House Purgatory

Well, we are no longer Falcon Heights residents.  Saying good bye was kind of hard, our little house saw us through nine pretty great years.  The move was complicated first by torrential rain, then by an almost broken toe (Andy's).  Thankfully, the doctor said today that it wasn't actually broken, which shocked the doctor.  He said, "when it looks that gruesome, it's broken."  

Anywho, our stuff has moved to the new house.  We technically have not.  Thanks to our new almost neighbor who reads this blog, we were offered sleeping arrangements in the house next door!  How is that for welcome to the neighborhood?!  (Seriously, thanks again, guys.  Lucy wants to know where the boys are.)  In the mean time, we spend our waking hours unpacking and moving in, but sleep next door and plan to shower at the health club.  Dear St. Paul - this is inconvenient.  

Pantry

Oh goodness, we love having storage.  The pantry has been wonderful as we unpack boxes from our previous "pantry" which was a cabinet in our basement bathroom.  

A work in progress - two shelves already dedicated to beverages.  We must really like beverages.

Mudroom

While it's hard to appreciate yet since we have yet to enter/exit the house as we would if everything were done, the mudroom is definitely proving it's worth.  The shoe shelves are finally up and boot trays in place - bring on the shoes!

A jumbled mess now, but I have great hopes that this room will provide much organization to our lives.

Walk & Step

Our front walk was poured today, as was the bottom step by the back door.  Getting closer to mud-less access.

Bottom landing on the back step (sorry for the plumber butt shot, or cement dude butt in this case.  Hopefully your resolution isn't very good.)

Front walkway is kind of super-sized.  Still like it!

Carpet

The kids' rooms and the den now are carpeted.  All of the extra stuff piled in common areas were able to be put in place.  Still looks pretty sparse.  

Den!  Even though this is on the north side of the house, it's filled with light. - though you can't tell here.  Lucy liked sitting in here watching for her Papas (Grandpa).  

Totally can't tell, the kids rooms are monochromatic gray, but the carpet has fun circle & square patterns.  I am so distracted by the shimmery light from the crystal ceiling light.

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.