Take 5

Five days until we move in, but 3 days until inspection to get the certificate of occupancy.  Stuff is flying now.

Paint

The painter worked all weekend priming and painting the 1st floor ceiling.  Today the real fun began - color!  Our first floor colors are inspired by Restoration Hardware, but executed by Valspar.  Contrary to how it may sound, we did not choose the colors based on the names.

The fireplace is painted in Chocolate.  The walls are not painted yet, but will be Latte, see picture below.

More Chocolate in the den.

And more Chocolate in the powder room.  There is a sample board of metallic paint - but not sure that's worth $400 to us.  $40 maybe, $400 no.

Latte in the hallways and stairwell. Seriously, no tasting my walls.

Plumbing

Work on all-things-water continues.  The fridge and dishwasher went in as well as many of the plumbing fixtures.  The tub continues, but that one is going to take a little time.

Backsplash crisis officially averted, the master faucets are in!  Might I remind you, these puppies cost $627 new.    We just spent our allowance based on Home Depot standards.  

Free toilet!  A barely used Kohler Welworth from Anoka.  Super clean and super free.

The Kohler Simplice - same as the one we installed at the house we are moving out of.  We love it, glad we ended up with 2 of them!

Shower door installed!  Tricky to actually photograph...

Grading

Rain would make the biggest mess right now. Although, this is a big improvement from the gravel pile  we had before.  

Perfectly ground coffee for a lawn - it's like my dreams have come true. (It's actually dirt.) 

Slope is now in the right direction.  Time to dig it up and do some landscaping!

Sweet 16

T-16 days until we move in and I had my first if-something-had-to-remain-undone-what-would-it-be conversation.  So?  Where we at?

Appliances

Kitchen appliances and washer/dryer were delivered and installed.  I don't think I will every want to take the plastic off.  I fear the very first scratch.  After the first one, I'm good.

A budget move was to choose an electric stove instead of a gourmet gas stove.  We saved on running a gas line, and of course the cost of the stove.  This one has the highest performance rating for broiling steaks - very important criteria.

I love my Bosch dishwasher now, it was a top priority for the new house.  This one rates even quieter than our current one - it's shocking!

The microwave drawer.  Time will tell on this one.

This one is going to take some thought.  If this is anywhere close to the placement, we are going to bonk our heads big time on part of the furnace.  

Kitchen backsplash

Today, with plenty of tiling drama (the Tile Shop screwed up the order, but fixed it in the end) the kitchen backsplash was installed.  We stewed over a couple of design decisions - first to run the tile to the soffit over the hood, second to run the tile over the window.  So glad we did both.

Hard to see, but the the entire wall under the soffit is now tiled.

This elongated subway tile seemed like a modern twist on the old classic.

Door hardware

We mail ordered all our door knobs from Handlesets.com - I wanted to go with something with a round knob and a square face plate without spending an arm and a leg.  I found a reasonably priced option from Schlage, but I had trouble finding the quantities we needed, so I'm assuming it is discontinued. 

It's the photo, not your eyes.

Here is the pocket door hardware.  Emtek pulls (the oval things) with Baldwin edge pulls.

Paint

Paint is and will remain our critical path.  Bedrooms are now painted - 2 different shades of gray.

A light gray for both kids' rooms.

One shade darker for the master bedroom.

Garage

Windows and service door are installed on the garage.  Siding has begun.  Tomorrow we start picking out the garage door.

2-Hour Subcontractor Blitz

2 Hours, 4 Subcontractors.  With the scheduling leading up to the move-in date, there is not a lot of excess time to deliberate on decisions.  I took 2 hours off this morning and met with 4 subcontractors and our GC.  I thought treats were in order, so I took a coffee cake...  I had to push it on the guys!  Next time, apples and Mueslix.  

1.  Mudroom Floor

First up, the mudroom floor.  I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted the layout, so I had ordered and 80% light (127 Warm Beige) / 20% dark (239 Brown Earth) color mix.  J.O. Thompson in St. Paul will be doing the mudroom tile and carpet.  It took us about 15 minutes and we have a fun, slightly quirky pattern - still geometric and symmetric, of course.

View in from the back door, the dark tiles take you to a rug detail in the hall outside of the powder room.  

Since light will be a little sparse in the mudroom, I opted for more light tiles in the mudroom.  I love a checkerboard pattern, but it seemed a little busy in this room, especially since we have 2-toned cabinets.

I got my checkerboard pattern in the small powder room.   Brown chocolate walls are coming, too!  

We used Vinyl Composite Tiles (VCT) from Mannington.  These are usually used in industrial applications and are very, very cheap - only $.99 a square foot for almost any color under the sun.  We like the idea of basically indestructible, industrial-feeling, cheap stuff.  This will be a couple hundred dollars cheaper than sheet vinyl - score!

2.  Excavator

After a weekend meeting with a landscaper, we have an initial plan.  I needed to let our excavator know what this meant for moving dirt around and brining in black dirt so stuff will actually grow.  Much yet to do here, but we think there will be a raised bed directly behind the house with an 18" wall, perfect height for sitting.  Then a patio will tie into the drive way to provide a space to turn around.

A hand drawn plan is as good as it's going to get for now.  The excavator needed to take the plan, so this picture is all that I have.

3.  Glass/Mirror Guy

Two areas needed love from the glass guy from Minneapolis Glass.  The master shower is getting a frameless glass shower door with the equivalent of RainEx on the glass so it doesn't etch.  We also are getting a mirror made for above the kid's vanity.  Pretty cheap and a weird dimension, so a no-brainer.  

4.  Painter

The house is being brought to you by Valspar.  Yes, that is where Andy works, but supporting his company is only a bonus because the paint is so fabulous!  I am only sort of kidding, after 2 homes with almost every surface painted, Valspar is a complete standout.  So, happy to oblige :)

All the pretty Valspar cans lined up and ready to bring color to our 2nd floor.   Lucy thinks this will be just like her painting at school...  I hope not, no offense kid.

A brief look at the interior color pallet.  What you don't see are a couple of grays for the bedrooms, but hopefully I can show you that once they are on the walls.

Go! Go! Go!

Two days since the last update - here's the skinny.

Mudroom
The cabinets are starting to take shape in the mudroom.  Flooring goes in on Monday morning, then all cabinets can be secured in the mudroom.

The white upright cabinet is a broom closet, just general storage.  The cherry cabinet on the left will have a powered charging drawer for phones, electronics, etc.  The top is going to be granite to match the kitchen, kind of a food/drink staging area for entertaining in the back yard.

This one's a little harder to explain.  There won't be lockers, but there will be a bench.  The uppers will be general storage.

Fireplace
It's finally finished off and prepped for paint.  Current plan is that the fireplace bump out will be a dark brown, but no mantle, tile or rock. Someday we might add built ins on either side of the fireplace.

Rails and stair parts
The first permanent stair parts are in place.  If you haven't noticed, we're not big on curves or bevels.

The secret behind the plastic

I wanted to check on the painting progress and found the entire 2nd floor covered in plastic in quarantine-fashion 

No peeking!  

I found a little piece of loose plastic, small enough for a cell phone camera...  the trim has been sprayed!

Basement/Laundry Room
This is as "finished" as the basement is going to get.  We had the laundry room framed and the exterior walls, but that's the end.