I may be retired by the time the shutters are hung.
We’ve been focusing on other things in the meantime. We’ve had some visitors now that we’re vaccinated. My friend Jessica and her little girl, Sophia, came to visit and Sophia was very interested in “meow”.
We have a new coat rack. Please alert the media.
I added some feet to the laundry room cabinetry. I know your mind is blown.
I painted and put new hardware on this pair of dressers in one of the bedrooms. These were in my sister’s nursery nearly 30 years ago and then went to college with me. I’ve painted them three times now.
“Meow” is upset that the dressers are not going in his room.
I hosted some of my pals for a girl’s weekend.
We did some crafts and threatened to start an Etsy shop.
Josh and I discussed the vegetable garden and selected a location in the yard.
There has been SOME progress on the exterior of the house. They’ve been working on painting the porches.
I am LOVING the painted porch floors – light gray – a historical look.
Don’t mind the patchwork columns – the painter decided he didn’t like what the paint was doing so he was testing a new primer. He then proceeded to scrape ALL OF THE PAINT off of the front porch columns. They are now white again and I can’t talk about it.
Painting is going much better inside. I painted the bench I posted last time. I’ve also ordered the fabric sitting in the window to make roman shades. This is keeping me from losing my mind amidst the porch paint drama.
I recently inherited all of these blue willow treasures, which were my great grandmother’s. I have collected blue willow for years and am thrilled to have these pieces.
Joshua tilled the garden yesterday and we are gearing up to plant this evening.
Hopefully we’ll have some exciting things growing soon!
We were all set to head out to the new house and see the progress this morning when we discovered black ice at our current house.
Better safe than sorry – but I really wanted to see the hardwoods all finished!
This is the stain sample I approved earlier this week. Classic. Timeless. I love it.
Painting is inching along…I’m loving the richness of the trim color. So much better than stark white.
This is our builder, Walt. He’s a good guy.
He does not know that I have this blog.
I cannot wait to get rid of all of this plastic and tape! Though I do appreciate the thorough prep work.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, packing continues. I’m trying to stage most of the boxes upstairs in the middle of the house. Consequently, with the furniture against the wall, the dining room looks like a waiting room.
Bu is waiting for us to tell him what is going on.
I always tell clients that it’s that last 10% that just about kills you.
We are there.
The highlight of the week: appliances were installed.
Hello, gorgeous.
The refrigerator and freezer will have panels to match the cabinets.
This wall brings me great joy; however, it may be the most expensive wall in the house. Given that we will be out in the country and that the nearest restaurant is not close, we will be dining in most of the time and this fridge/freezer space will be essential to our survival.
My employees decided to check if the new house was serviceable by grubhub/ubereats/etc. because they frequently take advantage of such services at our current location.
Haha.
I got a real kick out of that. To be fair, they haven’t been to the property yet.
I squealed with delight when I saw the range. I can’t tell you how excited I am to fire up this bad boy.
Switching gears, one of our neighbors generously volunteered to build us a shared mailbox structure. It’s not at all what I would have chosen, but since it’s at the main road, I didn’t have strong feelings about it. The good news is, he ordered extra large mailboxes so packages will fit inside.
Back inside the house, the painters continue to cover things in tape and plastic.
While I know and appreciate that painting is 75% prep, I would like to see something painted the color it is supposed to be.
These closet shelves appear to be the correct color, my beloved limestone.
Fireplace surrounds are primed.
I’m dying to see the dining room painted. It will be a deep burnt orange.
Speaking of the dining room, I had been on the hunt for an antique dining table with many leaves so I could adjust it for up to 12 people. I hit the jackpot this weekend when I stumbled upon this estate sale find.
I snagged this triple pedestal, inlay top, 115″ long, 3 leaf table for $450.
It makes up for the wall of appliances I mentioned earlier.
Miraculously, the 5 piece top and 3 piece base fit in the back of my vehicle. All of these pieces are hanging out in the entry/dining room of our current home for the time being and Bu thinks they are for him.
In other thrilling news, the toilets have been installed!
You have no idea what an ordeal it is to get a decent toilet these days.
I sent Josh an update with pictures at my last site visit on Friday. 3 out 5 pictures were of toilets.
The master vanity is shaping up! Tower has been installed – though still missing crown – and faucets are in.
So glad the trim guys made a masterpiece of the attic stair pulldown that is located in an unfinished storage closet.
Lastly, Josh, Nate and my dad delivered the library built-in tops yesterday. They installed them, with the exception of one that can’t be installed until a gas shutoff is moved.
Have you ever seen such a look of pure joy?
Thank you, Daddy! And thank you, Josh and Nate, for assisting. Can’t wait until these bad boys are painted a deep green.
Hardwoods are being finished this week. We’re in the homestretch!
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.
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.
Primm & Property 