Snail's pace toward the finish line

It feels like we're running through deep, sticky, heavy mud these last few feet toward the finish line. All that's left:

- HVAC inspection
- Electrical panel inspection (now that power is restored to the house)
- Final CO inspection
- Bathroom and laundry room hardware installation
- Front door hardware installation
- Final decision on the concrete porch (to stain or not to stain...yes, we are back to that)
- Front gutter relocation
- Final walk-through for the punch list (nicked paint, etc.)

Hopefully, for the certificate of occupancy, we can get by with the 'landscaping' we have (ie, pine straw...and more pine straw). With the power restored to the house, guess what's gone from the middle of our yard?

Beds optional

The carpet is in! Although we have wood floors everywhere else, we like carpeting underfoot in the bedrooms and closets. Soft carpet, that is. Call us old-fashioned. :) Like everything in a renovation, you can spend a fortune on carpeting. One of the mister's favorites was $100 square foot*. Yowza. What we really wanted was something soft that would wear well with the kids. And we found it!

*not even close to our budget

We have door knobs!

Came home today to see they've been busy installing the many door knobs! All of the knobs on the second story are black, even though our door hinges are oil-rubbed bronze. Something I learned: ORB (as the oil-rubbed bronze is referred to by those tired of typing it out every time) can look different across manufacturers. While our hinges are ORB, they are a very dark finish. Which we love. The ORB version of these knobs, though, were lighter than I wanted, and they had a sort of 'distressed' finish around the edges. The black looks AMAZING!

On the main level the knobs are a mix of nickel and pewter (bedrooms and dining room, and kitchen cabinets), and ORB (back door and front door). We ordered all of the new pieces from handlesets.com. Want to see?

Drawing the line at 'apple bliss' carpet

The youngest has requested red carpet. Cherry, rosebud, apple bliss: she is drawn to these fiery red, red, red choices. Can you imagine? Red wall-to-wall carpet. *shudder*

Which is kind of ironic, because the largest area rug we have is an 8' x 10' red Persian-style rug, and red is my favorite color. But still; all I will think is that it would look like a bloodbath in her room. So, we've dashed her hopes and she is not pleased. While she is 'kind of into blue', she has enough blue in her room she says, and doesn't want blue carpeting. She is mulling over a lilac color, but it doesn't look promising.

Meanwhile, the mister has taken a shine to this one:

Our sources

If you're considering a renovation, or a room remodel, or even just replacing a room element like lights or tile, here's a tip: look beyond the big box stores like Home Depot.

Don't get me wrong. The HD can be a great place to go for ideas and inspiration. For deciding what you do and don't like. And to see some products up close at 9pm when other stores are closed. It's even possible you'll find something you like somewhere else, and HD has it too - only cheaper.

Given everything we needed for this home renovation, though, only two things came from HD. Here's a source list for you:

When things go wrong

I rarely mention when things go wrong. And we've been extraordinarily fortunate that few things have. Still, it wouldn't be fair to paint the picture that nary a hiccup was experienced. So what didn't go the way it was planned (so far that is...we're not done yet)? Take a look.

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?

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...

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)...

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.

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.

How I use Pinterest

I'm not just on the Pinterest bandwagon, I'm up front handing out bumper stickers, kissing babies, and campaigning for it as one of the best sites ever.

It's been a fantastic way for me to organize ideas and options, especially when I need to show the mister what I'm thinking. I've got a board for most things to do with the house, like carpeting and front doors. Here are other boards I'm currently filling:

• Chandeliers. I'm a sucker for a drum pendant. It's sleek, mid-century, looks classic/modern/retro, comes in a variety of options from fabric to glass, and can be one of the most striking and yet affordable fixtures you can install. Can I get an amen?
• Blue ceilings. A while back I read a great piece on how it's tradition in some places (especially the South) to paint your porch ceiling blue. I'll tell you why soon.
• Staircases: We have some choices about how we want to finish the staircase, and it may affect our other staircase heading downstairs. Mostly to do with the balusters, a word I haven't had occasion to use until this reno.

I also use Pinterest for non-reno things, like storm photos (natch) and letters and numbers.  Are you on Pinterest? Do I follow you? Would love to see what you're working on!

Mixing metals

I am in love with this door knob.

At $169 per piece (I know!), it's spectacularly over budget. Maybe that wouldn't be so terrible if we only needed one or two, but we need ten. Perhaps I could just get these for the bedroom doors, though, and something much cheaper else for the closets and bathrooms?

Forgetting cost for a minute, though, what I'm pondering is mixing metals.

We have chrome in all the bathrooms. Running that finish all through the door hardware - much less the light fixtures - seems a bit much (and awfully...shiny). I like brushed nickel, and oil-rubbed bronze. And between us, I've even taken a shine to some of the brass finishes, too.

It's early days. We've just begun the door knob and light fixture hunt. I expect mixed metals is in our future. And I expect no one but us will notice.

PS: Yes, a new blog design. My BIL's 'feedback' notwithstanding, I wasn't really into the previous design. Maybe I need a mixed metals template.

Fear of choosing the wrong thing

OMG we cannot pick a tub. What is wrong with us?

We're decisive people, and yet we have procrastinated about choosing a tub. I'm reminded about that Sex & the City episode where Miranda has to choose a crib, and she says (wisely): "Evidently, I'm to go to Crib World, because it's a whole world of cribs. I guess Crib City wasn't big enough. Why isn't there a store called ''This is The Crib For You''? And they just have one great crib. They deliver it and assemble it, and help raise the child."

That's basically how I feel about this tub.

Exterior Transformation

Driving up our street last night, I rounded the corner, caught sight of the house, and literally gasped. What a difference paint and cedar shake can make!

First, for those of you who thought we were painting the house light blue: that was the primer! Second, we're still deciding on the trim color (it's between three shades of white...and exactly as mind-numbing as you would imagine it to be). And finally, we have to decide on the stain color for our cedar.

Here she is!

All about bathrooms

After scouring site after site after site and store after store after store for possible bath vanities, guess what we up and did? Got some custom cabinet quotes.

We had a clear idea about what we wanted; style, shape, functionality and color. And we found lots of options online, to be sure. I suggested we get a custom quote for our master bath just to see what we could get.

So we met with two guys who listened to our ideas, suggested some approaches, and measured our spaces. And since it's all free at this point, we asked them to quote all three baths and the laundry room. We told ourselves repeatedly there was no way we were going custom on everything - too expensive. Then we got the bid.

Decisions

As far as I can tell...

Still deciding on:
Front door
Front door hardware
Interior paint colors in all rooms
Porch colors
Staircase spindles
Porch spindles
Porch columns
Porch floor material
New path material
Exterior lighting
Interior lighting (it's a lot, but 'interior lighting' makes me feel better)
Door knobs
Bath vanities
Bath sinks
Bath countertops
Bath mirrors
Bath fixtures like towel bars, et al.
Door hinges
Stair risers stained or painted
Stair rail
Carpeting
Hardwood floor stain
Master tub
Master tub faucet
Closet organization
Toilets

Already chosen:
Shingles
Bathroom tile
Laundry room tile
Sink faucets
Tub and shower faucets
Exterior paint color (we're 99.9125% sure, so this goes down as chosen)

One of these lists is not like the other.

The big decision we didn't anticipate

We met with our builder Friday to discuss the first big decision. I have thought long and hard about virtually every aspect of this renovation, but I did not once - not once! - ever think about this one: the roof.

The roof? That's the first big decision? Ok, how many choices are there? Well, behold: