Flooring & Landscaping - Week 23, Thursday

A lot has been happening at the house since my last post. Unfortunately, I was sick all last week so I didn't get to go over and take any photos.

Last Sunday, my parents came to visit and celebrate my birthday and my dad brought a pretty awesome gift, the yard plans! They look great! He really took into account how we would like to use the space and what we are capable of maintaining. The plans include a nice yard for the dog, a large patio for entertaining, a curved walk up the front, raised beds for veggies, new fencing and of course a lot of new plants. He also designed a nice trellis treatment to mask the ugly cement wall from the neighbors garage. It will be a fun place for Riley to grow his hops!

Yesterday, we met with Oliver at the house to go over these plans and also some of the details I was unsure of around the house. While we were there, the the house was sealed off because the hardwood floors had just received their stain and first protective layer. We peeked through the window and they look great! It's a nice medium stain with walnut undertones layered on the red oak. The house will be sealed until Friday when the floors are ok to walk on again. At that point, the tile will be started! I can't wait to see all these design choices in motion. It's really starting to feel close :)

Inside the house, everything is white. All the walls have been primed and are ready for the first coat of paint. As with the floors, the walls and wood floors will receive a final coat when the house is finished just in case any scratches occur in the finishing work.

This week we have been really focusing on the exterior of the house. I think we are finally honing in on what color we want to do the exterior. It's been a really hard decision to make because it's so permanent and has such a huge effect on the whole neighborhood, not just out house. I think we're going to go with a medium, warm gray with off-white/cream trim. We might incorporate a little tonal cream/beige trim and paint the underside of the roof eaves and front porch a fun light blue color. I want the house to have a little pop so it's not just boring gray and white. :)
We also chose our carpet for the basement & bedrooms. After a few visits to CFM, we found a closeout wool carpet we both really like. I'm a little nervous about the light color and looped construction with knowing that we plan to entertain a lot and we have a black dog, but Riley assured me that it won't be anything a carpet cleaner can't handle :) We will also have to get a new vacuum because Dyson's nullify the warranty on wool carpets! I will miss my Dyson dearly, but it will be worth it to have a beautiful natural fiber carpet.

That's all for now! Hopefully I will get to sneak in and take some photos soon :)

Back Porch!!! - Week 22, Friday

Today is my birthday and I received a very nice present when I got to the house: The back porch looks awesome! The beams are all trimmed out, the railings & banisters are in, and the columns have been installed. Oliver even made a nice horizontal grate around the base of the deck so Zoe wouldn't use it as her hiding place :)

Back Deck

Stairs are backed and looking nice

More detail shots - Those funny pipes are the out/in takes for the HVAC system. Not all that attractive right now, but I hear they are getting a facelift.

Lighting - Week 21, Saturday

Whew! Riley and I did a shopping marathon and picked out ALL of the lighting for the house today! We stopped by SchoolHouse Electric and like a few things there, but we felt they didn't have the right fixtures for all our spaces. For the sake of simplicity, we decided to get everything from Rejuvenation instead. They  have a larger selection and we can get all of our interior and exterior lights there.

Leading up to today, I was committed to using only Craftsman style lighting to stay true to the house, but once we were looking at it, it didn't feel quite like "us". Then, Riley said something that changed our plan completely. It was so simple, "Why not just pick what we like?" So smart. I do like the look of traditional craftsman interiors, but our personal style is much more modern. All of the furniture we have picked out so far is in the mid-century modern style with an eclectic twist. So after debating for a little while and starring at the craftsman lighting section, we decided to throw out sticking to one particular style/period of lighting. Instead, we just picked out the fixtures we like. They still have an overall 1920s schoolhouse feel, but we threw in a couple non-traditional, more modern pieces as well.

Lighting done.

A Back Deck & More Sheetrock - Week 21, Friday

Nothing too exciting to report from the inside of the house today. Just more walls :) The walls & ceiling on the main level are all covered in sheetrock and ready to be primed! 

Office/Main Level Bedroom

Kitchen - You can see the original floor (original meaning it was there when we bought it) that will be reused and matched with new red oak

Powder Bath - The old floor is a little patchy here because this used to be the closet for one of the bedrooms in the original house

Powder Bath - Walls close-up

More Powder Bath Walls

Many Powder Bathroom Pictures! I'm currently trying to pick out the wallpaper for this room. It's the one place Riley would let me have it :)

Kitchen Pantry - Pocket door framing is now enclosed

Kitchen - Future home of the coffee bar

Temporary Thermostat - Gotta keep it warm so the walls dry!

Speaking of thermostats, we ended up getting a Nest Thermostat. It's a nifty little guy that learns your patterns and suggests ways to decrease your energy usage. There's also an app where you can control it from anywhere from your iphone. Pretty darn cool and it's really cute to boot!

Basement - More framing down here, not a lot sheetrock quite yet!

Basement Bedroom - Only sheetrocked walls so far. Ceilings are in throughout the basement though! 

Outside the house, we were pleased to find a new addition today. The back deck is being installed and the stairs are going into place. The Ipe wood is really beautiful (photos do it no justice) and it's pretty nice to see something stable back here.

Back Porch Stairs

Back Porch - Working away!

Leaving today's post with the front of the house :)

Washer & Dryer - Week 21, Monday

We were on a roll this weekend. All sorts of decisions being made! We decided to go with oil rubbed bronze door hinges and knobs throughout the house and last night we power-shopped for our washer/dryer set up. Sears was having a friends and family additional 15% off sale prices last night so we had to take advantage. After doing some online research and talking with the salespeople at Sears, we decided to go with a Samsung set. We got a great deal on the mid-range Samsung Steam washer & dryer set in white. It's amazing the technology they put into these things now. Riley asked me last night if we needed the steam version or if we just wanted to get the regular one. My response, "I don't know if I need it, I've never used one with steam? I might have been needing it for years and never known it..."
Here they are:

Samsung, 3.7 cubic feet, Steam Washer

Samsung, 7.3 cubic feet, Steam Electric Dryer

This was my first time having a choice of washer and dryer. In the past, we've either inherited ones with the house or been in rentals. To be perfectly honest, all the buttons and computer boards in there make me really nervous. It just looks like more things to break or malfunction. I really would have preferred a simple knob with the pull/push on off, but that just didn't seem to be an option with the front loaders. Everyone has gone hi-tech!
We decided to give it a go and I hope these things have the most amazing cleaning power I have ever experienced! I will write a follow-up once we get them installed and I have a chance to use them for a little while.

Sheetrock & Wall Prep - Week 20, Friday

The house exterior is looking really nice. I love the way the front porch turned out. It will be a nice place to sit in the summertime!

Front Porch - Railings & columns complete!

Inside, the sheetrock is complete on the upper two levels and the seams have been taped/mudded.

Kitchen/Dining Room - Walls are in & taping/mudding is in progress

Kitchen - Walls & ceiling ready to prime

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Kitchen - More insulation, doors & framing

Powder Bath - Pocket door installation in progress

Office/Main Floor Bedroom - Closet

Office/Main Floor Bedroom

Kitchen Pantry - Pocket door framing

Living Room

Master Bedroom

Master Closet

Master Bathroom

Master Bathroom - Pocket door framing

Master Bath - Future home of the vanity

More Master Bath

Master Closet/Nook

Upstairs Bathroom

Upstairs Hall Closet

Upstairs Bedroom 1

Upstairs Bedroom landing

Upstairs Bedroom 2

Upstairs Bedroom 2 - Closet

Front Porch Columns & Sheetrock - Week 20, Tuesday

Today we stopped by to approve the columns and railings. A portion of the railings are in place now and the columns are being trimmed out. There is still some trim to be added to the inner rectangles on the bases. The front porch is really looking nice and the house feels much more balanced with the columns and railing taking place.

Trimming the columns

Front Porch - Railing

Front Porch - Right section of railing in place

Close Up

Inside the house, the sheetrock is going up fast! The upstairs is almost complete and the main level is about halfway. There are a few things left to do in the basement before they install sheetrock down there so it will be about a week before they start.

Putting up sheetrock!

Stairwell upstairs

Master Bath - No this is not our wall color :)

Master Closet

Master Closet/Nook

Looking into the Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom - Looks like a big white box inside!

Upstairs Bath

Dining Room - Sheetrock waiting to go in on the main level