Multi tasking and making progress

This is a big week with lots going on at the house and we should see substantial progress on several fronts in a very short time frame. After two weeks of watching very painstakingly slow progress of painting, (which overall is a good thing, since the prep work and painting is meticulous and will result in a beautiful job), it was exciting two see so much happening at the house today.

In addition to the painters starting to spray the color on the walls and ceilings, there is also a concrete crew pouring our new driveway.

And the most exciting thing happening today... our beautiful countertops are being installed!!

Laundry room

Bar

My vanity

Black granite with an antiqued finish

And the signature piece for the kitchen.. our Carrara marble for the island. It was really fun (and terribly nerve racking) to watch them bring this HUGE slab of marble into the house.

 

On the truck

Unloading it from the truck (took five guys!)

Rolling it through the house

And up it goes!

Rotating it around

And it's in place!

The pictures don't do it justice, but the house is really coming together wonderfully! We just cannot wait to move in!! :) 19 days and counting!

Adding a little color

I don't think we ever imagined how many decisions we would have to make during this process. Some of the decisions are small and then there are the big decisions that have a huge impact on the overall feel and function of the house.. these are the ones that keep you up at night! Fortunately, throughout this whole process, James and I have been in agreement on about 90% of the decisions and have easily comprised on the 10% that we haven't been in complete unison about.. for that I am absolutely grateful to be married to such a wonderful man (who happens to also have such great tastes!) ;) This week we made one of those "biggies".. paint color!

Here are a few shots of the painting as it started..

Dining Room- Silver Blueberry or Prophetic Sea?

Primary House Neutral- Toasted Almond and stain for outdoor ceilings- Tobacco

Green accent color for a few areas- Light Sage

The inside choices were actually really easy, but deciding on what color to paint your house is a huge decision.. it gives the home personality- it is what everyone will see first and we wanted to make sure it was perfect.

And the big choice..Exterior color! 
We had four options and then two trim and two shutter colors..
BIG DECISION!

And, they started!! It's really coming together..

Garlic clove on the kitchen perimeter cabinetry and Jacobean on the island.

We had a really hard time finding the right stain for the beams, but thankfully our painter was patient with us and created a custom blend stain that looks great. I think we ended up with Tabacco and a touch of Jacobean.

Hopefully this week I will have lots of AFTER pictures!! We are excited to get through painting and onto the next items.. countertops, plumbing, electrical and lighting and flooring! October 13th cannot come soon enough!

A rainbow after a storm



The house has really started to come together in the last week, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing! The pictures below show how things are progressing nicely, but I cannot show all of the progress without taking the time to share the challenges too. When I started this blog, I did it so we would look back and remember the good, bad and ugly parts of the process and always cherish the beautiful outcome. And, this week was certainly a combination of struggle and joy.

 

It all started with the floors...When we started this project, one of the things we discovered was that there were original hardwood floors in about 70% of the house that had been covered with carpet since the house was built. So, we decided to save the floors and had a floor contractor that was going to come in and patch the floors where needed and install new, identically matching hardwoods in the rest of the house.  Initially the plan was for the floor guy (there seems to be a "guy" for everything, by the way) to get started on Thursday afternoon, and then it was Friday and then he couldn't get a crew there and no one could work over the weekend. So, now we were delayed again several days. As an aside- one thing we have learned is that when we are delayed on a Thursday it actually has a bigger impact on the timeline since you lose Friday and the weekend.. so if you are going to have a delay (or I guess I should say "when you have a delay") just hope it is early in the week! So, on Monday we were expected to hear that the floor guy was there working first thing, but instead we learned that not only was he not working, but he couldn't find the wood to match our existing floors. And to complicate matters, we also learned that the cabinet company had only one day available to install our cabinets.. Wednesday. So, the floors HAD to be in by Wednesday.. just two days away. So, we made a tough decision to tear out all of the existing hardwoods and start from scratch. This decision wasn't easy, because there is something very wasteful about tearing out perfectly good materials, but in the end it was necessary. It kept us moving and right now, that's more important.

 

The floors look gorgeous though- we chose a slightly more updated take on the traditional 2 1/4 that were in the house and went with 3 1/4 and it really does look beautiful. In the end, I think we will be very happy with the new floors and they were able to get them done in time for the cabinets!

 

New floors in the family room

Floors in the dining room (and the pretty double crown molding!)

 

The cabinets were truly a labor of love for James and myself as we spent hours pouring over magazines and Pinterest to come up with a kitchen cabinet design that we loved. Even after we received the first initial cabinet drawing we spent hours revising them to make sure everything was exactly as we wanted. I think the outcome is going to be both beautiful and useful-- exactly our goal!

 



View of kitchen from breakfast area. The hood over the range really turned out great!

Cabinetry in the bar.
Had to have the bottom shelf adjusted to 14" clearance for liquor bottles.. it's the little details that make it all work!

 

Cabinets in the Butler's Pantry

Laundry room cabinets

Our trim guys (Craig and Rick) started this week and we really have enjoyed working with them so far. They will be tackling all of the trim, shelving and closets- really putting some nice touches on everything and pulling everything together. The next week(ish) also brings exterior and interior paint, new column on the front porch, counter tops and tile work (just to name a few). While we have come a long way, it is still completely overwhelming to think about the list of items still to be accomplished. It will be a sprint to the finish, but the goal is 6 weeks until we move in! Say a prayer for all of us!