Dear Reader:
You may have noticed that many of my posts have been about my house.
It has been such a crazy few months.
I'm sorry if you are bored or sick of house posts.
But there just may be an end in sight.
There have been times when the Lord has spoken to me to ease up on my focus on these things.
Prompting me to reconsider and evaluate my time spent looking for the right design or product.
A house for a family is a fine thing but we can get way to caught up in it.
I have felt his pull on me at times and have tried to follow what he tells me and am grateful for His guidance.
I am looking forward to life settling down and getting back to some kind of normal, even if our normal is not normal, but at least the normal of not having to make decisions every day about one thing or another, or run meet a contractor every time I think I'll bake some cookies with the girls or we will paint or lay out back and watch clouds while I read.
{Sigh and Pining moment.}
That is the normal I am almost giddy to have back.
If you are sick of house pictures blaa blaa blaa, you might want to just stop reading now and move on, but if you're wondering how our Cedar Hollow Boulevard home is coming, here you go...
The mud room lockers are installed, still need shelves up top and hooks installed.
I wanted drawers for shoes instead of cubie holes with baskets but unfortunately
I do not believe in gambling and did not play power ball,
thus the extra cost for the drawer had to be dropped from my already way over cabinetry budget.
Laundry room is installed.
I've got six large baskets for my slots which fit perfect for white, light, medium, dark,
"delicate" (which is my solution to my problem with
Erik's jacket)
and towels. My plan is for each girl to bring her clothes here and sort their clothes for themselves.
NOTE: This will take training.
ALSO NOTE: That is my plan and you know how my plans sometimes come out.
In the kitchen we are coming along...the crown molding still needs to go in on top
and they had to tear off the top moldings for my pantry door. Repair for that is coming...dang! They also need to finish and install the range hood, but they do not build it until they can measure the opening after the cabinetry has been installed.
Love the color my wood floors are but I had imagined them a little lighter because I did not want
them too dark, but they are going to be fabulous. I am really happy how they turned out.
We still need the hardware to go on.
I went with polished chrome for the hardware.
I
read a post from a fabulous high-end designer and stylist
who said
that the most long term and lasting finishes for hardware
are those in
the shiny silver and shiny gold families.
So after this whole process of building, Erik will probably never let me re-do anything
for a good 15
years.
Longevity and timelessness were a BIG player in my decision
process.
Still have wood flooring to finish in the stair hall and the pantry.
My front room where I will greet visiting teachers, read, and listen to my girls play violin and piano.
The master tub surround turned out amazing I think.
The window moldings still need to go in, as do the fixtures.
I wanted something big on the shower walls so I didn't have a lot of grout to clean.
I love how the floor turned out.
Seeing this completed was the first time I felt confident with what I was selecting and designing.
These pillars go onto the counters in the corners and will have access to an outlet for our toothbrushes and Erik's electric shaver to plug into without being out on the counters.
Rope lighting will go above the crown in the master bedroom.
The two boards on the floor are screwed down to cover the heat registers
because you would be grossed out
by the number of workers who will pee down your vents.
SERIOUSLY, So gross!
Erik wanted a port-a-potty outside cause if you don't have one that is
for sure where they will go, or in a window well.
I mean workers do need to go and all, and it would be a pain to run to a store
in the middle of work, so when you consider it I am shocked that
these temporary outhouses are not required on all job sites.
Hall bathroom cabinets are waiting the counters, then sinks and faucets.
Rather then framing in this area or dead space, we had it opened up and had the finish guys
make this an awesome little storage place for the bathroom.
The little piece of rounded board and molding at the top,
and the extra thick shelf fronts make it beautiful.
Basement kitchen cabinets are in.
Waiting on counters, fridge, microwave drawer, and dishwasher.
There is still a thick open shelf on the wall by the fridge and I will put some
fun ceramic popcorn bowls and such.
The homework and computer desk for the girls will be great and so useable.
A small round table will go in the center of the kitchenette for coloring,
crafting, play dough, puzzles, board and card games.
All above items will be stored in the pantry in the corner.
The transom that is waiting it's glass will allow some light into this windowless room.
Exercise/dance room is big with plenty of room for the girls to cartwheel and do some fancy footed turns and leaps across the floor. We are putting up a bar and mirrors for the girls to check their form with. There is high quality fiber pad under the floor to make it better on joints for softer landings when jumping and the smooth floor will allow good turns without ripping off a toe. We still need the floorboards in here but they had to wait until the floor was in first.
The speakers still need to go in the family room. I am really excited for the girls to have a hang out room!
We have been shopping for couches but I am really picky so it's been hard and everything I really love is like $6000. Not happening as we basically have a whole house to furnish! I like the durability of leather for kids but wanted a lighter color and also something warmer and cozier when we set down.
Erik wants leather.
I'll let you know who wins.
I almost freaked out at the big crack in the wall until I realized it's the electrical for the vanity light.
Double sinks in the jack and jill should keep for less arguments over sink space for the teenage girls.
Okay, who am I kidding? But it sounds good in theory right?
Bedrooms are all finished except for finish electrical tomorrow and carpet which goes in next week.
McCall claims this as her bathroom, but we are going to force her to share the jack and jill and put Stella upstairs for another year, if she can make it that long without being with the other girls.
THEN McCall can take over this one.
Honestly my biggest concern was that if Claire was together with Stella in a room,
we would be lacking all common and good sense.
I can just imagine those two girls and their brilliant ideas involving water and a sink.
No we need the calm reasoning of McCall next door
and Elizabeth in the same room to curb Claire's creativity.
Closet in bathroom for storing supplies. I love all the storage this house is going to have.
L-O-V-E!
Until Stella is a bit older I think this will be the office/craft room, and I will be able to keep an eye on the girls out back. But again this is my current plan and very likely two weeks after we move in I may be posting how we had to completely switch rooms up cause the little CEO had to switch.
Another room ready to be finished. I loved how that paint turned out. I had a much lighter version of this color picked out but Erik wanted more color, I did want to hide finger prints and such, so the color I loved at 25% was scratched and we went with this one at 75% strength.You are viewing it at it's darker look here in the basement.
The basement hall closet is an exact duplicate of the one in the upstairs hall.
Again, the shelving is going to be great and I am hoping I might be able to get organized which I haven't been since I had my third child 5 years ago.
Nice wide 4 foot stairway and we've got stair lighting going up the side so that when it's night you can easily make your way up. I am having these wired with an auto light cell to turn them on automatically when it gets dark. The handrail is a nice thick wood one that will be stained dark so as to hide finger prints and dirt.
I am really happy with the fireplace, and the outlet on the mantel will be great for
greenery and Christmas lights come December.
The speaker wires for the upstairs family room are behind this v-grove in the ceiling somewhere. My builder told me it happens all the time, which is true as in the dance/exercise room we are missing one speaker and the ipod docking outlet base thing* on the wall.
*That was a lot of adjectives!
In the entry I had the front and back of my door painted this lovely rich black.
I wanted to paint all my doors black but worried I might get sick of them
so this was a nice compromise.
I use compromise "loosely" as it was really never an option with my cute hubby,
but I like to pretend I yield a bit more power then I do.
Did you know if you have a wood or steel door you will void the warranty by painting it black?
I did not.
So we went with this giant 8 foot high and extra wide fiberglass door.
It is extremely hard to dent, as it is a super hardwood inside with a fiberglass layer on the outside.
It doesn't shrink, expand, or crack. So as much as we are going to try,
it will be stronger then our efforts to destroy and ruin it.
I did not choose a white knob as you see below, although I DO like white!
No, we have a shiny chrome number selected with a fun crystal knob for the inside.
I am so excited to see how it looks!
The painting is mostly wrapped up other then a few touch up areas around the home.
I love my blue walls so I just had to put a couple more pics of them in. It really pops the moldings.
Another builder thing I learned is...
See that orange circle on the floor in the pic below?
That means there is a circular can light above.
Square?
A fixture box or smoke detector.
A line from the wall?
A light box or electrical outlet.
You would almost think they know what they are doing!
But some still get missed even though they get marked, as I already explained earlier.
Guess they should add dots on the floor for speaker wires!
We got the cement work finished up last week and it looks great.
From the driveway you only have two small steps to come to to the front door.
The back is all leveled out with rock walls completed but this dirty pile in front still need to be placed.
WELCOME!
Still needs some green but probably not till Spring, but a topiary for the front porch would
be nice but DARN they know what they want for those nice big ones.
Black front lights will go on soon and I hope I selected a good size.
In the rental we have these dinky tiny like five inch high house lights and they just look silly.
I hope my choices are better then that!
The End.
For now.
