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!

N I N E D A Y S L E F T . . .

Tonight was the first night all week that we didn't spend at Home Depot - so many loose ends needing to be tied.  Exhausting.

Light, dazzling light

The electrician has been working in the paint-free zone (the second floor) getting lights installed. It's amazing how simply covering a light bulb seems to finish a room.

Lucy's shiny, girlie light.  Even more fabulous than I thought.  This is the Bel Air Metalic Ceiling Light from Lowes.  

This Portfolio Flush Mount from Lowes was the only decent looking fixture that we found that took a 100W traditional bulb.  AND it was only $25!  Score!

Garage power!

Electric has been run to the garage and now lights have been installed.  

We totally cheaped out on the garage lighting.  Thanks to $5 jelly jar outdoor lights.    Yup, they provide light.  

Oh no!  We built on a fault line!!!  Crap.

Plumbing power!

Also in the paint free zone, the plumber is plumbing away.  Things are coming together, pieces here and there.  

The first piece of the master shower is in place.  

This Kohler Kelston faucet was scored on Craigslist for $50.

Finally ready for plumbing!  The backsplash was installed now that it is thinned down and sinks installed.  

Lucky 13

Thirteen days to go!  Best news is that Lucy's grandparents offered to take her to the cabin over the move weekend.  AWESOME!

Pictorially speaking, there is not much to show this weekend.  Paint is about the least interesting pictures to show - especially primer.  A few random items of interest as we launch into the week. Both items required for occupancy, both install processes start with, "first we drill into your cement board siding." Gasp!

The mailbox
I never realized how boring and disappointing mailboxes can be.  I would be ok with a boring one to be replaced later if it wasn't being screwed into the cement board siding.  Etsy to the rescue again!  We found an interesting, reasonably priced mailbox in British Colombia from Copperdesign, who I guess you would referred to as a copper smith.

The Canadian mailbox, eh.

The house numbers
Made by HouseArt, our house numbers are apparently required for occupancy.  Another thing we would care little about except for the previously stated drilling.

5 inch raised numbers.  Also doubled as Andy's birthday present.

And... that's pretty much it.

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.

The beast upstairs

The tub is in its new home - HUZZAH!

It was a 2 hour endeavor for 4 movers to move it from the storage unit, to its new home in the 2nd floor master bathroom.  Things went relatively smoothly until it was time to get up the stairs - to make things interesting, the stair railings had a fresh coat of paint on them.  Fabulous.

Skirting the freshly painted railings with the 500 lb tub.  All the moving straps in the world won't make it any lighter.

Taking a significant break on the 2nd landing - almost there.

With only a minor ding on the bathroom door, the tub is in it's approximate resting place.  

In other news:

• The kitchen appliances were delivered today.  They are all wrapped up and sitting in the center of the kitchen/dining room.  Tomorrow, they get installed!

Waiting...

• The garage looks like a garage.

I can definitely fit the Golf in there.  Definitely.

• I have found someone to plane the granite back splashes!  Affordable Granite & Stone in Hopkins will be receiving my delivery tomorrow, it should take them about a day.  Soooo glad.

Custom shoes and backsplash woes

One of our earliest Craigslist finds was a lot of Restoration Hardware cabinet hardware that had been installed in a St Paul mansion, only to be removed a year later. I bought the entire lot for $100, but to buy new it would have been between $800 and $900... Which, of course, I would have never done. It was a mix of handles in various lengths and a bunch of knobs. Mixed in where some odds and ends.

I spent about 2 hours late Friday afternoon diving into the box of hardware and deciding what would go where. My fingers were crossed as I had little faith that I would have the right quantities or the right mix. 1 kitchen, 1 mudroom, 2 bathrooms, one hall cabinet, and 1 entry bench with drawers ---- only 3 handles and 2 knobs extra!

An aside, I had to do this while the painter did his thing, so I had to protect my shoes. Check out my custom footwear.

Bathroom granite has been delivered, but not without incident. We don't have enough clearance for our faucets in the master. Much trouble shooting in progress - may result in
A) no backsplash
B) having someone plane the backsplash down
C) find miraculously thin faucets for free

Rock of Love

Today the granite was delivered for the kitchen and mudroom.  It's not completely installed, but you can definitely get the picture.  I really like how it looks with the cabinets - light enough to tie into the white uppers, and a streak of copper to match the lowers.

The pattern is called Tiberius - never thought I would like a piece of rock so much.  

A small granite top in the mudroom - this is where food and drinks will be set when we are hanging out in the back yard.  No problem with sweaty glasses!

And the Tiberius goes on.  We weren't sure what we were going to do for counter tops in the bathrooms.  We like the Tiberius, but DDF didn't have enough... until we talked today!  There is JUST enough for both bathrooms.  Whew, that is so much less complicated.

Tonight was spent trying to pick out backsplash tile.  I wanted to wait until the granite was in, but now we have to hustle and get something picked out for installation Monday or Tuesday.  We're down to 3 options, but that is for another post!