Posted on by Emily

Day 532

Hello!

I didn’t realize it had been a hundred years since I last posted. Sorry about that.

It turns out moving your home and business is not for the faint of heart.

Highlights from the past month:

  • we are in the new house
  • we closed on the old house
  • we survived
  • Bu is adjusting well (likely because he’s getting to sleep with us)
  • both Josh and I have received our first dose of vaccine

This is where we left off last…

March 12:

Who knew we could cram over two hundred boxes worth of stuff into a ranch house?

The weather had been beautiful all week and then, of course, the day of our move was rainy.

It took the movers over six hours to pack the two trucks. Somewhere along the line, they decided they needed an additional truck and accused us of accumulating more stuff because the estimator said we would only need two trucks. We assured them that, if anything, we had purged stuff. They sorted out the third truck, sent another guy, and by 4PM(!), we were headed to the new house. We bought them pizza and with renewed energy, they unloaded the trucks in half the time it took them to load.

Fun plot twist: we still hadn’t received approval on our final inspection at this point, so we couldn’t actually unpack, set up, and move in.

So, our house looked like this for the next week.

During that week, which I took “off”, I went and collected final items from our old house, hounded the builder to get things done to satisfy the inspector, set up a temporary office headquarters at my parents’ house, closed on our old house with a power of attorney for Josh, and moved in with my parents while Josh was out of town all week for work. Oh, and for kicks, I agreed to do a cleanse with my sister.

Our old house also did a cleanse and was unrecognizable with out our three trucks worth of stuff.

I will miss our view of downtown Nashville.

It was a great first house, which I bought planning to live there three-five years. Three rounds of renovation, six years, and a husband later, we sold the house to a couple who will take good care of it.

I will say, it seems like a lifetime ago that we lived there.

Because we live here now! We officially moved in March 20 after receiving approval on the afternoon of the 19th.

Our satellite internet was installed nearly one week later, which meant I was basically living in 1992 until then.

(still waiting on them to put on the shutters and finish painting the exterior – which is killing me)

The screened porch is framed, awaiting a few adjustments, and then it will be painted and screened. I can’t wait to use this space, especially as the weather improves! Though, as you can see in this photo, we’ve had some extreme weather lately.

A week into living in the house, we had record levels of rain and flooding, accompanied by some of the brightest lightning I’ve ever seen and sizeable hail.

Thankfully, we made it through without damage.

Most mornings look like this, with the sunrise gently waking us. No, that’s not fog, it’s the window film that is still on the outside of our windows.

It’s on the punch list, along with 82 other items.

Still some final interior painting to finish up…

The butler’s pantry is going to be one of my favorite spots in the house, but right now it just looks creepy.

The rest of the house is coming together, with Bu supervising all of the unpacking from a comfortable perch.

Getting reacquainted with all of the upholstery…right after I had cleaned it.

These chairs will go in the library (inherited from my parents’ house) and the rug from our old bedroom is too small, but for now they are helping to make the living room feel like a real room.

Approximately one hundred of the two hundred boxes were kitchen items. Window treatments are in the works!

The dining room is feeling a little sparse. We need six more chairs to fill out the table, but we used it for Easter and it was perfect for social distancing!

The laundry room is being put to good use. Bu assists with washing and folding each load.

Tonight will be Bu’s first night in his room and not in our room. Yesterday, we assembled his new cat tree, which we thought did not come with instructions until we had it 80% together and then the instructions somehow materialized.

I’m convinced Bu was sitting on them.

Taking his new tree for a spin. I had to order a “large cat” tree with perches large enough for Mr. Seventeen pounds.

I guess it’s time to move his sign from the master suite to the pet suite. Hopefully the punch list will be wrapped up soon and we’ll no longer need this sign!

Posted on by Emily

Day 496

We arrived yesterday to find 47 painters hard at work.

The moving truck shows up in less than two weeks. Carpet goes in on Tuesday. We may need 47 more painters to be done on time.

It’s a good thing there’s a mask covering my face in this photo.

When I walked in earlier this week, the electrician told me he was “putting the jewelry on my house”. I’m going to miss him.

I’m so happy the dining room chandelier is in! I put this fixture in at our soon-to-be “old” house when I did the initial renovation. I still love it so it had to make the move with us. Thankfully, I had saved the extra wire and chain as the ceilings are 2 feet higher in the new house and I didn’t want the fixture hanging 8 feet off the floor. (They have it tucked up at the moment so people don’t run into it.)

Continuing on the subject of house jewelry, most of the door hardware is in. Egg knobs for the win!

Originally, I was going to do rectangular roses (backplates) but I am slightly neurotic about alignments and if they weren’t perfectly straight, it would drive me nuts.

At least I know this about myself.

And speaking of alignments, I went through and finalized where I want all of the cabinet hardware installed so I can make notes for the cabinet guys.

Somehow, I managed to hold up the hardware and my tape measure and make some sort of alien symbol with my fingers all while taking a picture.

I specified in my cabinet drawings for the space between wall ovens to be 48 inches above the floor. This gives a superb alignment for the center of the appliance pulls.

Details matter.

The transoms make me so happy.

The plumbers are *almost* done (we desperately need them to finish so we can call in for the final inspection!).

The kitchen plumbing is complete. Air switch for the disposal on the left (no fumbling around for the wall switch and turning on all of the lights in the process). A faucet I won years ago and have been hanging onto in the hopes that I would use it in my forever house someday (dreams do come true!). And, on the right, though I’m not one for lots of gadgets, a glass rinser, which was a gift from a vendor event (thanks, Delta!).

I am super excited about this for cleaning wine glasses and water bottles.

Still waiting on the rest of the shower trims in the master bath.

Hall bath fixtures are in!

Finally some wall color! The painter asked me three times if this was the correct color for this room. I assured him that it was and that I’m not afraid of rich walls.

This makes me so happy to see some color!

We are really going to be in business once the carpet is in this week.

It’s going to be a big week – wish us luck!

Posted on by Emily · 1 Comment

Day 468

Well, hello there.

Things are not moving as quickly as I would like given that we’re trying to move in in five(!) weeks.

However, a week ago, we were still missing one appliance prior to our pending installation. But, late this week, I received some excellent news that this piece had come in. For reference, we ordered our appliances in August.

They are supposed to be installed Monday, February 1. Woohoo!

Meanwhile, the painters have been priming and the plumbers have been putting in the trim pieces.

The painters left me some samples. I like the one on the right. Can you guess what this is for???

Barry D. has finished and delivered all base pieces for the library built-ins.

They are in position to be installed.

Today, we delivered 2 of the 4 tops. They are gigantic. Barry is very serious about this and unsure as to how we are going to transport the remaining 2 (largest) tops from his shop to the library.

Meanwhile, I’ve been packing away at our current house. I ordered a lot of boxes and they are filling up quickly.

Shelves and cabinets are not seeming to empty quickly, however. There is still so much to pack.

The cat is very proud of himself for getting up onto the empty shelves…

Also, I think I need a new phone. Photo quality is quite poor.

Posted on by Emily · 3 Comments

Day 461

Hey, hey!

There has been good progress this week as we enter the “home” stretch.

We have lighting! They won’t install the decorative fixtures until the painting is done (because this isn’t my first rodeo and and I know how that goes and don’t want them to be damaged).

Fun fact: I arrived on Tuesday and they were installing recessed lights. I noticed that they were installing gimbal lights everywhere. I mentioned that I had specified gimbal lights on my reflected ceiling plans in just a handful of places (8 total out of 40+ on the recessed lights) and wasn’t sure why all of them were being installed as gimbals. I said no problem to install gimbals everywhere as long as it wouldn’t be at a greater cost (which I knew it would be). After a review of the play on the field, it turns out our builder didn’t catch it on the order and it would have been a $1000+ cost increase to install all gimbals, so they quickly started replacing those gimbals with the 4″ LED, 2700K, dimmable, fixtures I had specified to begin with (in great detail).

(stepping off soap box)

I delivered the cupola this week!

It arrived to our current address like this:

They had called to let me know that the driver would *call* and schedule a delivery window. Well, no call came, and though I was home, no one rang the door bell or in any way let me know they were on their way, so they decided to show up and dump this 100+lb pallet in my flower bed. This company will be receiving a detailed customer experience review from me.

In other news, all of the tile is complete and they have grouted everything. The kitchen backsplash is looking lovely.

In this photo, the grout is still wet and thus darker than it will appear dried. I came in and commented about the darkness of the grout and was told not to touch…

So, I went upstairs to check out the master bath.

The shower is in and looking enormous.

The hidden niches are going to keep things looking halfway decent on a daily basis.

Not that anyone will be seeing this other than the two of us…

Speaking of things no one else will see (including me, hopefully) Joshua’s closet is coming together! I am calculating how to fit a wall-mounted ironing board into this setup. I have an outlet for the iron, but am still doing some math on the clearances once there is clothing hanging. I’ll make it work.

In other exciting news, they have almost finished the stairs!

Our base newel post is gigantic and I love it. It’s going to be stunning once it’s stained.

The fireplaces are really coming together with all of the mantel surrounds in place.

Cannot wait to see these painted!

Speaking of painted, everything is being covered up, taped off, and primed, so it all looks like a version of this.

My final paint schedule has been submitted and I can’t wait to see each room come to life!

Meanwhile, Barry D. (my dad) has been working on the library built-ins in his “shop” (garage) at my parents’ house.

It will be so special to have something he built in our house.

I have selected these pendant pulls for the built-in cabinet hardware, which I realized are very similar to the pulls my grandmother had in her kitchen at her 1890’s home she remodeled in the 1960’s.

It’s funny how deeply the spaces we grew up in influence our lives, though it’s not always obvious. I am constantly asking my clients to dig deep into the homes that have influenced them. And, now, being the “client”, I realize how unconscious many of these influences can be until they are pointed out to you.

On top of all of the exciting progress, I had a special visit from my friend Jessica and her daughter, Sophia.

We had planned to take a long walk, but it was quite brisk and windy so we did a short walk along the property perimeter. Along the way, Sophia stopped many times to say hello to our neighbor’s horses and by the end of the walk, she insisted on wearing her mother’s gloves, where were the size of her head.

I convinced her shortly thereafter that a snack on the front porch would be a good idea. She proceeded to outeat both me and her mother, while also managing to fit in a wave to the painters inside every few minutes.

Lastly on site, they’ve installed the garage sconces.

Meanwhile, at our current house, the packing has begun.

Bu is helping, as always.

Posted on by Emily · 2 Comments

Day 454

It’s been a big week!

First and foremost, WE HAVE POWER!!! This is a huge deal because it means we can now do all of the things necessary to finish the house. And by we, I mean all of the tradesman, contractors, installers, etc.

Related to this critical development – we have heat! I was able to be in the house without 47 layers on today.

We had a little family site visit today, and though, as I mentioned, we have heat and the climate was practically tropical inside the house, old habits die hard for Eugene and for Kath, who wore her earmuffs the entire time she was inside.

The other major event was the countertop installation! I am at a loss for words to describe my love for the kitchen countertops. I practically wept tears of joy when I walked in and saw the island.

As I shared a while back, it was a journey to find these slabs, and my love for them grows each day.

I will try to pull it together.

I learned the other day that soapstone is extremely heavy and that this island slab weighs approximately 1,100 pounds. I’m really glad I did not witness the guys putting this in place.

In the laundry room, we have leathered black granite. I love the texture.

I put quartz in the (very dusty) master bath and hall bath so we don’t have to worry about ruining the countertops with beauty products, which are the devil when it comes to natural stone.

I almost always do a taller than standard backsplash in bathrooms because 4″ just doesn’t catch all of life’s splashes. These are 6″. I find straight backsplashes to be terribly blocky and dull, so I threw in a curve.

The walls aren’t grouted yet in the hall bath, but I am loving the niches.

The brick fireplace hearth and surround is coming along in the living room! These bricks are from the same lot used at my grandmother’s house, which are from an old jail.

The mantel surround is in progress in the library.

Also in progress for the library are the built-ins. My dad is building them for us so I sent him this design package I put together of the plan, elevations, perspectives, exploded versions, lumber cuts and layouts, and notes. It’s quite a project, but it will mean so much to have something he built in our home.

Fingers crossed for another week of major progress!

Posted on by Emily · 4 Comments

Day 437

I may need to camp out on site to keep up with all of the progress these days!

The hall railing is up. I’m glad I didn’t value engineer the baluster choice. I love these.

We have a shower curb. Try to contain yourself.

We now have gutters and downspouts. These were not a custom color-match but we got pretty close!

Working out the details for the porch columns – Josh is super excited to see these go in.

The penny round floor looks super cute in the hall bath! We had a major snafu with this as they originally sent the wrong color. I wanted “antique almond” (beige) and they sent “milk”, which was a blueish white. Not close. This is why we check everything at every stage. Of course, then the correct color was discontinued and there wasn’t enough material to cover the floor. So I had to hunt down another vendor who had a similar color and expedite it. This is the story of my life.

We have laundry basket cubbies just in time for the countertop template this morning. I am strangely excited about these.

The guest bath is shaping up with wall tile!

Glad to be heading into the new year with the end in sight!

Posted on by Emily

Day 434

We are moving at quite a clip!

Master tile is underway.

Our shower valves have blankies so they don’t get too cold.

Master vanity is in. The tower and fronts will go on after the countertop is installed.

Butler’s pantry cabinets installed by yours truly and my A-team (Dad, Josh, Julia, and Nate). I’m already plotting to paint these cabinets, the walls, and the trim a deep, moody color.

And laundry cabinets. The trim guys will build laundry basket cubbies in the middle so I can have a big folding surface along this wall.

The farm sink will be Bu’s spa. He’s excited…not.

I am just smitten with the brick floor in the mudroom, the tall baseboards, the dutch doors, and the transoms.

But, the true love of my life is the kitchen.

I’m dead.

I can’t even.

Ok, back to the progress report.

Stairs!

Newel posts and balusters. Our base newel post is massive and I love it.

The top of it is almost as big as my head!

Outside, the porch ceilings were going in and the gutters and downspouts were being installed as I was leaving this morning.

Lots of things happening!

Posted on by Emily

Day 428

We have officially entered the stage of interior finishes.

Translation: pretty stuff is going in.

The library is packed with all of the interior doors that they started installing today.

We have a lot of doors.

Master bedroom and closet doors…and master bath tile waiting patiently to be installed tomorrow…

And my Dutch doors! Can’t wait to see these in the mudroom. The trim guy sent me into a panic this morning when he called to asked where “the doors that are cut in half” go. I was about to tell him “back to the supplier” until it occurred to me that he was talking about the Dutch doors.

The trim guy and I also went over my transom details today. I’m *so* excited to see these go in. Major new old house detail.

They are getting ready to start on the trim, an element that can make or break a house. This, my friends, is not an area to skimp on. Case in point: we are doing 9 1/4″ tall baseboards downstairs and 7 1/4″ tall upstairs. Merry Christmas to me!

Other exciting things: floors!

The hardwoods are in (though they won’t be sanded and finished until the end (which is a good thing because I would be the floor scratch police otherwise)).

A peek into the kitchen from the rear hall. Cabinets coming Saturday! This view will look quite different in a week.

I can barely contain myself.

The mudroom brick floors are in. The grout will really take it over the top, but that won’t be happening until there is heat in the house (which is still a few weeks a way thanks to county electric nonsense).

Last exciting thing for the day: guest bath floor! I am a sucker for a classic basketweave.

I’ll be back out to Meadowcrest tomorrow to meet with my door hardware guru and to see other developments on the door, trim, and tile fronts.

Stay tuned for rapid fire updates over the next two weeks!

Posted on by Emily

Day 418

Well folks, we have drywall!

Living Room.

Dining Room.

Dining room through to library and a peek into the kitchen on the right.

Kitchen…and Joshua.

Stairwell up to the studio.

Studio…in need of railing…

Front stairwell in need of a railing upgrade.

Guest bath.

Hall bath. Tile guys are getting all of the floors prepped to start tiling next week!

Master bedroom.

Tile, waiting patiently to be installed. Hardwood floor installation starts Monday, too!

And…garage doors have been installed. They will be painted black to match the other exterior doors, but I am in love.

We are entering the exciting phase when all of the “pretty things” are installed over the next two months. Stay tuned for tile, cabinetry, trim, doors, countertops, appliances, hardware, lighting and plumbing fixtures, and all the other things HGTV leads you to believe can all be installed in three days.

Posted on by Emily · 2 Comments

Day 399

As we approach a very large number of days that this project has been underway, we are *this* close to starting drywall.

I feel like a broken record, saying for the last 8+ weeks that we are close to starting drywall, but we are actually almost there.

The insulation is nearly complete and drywall has been delivered, with drywall guys on standby.

Though the interior has been progressing slower than I would prefer, the exterior has made some big strides.

We’ve also had some visitors who came by to check out the property…

Lorelei was not terribly impressed with the raw interior, but enjoyed walking the grounds. She decided the yard was good for playing and that she will come back for many more visits.

Since Lorelei’s visit, the dirt pile has disappeared and the yard is completely graded.

Try to envision the hedged courtyard with a fire pit and herb garden that will be here in the future. Likely Phase 271.

Look how smooth and lovely the side yard is!

Also of note, the classical columns for the front porch arrived! They weigh a casual couple of tons each.

Funny/not funny story: The column company tried to deliver these to our builder’s office, which is in an office building in a busy part of town. They called and said, “We’re here!” and our builder, who was at our property, said “So am I! and I don’t see you…” And that’s when they realized the billing and shipping addresses had gotten mixed up.

I’m glad I wasn’t there for that.

The driveway is complete! It is now a breeze to pull up and park by the front door, which I intend to use frequently.

Lastly, the exterior painting is almost done. They will have to come back to paint the porches and garage doors, but the yellow is history!

We have a site meeting in a few hours. Wish us luck and hope that drywall is starting…