Heading Towards the Homestretch

Things are looking good over at the homestead. Currently the house has been taken over by painters, so we are no longer allowed inside. That is unless you are wearing head to toe paint gear and a respirator. Here are a few picture of the progress.

 

This is a moment I captured of Joe and Karl trying to problem solve a cabinet error. (They have both assumed the problem solving stance)  Even though it was only an inch and a half, it was a little mistake that turned into a big problem. I have always known that construction management was a stressful job, but each time we do this I realize more how I would never want their job. Lots of problem solving to fix "urgent" issues. I will just stick to picking out tile.

Our beautiful White Macaubus quartzite countertops have been installed in the kitchen. The hardwood and tile floors are all in, as well as the other countertops. They will begin installing the backsplashes after the painters release the house back. Once the painters are done, we are on the homestretch!

The mill work is all trimmed out and ready for painting. This is the fireplace in the master bedroom.

 

The concrete has been poured to make our driveway, front porch and back patio.

Here is our back patio. This is one of the most exciting parts of the house for me. I can't wait to spend time out here with family and friends.
I used a piece of lumber I found in the wood scraps when they were framing the house to make the mantel above the fireplace. Olen helped me distress it more than it had been from being thrown in a scraps pile. Once we move in, I will coat it with polyurethane to help protected it from the weather and keep it's natural color.

And here is the kitchen after the 'inch and a half' problem was fixed and the cabinets were freshly painted.

Since this picture was taken, they have built the front porch railing and landscaped the front yard. I will take more pictures soon.

 

I can't believe this is almost our home!

 

 

 

This Little Light of Mine!

I find choosing lighting for our homes one of the most difficult things in the building process. The reason being, lights are so style/taste specific. It is like jewelry for your house. Some people just like the simple stud earring with dainty single charm necklace. While some love a chunky bib necklace and a chandelier earring. That is how I feel about lighting. I am your simple stud earring girl, but every once in a while I want to bring out the chandeliers! I like lighting to be simple and classic, but it is always fun to have something a little funky.

Since our house will be re-sold in a few years, I need to keep my opinion of fun toned down a bit so it will appeal to more buyers. Then again, I spent countless hours selecting what I thought were classic light fixtures that went with the style and architecture of a spec house only to see the home owner change just about every light. It was totally fine with me. My choices did not fit their style at all and their replacement choices went fantastic with their furniture.

I wish there were rules to follow as to what goes and what doesn't, but there isn't. In today's designs you can mix and match traditional with contemporary and chrome with oil-rubbed bronze. Due to this this the choices are endless. I have come up with a list of resources I use when trying to make those choices.

OVERSTOCK
www.overstock.com
I have purchased several light fixtures from Overstock. Their selection is pretty decent and the prices are great! (Shipping is free on purchases over $50) For the spec house we needed a large light in the two story high entry way. Large scale lights can be really expensive. I found this 21-light chandelier for $313 and spray painted it matte black. It was one of the lights the homeowners did keep. To make it even better, I recently found this same exact light on a lighting store website listed for $1200.

JOSS AND MAIN
www.jossandmain.com
Joss and Main is a daily deal type of site that features only home décor and gift products. You can sign up to receive an email with several events going on that day. The events are categorized by style, theme, product etc.. Every once in a while they feature a lighting event. So, if you check everyday you may stumble upon a great deal. For example, I fell in love with the Mercer sconce from Pottery Barn for our master bathroom selling for $79 a piece. I found the same light on Joss and Main for $30. With a little time and patience you can find what you are looking for. There are no returns on this site, so if you do end up getting something you don't love, sell it on ebay or Craigslist. You probably got such a screaming deal on it you can re-sell it for the same price.

SHADES OF LIGHT
www.shadesoflight.com
I stumbled upon this site through my favorite blog Young House Love. (The couple that writes the blog has their own collection at Shades of Light.) Shades of Light has a lot of fun, funky and unique type of lights. Their prices are some-what reasonable. There were several lights I loved the look but not the price. If I had an unlimited budget and I was staying in the house, I would probably buy all my lights from here. I found this pendent light I like to call "something a little different."

HOME DEPOT & LOWES
www.homedepot.com
www.lowes.com
You can always depend on the ol' bread and butter of Home Depot and Lowes. As I had said in an earlier post, both stores have much more of a selection online. You can order online and return to your local store if it doesn't work out. Both sites also have a lot of popular styles for less, though the quality and details may not be the same. The good thing about lighting is that it will likely be hung high, therefore you can't really see the difference between the Restoration Hardware version and the Lowes version.

CRESCENT LIGHTING
www.mycrescentlighting.com
This is a local store that Joe has been working with for years. I love this store for the contractors discount we get! Just kidding, not really. Seriously though, they do have a great selection of styles. It is always important to support local businesses in your area anyway. The majority of our lights will be coming from Crescent Lighting. Here is a vanity light that will go in the basement bathroom.

Other lighting resource sites:



Wayfair
Ebay
Lamps Plus

*I am not getting compensated by any of the sites or stores listed. As always, these are just my non-professional opinions.


What sites or stores do you like to find lights?

Have Tools...Will Travel

Okay, I am back. Things got a little crazy around these parts, but we are climbing out of the hole of ciaos and getting back into a routine. It is all part of life, right?

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, the building industry is booming which makes subcontractors hard to find and hard to afford. As our move-in date keeps creeping into the holiday season, I become more anxious. Trying to find subs at an affordable rate is adding to my sleepless nights and I am not even the project manager.

Don't get me wrong, construction continues to move along, but we were in need of a little push. So, Joe and I called in for back up. My 'little' brother, Matt, just happens to be a carpenter. He remodels kitchens and baths for a living. Only problem, he lives in Florida! Joe came up with a plan... if we flew Matt out to set all the cabinets, it would free up money and time for the carpenters to do all the other stuff (doors, wainscoting, base/casings, crown molding, etc). When we discussed that plan with Matt, he was immediately on board and said, "Have tools...Will travel."

We scraped together the airline miles and put Matt and my sweet little niece, Finley Frances, on a plane for Seattle. While Matt worked on the house, I got to have some Aunt Carrie and Fin-Fran (that is what I call her) bonding time. It was so much fun to really get to know her cute little personality and see the kids play together.

Dancing at the construction site.

 

Hiking through the woods.

A fun picture opp on the hike. Olen didn't think it was that fun.

I think there is a picture just like this of me with my brother and sister.

Showing Finley our city ducks.

 

 

Unfortunately, the week Matt and Finley were here, a plague of sickness hit the family. Thankfully, Matt and Fin-Fran escaped back to Florida without a trace of sickness! Because of the nasty bug we weren't able to do as many fun adventures as we had planned. The positive side of it all was having the cousins spend quality time together, even if we were in our jammies all day.  

 

We are so thankful for Matt working his tail feather off to help us move one step closer. The other subcontractors on site were very impressed to see one guy set upper cabinets by himself.  

Hard at work.

 

Working on the kitchen island.

The basement bar.

The Fun-ctional laundry room. I can't wait to use those laundry basket cubbies.

The master bathroom.

 

The man, the myth, the legend...Matt 'Mr. Lucky' Ryan. 

 



Progress Update

The summer is coming to an end. Each day I feel the warm sun on my face, I make a check off on my mental count down to say good bye. Good bye to the sun. Until then there is no place in the country like the Seattle area in the summer. The sky is bluer than blue and the temperature is perfect. Though I have heard a few complaints on days it reaches over 80, but to me it is perfect!

The roof is on, the siding is up, the exterior doors are installed and the sheetrock is hung. You can see Fall trying to creep it's way in with the occasional rain shower. These little showers are pushing back our window of opportunity to paint the exterior.

Here are some pictures of the progress...

Both of the pictures above are of the back side of the house looking from the backyard.

The entryway. We decided to frame a little pop-out (not sure of the technical construction term) in the entryway for a little separation from the great room. I think it will make it feel more like a real foyer. We will see.

Basement bar.

 

Master bathroom tub area.

 

Bonus room window seat. There was a little indent in the framing where the window pops out on the front of the house, so I decided to make it a window seat. Note: This window will never be unlocked or open due to the fact I have a son who thinks he can fly.

The preparation for the box beams in the Dining Room.

The great room looking from the living area into the eating and kitchen area.

 

Olen's bedroom / gymnastics balance beam practice area.

 

Our Junior Project Manager.

 

The front exterior ready for paint.

 

Lila, Olen and I made up a new song we like to sing..

."Rain, rain, go away, we would like to paint our house today."

 

 

Bathroom Business

I am so excited to share all the inspiration designs for the bathrooms. I really wanted each bathroom to be different and have it's own fun feature. It is a challenge for me to do that because my eye is always drawn to a bright bathroom with white cabinets and classic subway tile. So this took months for me to think outside my little box and find beauty in other things besides white!

Master Bath
We started our bathroom tile sections off with the master bathroom. Reason being, when we designed the last spec house, Joe and I fell in love with how the master bathroom came out. Easy peasy, let's do it again. We did change a few little details, but pretty much kept it all the same. (Below are pictures from the spec house)

As I have said a zillion times, I love marble, but hate the maintenance. Once again I found the other option. Porcelain tile in a marble pattern. When we were doing this bath, the salesman at the tile showroom explained how the technology has changed so much in making the lesser expensive porcelain tile look more like real stone. If this were real marble, the veining on each tile would be completely different because it is a natural stone. Now, the technology that "prints" the veining onto the tile uses hundreds of vein patterns so when it is laid, it doesn't look like the same piece repeating. Therefore, it looks more natural.

 

Our bathroom is not laid out like this, but we are using the same materials. I love how the full height glossy grey subway tile backsplash with the white framed mirrors turned out. We are also doing the basket weave inset pattern on the floor again.

 

Our counter tops will be an Organic White quartz. 

One of the things we are tweaking in our bathroom is the tile that surrounds the bath tub. We are bringing the tile up to the window using a 3x6 inch version of the marble-like porcelain that is on the floor, laid in a brick-set pattern.

Kids Bath
I really wanted the kids bath to be a little fun and classic at the same time. Something that can easily go from little kid to big kid with a quick change of accessories.

Traditional Kitchen Tile by Portland Tile, Stone & Countertops ANN SACKS
 

So we are going with classic white subway tile (big surprise) in the shower. To make it fun we are adding two bands of glass mosaic tile called Cotton Bamboo White. One at 9 inches from the top of the tub and the other at 6 feet. I wish I would have taken a picture to share, but I forgot my camera on that day. Don't worry I will share when it is all up and complete.

Traditional Bathroom by Santa Monica Architects & Designers Core Development Group, Inc.

As I worked to wean myself from white, I found my love of gray. Crazy, I know. Baby steps. We are painting the cabinets in this bath gray. I think it is so pretty and can be little kid or big kid friendly. The floors will be 12x24 inch grayish sliver rectangular porcelain tile laid in a brick-set pattern and the counter tops will be Alpine Polished quartz.

Awhile ago Joe taught me that painted cabinets are more expensive than stained cabinets due to the time and labor of painting them on site. Trying to stay under budget, I had a hard time picking a stain color that would go with my vision for this bathroom. Joe called the cabinet guy to see about the cost difference for gray painted cabinets. Much to our surprise, the guy just happened to have left over paint in on of my favorite grays (Dorian Gray by Sherwin Williams) and is giving us the paint!!!! Lucky us. We still have to pay for the labor, but the paint is free. Every little bit helps:)

Guest Bath
On my quest to find beauty in something other than white I also found a new obsession, penny round tile. They are so old school or can be really contemporary. Doing an entire floor, wall or shower really makes a statement in a bathroom. I saw this picture and fell in love with the look of putting these sand colored penny tile over the entire wall behind the mirror from the vanity to the ceiling.
 

Contemporary Bathroom by Coldspring Tile, Stone & Countertops Haleigh Stallworth

Only problem, they aren't cheap. The designer and salesman had a hard time finding them and when they did these tiny little circles were $18 a square foot! My mind was set. I NEEDED these penny rounds to be a part of my life, but I am NOT paying that kind of money. Determined, I took to the keyboard and searched.

It didn't take long for me to hit my favorite sites when I found my new little friends at Home Depot for $6 a square foot. They have a variety of colors of penny rounds available. I know a lot of people don't like to buy things online. I too like to touch and feel it before I buy it. The great thing about Home Depot online, you can order a sheet (or even one tile) and if you don't like it, bring it back to your local store. Super easy. Both Home Depot and Lowes have WAY more online than they do in their stores. Check it out.

The cabinets will be a dark java stain with Alpine Polished quartz counters. We chose the same countertop color for both the Kids Bath and the Guest Bath so we would only be purchasing one slab with little to no waste. The floors are a beautiful tan porcelain tile with a linen type texture to them. I am really excited about this non-white bathroom. 

One of these days I will get over to the house with my camera and take pictures of the progress to share. We are scheduled to paint this week so things have changed a lot. Check back soon!
 

The Kitchen & The Countertop Controversy

This will be the fourth kitchen we have designed and built. As with anything you do in life, each time I learn something new. Some things I would change and some things I would do again. Countertops seem to be where I learn the most. Our first kitchen was in our remodel. We had a speckled type quartz slab countertop. It was a sand color and reminded me of the beach. I loved it soooo much! Quartz is one of the most durable and tough countertop materials out there. It is more durable than granite. This countertop hid every thing and gleamed when it was clean.

Contemporary Kitchen Countertops by Vancouver Interior Designers & Decorators Christine Austin Design

We did a more solid tan-ish quartz in our last home. It didn't have little quartz specks nor a color variation. I initially loved it because it had the smooth concrete countertop look. BIG mistake (to me at least). It showed every crumb and water spot. When it was clean and dry it was beautiful, but let's be realistic, the kitchen is the most lived in room in our house.

 

I made another mistake by putting honed black granite in the kitchen of one of Joe's spec homes (see above). I didn't learn until months later that it is a big NO NO in the design world! I guess it shows everything too. It looked so nice though. I hope the homeowners don't hate it now that they have lived in it.
 

Onto the "next house's" kitchen. I have always dreamed of a crisp white kitchen, but was always too scared to do it. This time we are going for it! It seems to me that white cabinets are the most timeless. I feel like there are beautiful stained wood cabinets out there, but in some cases you can tell how old the house is by the color of the stained cabinets. With white it is ageless!

Here are some pictures of inspiration that helped us create our future kitchen.

Traditional Kitchen by Boston Architects & Designers Jan Gleysteen Architects, Inc

There are so many elements from this kitchen that we are bringing into ours.
The white cabinets with the inset shaker doors and drawer fronts.
The feet and posts of the cabinets that go all the way to the ground with no toe-kick.
The box beam ceiling.
The white subway tile backsplash and farm sink.
 

Traditional Kitchen by Seattle Design-Build Firms RW Anderson Homes

 

We love the design of this hood over the range. So clean and simple.

 

We found this beautiful blend of contemporary and traditional, pull down faucet on Amazon.com.

 

The Countertop Controversy!

 

Most of the pictures of kitchen inspiration I found have marble countertops. Marble is so beautiful and so timeless, but not ideal for our family. Marble is a delicate, porous stone that requires a lot of TLC. I don't have time to give my countertops TLC. I need something that can handle life being lived. At the same time, I LOVE the look of white Carrera Marble. I have been researching for a year for the durable alternative to marble. Here are my findings...

 

Quartz:

Like I said before, quartz is very durable and low maintenance. Quartz is a composite "man mad" material therefore it can be found in a variety of colors. Some quartz countertops are actually made of quarried slabs of the natural stone, but the new engineered material is actually created through a manufacturing process that mixes about 95 percent ground natural quartz with 5 percent polymer resins. Brands of quartz countertops such as CeaserStone and SileStone have created a somewhat marble look to their slabs. Here are some options to get that marble look.

 

Q Premium Natural Quartz: Fairy White
 

Bianco River by Silestone USA

Natural Quartzite:
This may be the answer to my prayers. Quartzite is quartz so it has the durability. But unlike it's engineered counterpart, it comes from a quarry (a.k.a. The Earth). Like other natural stones of marble and granite, quartzite has a natural movement of lines running through it. Once I discovered this, I was in search of a quartzite that looked like marble.

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing.......
           White Macaubus Quartzite!!!!!

Contemporary Kitchen by Cherry Hill Tile, Stone & Countertops Stoneshop

       OOOOOOO! AAAAAAAA!

Traditional Kitchen by Chicago Interior Designers & Decorators TZS Design
 

I recently talked with a very knowledgeable lady, Laura, at Global Granite. She explained how great this stone is as an alternative to marble. Laura also explained that sometimes it can be difficult to work with the very linier veins of White Macaubus. Apparently because the veins run somewhat uniformly in the same direction, it is hard to seam it together in U shaped kitchens. She is the first person, out of many, that I have asked who actually knows about this type of quartzite. We have sent her our kitchen plan and she will tell us if it is workable or not. Fingers crossed!

So there it is, the bits of inspiration that created our future kitchen. I am so excited to see our kitchen come to life and LIVE in it!

**Again, I am not a professional designer. These are all just opinions from my experiences. :-)