Let there be light!

Ohhhhhhh....we have finally finally finally chosen all of the lights! Cue sighs of relief and pay no mind to the teeny tiny voice suggesting we check out maybe just one more website.

Would you like a sneak peek?

Checking in

Painting still continues. Even though it's just the trimwork and the doors, it's a LOT of trimwork and doors. Stuff's lookin' good! We've gotten the first gentle nudge to choose the rest of our lights. All that's left are the dining room and our bathroom lights. We can't choose the bathroom lights until we find the mirrors. We aren't finalizing the mirrors until the cabinets go in. You see where this is going.

We're all getting antsy to get back into our house. While it's been wonderful living right next door to the renovation, and the house we're in has been great for our needs, it's just not home. Memorial Day weekend would be a nice target move-back-in date, and a great seventh anniversary present for the mister and me. Believe it or not, I've already begun thinking about where we'll put the Christmas tree up this year. Getting excited!

Porch and Painting

Porch railings are going in this week:

All those balusters? Individually installed:

Also happening this week is the painting. So far they've painted the trim and the doors, and it doesn't make for a great photo so I'll wait until paint goes up on the walls.

This just in: we finally chose some lights! Not all the lights, but some of them. The mister and I each spent a fair amount of time checking out options online, and in stores. So many choices, it's overwhelming. But, we did come in under budget on the first round of lights. Please let them not be ugly.

Next Tuesday our bathroom vanities arrive, and shortly after the stone people will be out to measure templates for our vanity tops. Light fixture installation will begin, and we'll be pressed to make the final lighting choices. The front door will arrive in a few weeks, and we'll need to choose front door hardware. I've begun hunting door knobs for the inside doors. Soon we'll look at carpet choices for the bedrooms. Heads up: there won't be any boring beige carpets in this joint!

Size matters (when it comes to lighting, that is)

I'm a huge fan of designer Candice Olson. One thing she pays a lot of attention to in her room designs is light. But she makes it look so effortless, you think to yourself: well, how hard can it be? What's there to figure out? It's just lights, right? Come along and I'll share what we've discovered...

Floors still drying...and we opened the door for a better look

We figured it was unlikely a gust of wind would rise up and blow debris into the house if we opened the door for a peek, so, well, we opened the door for a peek! And oh how we *love love love* them!

We didn't cross the threshold to take these pictures, though I was half convinced I would fall in trying to get that first picture. By Monday we'll be able to walk in and look around. It's been so humid the past few days the floors are taking a bit longer to dry. But that's okay. It'll be worth the wait!

Caution: Wet Floors

Came home tonight to this:

So of course I wanted to see what the floors looked like. I peered through the windows and it was darker floors as far as the eye could see. Through heroic efforts*, I managed to get the best picture one could possibly get at 7pm on a rainy night from outside the house looking through a grimy window into the inside of a house with no electricity while trying to hold my finger over the miniscule but powerful flash since everyone knows you'd just get a picture of glass glare if you don't (even if it takes you six tries to realize you can't outsmart the glass glare without covering the flash...in case you were thinking you could).Translation: don't judge the picture.

Before:

After:

*Note to selves: we could maybe use some new deck stairs. If there's a better sign than thinking, 'I wonder if the mister would think to come looking for me back here'' goes through your head as you climb the rickety steps, I don't know what that sign would be.

Slab shopping

It's time to choose the vanity top. Yesterday I went to a shop that has a huge warehouse space filled with slab after slab of marble and granite and other stones - beautiful! We are seeking two tops for the two master vanities, and one for each of the secondary baths. And hopefully we can score remnants for the small vanities, because remnants = cheaper. We're looking for a white marble top like, maybe, this one (though the mister thinks, maybe, not this particular one)...

Not-quite-final stretch: what's left to do

It's amazing to think that in a few short weeks we'll be back in our house! What's coming up:

• Floor refinishing. It starts tomorrow!
• Interior painting. We're painting everything - old and new, walls, doors, trim. Starts after the floor stain and first poly coat is down.
• Staircase finalized. The handrails, newel posts and balusters are in.
• Gutters. They are an installation-in-progress.
• Vanity tops. I head to a stone place tomorrow to look at our options.
• Cabinet hardware. Just chose that last night.
• Front door. Just chose that last night too. And apparently without a moment to spare: the builder says it may take up to six weeks to get it!
• Bathroom fixtures come in. Vanities, faucets, tub, toilets, etc.
• All sorts of tiny little trimwork jobs finalized, especially where old and new rooms have come together.
• Shower glass enclosures need to be chosen.
• We have to choose the other bathroom fixtures...mirrors, towel bars, etc.
• WE MUST CHOOSE OUR LIGHTS. *sigh*
• Railings on the porch.
• Porch steps and path laid in.
• Ack - the door knobs!
• Outlets and switches of course. Right now they're all just holes with with metal boxes and wires poking out.
• Closet 'system' figured out. Think, 'least expensive chic'.
• We have to decide if we're staining the front porch or not.
• Doorbell dilemma. By that I mean: we've never had a working doorbell. Just last week (known in builder terms as, I'm just guessing here, 'now you mention it hour'), the mister asked if it was possible to get a working one.
• Leak mystery. I'm going to be breezy here, because it's how I'm coping. About 10 days ago we were in the house and I heard water running in the pipes. We checked everything inside and out and couldn't find a thing. The builder came over and he couldn't find anything. He shut off the water valve and it stopped. Plumber is scheduled for a visit. Please think cheap-fix thoughts.
• Choose the bedroom carpets. The mister is all giddy about this task. And no, I'm not joking!

At least, the above is what I'm tracking. I'm sure the builder's list is about 10 times as long. And I'm not even including things like landscaping around the new porch (we at least have to fill in the tire tracks and do something with where the old sidewalk used to be).

We haven't scheduled a move-out date just yet, but we're preparing to commence to begin to think about it!

Hardwood floor stain. Or, a brown by any other name...

 After trolling chat rooms and Google image results examining homeowners' hardwood floor colors, I picked three stain colors to sample. During the floor stain research journey, I learned a few things:

• The type of hardwood you have greatly affects how the stain will look. White oak and red oak will show the grain regardless of stain, and red oak tends toward a reddish cast regardless of the stain color. Pine will soak up stain exceptionally well, but it's a softer wood, prone to faster wear and tear.
• Some homeowners attempt all sorts of formulas to arrive at the desired color. 1:1, or 2:1 or 1:1:2 and other such mixes aren't unheard of in the homeowner forums. The willingness to go to such lengths tends to correlate with 'refinishing our floors' being the only thing the homeowner is doing.
• Water-popping the wood can make a stain richer when it's applied. Basically, you put water on your floor to open up the grain. Apparently this is not for the amateur. 
• When you're staining old wood and new wood, you're likely to see some variation in how the stain appears. You're assured, 'only you will notice.' This is, actually, not that reassuring.

So let's see how our stain choices all stack up.

So easy, a girl can do it

These were on every window at the house. I didn't pay any attention to them until one day I decided to see what they said. The message is pretty clear:

Dip, Splat, Spread: In Goes the Tile

I don't think I could be a tiler. Correction: I don't think I'd like to be a tiler (my HGTV 'upbringing' assures me surely I could actually do it). The folks laying the tiles have been at it for two straight days. They work long days, have to manhandle a lot of heavy boxes/bags, and use a scary looking wet saw. That's before they even get to the laying of the tile. Makes me wish we'd chosen 4' x 4' tiles, and then they'd only need to put down like four of them. Instead, we choose things like subway tile, which probably feels like hand-trimming a lawn blade by blade.

But I'm grateful for this crew. They've started in one of the girls' bathrooms and nearly finished it. A sneak peek for you:

Ugly lighting

We've lived with some ugly lights for more than six years. Like this one:

Seriously, the previous owner had a thing for 'aged bronze' or 'rusted bronze' or 'clearance bin bronze' or whatever finish this is called. I wish I'd saved the sconces that originally adorned the fireplace. Picture water bugs holding vanilla ice cream cones. That's kind of what they looked like. And yes, we've lived with them for more than six years, but they are precisely the motivation behind our light selection.

And no, we still haven't chosen the lights. I continue to pin ideas here and here and, well, here too. If you have a favorite, let me know!

Presenting: The Staircase

Feast your eyes: the staircase is in.

Lots of updates!

Let's just dive in, shall we?

• Trim is up. All of the door and window trimwork, the baseboards and the crown molding are up. We have this oversized baseboard that I love. We also apparently have two different types of baseboards in the house, which I never noticed before. So...thanks? For pointing that out? Our builder went with the one that is more 'period'. By the way, you can also spell it crown moulding. I just felt like you should know. 
• Master bath tub plumbing is now situated. And our new tub filler appears to be fixed to the floor (pre-tile). At least I assume so, since I couldn't move it from its spot. She's a beaut, and a bit modern. Pic over in Interiors.
• We decided on the newel posts, balusters and handrail. I don't have pictures of the last two, but one of the newel post is also over in Interiors.
• We haven't chosen any light fixtures. I'm really trying to come in under budget on this line item. And oh the options - nearly endless it seems! 
• We might be done a month early. Whaaaaaat?!? The key word is might. We are cruising right along and are actually ahead of schedule. So, we'll see.