Hello Everyone!
I trust everyone made it thru the 4th of July with patriotic aplomb! I realized I haven't posted in over a month and have disciplined myself thoroughly for it. I always intend on posting more often, but then life gets in the way! Onward and upward!
Things seem to have slowed down a bit. I think the holiday and the heat has affected things in some cosmic way. As of the last time we were out at the house, the roof is done as is all the stone and brick. We have doors, inside and out! It seems finding interior solid core wood doors was a bit of a challenge for our builder. Finding ones without formaldehyde was more difficult than anticipated, but he was able to get the job done and on budget! Three cheers for his efforts! The cabinets are in and hopefully are in the process of being stained as we speak. The stainer/painters are supposed to be the only subs in the house for a little while as they get things done. We were able to have samples of stain on a piece of maple - what are cabinets are made of - so we could pick the color we wanted. Everyone who comes into the house says "wow, you've got a ton of storage"! We DO! We have lots and lots of cabinetry and I'm sure the stain guy is cursing my name! We were also able to get paint samples up on the walls and picked our colors for all the rooms except Chuck's office. We are waiting on a new sample to be put up because we felt the colors we had chosen earlier were a bit dark. We are sticking with mainly neutral grays, beige and browns (except for the multipurpose room which will be my exercise/craft room and a guest room - this room will be a fabulous dusty teal!!) Our plan is for the artwork we inherited from my dad and Karen be the pop of color we need in the house.
We went on another choosing spree last week. We went back to the guy who helped us with plumbing fixtures and he was able to hook us up with door knobs, cabinet pulls and bath fixtures (towel bars, TP holders, etc). I found out just how many doors/drawers we ended up with when we went to do a final count for the pulls. HOLY MOLEY, we really DO have a butt load of cabinets! We can't go without knobs or pulls due to the type of cabinet fronts we chose. They call it a European style where the fronts are all flat and there is no space between. They are all flush with one another so every drawer and door needs a pull. We still need mirrors as I totally zoned off that we might need to look at ourselves while doing our make up (if we use it), hair (if we have it) or shaving! The last thing we have left to pick out (at least I think it's the last thing!!!) are counter tops. I'm hoping to get to that this week. My plan is to use quartz, as it is more environmentally conscious, in the main areas - kitchen, master bath - and to use remnants of quartz or granite or recycled glass for the rest of the areas still needing counters - guest and pool bath and the pantry.
We will be signing the contract to get the pool started in the next few days, so construction should begin in a week or so. Our builder will be happy to hear it as he is saying he "needs the dirt". For what I'm not sure, but I guess to help level out the yard and for under the driveway slab that will be installed in the not too distant future.
So far, it looks like there has been a ton of materials hauled off to the recycler. We have a guy, his name is Moe, and he comes by frequently and takes stuff off to be recycled or brings a wood chipper and grinds up all the leftover wood so we can use it for mulch once we get landscaping! There seems to have been very little waste at our site, which makes me really happy! One of the funniest things was when the brick was going up that was going to be covered in mortar for a kind of stucco look. The brick was a hodge podge of leftover brick, some of it a bright ugly orange. It was all very mismatched! I can imagine what the neighbors were thinking!!! It looks great now, but while in process it looked a bit schizophrenic!
Chuck and I have also been busy getting our current house in order so we can put it on the market. I have to say this thing about "staging" your house is for the birds (not nice birds, either!!) We have boxed us a good portion of the house and have some stuff to sell on Craig's List....anyone need a 1920's rustic farmhouse cabinet?????? Or a humongous desk?? Downsizing certainly makes you get more brutal with your attachment to things! I have learned one VERY important lesson from this packing up experience....take Spring Cleaning seriously EVERY YEAR! I can't tell you the stuff I found in the back of cabinets or in Alex's old bathroom (Nyquil that expired in 2007? Holy toxic, Batman! Or a dog medication that expired in 2002????? What the....) I think the local charity organization is in love with us. They have come out and picked up 2 loads of stuff already and we likely have at least one more. We have also given a bunch of stuff to friends, especially ones just setting up new households. We are also saving a few things for Alex for when he gets a bigger place. That old adage that you grow to fill your space is so very true!
Peace, Love, and Recycle,
Lori
