the framers were back!

Today the rain worked in our favor-- the framers came off another (outside) job to do our interior work today. They fixed the master bath window which was too low, they moved the wall in the kitchen so we could fit the dishwasher to the right of the sink and have a normal corner cabinet, the put in the real-deal stairs(!!!!) and the framed out the laundry/powder room, closet and mudroom/hallway off the garage. Very exciting to see....

Sounds like another couple of weeks before sheet rocking-- they have to have heat on in the house before they can do sheet rock and there's a few inspections before then as well. A. (our builder) did say that the outside of our house should start looking a little less like major construction zone as the majority of the work moves inside. He said that we're still on schedule which is also a great thing to hear.

Farmhouse table is ours!!!

Here's M, measuring to make sure we could fit a 84" x 48" table... and here is our beautiful farmhouse table (only 36" across)-- safe and sound on a good friend's sun porch until we can move it in. It is gorgeous-- the photo does it no justice. Also, it has quite a story, which I'll post later. I'm thrilled with the find, though. Just picture six black windsor chairs around it.... it's perfect and was such a steal to boot!

garage floor

The garage floor was pourred on Friday and it looks great- smooth and even. Everything you hope for in freshly pourred cement. ha. Next week the framers will come back to frame out the laundry/powder room, fix the upstairs master bath window (placed too low), move the wall for the kitchen and reinforce a couple studs where we might want to hand something heavy (over the fireplace and the non-window wall of the music room. Then post-holiday the electrician will get to work in a big way and in a couple week's time we'll be insulating and sheet rocking!

Our "assignment" this weekend was to pick a color for the deck. We decided after a lot of research and input from our contractors to go with Azek decking which seems to be a really great product. The downfall is my vision of a dark stained deck was not to be. Here's a photo or two of us checking out the samples against the house. We've decided to go with the grey.

bunnies

I fell in love with these the minute I saw them on etsy.com. They are watercolors by Nakisha. How adorable would these be in a kid's room (someday)? I couldn't get them out of my mind and finally I just ordered them. The two ones with the bird are original watercolors and are very small- the size of a playing card. I plan to frame these two together, plus the other two each separately and probably group them together on the wall. Can you guess which one is M's favorite? .... and which one I am so completely taken away by? Everytime I look at it another bedtime story comes to mind :)

Nakisha's artwork can be found here: bluedogrose.etsy.com

farmhouse tables on craigslist

We had a field trip into NYC tomorrow to go check out this guy Tony who makes tables from salvaged barnwood.... BUT then I just found these babies (two different listings) on craigslist for what, in comparison, is a real steal. We're taking a look at the one with the chairs tomorrow. My most wonderfulest husband even found a friend to loan us a pickup truck should we like it. Now, the real conundrum is we literally have no place to store it for the next- uh- three months. But first we'll see if we even like it as much in person. Stay tuned.....

another chandelier though probably not for us

I also think this is quite pretty (from kalko lighting) although it's definitely too big and probably too cutsie(?) for us. I don't know what it is but I have a thing for lamps that look like trees or something. See prior posting for the pottery barn lamps we've already purchased....

glass knob

Here is a photo of the glass knob we're leaning towards. M. got a glass knob from me for his birthday so we can see how it looks against the mock up cabinet door.

back to stools

I'm still sold on my choice, but this photo makes me feel a little better about dear husband's option.... except that it's not the backs of the stools that bother me, it's those legs tilting inwards on those stool. Also, notice that the countertops in this kitchen are white marble which allows the chairs to 'pop' a bit more. In our kitchen with the soapstone, I think we're better off going with the wood stained ones. (specifically the ones from Ballard ;)

kitchen chandeliers

been working on this one for quite a while. i never thought i would be into crystal chandeliers- let alone in a kitchen(!) until I saw one at our neighbors house. i was soooo sold on it. it added this lovely formality to the room-- suddenly the kitchen was romantic (okay, okay the kitchen has always been romantic in our house as dear husband prepares such incredible meals) but who knew what a little (i can't believe i'm going to use this word) bling (yep, i said it) could do for a kitchen. But seriously, I think it would also tie in our glass knobs so well. Anyway what i've been looking for is something simple black iron that has a little bit of... uh.. bling. Also, ideally it accepts shades because those could be super fun to change up when we need something different...

Anyway here are some of the top contenders as of now. Yes, one of them has no.. uh.. accents... but I'm thinking it's still dressy and nice.

entertainment armoire

This is gorgeous. From katemadison.com

kitchen seating

As I've posted before, I increasingly have my heart set on this counter stool from Ballard Design (but in stained wood color) and they happen to have a sale going on right now... so I brought it up with dear husband. First off he thinks the chairs should be black. I have to completely disagree with that because of the black soapstone countertops. I think the stained wood is definitely the way to go. Secondly he seems partial to these chairs from Sturbridgeyankee. While I think that it's cool that they swivel and the backs do have a french country feel to them I do not think they seem as sturdy and what really peeves me is the way the legs angle together at the top. It makes it look tippy and cafeteria like. I really like the turned legs on my counterstool also because it would coordinate with the vinnata faucet (see the round shapes? subtle, but nice, eh?)

That said i guess i could really go either way.... I just reeeeeeaaaally think I prefer the first ones (from Ballard).... hm.

siding complete

looking in...

hardi plank siding

stairs arrive and hvac installation

real life inspiration

tyvek AND siding

it's all happening so fast. m. called me today at work (where i was completely swamped) so excited to tell me about the progress at the house. sweet husband went back, camera in hand, to take a bunch of photos to share. here they are. the siding looks great-- even more impressive is the azek trim. can't wait till they do the front!

shower floor

Found this photo online of someone else having done a basketweave carerra floor in the shower. ooooo it gives me goosebumps, it's so pretty....

Perhaps this is a good time to mention the hilarious escapade taht M and I had at the end of last week. Our builders called on Thursday that the plumbers would be working on Friday and needed to know the height of the showerheads-- could we go out to the house and mark how high we wanted them. First off, I thought this was the sort of thing that was standard, but apparently not. In fact, dear husband tells me (look who's been researching) that there is a whole debate online about the proper height of shower heads. In any case, it was almost 7:30 by the time I got off the train and DARK. We went over to the house in our winter coats with flashlights and spent the next twenty minutes taking turns standing in the bathtub with the showerhead held over our heads while the other person balanced the flashlight and sharpie pen to mark the height on the wall. It was pretty hilarious. Goodness knows what the neighbors thought of the flashlights flashing in our empty house. Also, turns out that shower heads are Extremely heavy-- this added to the awkwardness of the whole thing.
Ultimately I think we'll be fine- as long as it's tall enough that it doesn't him M. in the head and short enough that I can actually reach it on tiptoe, then we're fine.
One more thing down.....

carrera tile

Another splurge we decided on was to do carerra marble in the master bathroom. We made preliminary selections at the tile place and were waiting to hear back on the pricing from our builders. Surprise was that they came back saying that if we wanted to do carerra they actually had some in storage from a previous job. I guess it was a high-end job that when the tile showed up the lady of the house freaked out saying that she Never would have possibly ordered that tile and wouldn't pay for it (meanwhile she had signed her name to the order). In any case they've been left with the tile in storage ever since. They said they'd give it to us at cost or at a discount if we liked it. I've been sooooo excited about this because they said that one of the things was a basketweave carerra floor. I love the basket weave look but knew enough not to even browse that section of the tile store because it is $$$. Anyway our builders dropped off samples at the house on Friday. It's gorgeous. Now I'm thinking, if we could, do the basketweave floor in the hall bath and in the floor of the master bath shower. Do the large carerra tiles in the master bath floor and the subways (which have such a pretty honed edge to them) in the walls of the shower....

gardenstate soapstone

This morning we went down to Gardenstate soapstone to meet with Jay. He showed us a number of different slabs. It is incredible the different variations that are there. Some of the stone was absolutely stunning, but just not for our kitchen. We're looking for something that's dark without a lot of green hue to it and light veining without any of the mottled variations. The PA mitus seems like the forerunner, but even there there are so many different looks depending on the exact slab. Jay sent us home with a sample, and made notes on what we liked. He's going to email us photos of slabs he thinks we'd like from off the next shipment. All in all a very productive field trip.