget that you get to LIVE there! Brian and I were over this afternoon when the wind was howling outside, but it sure felt warm and cozy and quiet inside! I think winter might almost be tolerable in such lovely surroundings!

Here's a couple more pix of new additions. Above is the tile for the backsplash, which may or may not be done before we move in. I was going to just wait, but they don't want to install the microwave until it's in (or they have to take it out and reinstall it). We're getting the 2x4 subway tiles in the lower left corner of the board. It picks up on the green walls and the cabinet color very nicely (and is quite similar, if memory serves, to what I had in VA).

To the left is the basement rec room looking into the guest suite. The neutral wall color I picked just didn't work at all with the tile down here (I swear it's a different color in every room it's in). At the last minute I found some linens we liked that worked with the tile and picked a pretty blue/green paint to go with them. Then Red Santa (that is the honest to god name of our 78 year old painter) painted the bath, hall and bedroom all the same color. The guest room will be the 2nd nicest bedroom in the house (after Conor's, of course... he's getting a new bed and we ordered new mattresses for this guest room as well -- you're welcome!)

This last pic is the stairwell down to the basement which has a nice feature we didn't really plan for, which is always a bonus. There's a little display shelf area around the window. Don't know what's going there yet, but it's kind of cool. (It will look better once the walls are painted!)

I forgot to take a picture of the fireplace now that the mantel is in and we also have appliances. We are so looking forward to new appliances. I may even learn to love cooking! I do love all the paint colors, although the yellow in the dining room is maybe a little brighter than I planned. I think when the furniture is in and some of the walls are toned down with drapes and pictures, it will be just fine.

Can't wait to post the "DONE" pix, but realistically that's still months away but slowly but surely we'll get there!

The Crowd Shot

We must be reaching the end of the line, because our house has turned into the Extreme Home Makeover set! When I went over this afternoon to meet with Alan about knobs and bathroom fixtures, there were no less than 12 workmen on site. 2 indoor painters, 2 outdoor painters, 2 granite installers, 1 tile guy, 3 carpet installers, 1 carpenter and one guy delivering Conor's bathroom counter! With all that chaos, I went through just praying that they were doing more good than harm!!

The upstairs bedrooms have all been painted and the neutral walls work pretty well with the carpet. If you think neutral means it goes with anything, you haven't picked paint colors lately! There are warm neutrals and cool neutrals and if you can tell what will 'go' by looking at two by two swatches of paint and carpet in a showroom with bad lighting...you are a better person than me!! I think when we get some furniture and fabric into the rooms it will all blend together in a very muted, unobtrusive way, which is just what we want until, somewhere down the line, we pick more specific colors!

The granite looks great! And we ordered the most comfortable wood bar stools ever made in Amish country on Saturday. Brian says your back just melts into the chair! They will be sturdy oak and painted black. The downside is that they won't be at the house for 8 weeks but we think they'll be worth the wait!

The fireplace tile is going to be beautiful with the furniture and the green wall paint - Texas Sage to be exact! It's not grouted yet, but it's on the wall and that is huge! The mantel is going to be a little simpler than originally planned because we want to keep it somewhat low so we're not straining our necks to watch TV, but given that the tile is 'busy' it's probably better that the mantel is simple and understated.

Got the Gaffer!

The gaffer is, of course, the lighting professional on a movie set. Our gaffer is Steve and he has been a steady, competent contractor throughout this process (and he's funny to boot!). All our lights etc. are now in, with minimal hoopla required.

The biggest glitch isn't really even Steve's fault. Code requires that the island have an outlet but the cabinet design, since we have drawers on the non-breakfast bar side, doesn't have room for the outlet so we're having to modify the top drawer of the bank with a little cut out in the back to make room for the outlet. I'm telling you, it's unreal the number of things that 'no one ever tells you' to take into consideration when planning your house! It's often something that no one else will ever notice, but also, usually something that could have easily been planned for (instead of around) if only someone had clued you in from the beginning!

But I love the lights and as each of the other components 'comes on line', I am happier and happier with the overall effect!

Going clockwise from the top left, the lights shown here are the master bath 'track' lights (needed due to the clipped ceiling), the pendant lights over the island with the dining room chandelier in the backround, the light in the upstairs stairwell which actually looks very cool from above which was a nice bonus (wish I could say I planned it!) and the ceiling fan in the master bedroom. And finally below, is a picture of the front of the house with the porch lights and post lamp. Brian worries that the line between Craftsman and Asian is a little blurred, but I think they are a nice accent. It will be particularly great when our real front door goes up as the current one just doesn't do the rest of the 'set' justice!
Remember to click on the pictures to get a closer look! And that green stuff?? You betcha!! It's grass (thin and fragile looking but grass just the same)!

No Small Roles....

The garage is full of fixtures and appliances that are slowly, but surely, making their way into the house! We've got a sink in the laundry room, real plumbing in the powder room and mirrors in the master bath. All the light fixtures get delivered (and theoretically installed) this week as well. Every small addition makes it feel more and more like a house and gives hope to the dream!

It turns out we actually made at least one very wise design decision-- by putting the staircase in the back with a tile floor in the mudroom, the rest of the contractors can continue to work in the basement and upstairs even while the wood floors are being stained! Which is good because the basement needs some serious attention! They patched up the wall in the guest bedroom but, as you can see, that's about as far as they went in the clean up dept. There's also no trim, no doors etc. etc. down there. All in good time...all in good time!

On the Casting Couch

We finally ordered furniture for the living room today. Very exciting! We went over to the house this morning and they were getting everything out of the living room so that the floor guys can put the first coat of stain/poly down on Monday. It actually looked like a living room!

I laid out our newspaper furniture and called Andrea, the designer at Ethan Allen, to see if she could run over and hold my hand as I made the final selection. She volunteered to bring the rug and so we got a really good feel for how it would all fit and decided we could actually have MORE furniture. We were planning to get two loveseats and a chair but instead, ordered an 86" sofa, a 70" loveseat, a nice sized chair and two leather ottomans! It's all much more comfortable than it looks in these pix. We'll probably put a sofa table behind the sofa (I know, where else would we put it?) but we're going to wait on all end tables etc until this furniture is in place.

The furniture is due in early November so we're not too far behind! Being able to lay it all out gave me so much more confidence when I placed the order and I really feel like we ordered the right pieces to fit the space and maximize the seating! Can't wait to curl up with a good book and a roaring fire! The picture on the left is looking in from the foyer and on the right, it's looking in from the kitchen.

Bit Parts

Ok, it was a point of pride to use movie-related titles for the duration of the blog, but as this is the 55th post, I recognize that some of these are a little bit of a stretch and perhaps the novelty has worn off. Bear with me for a couple more weeks and then we'll put all this nonsense to rest!

Here's a picture of the master shower in it's near final state! Now that it's been grouted, I really love it. The grout makes the black tiles 'pop' as they all love to say and makes the ceiling blend better since we didn't want that to be a focal point. Don't you love my bench? Probably not, it's just a little bench, but that's ok because I do!

The built-ins for the office are nearing completion. The bottom 1/3 of the middle are the file drawers I think I mentioned in an earlier post.

The grass is always greener...when it's actual grass! This is just the hydroseed that will hopefully take root and turn into grass very soon. I think we're going to luck out weather-wise as we've got one more really warm week predicted before it returns to the 60s (and lower and then lower...). The water is supposed to be available tomorrow so that Brian can hook up the sprinklers! Anyone know any Indian Grass Dances??

A little bit seems to happen every day, but we'll be glad when we see some big steps forward. One carpenter and one painter (Red has got to be 80 if he's a day!) just don't seem to get enough done every day when you've only got 18 days left. The plumbing is now supposed to arrive tomorrow...toilets, pedestal sinks and all the faucets, wood floors on Monday and light fixtures will be installed next Tuesday. Let's hope we move from flip-book pace to live action film speed!

Premiering Soon in a Neighborhood Near....Us!

We got our final (dare I dream) move in date. It's been shifted back a week to October 28th. That still gives us a little wiggle room but not as much as we'd hoped for. We'll be in for Halloween though, won't that be a treat! Looking at all that still has to get done, it seems more like a trick, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Box Office

The laundry room got cabinets and countertops late this week. They are just laminate and I was a little worried about the color but it looks great with the tile and is a really nice contrast against the simple, white cabinets. I bought some black craftsman-y knobs for the cabinets. I had ordered some funky ones that both Conor and Brian rolled their eyes at, but they had been discontinued, so I just picked these up at Lowes. I am definitely approaching the slap-anything-in-there-let's-just-get-this-over-with mode. My goal is to make measured choices but make them quickly and then MOVE ON!

The master bath shower has been tiled but not grouted. The end result is going to be simple and tasteful and not at all reflective of the complete snafudle it has been! Yes, I typed snafudle - it's in the dictionary right before strategery! I was grasping for a word that summed up all the false starts, setbacks and miscommunication we have experienced trying to get this one small part of the house completed. Three different tile combinations and the complications of the clipped ceiling didn't get us off on the right foot and then I must speak Greek when Rob and I go over things because we're always a step off. But I think it all ended up pretty well and it's nice and neutral so we can paint any color we choose (another choice...yippee!).

Blooper Reel III

Conor's bathroom is apparently living under some kind of curse or black cloud. First the tub didn't fit, then it was the drawer issues and the latest is that the countertop was ordered with the wrong sink specs so that 1) it looks ridiculous, 2) you'd have to shave and brush your teeth with one shoulder pressed up against the wall and 3) the drain pipe would run right through the bank of drawers! I don't know much about construction, but I think that last one, in particular, poses a problem! It's being reordered on a rush ticket, but didn't anyone in the chain of production question whether the order made any sense?!?!

On the plus side of the bloopers column is that the garage was drywalled in it's entirety. The code requires that the ceiling and the adjoining wall to the house be drywalled, but we were going to leave the rest unfinished, However, someone didn't read the contract very carefully...so that's a little bonus for us!