Few updates

The exterior of the house is looking better and better. Our front walkway (bluestone) was laid about a week ago, I've planted some of the herb seeds in the front beds and outlined them with little stones for now so I could see where I planted what.
Our driveway was paved yesterday and you can see the faint hue of Green grass(!!!) that's germinated on the front lawn. Dear husband and I were up at 5:45 am to make sure we got the obligatory 20 minutes of watering before the 93 degree heat hits today. In this photo I'm holding up the mailbox and house numbers so Anthony can put those on today. I love the way our house looks this time of day- the morning light is so pretty.

Moving inside, our sign arrived today! M. picked it out to go in the large empty space above the doorway from the living room into the dining/kitchen area. We had tried to find an authentic antique or handmade sign, but the options were just too pricey.... if we find something perfect someday we can swap it out, but I actually really love how this looks in person:It'll be hung here:

It's great too because the black lettering picks up the armoire, the wood planks are so similar to our coffee table top and the turquoise picks up a bit of the chair!

Anthony was working at the house today. He stained the top of the desk and will be back today to put poly on it. It's pretty- almost the same color as the floor. The stain is Very stinky though and the catch 22 is when we open the windows we smell the freshly paved driveway!

Anthony also put hooks in the cubbie off the garage. (the missing one will go on today). I am SO thrilled with this cubbie area. Love love love the beadboard.

I have some gardening photos from the weekend to upload in the next day or so and have been doing some more thinking on the direction of this blog.... I struggle with how to balance where we've come from (getting back on our feet post fire) with our "new" life (being home!).... I have a couple ideas which I'll share when they are more solid. Anyway, having not been able to post for so many days, I'm happy to be back!

exterior updates

What a difference it makes to have shutters on the windows above the garage. Now I'm anxious to have the front door painted!
They've also seeded the lawn. It smells a bit like a farm near our house-- the good farm smell of wet hay. The lovely mulching job on the beds around the house was done by none other than dear husband during his spring break last week. Both the seed/hay option and the self-mulching were ways to trim down our budget as we come to the end of this job... but neither, I think, sacrificed quality.

Here's a view from the back (pre-seeding) but you can see how the deck has been finished with the lattice-work privacy screen on the left-hand side. We also have the grill set up- which we bought with credit card points! The downside was we had to assemble it ourselves which took hours struggling with bad directions-- but I'm proud to say husband and wife worked brilliantly together and the grill actually works! ;)

...and last night I snapped this photo of our deck furniture. I can't wait for it to warm up so we can have dinners outside. They have yet to build a bit more support into the lattice work. My parents gave us a "New Dawn" climbing rose for easter which I'm thrilled about because my idea has always been to grow some climbing roses (perhaps along with clematis) up the lattice work.

There is a strong possibility that our backsplash installation begins today.... so stay tuned!

Ideal Tile

Anthony met us at Ideal Tile today to help us with our backsplash decision and fireplace surround decision once and for all. (How awesome is a GC that goes with you to help with design decisions?!)

Great news!!! We've settled on a backsplash! It's a pretty, classic porcelain tile with a crackle finish. There's a mix of colors- all gentle neutrals: bluey greys, greens, and browns. The backsplash will be the subways shown here. Behind the range will have a tile molding around framing a the square tiles placed on the diagnal.

Here are just some photos of me playing with the sample Vinny let us take home.

Here's a close up of the tile. ooooo it's so creamy and pretty!

Next up was the fireplace surround. Anthony built this to-die-for mantle which you can see close up here. He is truly a master carpenter-- the detail on the mantle is not lost on us. We looked to him to take the lead on what to do for the surround (within the mantle).

We settled in on these slate tiles. We already have a soapstone hearthstone.... The idea for this will be to use the harlequin (diamond) tiles for the top right below the mantle and above the fireplace. This will be finished off with the black marble pencil molding you can see here too. Then going down either side will be the simple square slate tiles (two across on each side). I am SO excited about the harlequin pattern... what is it with me and things on the diagnal?

Vinny spent so much time assisting us with our selections. He also drew up a mock up of the fireplace design. Here he is! We are so lucky to be working with such masters in their trade.

bathroom updates

Our masterbath shower door is installed. It looks so faaaaancy!

...and most of the hardware in the shower is installed. The whole bath is gorgeous- can't wait until we can actually use it! We did run into a snafu with a couple of the handles of the RH Dillon faucet and diverter. After a lot of worry and a lot of phone calls we hope it's resolved. RH is sending out replacement handles and hardware which hopefully will arrive soon. That's the only thing holding us up from being able to use our bathroom.

See that hole in the wall above the main shower faucet? That's where the diverter is suppose to go which will switch the water flow from the overhead to the handheld.Also, here you see our sink.. with sadly only one working faucet. Still, I can be patient, the bathroom LOOKS amazing even if it isn't yet functional!

and talk about life changing--- we got a towel bar and tissue holder installed in the guest bath (which is what we're using until we 'move' into our bed/bath). What a difference that makes! No more hanging our wet towels over the shower curtain bar-- no more reaching around to the back of the toilet for the tissue roll. It's the small things that you can sometimes be most thankful for!

not done yet!

The area rugs we ordered from overstock.com arrived. We have two of them in the kitchen (both in red) and one in front of the door to the deck- the same style, but in black. They are indoor/outdoor rugs which should clean up well in these high traffic areas.

It's always nervous-making to order things sight-unseen, but I'm very happy with them. I like this photo-- I can't quite believe it's our kitchen. Even though the rest of the house is in disarray with so much continued work (and the dust that follows it)-- these little vignettes make me happy. It's amazing how the elements come together from the linen white of the cabinets and the door style to the hardware and soapstone and the sink and the latest touches of textiles.

That said, here are a couple of the things I'm so anxious for them to finish up. The built-in's in the dining room:

The doors on in the laundry room to cover the washer/dryer instead of having them propped up on the walls.

Clean up the dust (from wood, tile, drywall... and goodness knows what else) once and for all. We're fighting a losing battle here! Every night when we get home we vacuum and wet mop everything... but it's back the next day. Worst is Saturday mornings when the sun is streaming in....

Change out the diverter to the correct one and replace the tile in the hall bath. Oh and uh finish our masterbath and bedroom so we can move out of the guest room!

...and here I was going to point out that I'm longing for the fireplace surround... but I have to put that on hold... doesn't the mantle painted white look just heavenly? For as anxious as I am for them to finish... I'm even more happy thankful to be here at all.... Surrounded by such an amazing house- it is much easier to be patient.

Exterior updates

They put some beautiful molding around our garage door today, installed the weatherstripping and a keypad. It finishes it off so nicely.

... and here's our deck in progress.

What's so amazing about this product is these little caps that go over the nail heads so they all but disappear.

Tomorrow Greg is coming to regrade our property, deliver a bunch of topsoil and build in the drainage. He'll wait to seed and hay until the soil warms a bit more, but we may start seeing some basic landscaping on Saturday. Meanwhile.. I've got my own gardening plan in the works.

stucco and decking

Sorry I've been out of touch for a few days.... been sick with the most horrendous stomach flu. Got to be very good friends with our new Kohler, but I'll spare you the details....

On the brighter side, I realized I had not yet posted a photo of the exterior of our house. Here she is-- the stucco is all done, the exterior lights are up and all we're waiting for is some nice black shutters to finish her off and the front door to be painted. Oh, and, some landscaping would be nice...

Speaking of landscaping-- here are the few plants we did purchase. Some dragon lady holly for the back (my new nickname with dear husband has become dragon lady) and a couple of contractor boxwoods to cover the huge gas meter on the side of the house.

They started the deck the other day.... (Seen from out the french sliding door off the dining room). Pretty hardware, no?

...and here's a view of the deck (in progress) from the outside.

Friday evening photos

Anthony started working on the fireplace mantle today. Wow. It's big!! but so beautiful. i think it fits the room perfectly. I can't wait until it's finished with the surround and painted. Also I'm getting increasingly excited to unwrap my curtains, but it's probably best to allow some time for the dust to settle....


...and he's been hard at work at the cubbie in the mudroom (hallway) outside of the laundry/powder room. I am SO happy with it. The attention to detail is just amazing. The beadboard is gorgeous.

....and our masterbath shower continues to come along. Look at the niche has the same subway as the border surround. It looks great.

Again. this photo makes it clear that we're in a state of construction, but you can get a basic feel for how the rooms flow from one to the next (this is taken from the kitchen).

...here again... kitchen-dining- family room view. Still a major work in progress... but we're getting closer every day!

sneak peak

Okay, we're still moving out of boxes and things are in disarray, but here is a sneak peak at how things are shaping up. Here's the family room which is the most finished. I LOVE the armoire and the chair.... the curtains are tied up to get the pleats right, but the fabric is perfect.

Across from the armoire is the sofa. (Okay this was not so neatly staged)... but was my little curl-up with a blanket and check email station last night. I'm so happy with the rug and the sofa and how all the fabrics work together....and here's dear husband doing a silly dance in the kitchen last night... The settee to the right will actually be going in our bedroom....

Here's the music room. We'll be moving the piano out from the walls a bit. There are pocket doors that close off this room when we're teaching lessons and the wall opposite the piano has built in bookshelves.

Here's a photo of our wedding print that will be hung between the built ins in the music room. We had everyone sign the mat instead of a guest book and this hung above the fireplace in our old home. The night of the fire, around 3:30am when the fire was contained, two firemen brought this print out to my husband and I where we sat on the curb. I wept as they gave it to me... and it brings tears to my eyes now to think about. I am so happy to have it back.

..and here's our downstairs powder room. The washer dryer is on the opposite wall behind bifold doors. I joked with M. that the room is so glamorous that I could do laundry in a ball gown!

More photos in coming days.... but wanted to give you all a sneak peak. I am exhausted, a bit sore, and still a little nervous/frantic about moving and all..... but I am very, very, very happy. This house is beyond my wildest dreams gorgeous... and I can't believe it's ours!

Thursday

See the exterior lights that dear husband left on for me. Amazing to see lights when you drive up to the house!

Here's an up close:

Wednesday evening

They framed out our deck yesterday. Those large posts will be for a privacy screen of lattice work. We live on a small block where the houses are close together. This will shelter the deck just a bit. I hope/plan to grow clematis and climbing roses up the lattice work.

Oh WOW. Our washer/dryer. I'm excited that we went with the black which was dear husband's idea completely. We had gotten into a small tiff on our way there because I had written the directions down completely wrong and gotten us very lost... so when he said black, I didn't even think about it, I just agreed. Turns out- I love them!

Here's the vanity in the laundry powder room with the sconces on either side. This room is turning out really, really well. I love that it feels so formal. Did I mention all the lights- even in here are on dimmers? I joked to M. that I could do laundry in a ball gown ;)

Our bathroom takes my breath away. They hung the mirror and it's pretty amazing.

They are putting a niche in our masterbath shower for shampoos and things:

...and here's the bench seat in our shower:

Whew. The hall bath looks stunning. They grouted the tile in the bath/shower and put in some of the fixtures:

I never dreamed it would look this amazing.

We have a working refrigerator!!!!

... and here she is: the blue star. I think we should actually give her a name. Dear husband is completely ga-ga over this babe. I'm pretty smitten myself actually.

We move in the day after tomorrow. It's been a whirlwind week-- lots of little details coming through and falling through. I think we're doing a good job of staying above the fray.... even if we're sleeping on the floor (our mattress delivery is one question mark) and showering at our neighbors (though this should be fine)... we're just so happy to be getting home.