Hardwoods

We have stain on the hardwoods!!  I am obsessed with how they've turned out so far!  Can't wait to see them when they are completely finished.  They should get a final coat of the shiny sealer stuff on Sunday, and he says we are free to walk on them Monday.  Wooohoo!

It is awfully "fumy" in here.  We may never be the same after breathing and living with this stuff!  Graham took these when he was home from lunch.  Now the only way we can see the floors is by poking our head out the basement door and looking left or right.  Haha.

Looking in from the carport door to the mudroom/kitchen/den area.

Living Room/Dining Room

Hallway

Not Much to Report

Well, in this case, no news is not good news.  I really have nothing much to report for the previous week. 

I have chosen a floor stain color and the floor men are working on sanding and staining the hardwoods.  They spent yesterday and today sanding.  We had hoped they'd at least have one coat of stain on by now, but no such luck.  We were actually thinking we'd be moving on up to the upstairs this weekend.  No such luck. I really was liking the idea of being upstairs by the first of November.  *sighhh*

Maybe next weekend...

Woohoo!

Second coats are on in most rooms and we have can lighting in the kitchen and mudroom!!  It is AMAZING what a difference paint and lighting make!!

Kitchen: Pre-Renovation

Kitchen - 3/4 through Renovation
LOVE the lights and overall brightness of the room!!  Can't wait to get the cabinet doors on and glazed!

Laundry/Mudroom - Light Khaki walls (1st coat).  I'm hoping it will be a little darker when it's finished.

Den: Pre-Renovation

Kitchen (looking into the Den) 3/4 through Renovation
Wish I had thought to turn the lights on for this one!

Living Room/Dining Room...Darker khaki on LR walls and Brown in DR

Another look at the living room.  The far wall that's sort of greenish will have wallpaper.

Dining Room: Pre-Renovation

Close up of the DR. Loving the brown paint on the walls!  Excuse the mess...we had to clear everything out of the cabinets and closets, so it's sitting in the middle of all of the rooms.

1/2 Bath - 1st coat of "Palladian Blue" paint.  Love it!

Master Bedroom - painted Sage Tint...same color as our old bedroom! Should have turned on the light so it would show up better...

Middle Bedroom

Back Bedroom

Can't wait to post true before/after pics.  Should be soon!

Monumental Day

After walking around the house this evening and looking at all that had been done, Graham declared it a "monumental day."  Haha!

We have paint on the walls!!!  I never knew how excited that would make the both of us!  And to think that I almost had a nervous breakdown picking out the colors!  I really love how it turned out.  The pictures I took today absolutely do not do the colors and how good it looks justice...mainly because it was dark out when I took the pictures and we have limited lighting upstairs.  I will take some better ones when it's light out and post pictures then!

We both met and talked with Simon today and are both feeling good about the progress.  Right now painting will be finished this week, floors will be sanded/stained at the end of the week/weekend, and appliances and cabinet doors will go in at the beginning of next week.  We should also have some lighting upstairs soon.

Tonight, Graham and I spent a lot of time moving a ton of stuff around for the painters to be able to paint closets, etc.  Pictures to come....

Home Stretch

Supposedly, we are finally on the home stretch of our project.  I so hope that is true!  We have been told 3 more weeks.  I think I've heard that before, but it must be true this time?!

This week the plaster guys worked on their last room - the sunroom.  It had the lovely swirls like the kitchen/den did.  They should be done with it at the beginning of this week and then their part will be finished.

Back to the sea of plastic...

The main level would make a great haunted house!  Haha.  You can see the ceiling here.  Coming right along, no more swirls.

The painters painted all of the ceilings and most of the trim throughout the house.  They also primed the kitchen cabinets.  My color samples are still up and ready to be painted in their designated rooms.

Our new awning on over the basement door was installed.  It looks great!

Before...

If you can over look the mess outside, the new door and awning look much better!

The electricians have also worked hard this week.  We now have all white switches and plugs, new plugs where we need them, a new breaker box, and I'm sure some other things that I'm just not sure about.

So, here's what's left to be done...

• Install and glaze cabinet doors
• Install Appliances, Fixtures, Lighting, etc.
• Paint, paint, paint!
• Finish Electrical
• Sand and Stain Hardwoods
• Build step on patio where wall was removed
• Encase new carport post
• Repair ceiling in carport
• Re-Hang Shutters

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of for now.  As long as the inside stuff gets done and we can move out of the basement within 3 weeks, I will be thrilled!!  I'm thinking I'll just decorate for Christmas as we unpack....

The Money Pit

Have you seen that movie?  I feel like that.  Everything about it right now is relatable.  I am in need of a finished house to live in.  I miss everything having a place and having everything in its place.  I miss cleanliness...in a MAJOR way. I am tired of people being in my house.  I am ready to move out of the basement.  I would like to finish out like I'm on "Extreme Home Makeover."  Work, work, work for 48 hours and be DONE.  I've seen it on tv, so it has to be possible, right?  2 weeks....famous last words.

2 Weeks...Only 2 more weeks! Ha.

The End.

Happy Fall!

I'm feeling much more at home with some fall decorations on the front porch!  Plus, our new porch lights were installed, and it makes the front look so much better.  I still need a new door mat, but this is definitely a step in the right direction! 

I saw in my Southern Living this month how you could use paint pens to decorate pumpkins.  It had some really cute ideas that I might try.

By far, the most exciting thing that has happened this week is that we finally got cable and internet!  The last 13 days living with a very limited version of NBC and no internet have definitely been interesting.  We have watched quite a few movies and spent a lot of time at the Broome's taking advantage of their tv and internet.

We opted for AT&T U-Verse this time around rather than Charter.  The AT&T man came today and spent four hours getting cables run in various places and putting boxes where they need to go.  The best thing about U-Verse is that you can DVR from any tv and watch recorded DVR's from any tv.  Graham handled the lack of tv/internet better than I did.  I really missed my morning news and night time shows.  Either way, we are both thrilled and feeling much more normal!

Little by little, things are happening at the house.  The hardwood floors are finished being installed throughout the house and are ready to be sanded and stained.  That will be the very last project that is completed.

The hardwoods make the house feel so much "homeier."  It feels good to walk around upstairs, and I don't feel like I'm walking around in a construction site (too bad) anymore.

Electrical work is also being done all over the house.  We decided just this week that we would be updating the electrical system in the house.  It isn't too involved because the wiring that is in place is good, we just needed to re-do some of the outlets, add some switches, etc.  Grounded, 3 pronged outlets are being added where we need them and we are having a new box put in to replace the old fuse box.

Exterior motion sensored flood lights were also put up this week.  I really like these!  They gradually come on as they detect motion. We have 3 on the back of the house. 

I finally made some decisions on paint colors.  When I was out of work this week, I spent some time at the Benjamin Moore paint store and did not let myself leave until I had chosen my colors.  Luckily, I even still like them after we had the samples put on the walls!!



The dining room walls are going to be painted this brown color above the chair rail.  I was afraid it would be too dark to do the entire room in that color, so I'm thinking the below the chair rail will be white.

 

We don't have lights in the den/kitchen area right now so it is hard to see these samples.  But, the sun porch is going to be painted the left blue color (Palladian Blue) which is actually a lot darker than it looks here.  The living room, den, hallway and guest bedrooms are going to be the tan colors.  I'm not positive what I want where yet, but I figure you can't go wrong with three colors from the same paint chip.  They have to flow, right?

Our bedroom/bathroom is going to be painted the same color as what we had at Rutledge.  The foyer is going to be wallpapered, and I'm thinking maybe I'll wallpaper the 1/2 bath and hall bath too.  Not sure on that yet, though.

Kind of off topic - but we did make some exciting purchases this week.  Graham got a new grill, and I got a Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner!  It is especailly designed for pet hair removal, and it really works!  I really do love to vacuum (imagine that), so this is really exciting for me!  Haha.  We also saw our first deer out in the back yard.  There were 3 babies.  I was so excited about this...Lexie was not.  She scared them off!  Anyway - Graham and I both are enjoying having some land and living in the city but still having deer roaming around!  It's a major change from Converse Heights.

I'm feeling like things are wrapping up.  They are supposed to start painting next week.  We are still waiting on cabinet doors, but all of the plaster/smoothing of walls and ceilings is complete.  The elctricians should finish up at the beginning of next week.  I think that means all that's left to do is the patio, some touch up odds and ends type stuff, and staining the floors.  I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Renovation: Week 11

We are 11 weeks into our project and getting closer and closer to being done.  This week has been very productive at the house. 

The cracks and damage to the walls and ceilings have been worked on this week.  After the plaster guys finished removing the swirls in the den/kitchen/mudroom, they got started on the cracks that needed fixing throughout the rest of the house.  It is amazing how much better it looks.  We also decided to dress up the interior doors throughout the house.  Instead of buying all new ones, we added some molding to the doors.

Master Bath - before.  I just realized I didn't take a picture of the ceiling in the master bath.  At some point there was a leak and the plaster was crumbling pretty badly over the doorway/sink area. 

Master bath - currently.  The mirrors and all but one of the light fixutres are going.  The walls and ceiling have been fixed as needed.  It is already looking much better.  They have also been adding trim to all of the doors throughout the house.

Master Bedroom - before.

Master bedroom now.  I really think the door molding (and just the white primer) make a huge difference!

Outside, they have been working on replacing all of the storm doors and exterior lighting.  Who knew a storm door and new lights could make such a difference.  I only have a picture of the patio door for some reason, but they have all been updated and it is looking much much better.

This is a picture of the patio before.  We haven't done anything on it yet, but you can see the old silver storm door and the upside down porch light.  The patio should be fixed this week.

New door and light.  Looking much better!  The doors have pull down screens.  I can't wait to use them and enjoy this nice fall weather!  I'm also looking forward to the railings being re-coated. 

I think the most exciting thing that has happened this week has been the installation of the hardwood floors.  Floors are a sign that we are close to finishing, right?!

Woohoo!  Can't wait to have them stained!!  So far they have completed the dining room, living room, and part of the foyer.  They have been working after hours (5-9) on these this week and are even working today (Saturday).  I can't wait until they are finished!  It is amazing how much un-finished hardwood floors help the appearnce of the house.  That and the granite counter tops really make me feel like it's almost done.  Whew!

I am still working on picking out paint colors.  So far, I think I've decided on colors for the dining room, bedroom, and bathroom.  The rest might all end up being the same color!  Hopefully we are on the home stretch now and will be moving out of the basement and on to the main floor!