Add a little color to your life!

Outside of the exterior paint color change, this week's visit was rather uneventful. The interior looks pretty close to unchanged except that all of the windows and cabs are covered in plastic to protect from the spray paint. If you ask me, it kind of reminded me of scene from Dexter when he's getting prepped to do his thing. If you don't watch that show, I don't recommend that you check it out just to understand what I mean. So short post to show you just the bit of added color added to the outside!

From the street

A little closer look. The trim color hasn't been done yet - it will be a white trim where you see that creamy beige color right now.

I don't think I've put up a pic of our retaining wall and here is a contrast between the color it used to be and what it is today. Seems a little odd that they stopped with just that little section left to paint. I hope they ran out of paint NOT that they just dropped everything at 5-0-0 to punch the clock.

Here's the stone that will be the accent.

Kitchen with it's plastic covers.

No interior paint yet but they had materials there to get started. Hoping for another dry week so they can finish up the exterior paint. Next up on our list this week is to visit the fabricator (still deciding on granite) and going to Factory Direct to pick out washer and dryer. We are getting oh so close!

XOXO - j

Lighting the way

I had the extreme pleasure of picking out light fixtures this week. They dumped 5 huge catalogs off on me and said - pick out what you like! Luckily this was much less overwhelming than I originally thought it would be. And the perks of building a big house with lots of bathrooms means I got to pick lots of different stuff that I like! So, none of Bill's professional photos have pics of the bathrooms (beside master) and of course last time we were there I didn't even think to look at light fixtures...shows you how ubberly important this decision is, right?! Basically I had nothing to go off of which in this case I think worked to my favor. I wasn't crazy about Bill's master bath lights and they are halogen...he told me they have a problem with them losing connection and one of the bulbs will be out until you jiggle it. That does NOT sound like the light fixture for this anal retentive gal. I'd be up on that counter every day (probably with a few naughty words) trying to get those dang lights to stay lit. Moving on...I decided I didn't want halogen lights...yeah they are brighter but they put off more heat and Lord knows Brian and I don't need any more heat in our lives...ow! Get it, cuz we're so hot?! Ok, bad joke. The real truth is I didn't want to stock 2 different type of light bulbs in the linen closet. You know when I'd be looking for a halogen and all I would have is the regular old bulb. I know, I know, enough already...show us what you picked...

I didn't take pictures at the lighting store mainly because they didn't have everything I picked on display (and I forgot). So I grabbed a few pics from the internet. I won't bore you with the ceiling fan photos - we are going as basic as it gets in the spare bedrooms, a step up in the office and main living area and another step up in the master bedroom. Brian and I are getting all the cool stuff in the master...we are paying for the place, right?!  Here are just a few of the bathroom lights that I selected...there are 5 bathrooms, 4 different fixtures! I couldn't find the one of the Jack and Jill bath but that is probably the least exciting one anyway.

This is going in the 1st floor 1/2 bath and in the guest bath in the basement. I like that it looks like candles.

This in the on suite bathroom upstairs. I saw this in the store and really liked it in person...not sure I would have picked it from the book though.

And this is for the master bathroom. I loved this one from the minute I saw it in the book and loved in even more in person. 

You can kind of tell the look I was going for - the oiled bronze with the darker tinted glass...which we carried throughout the house. Many of you know that I am far too traditional to do some of the really modern, sleek designs but there were lots of choices for those people! That's it - lighting is checked off the list! Say a little prayer that everything I picked is in stock...I want this permanently off my to-do list! I'm saving the pendants over the kitchen island as a surprise...they are my MAIN love! I'm sure you can hardly wait to see them! :)

Later gator!

XOXO - j

Trim out with your brim out

Brian and I trudged out in the rain to make our weekly trip to the house this afternoon and found the driveway poured and almost all trim work in the house complete. It's looking pretty sweet! The office room built-in shelving is in, the cabinets are all attached and all of crown molding is installed. They have some painting and staining left to do along with covering the nail holes but then it looks like the trim guys will be out and next up is the painters...or so we think. There is still work to be done with the dry wall to smooth out the seams and prime it before they paint it. The house is looking more and more livable each week!

Check out that driveway! Exterior paint was decided this week so should be coming soon. And we got rid of the nasty contractor garage door in exchange for 2 new real garage doors that are yet to be painted.

Here are a few photos:

This is in the office - built in shelving will be painted ivory to match the trim. You can't see in this photo but there are peg holes and there will be 4 adjustable shelves on each side and 4 cabinet doors below.

 Will look like this...blue paint color and all.

We got the decorative columns on the outsides of our shelving unit due to a contractor error and the duct work needing a place to run up to the 2nd story. Opps on their part...but it still looks good.

Main floor family room - that whole wall is encased in wood and will be painted to match the trim and the mantle will be stained dark.

Stairwell has rails!

 Will look like this eventually...

Looking into the kitchen from the family room. Lovely trim work!

View from the kitchen looking into the family room. The TV will go on the wall right between those windows straight ahead.

Brian's very first view of his beloved bar...I got a sneak peak on Friday when I stopped by to talk to the lighting lady.

 AND what does he think??????

Looks like 2 thumbs down but he's really just pretending to be pouring drinks! All of the wood in this area will be stained to match the dark cabs.

10 ft ceilings in the basement with crown molding and rope lights inside the tray to be installed.

Another view of the crown molding in the basement.

Up stairs landing looking into spare rooms and the laundry room to the right.

Master bedroom windows...have you notice that I love these? I seem to take a pic of these every week!

View out the upstairs bedroom window. I don't think it will be long that we look to empty lots...

 So that's it! Things are definitely moving fast and as I look at our schedule for the next few weeks...moving is part of that! I did ask Bill on Friday if he thought they were still on schedule and he said yes.

Last decisions to be made are light fixtures...I have 5 books to go through, ugh! Granite remnants for the laundry room and a few bathrooms...got to see that dang fabricator again! Exterior stone that will go on the columns - luckily Bill is going to have 3 options delivered and for us to choose from. Thank goodness he is not making us go to another "stone" place to make a decision...the granite was bad enough! And I have paint colors to pick - I already have 2 colors from Bill's house I know I want and our allowance let's us pick 3 so just one more to pick and have to decide where I want each color to go. It seems unreal that we are already getting to the finishing touches...but we can't be more excited to get in and get settled! Brian and I have daily conversations that start with..."know what I'm most excited about in our new house..." I think we have almost every area covered. We just know that we are going to love this house and make it our home.

Will keep you posted as there are more developments!

Catching up...LOTS of pics!

Long time no post...sorry, I missed my Sunday weekly post last week due to travel over the holiday weekend and this week was a long - short work week! So here I am on my ONLY Saturday in September to be home trying to catch up on the 1,000's of things that have piled up quite quickly. So, lots has happened in the last few weeks. I started writing a blog post at one point last week about the granite selections but that has now changed so it doesn't even really make sense to finish it. Long story short...we thought we had our granite finalized only to find out when the dimensions got to the fabricator (guy who cuts it) that the slabs we picked were too small. He can do the kitchen and 1/2 bath on main floor but can't get the master bath out of the same 2 slabs without putting a seam in. We are STILL waiting to hear back from him to find out where the seam will be because we will have a center counsel on the granite separating our own sides (because we need it!) so it may not really matter. Here's a picture to illustrate what I'm talking about.

So, if the seam doesn't fall where we will be satisfied we have to see if they can find 3 slabs that match (the one we picked out only had 2 matching slabs) and do the same granite throughout the house...which I wanted to avoid or we'll have to see if they can track down bigger slabs of the same things at one of their other places. Quite honestly, I'm kind of over picking out granite so I'm hoping this all works itself out. In fact, I would love it if the fabricator calls back and says "whoops, false alarm, I can do exactly what you want me to. Oh and by the way, I can even save you some money!" I realize this a pipe dream...especially that last part......

So here's what we have picked out for now.

This is called Juparana Imperena and is supposed to go in Kitchen, 1/2 bath and master bath.

This is Copper Silk that was supposed to go on the bar in basement and other various bathrooms. It looks alot different than this picture. We found out this is the same name of stone that Brian's parents have in their kitchen - totally random but seems like Julie (mother in law) and I have more in common than just our name!

And as promised in a previous post - this is what the granite lot looks like. I despise this place!

Moving on...

Since we were gone all last weekend we didn't get to the house until Tuesday night and it was not until about 7pm. The sun goes down at 7:30 these days so we didn't have much natural daylight to poke around before we had to get out of there. I did snap a few photos. The trim guys are there now...they are putting on doors, the baseboards, cabinets and all other trim work. So far we are very pleased with what we see...

This is the office room, french doors and the head treatment is on.

Another trim pic

I thought this was so funny - they had pencil drawing all over our walls with what was supposed to be done in each area. We were trying to figure out what each chicken scratch meant.

Whoops, I even caught Brian in the shower :-P

Lockers in the mud room - these will be stained dark to match our other cabs.
 

On Friday night we were lucky enough to have a professional construction engineer in our presence (aka Hermy) that was able to give us some insight into what was looking good and what we need to ask about. It's so nice to know people that know stuff...even if there are a few curse words that come along with their assessment of how things look now! Thanks again Kate and Josh for your expertise! It is seriously invaluable!

We were pleasantly surprised to come out just a few days later and see the kitchen cabs installed along with most of the bathroom cabs! I think Kate asked a few times what was going in that large space straight ahead...just a fridge/freezer. "and a pantry??" she said...nope, just a fridge/freezer. :)

Kitchen cabs are in!!!

Here's what we are hoping the finished product looks similar to. I'm adding some pendant lights above that island...that selection should come in the next two weeks when I get hooked up with the lighting store lady.

With the large and in charge fridge/freezer! Their layout is flipped from ours as you can see...

3/4 Bath upstairs - cabs are way dark - almost black looking.

So that's about it! We are definitely making some major progress and it's getting very exciting and almost a little strange now that we can actually think about moving in and living there! The countdown is really on now and we are already starting to plot out what furniture is going to go where...more to come on that. Hope you got to enjoy this beautiful September day...I didn't as I accidentally got glued to the tube and ended up spending 4 hours watching the Hawkeyes lose to ISU. There were much more productive things to do from 11am-2pm on my to do list today. Oh well...talk soon!

XOXO - j