Merry-Almost-Christmas!

a lot can happen...

in 6 short months!

Naturally work on the house has slowed. We're going to begin working on the nursery after the holidays. (when I say we I mean Kyle and his friends)

Grassland

Baby got a toy! Well, a few toys, including a lawnmower, and a machete for cutting through the jurassic weeds we were cultivating.

Before:

After:

Kyle found a gem hiding behind the mostly dead tree and nettles! We'll replant it when we determine a better home for it. 

Concrete Counters Installed!

We had the counters installed just before Memorial Day weekend! The artist pulled out all the stops and had them in about 2 weeks before the original projection. They look fabulous, but you can't see the full kitchen until the sink, dishwasher and backsplash have been installed.

Martha Stewart Closet

So, immediately after we moved our bedroom furniture into the not yet complete bedroom, I decided that at the very least I needed to get the closet functioning as a closet. We researched the 8' ready made closet organizers, and quite liked the Martha Stewart kit that Home Depot sells. It was super easy to install, with the help of Kyle's impact driver.

It's amazing how fast I was able to fill what seemed like double the closet we had in our apartment.

Closet doors are last on my list, and so is organizing the clothes in the spirit of Martha... 

Concrete

We've decided on concrete counter tops for the kitchen. After receiving a devastating quote for Richlite, we started thinking of materials that could give us a simlar look to the Richlite. Concrete is a close second! The company we have fabricating it for us makes a charcoal grey color that's going to look amazing against the white cabinets and subway tile backsplash. So funny to me that we moved over to the west side, only to work with a concrete company from our old neighborhood. It's called Concrete Age Artworks and here's an example of some of their work:

Looking forward to the installation. We're hoping for May, but it might have to be in June, because the concrete has to harden and that's a 28 day process!

Family affair.

Help from the little brother brought us closer to a bedroom. For comparison's sake, here's the original room vs. the new master. it's going to be the most amazingly master bedroom ever when it's done. It'll only be missing a master bath. (that's on the docket for next year...)

Claire even looked fabulous dusty.

Closet!

A bathroom this house deserves.

I really like to personify the house, we've named her, and I feel like there are certain things she deserves in life. I mean, let's be honest, she's over 120 years old, which earns her some simple pleasures.

This bathroom will be one of such pleasures; for all parties involved.

This subway tiled shower surround took our contractor and his cousin an entire 8 hour day to tile! And I'm absolutely in love with the porcelain hex tile floor!!!

Bedroom build out.

Some action shots of the bedroom getting it's extreme makeover. 

(Nikki getting the nails out)

Because of structural issues, we decided to forgo the entirely vaulted ceiling, but the sides are still slightly vaulted, so drywalling seems to be a bit of a pain. These guys got through a really good amount of it though, and we're hoping to keep the momentum up this week while Kyle's on vacation from work!

Floors and Doors and Chores, oh my!

You are viewing the unfinished 4" oak flooring that we splurged on. It is currently getting sanded and stained and finished in a dark walnut stain. The dark wood flooring is really going to contrast nicely with the white kitchen.

Kyle and our contractor magically had the same idea to seal off the door into the office from the kitchen, and then open into the office from the living room. Then our contractor threw this french door in to bring the rooms together. We're going to paint that room a pop color to work against the neutral gray we're doing in the lr/dr. 

This is our master bedroom!!! Before drywall and a closet and a door... Kyle and our friend Nikki were weekend warriors and got through almost all of those items!

More to follow...

Kitchen teaser

Well... the house is still coming together. We're moving this weekend, but that's not to say that everything's necessarily ready for us. We're going to have to install a temporary counter made from plywood, because the counter takes 2 weeks upon ordering, and that hasn't even been ordered yet!

Here are some photos of the nightmare that is Ikea cabinets when they're delivered to your home in 117 separate pieces.

This sink is going to be a dream!

Partial progress... moved everything out of the way for the floors to be installed.

That grin is due to the giant power tool that you'll notice in the background. 

This is the last little kitchen teaser you'll get. The next picture of the kitchen that I post will be when it's DONE! (but don't hold your breath, because that's not going to be too soon...)

Vaulted.

We are currently working out the details of finishing the ceiling in our master bedroom in the vault. For obvious reasons we'll be leaving all of the necessary joists up. We're not trying to collapse our roof, but we really want to open the space up.

Those cobwebs are anywhere up to 100 years old.

Figuring out where to mount light fixtures, which walls will come down and where to put the closet is super fun, as long as we're not standing in the middle of the mess discussing it.

Don't worry, we wore proper protective gear today, I wasn't trying to invite all that yuck into my lungs and eyes.

Demo-Rest, repeat.

That's what we did today.

We're removing the paneling walls in the bedroom. We'll replace the paneling with drywall, and we're taking the opportunity to remove some walls entirely.

All or most of that wall will go, we're still working on the floor plan. This is going to be one seriously master bedroom.

With demo in our name,  you know we really get into it.

We also found a creep cave... I'm not really sure what that contraption inside is, or why they sealed it in there. 

We're going to demo some more tomorrow, and drywall next weekend. We're really in the home stretch here with our contractor too. He's going to install the tile in the bathroom this week, and the hardwood floors next weekend. Then come the kitchen cabinets and fixtures and bathroom fixtures.

It's time to make a list of all the little things we're forgetting...

Spoiler alert.

Here's a photo list of a few things we've already decided on for the kitchen:

IKEA Domsjö double bowl sink.

Barn Light Electric Flush Mount Warehouse Pendant, yellow with galvanized cage.

Found this picture on www.ikeafans.com. That's the sink in action, and just to the right of it, the integrated dishwasher I want from Ikea.

This is the color swatch for the Paperstone counter top we're going to have installed. We want to go with something in the aesthetic family of a biology station from high school.

That wraps up the kitchen teaser... Bathroom teaser to follow soon!

Drywall and Durock.

I think this house will be a home when it has running water and a toilet to flush. We're getting there...

Starting to look like a kitchen.

Drywall went up this weekend. The kitchen is really starting to come together. It's even easier to picture the finished product at this point. I think we both have such peace of mind having seen the new electrical and plumbing and insulation before the drywall went up. But now we have the itch to redo all the walls, thinking that if the kitchen and bath were not insulated, the rest of the house probably isn't either. One step at a time...

(don't mind the creepy eyelashes...)

This is the west wall in the kitchen, there used to be a window straight ahead. I didn't have the lights on in the house, and it was dusk outside, so it seems pretty dark. To combat the cavelike feeling, we're going to replace that door with a half glass door. I think that will really seal the farmhouse style!

Keeping her warm.

The kitchen and bathroom have insulation. The drywall comes next, then the cabinets, toilet and sinks. We're only about 3 weeks out from our move, and it's hard to picture us in this house in just 3 short weeks. Don't think about it...

The drywall is ready to go. Hopefully it goes up this weekend.