Maggie,

Your colours sound wonderful -- right up my alley. We will also have lots of greens and greys in our house. The range hood is not yet built. We are still exploring options. It might be built by Modern-aire. We decided to splurge on this item as like it or not it will be a focal item as our cooktop is over the island in an open concept house with the kitchen smack dab in the middle of the space. Below you will find a line drawing of a proposed range hood. Also, I uploaded an inspiration picture from Houzz, but ours will be shorter and that navy blue with steel accents.

[

[Craftsman Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/craftsman-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2116) by Seattle Design-Build Firms RW Anderson Homes

Carol

mommytoty, love those garage doors! Will you please share the brand and style?

Mornin’ :-)

Autumn ~ that is exactly what I’m saying. I have frozen food & pantry food. Nothing fresh…well milk (although out at this exact moment) bread, processed cheese food (lol), a few eggs…lunch meat bc dd takes her lunch every day. All these things currently come from the Dollar General store. Haven’t been to a “real” grocery in idk how long. Oh! I did fix a fancy lunch the other day, grilled cheese sandwiches with BACON (bits)!! HA! Oh, and last night we dined on a fantastic delicacy… PIZZA ROLLS! The white sauce was a superb blend of…ranch :-) They were amazing ;-)
I am so, so ready to have my new kitchen!!

March 1…well… that really moved to March 15, which I pretty much knew would happen. Our closing is March 18th. Period. So we’re scrambling to get things done that have to be done to pass inspection, get temp CO and do the closing. Then we’ll finish what has been held up by weather…or acts of God…idk…

My plan is to be moved by April 1. :) Spring Break is gonna be fun!! Lol

I can’t believe you guys are doing ALL the painting yourselves. I thought I was going to have to kill someone just trying to get the “regular” height rooms done a couple weekends ago.

Our weather has been pretty nice yesterday & today. Supposed to start raining tomorrow and a chance of storms. But we’re above freezing!!!

Ontario ~ love the range hood inspiration pic!! :)

Hey juju! How’s the lakefront?

Sound system is in and working!!! Whoop whoop!! Just a few things to tidy up with it, and install speakers on the back porch. It’s a good thing I don’t have really close neighbors :)
Dad is coming Friday after work to help me over the weekend with closets. Trim is going up, most windows are done, doors supposed to go in today. DH is working on handrails. Tile guy is working on master shower/tub. Electrician has been MIA again, but we’re almost down to the short rows on that, and I can pretty much do the rest of the lighting install. I wanted to do the custom fixtures myself anyway.

And apparently I've forgotten how to use my camera. I'll hopefully take pictures tonight of doors & trim!! Oh crap... not tonight, kids have 4-H meeting late, so no house time for me on Weds. But tomorrow!!

Floors are sanded!!!! In and sanded in 5 weeks... Ok 5 weekends... Slow going but going none the less. Stained the upstairs last night and would have done more but had a kiddo get sick (no she was not in the new house ).

I love how I read the posts sent to my email and I can tell who is talking without noticing the posters name first!! Ha

Progress pic.
Jen

Jen

I just heard from my friend SJ, who talked to Jess at the bank who is married to Jay whose brother is Deputy Ray who drove by our new house on patrol this morning and said the crew is there and they are putting in the rafters!!! Wooohooo! I better find my checkbook.

jujubean--Great to hear from you! The garage doors are from Northwest Door and it is their Therma Elite model. It was a brand new model when I ordered it a few months ago. It is a steel insulated door with wood composite overlay and has detailed beveled edges that look really sharp. You can get all kinds of configurations in terms of design. Hope that helps!

loribug--You must be so excited to be ALMOST DONE!! My daughter asked me this morning "Why can't we just move into the new house already!" She's getting anxious! :) We will be done end of May, so a few more months to go!

jennybc--Your floors are looking great! Is that white oak? We just got our white oak hardwood delivered last Monday and will be installed this Monday.

JDez--That cracked me up--word does get around, especially in small towns!

so awesome Jen!! :)

4" red oak...

Stained Jacobean (have the upstairs done) looks awesome!!! So excited!

lori-eggs-scrambled, fried, in a sandwich with toast....many many ways to serve eggs and they aren't just for breakfast anymore! Good thing my boys like them and they are available and inexpensive at the local small grocer. March 18 - sounds GREAT!

jenny-that looks so nice! So much work but all will be worth it. Kudos for hanging in there all weekend long...every weekend.

jdez-lol, well first or third or twentieth person that is awesome news! So are you driving by tonight??? We are melting a bit and I actually got a peek at our shingles, woot woot!

jujubean-how are things? What's new?

Ours is 4" also (but in white oak) and I was planning on a Jacobean stain, though may mix it with another color depending on what it looks like. Would love to see a pic of your stained Jacobean!

Will post as soon as I get one. I was gonna take one but ran out mid stain to get to sick kiddo.

Which is why I have been able to catch up on here today!!! (The silver lining)

Autumn ~ we've been eating a lot of eggs!! lol all those ways. They're so easy

JDez ~ totally made me spit out my drink. That is sooo our town. :) lmao

Drywall crew showed up today! We lost a couple days due to bad weather (the roads were impassable last week), but they're hard at it. I should have pics in a couple days. It's amazing how much the spaces change with the walls fully closed in as opposed to open framing. Not only did the size seem to change, but the shape as well. It's really interesting to me, since it is my own design (with lots of help here). Either way, it's ours now!

Thanks for the garage door info, mommytoty. I'll have to track down a similar looking door that I can get in Michigan. Anyone have recommendations?

Things are going well on our build, but we're running behind due to the horrid weather we had in Nov and Dec. It took much longer than anticipated to get weather tight. Crews are now working on drywall and siding. I'm super pleased with the siding -- Nichiha Sierra Premium Shake fiber cement board. It is currently only factory primed and will be painted in the spring.

Fingers crossed that we'll still get in by mid May.

Ya'll are posting SO much that I cannot keep up!

JDez - Laughing out loud at that post about hearing through the grapevine that work is being done. Our AV guy called the other day from the job site, and I made a point to get him to tell me what all trades were out there working! We are supposed to have rain tomorrow night, but otherwise, we should have a run of some decent weather!

Lori - Your home is going to be done before you know it, so close!!

Autumn - We are eating super cheap here. Tonight, we are having fish sticks with rice and a spinach salad! I am TRYING SO HARD to save every frapping penny and I am SO DA*N tired of it right now! I would love to go on a date with hubby for a nice meal...

Running the gas lines in our house was 1887.00 instead of 600.00, so I am really pinching pennies, not wanting to pull from our down payment funds that are set to the side.

I will say, I think the building process has shown me that I can be more frugal and wiser with my spending than I ever realized!

I am attaching 2 pics for you ladies to give me your opinions. Our foyer originally had a wall that came down to 10' high, we removed that, rose that wall section up to be in line with the arched window above the door, and added an arch.

What do you ladies think?
BEFORE

AFTER

upononthehill,

Your before picture was lovely. You after picture is drop dead gorgeous. Well done!

Carol

upon - ohhhh yeah! Look at how it accents that door! Love it! For sure, great change.

Thanks @Autumn and @Ontario - It was one of those things that I just felt in my gut...thinking I will love it once it is all complete.

We are going to select granite on Friday and I am hoping that proves to be a nice day for my hubby and I to get away. The granite place is about an hour and a half away...maybe we can carve out time for a quiet meal together!

Uponthehilltop-what an awesome and dramatic change!

I didn't make it before dark but the rafters are definitely in place and if all goes well, the roof should be covered tomorrow. And would I look like the crazy OCD lady if I put a few trash cans out for the workers? Would they use them if I did? Cans and wrappers and cups are just thrown down in the middle of the floor. I've never seen anything like it. It's like they finish lunch or a snack and just throw their trash down wherever they happened to be at the time.

Autumn4 - We have not chosen our brick yet. I'm stalling. I'm glad you're getting some warmer temps. It's like Spring down here, in the 70s. All good things come to an end though....

Hilltop - good call on the raised arch in the entry. It looks amazing.

Juju- I love your siding. What color are you planning on painting it?

Mushcreek - Considering the weather you've had, you seem to be moving right along. Looking forward to pics.

Loribug - lol....gotta love that small town news wire. I work an hour away from home and I always know what's happening whether I want to or not. ;)

Jen - Your floors are looking so good. I hope your lil one is feeling better soon.

OntarioMom & Maggiepie - I love that you two love colors! I can't wait to see your finished rooms.

Bluemoon - Pictures please.

Have been away for a couple of days and now it is hard to keep up :)

Carol (Ontariomom) Your kitchen selections are look good. Love the blue and counter top choice.

Jenny, Hope your kid feels better soon. The floor looks great.
Uponthehill, The arch makes a huge difference and looks good.

Jdez, Glad the crew is back working. Love the story about small town news wire :)

Lori, March 15th is less than 4 weeks from now Yay! Impressed that you are already packing.

Autumn, How is it going with the trim? Sorry you could not open the cabinets and see more. Can't wait to see them! We are also eating takeout more often than usual and can't wait to go back to cooking proper meals.

On our front they have started with the trim and also have started with the tiling. Master bath and laundry room were started today. Did not get a chance to see the tile work in the evening but hopefully I will have a pictures to post tomorrow.

upon-I love spending quality time in the captivity of the car with dh, seriously. Besides traffic it provides quiet uninterrupted time with few distractions. Sounds like a great road trip. ;)

jdez-why no of course not! We bought one of those big round trash cans for the house and have had it there since we started. Some WILL use it and some will not - we still found wrappers on the floor here and there. Overall though I'd say it helped and I needed it for the gagillion times I was sweeping up anyhow! And FWIW I did hang a please no smoking sign and once up it has been abided by - that I was thrilled with. Nothing like building a new home and walking in to start cleaning and smelling smoke. :( I am highly sensitive to it so I was glad to see they respected my wishes. Not trying to start a smoking debate here. I just figure it is MY home (finished or not) and even the contractors are guests and should respect my wishes - especially once it's closed in. 70's - wow. Yes. I can close my eyes and feel 70. Awesome!

akshars-dh is hoping to have all of the windows finished up tomorrow. The upstairs base is complete but we still have the main floor and all of the doorway trim. He is talking about starting the tile for the boys bath next week? Yay! I really want to open those cabs up. Maybe tomorrow as I am off work but supposed to be working on patching nail holes in the trim so we can eventually spray it! Oooh the tile. Yes, pics of the tile!

lori-that is super close. Any new pics of the house from afar with the fields? I know it hasn't really been a season change BUT, I am hoping hoping hoping!

I like blue also and I think mlweaving also. I don't have much true blue in our choices though. More of a teal or aqua I guess.

Lori- Do you mind me asking if/when you locked in your mortgage rate? We are eager to lock, but it is far too soon. Praying hard that the rates don't start jumping in March/April...

upon - we locked in September. ??? Wonder how that can be that you are locking upon completion and we locked upon start? Crossing fingers for you that the rates stay stable!

@Autumn - We did not go with a bank that does construction to perm financing. Construction loan is set, but the final mortgage loan, can be locked in at no charge at 30 days, but at 60 days there is a charge to lock in and then if we do not close within the 60 days there is a penalty fee for not closing...#Headache!

Here’s to hoping that the weather will stop wreaking havoc on all our buildings!!!  That’s just a general wish for all…

JuJu ~ really like the shake siding!

Hilltop ~ what a wonderful change with the arch!! Well done.
Haven’t locked in rate yet, but hoping that will happen asap. I think within 30 days (which we are) we can lock it in. I’ve got an email into the loan officer. I’ll let you know!

JDez ~ good luck with the trash cans, guys will actually use boxes sometimes, but mostly they just throw stuff where they are. My cleaning fairy (builder) must clean up after them.

Akshars ~ I know, it’s getting so close and sooo much still to do…but I think it’s doable, if everybody keeps moving!!

Autumn ~ I just flipped thru pictures, and apparently I’m a slacker…and haven’t taken a recent picture from the drive… I will do that asap!! Here are some that I took this morning!!

Happy Thursday everyone!
Loribug- Uponthehill-major score with the added arch-show stopper for sure!

Jdez-Too funny-love and hate that about a small town-everyone knows the good and the bad in a matter of a minute LOL

JDez -youre sweet-attached is our latest site photo. They found a break in the weather and poured our footings and lower level walls-we have an exposed basement thats why they dont go all the way around to the back- now it sits for 7-10 days to cure.

I found the clean fill we will need- score!

Big lessons learned:
1-I need to keep a pair of boots or something in the car-I keep having to scrape mud off of my good work shoes from visiting the site.
2-everything we like is over our budget :/

Jen- beautiful floors!

Upon- great change, just gorgeous!

bluemoon- seems like we were just there yesterday. I love your views! The mud is gross! I would nearly loose a boot stuck in the clay/mud mix that is our soil many a time. ick. I lined my trunk with a garbage bag and took my boots off before getting into the drivers seat.

autumn- ooooh, cabinets! I have to say I'm disapointed no pics....I'll tell ya if it were me I'd probably see if I could caaaaarefully unwrap just one to cop a feel, lol. no, but seriously I get it wanting to keep those babies protected. :)

On my end nothing to report in pictures. This week was all innards lol. Rough in (and all rough in related decisions). I'm finally feeling good about my electrical, my water heater (upgraded to 75gallon with recirc pump), the a/v wiring, security wiring, and plumbing (shower head placement). I need to sign off on cabinetry MONDAY. My poor cabinet designer has been a peach through my dozens of emails tweaking details this way and that. I think now my kitchen layout is DONE with the exception of figuring out drawer heights (not that that is an easy task).

Oh, and the biggest happy news was that the cabinet shop had this gorgeous piece of cedar timber with amazing rustic splits and knots that they will hand scrape and rough up to our liking for the fireplace mantle. LOVE!

bluemoon - join the budget club! in the beginning, every line item that was going to be an overage was like a jolt. now i'm just numb to it. i've lost all concept of decimal places. haha

uponthehilltop - LOVE the arch. such a great addition!

loribug - beautiful doors - are they staying natural or are they going to be stained?

construction manager confirmed this morning that the mason would be back to work on our fireplace stone today, and i had a doctor appointment about 15 minutes away so i made the trip to find no masons on site. :( i also got my hopes up when i passed a concrete truck on his way out of our street because our driveway and walks are all formed and ready, and evidently he was there for someone else or lost. boooooo. double whammy on my special trip out there.

our lighting is being delivered a week from tomorrow! that is HUGE!!! and tile work is supposed to start tomorrow. starting jobs on fridays always seems to just beg for no-shows though. fingers crossed.

At the risk of being stoned by the GW crowd, I need to tell you that it got up to 77 here today!! I had an all day meeting to go to today on Hilton Head, and I wore a summer weight silk skirt and a sleeveless top.
Loving the pictures!
Our blue for cabinetry is SW Smoky Blue, similar to the other blues posted here - at least on a monitor.
So up in Charleston last weekend I saw the new pendants from the Regina Andrews line - a recycled glass that looks a bit like seaglass. They are the perfect pendants! We went out to the house this week, I blew up 6 balloons, 3 the size of the green ones we already bought, 3 the size of the RA...and have decided that initially we are going to hang the green, with the intention of changing out to the larger ones later. And the new RA ones go better with the overall look.
Interestingly, I'm finding more and more lighting I'm liking. It's been a process though.
Carol, so glad that you're working it all out.
Do you have photoshop or powerpoint or another program like that? You could put together several boards of lighting combinations and it might help narrow some of those choices.
Lori, it's all coming together so nicely.
Mushcreek, we're just a few hours apart. But you were on the other side of the snow/freeze line. Hope it's all better up there now.
GTG, be back later with more update.
Insulation sprayed in and pressure test done today. Hubby was very impressed with the operator doing it.

Trussess are coming right along. A little respite from the high winds was helpful. I finally got a feel for the house walking through. All this talk about paint colors has me rethinking my choices, all of yours are so beautifully bold.

This post was edited by MFatt16 on Thu, Feb 20, 14 at 20:37

mlweaving,

You are right we need to make some sort of mood boards. We have powerpoint, so that might be a good option. Do you have a picture of the pendants you found? They sound lovely.

Carol

Uponthehilltop, We also locked in at the beginning but it wasn't at market rate. It was a point or so higher but we were happy to have the risk taken out of the equation. No one around here did anything but "one time close" construction loans. The conversion loans phased out around these parts.

Mfatt, looking good!
Carol, a couple of my powerpoint boards.
First, with current choices - dragonfly lamp over table in bfst room and 3 6" pendants that we found in a local store - from Paris according to the store owner - over the island. I'm thinking the pendants are too harsh in the green now with the new island countertop. And a bit too small. And honestly, although many here love the dragonfly, I'm sort of "over it". I had it in my house in northern MI for many years, over my table in St Louis for 7 years. I'm ready for a more coastal vibe.

Next up, same board with Regina Andrews 11" pendants and a soft silver arm chandy for over table.
I think this lighting gives me a softer look and is closer to my vision for this room. Isn't it amazing the difference two light fixtures make, even in the mood board?

The room with 3 balloons blown up to the 11" pendant size

Btw, meant to say, uponthehilltop, I really like what you've done w the arches. Nice decision to open up the hallway.

This is our exterior, primed only, while drywall being delivered.

Thanks for the compliments on the doors. We had seen them at parade of homes a few times last year and both just really liked them. I also have an eye for the 5 panel but they were a bit out of budget.

bluemoon-I agree wholeheartedly with both 1 and 2. Thankfully (sort of) we have more snow than anything so while things are wet they are not dirty at this point. Spring is going to be a doozie though I'm thinking.

marjorie-yes-that is a definite difference and the first board looks more 'heavy' with the other light choices. 77. What can ya say, someone has to be getting some decent weather. Enjoy it!

mfatt-looking good. I hope gentle breezes prevail so you can see some great progress.

mushcreek-I missed your post before. It is exciting to have interior walls and I agree it does really look different in both good and bad ways, haha. Some things seem to be just how I pictured and others a little off with sight lines and things.

illini-I'll be breaking through that wrap pretty soon here. I need to grab a door to get trim paint color matched.

Bday party (just grandparents) on Sunday for my soon to be 9 year old. I guess that means I have to scrub the rental - where to go with all of the stuff. Not looking forward to it but he is excited. Pizza anyone? I can't even fathom cooking and serving a nice relaxing meal here. Wake me when it's over!

marj,

I do like you second mood board a bit more than your first. The new kitchen pendants are lovely - thanks for posting them. I also really like your grey ceramic tile. What is that called (although may go by a different name around here)? Man, that granite is lovely (it is granite not quartz right). What white are you doing for the cabinets?

Illini, Good luck with drawer height decisions. I might work on that this weekend too. We are holding off on the cabinet order until that is done.

Autumn: Good luck with the birthday party -- pizza is expected at bday parties around here (the grandparents will go with the flow).

Maggie, I can't wait to see your lighting selections. Any chance you have pictures you can post. Maybe I will get inspired by your choices -- given our similar colour choices.

Akshars, I do hope you will post pictures of your tiles. I am also finding tile choices hard.

Lori -- So much to like about your home. You look so close to completion. Yours has been a very fast build. Don't forget we want to see your lighting fixtures.

I thought we had decided on the colour for our perimeter cabinets, but when we received a bigger size sample it was darker (of course) than I had imagined. I might go one shade lighter now (this is killing me). Has anyone seen the colours SW Modern Gray or Agreeable gray?. Those were the colours that matched up with the inspiration colour I found in one cabinet from Home Depot. One shade lighter than Agreeable gray is Incredible white (all from SW). Anyone seen that colour and do you think it would be a good colour for cabinets?

Carol

Marji- Love your second board! Those light fixtures make all the difference! I need to learn how to make a board, those are super helpful! Love the exterior of your home!

i'm happy to post my lighting selections, but i'll warn you... they're *ahem* pretty eclectic and all over the place. we had no rules (other than needing to be CFL or LED compatible) and just picked what we liked, and in some cases, shopped around for a less expensive alternative to what we liked. lighting selection came AFTER the rest of our material selections so we had already written a REALLLLLLLLLY big check for all those upgrades so i tried to be very frugal with our lighting.

for example, we fell in love with this $2300 fixture from Bevolo for over our dining room table which is open to the kitchen and living room.

but instead went with this $500 (before a coupon!!) from ballard and i think i like it even better. they don't look it in the pictures, but they are identical size, both 45" diameter.

in the same sight line, we have these 3 pendants over the kitchen island:

we're using this in our entry:

These are the flush mounts in several rooms:

We have 6 of these hanging in hallways - 4 in one hallway, 2 in another hallway:

The bathrooms are where it really diverges. :)

Our master bathroom lighting:

and

my daughter's bathroom:

and these are the bulb covers for her vanity :)

my son's bathroom:
vanity:

and this is actually a ceiling overhead flushmount but shown as a wallmount in this photo:

if you take away my daughter's bathroom i think the lighting falls into maybe 3 styles - coastal, industrial, and french farmhouse and i'm ok with that. :)

Maggie--We have some of the same lighting!! I am using the same galvanized light for my son's vanity, the same flush mount you are using in several rooms for my kitchen pantry a similar beaded chandelier (though cream beads rather than blue) over my dining table. My house is coastal-inspired, but like you, I've mostly picked out what I love. Hoping it all comes together IRL as I see it in my head!! ;-)

I stopped in at the house after dark today and I was excited to see all they got done. Lots of doors are hung, lots of trim is up, including 2 of the 3 ceiling beams. And, the painter painted samples of all my colors on the walls!!! Couldn't really get a good feel for the colors in the dark with my flashlight, so can't wait to go over in the daylight tomorrow!! :)

Upstairs landing pre-stain

One of two upstairs closets that were to be carpeted but got hardwood...since it was paid for and we had extra flooring. Stained Jacobean.

Stained remainder of downstairs last night!! 3hours to "paint" on, rub in, wipe off! Got up close and personal rubbing my beautiful floors last night...(read needing Tylenol today!)

Had to rush home to tend to kids, and forgot to take more pics!!! They will come.

PS Avoid the puke virus like the plague with your kids!! My youngest has been throwing up forever!! (Tues night through thurs night) hopefully it's done today.

Jen

I’ve been MIA lately. Been trying to keep up with everyone, but not posting. I’m not gonna attempt to respond to everyone but please know I love everything you are doing! Awww, those color choices, those granite slabs, those arches, those cabinets, those floors, those stained floors, those ceilings, those doors, those range hoods, that siding, those lighting choices! Great job!!!

I think I’m beyond too much second-guessing. It’s too late in the game and I just want it done. When asked about DH using the same stain for our mahogany kitchen cabinets as we are using for trim, beams and doors, I hesitated and then said, why not! Don’t have time to mull over anything anymore. Just get ‘er done! Anyone else feeling like this?

We’ve had a very productive week so far with our painter. Yay!!! We have two coats on all the ceilings, one coat of primer and color on all the walls except the family room. It just so happens that is where the trim and beam material are stacked. I chose grays with the green undertones throughout the house. Depending on the light, the walls look gray, green, and greigish, all of which I’m okay. We are doing a headband in all the rooms except the two with the vaulted ceilings (family room and master bedroom). We have 9’ ceilings and the headband will be at the 8’ mark. As you will see in some of the pics below, above the headband will be painted the same as the ceiling and below will be the wall color. It’s a technique used a lot by Sarah Susanka in her “Not So Big” books. It makes the area in each room above the headband look like the lid of a box.

Here is the master bath looking in from the entrance. Notice the BM Moon Shadow color looks dark. We used BM Icicle for the ceilings, closets and garage.

Here is the master bath looking from the window side. The color is lighter.

Here is our master bedroom in BM Moon Shadow.

Same color in the hallway. One of the spare bedrooms is straight ahead in another color (BM Natural Elements).

Here is the same hallway from the view of the spare bedroom. Color looks lighter.

Another spare bedroom looking toward the window at the front of the house. The two spare bedrooms, the spare bath, and the laundry room are painted BM Natural Elements.

Same bedroom looking at another wall. Looks lighter.

The only color I haven’t seen on the wall is the darkest one, BM Dry Sage. That is only going to be in the family room. However, the ID assures me that all the furniture we purchased will look great with that color.

The painter’s helper is doing most of the staining. And, there is a lot to do! We laughed when the painter said he’d have everything done in the interior with the painting and staining by mid this week. Yeah, right! But, I love the color we chose. It’s rich. It’s a Zar stain, 50/50 mix of Rosewood and Dark Mahogany.

Here are some of the bigger pieces for the beam. No finish on these yet.

Here is a piece up against our fireplace stone.

We are going to go pick up the polyurethane for the painter today. And, while we are there, we are going to try and get the color matching done for the exterior colors. Behr did a great job on matching the dark bronze for the exterior trim, but was off on the siding color I wanted. But, we have decided to go with Sherwin Williams Duration so want to make sure we have the right color combination.

DH has called the flooring and tile rep to tell them we are ready for tiling the bathrooms and laying the laundry room floor. DH also framed up the addition to our columns on the front porch and called the stone guys to come out whenever they can to stone them and put new capstones. I sure hope they look better afterwards and not worse!

Jenny- The same plague hit us a few weeks ago and I have small children. I can't believe you are doing all that staining and then heading home to that! Kudos! I love the way your floors are turning out, gorgeous. I love wood with character.

TGIF!!
Went to the house last night…alone. For a while anyway, it was awesome :) I am a very social person, love to have people around, but there are sometimes I just neeeeeed to be by myself. I locked all the doors, turned up the radio and started putting door handles & plate covers on. My electrician has been MIA for almost a week. Which is really ok in some ways, b/c he’s a bit of a know it all, and our builder & his brother are working on trim. I think they need their alone time too. Lol
Anyway, so I’ve been putting on plate covers whenever I can. I might have went a bit overboard on plugs & switches. Ha!! Seems like every time I think I’m almost done, I find more!!! I think I’m going to let dd do the plugs upstairs over the weekend. She’s closer to the ground.

DH showed up after a while. Had to call me to let him in…lol I guess he doesn’t have a key yet. Oops!
While we were working on little stuff, we had a heck of a thunder storm. I am even more pleased with the quality of this house. I couldn’t hardly hear the storm at all! The wind was whipping thru the trees which is a new (old) sound. I grew up with a woods behind the house, but for years haven’t had that. Our current home sounds like it is going to blow apart in wind. Not this new house!! Yay!!!

Let’s see… doors & trim are staying the color they are, natural. They actually are finished, you just can’t really tell that from pictures. All smooth, and just a twinge shiny. I caught myself just running my hands a long them last night while putting on the handles. I have a love affair with wood. I would love to learn woodworking.

Bluemoon ~ definitely on the boots!!! I have on mud boots 95% of the time anyway, b/c I have horses to care for, but last night I sure was glad I had them! Our “storage” trailer (semitrailer on the property) is surrounded by mud. I had to climb up in it to get my door handles. Oh boy. Between wrestling the huge doors in the wind, and trying to keep my footing in the mud, it’s a wonder I didn’t land on my rear. Not that it would have been the first time. I think I’ve fallen on ice/snow about 15 times this winter. I’m pretty klutzy, but that might be a record….

Illini ~ congrats on the mantel!! Exciting, can’t wait to see pictures of it :o)

Maggie ~ maybe we should have formed a budget club. I think I’ve lost all concept of decimals also! We have a certain amount left to draw. I’m really hoping it’s enough.
I really like your lighting selections. I have this thing about matching fixtures, but also, if you can’t match them all, I love mismatched eclectic!! (I’m only consistent at inconsistency!)

Marji ~ 77!!! We got to 59 I think, and boy did it feel like swimsuit weather ha! We used to have that same, or very similar dragonfly lamp hanging in the show room when I sold lighting. And a couple lamps to go with it if I remember right.
I love your mood boards! Second one is a sure winner! Love the balloon picture. What a great idea.
Ahh…and some dormer love! Autumn ~ you and I are seriously very similar. I love your pizza idea! Totally get it. GUESS WHAT I DID??? I actually went to the grocery store! More pantry items and frozen items, but some fresh deli meat & cheese. Some small packaged meals I can throw something together fairly quickly. I’m sooo tired of eating out. Grabbed some precooked baked chicken from the deli, Uncle Ben’s 90second rice packages and broccoli steamer packs. We actually had a pretty good dinner last night… at 10:15pm. But hey it wasn’t fast food!!!

Ontario ~ Thanks so much for the compliments. I’m a bit partial to it, of course! I’m still a bit amazed at times that it all actually came out of my head (with help) and is looking like I thought! I posted a few light pictures in my morning post yesterday, the sconces, fan & laundry. I’m hoping to get the entryway light up over the weekend, and will share of course!!
I’m glad you think it’s fast…I’m dying. I guess I don’t have enough patience!
we used all SW paint, but I don’t think either of those colors. I had to go back & look.

Jen, Jen, Jen ~ as usual I am in love with your home!! Floors look amazing!

Hoosier ~ I’ve tried to have that get’er done attitude the whole time. A few things have kinked my chain, but I’m pretty good now I think!
Paint looks great, and as always I love love love your stone!!! :o)

A few pics of trim, doors, & the cool posts on the stairs!! DH walked in and said “omg those are bad @ss!!” I laughed and laughed :o)

Autumn, Great news on getting the window trims almost done. Excited to see your tile and cabinet pictures when you get a sneak peak. We are having our cabinets delivered today. The tile work is going slower than expected so not as many exciting pictures as I hoped but will post a couple below.

Lori, The door and trim look great. Thanks for posting pictures of the lights. Love the sconces you have the lights above the vanity. The curve/wave on the lights is great. I think you should be able to get done in time. The tile work in the bathroom looks good.

Mlweaving, you have a knack for finding lighting fixtures. I loved the sea green lights you bought and now love the lights you have chosen in the second mood board. I like the chandelier you chose also I wanted to do something similar but DH nixed it. I may still use it if I don’t like what I ordered in the space. Love your exterior. It is perfect.

Hoosier, The stain looks great next to your fireplace tile. Glad that the painter is making progress.

Bluemoon, you are so right on everything you love being over budget . It is such a balance on where you can spend and where you have to cut back.

maggiepie11 , love you sense of style and color. You are so good at DIY projects. I have seen some of the pictures in the home decorating forum. Love all your lighting choices also.

Mfatt, You are making progress  and it is starting look like a house

Jenny, what beautiful floors. You should be proud of the great job you have done. Hope the kiddo’s feel better soon.

We are having our cabinets delivered today. The trim is almost done around the doors. And they will start on crown molding and windows next. Taking the day off today to be present when the cabinets are delivered and to meet a fabricator.

What is everyone doing for the window treatments? Are you doing drapes/blinds? Any tips on what to look for in drapes. We need to start working on this soon. I have no clue on where to start. We just used wood blinds in our other house.
Here are is a picture of the master bath.

Accent tile for the master bath above that will go in the niche and the center of the main wall in the shower.

Tile is looking good! Love the accent :)

I'm taking my old, faded, homemade curtains with me. I made them 15 years ago. I'm not a seemstress! But I love them, and they will work in this house too. I'm going to replace them one of these days, but not in the budget at the moment. I am doing something new with the rods though, DH made me some shelf brackets/curtain rod holders out of angle iron & horse shoes. We painted them flat black. They will go in the corner, outside the trim, with a shelf on top, curtain rod over. Black pipe with caps will be the rod. I'm really hoping I get the look I'm going for, and it will give me more places to put my knick knacks, which I have way too many of!!!
Similar to the picture only my brackets will go in the little corner that the top & side trim makes. If it doesn't work, I'll put up regular rods & use the shelves & brackets elsewhere.
I don't like blinds, and back where we are, the curtains will most likely be open 90% of the time. I want to see out my windows not look through blinds :)