We're Back!

Did you miss us? We've been shamefully absent for, oh, about two months now. But I figure we all could use a breath after the big remodel job. We spent the holidays enjoying our newly comfortable home and getting the rest of our house back in order following all the excitement of renovation. I think it's safe to say we're officially settled though, and loving every minute of it.

Over this past weekend, we finally got around to a few overdue final touches in our bathroom. I ordered a custom plantation shutter while we were under construction and it arrived, so we got it installed much to our (and our neighbor's, I'm sure) pleasure.

So, remember this view? Here's what we've been living with (and ducking around - houses in our neighborhood are built in true old style aka close together):

And here's what it looks like now:

And a close-up of the shutter:

It's great to have the room closed off from the outdoors, and we love the dark wood to balance out the dark door and accent the bright white bathroom. And the best part is we still get some nice light in the room. We chose a divided shutter so that we can keep the main part mostly closed and leave the top few slats open, which lets a surprising amount of light in.

And see the shower curtain?

I finally got around to replacing the "don't-let-it-touch-my-skin" polyester shower curtain we hung when the shower was installed. We realized after everything was finished that our tall shower would not work for a standard 72" shower curtain (it didn't even hit the top of the tub) and selection in 84" shower curtains was pathetic - they were all polyester and/or covered with palm trees. No thank you. So we got by with a cheapo polyester one while I figured out a plan.

So here's a photo of the gross shower curtain that catches all your hangnails:

And now, our new and improved, soft and pretty shower curtain:

The new curtain is made from a linen tablecloth that I got on sale ($12!) at Pottery Barn. I added button holes to the top and hemmed the bottom so that it would fit just right. It makes for  a great, clean look and feels great to the touch. What more could you need?

A Finished Bathroom

Coming Together

I've been a bit behind on my updates, but the good news is that means there's a lot of progress to share. Late last week, tile was completed and the process of installing plumbing fixtures began. This is a big deal, as we've had running water only in the basement for the past two months. The upstairs bathroom was functional over the weekend, so no more dark middle of the night trips to the basement when nature calls!

I couldn't resist adding the decorative accents that I've been stashing in the basement for the past several months. We're still lacking the medicine cabinets, towel hooks, and oh, all the lights but we were nevertheless giddy all weekend to be able to use these adorable facilities over the weekend.

The wall faucets we chose look right at home in the subway tile backsplash. I'm going to switch out the ceramic "hot" and "cold" for the slightly fancier French options ("chaud" and "froid") that came with them.

The shower was not yet operational this weekend, but the tub was and be both enjoyed it thoroughly. It gave a great vantage point of the cute vanity (much like what you see above). They caulked in all the corners this morning, so we should be up and running this week, after I put sealer on the grout.

The little shadowboxes, designed to hold our showering toiletries, turned out a very cute accent in the tile wall. They used a marble threshold to build the bottom shelves of each one, making them seamless (and therefore waterproof) and also very pretty. 

And don't forget the stool! So happy to have this up and running. Although as you can tell from the picture, we're much in need of a good window covering!

On to the kitchen! Our fabulous farmhouse sink requires some special fittings that the plumber didn't have with him Friday, so we spent the weekend with a still-dry kitchen. We've been assured that he will have them today so that the faucet, disposal, drain and dishwasher can be all hooked up. 

I decided not to let the little hiccup slow down my part of the job, so I spent much of the weekend unpacking boxes and loading up the cabinets. I love how the glass uppers look all stocked with our dinnerware. 

I even got to work stocking the pantry. A little better organization is needed, but I love how much space there is for all of our dry goods now. 

And the faucet is in, but without a working drain it's still unusable. Hopefully we'll have progress on that soon. In the meantime, do you see how cute the side spray is? I'd been so focused on the main fixture, but this little guy is pretty charming, I must say.  

We're more than ready for this guy to get pushed back into his spot and all hooked up. 

And hopefully by my next post, this space will be filled as well with our range and microwave. 

Icing on the . . . . Cabinets?

Our counters are in! Our counters are in!

Need I say more? We've both been totally antsy all weekend waiting for Monday, when we knew our carrera marble countertops would finally be installed. Then we woke up this morning to another surprise - tons of beautiful oak trim lumber being delivered.

We were thrilled for all the progress to begin in a single day. Don't the boards have beautiful grain? We are splurging a little on the main floor on large oak trim to match the style and grain of the original oak trim that goes throughout downstairs.

 I couldn't help coming home for lunch to check on the progress, and while the trim guys were sanding up a storm in the driveway, the countertop guys were inside working hard. The kitchen stone was all in, and they were working on the seams which are tucked very discreetly behind the sink, so they shouldn't be noticeable at all when we're working in the kitchen. They had yet to drill the faucet holes downstairs, and were preparing to begin installation of the bathroom counter when I left to go back to work.

Here are a few quick photos I snapped. I was working hard to stay out of their way and not be TOO pesky, so please excuse the poor quality!

I am so thrilled with how they look - I love the dark rich lower cabinets, with the cool, matte stone on top leading to the white uppers. It's amazing to see the look coming together. Naturally, I couldn't wait to get home to see everything completed.

So, I was a tad disappointed to come home to this:

There's a protective layer of cardboard taped around the entire surface! Very opaque cardboard. I think they're teasing me. Of course, I very much respect their work in protecting the beautiful new stone as construction continues. I'm just glad I got a little midday peak. And I can still get the gist of the faucet, which is nice.

Fortunately for my sanity, the view upstairs was a much easier one to see - no cardboard on the bathroom vanity counter at all, and cute little undermount sinks to boot!

I love the simple, straight edge profile - it makes such a nice clean edge on everything.

And wait, there's more! Stone isn't the only thing that happened today - those trim guys got going big time. Our upstairs window is all trimmed in, and trim is installed in our downstairs half bath.

As you can tell, it was a big day for us and our old house. We're calling this week and next the "home stretch," with high hopes that everything will be finished by late next week or early the following. At this pace I think that feels pretty reasonable.

Charmed by Tile

When I left the house this morning, Our contractor, two tile installers and a stone countertop templater (not a word, but you get the drift) were all there working hard. While we won't see the effects of countertop guy's work for 2 weeks, the tile progress is showing strong. They laid out our floor tile on Friday, and told us that with mosaic they let it sit for a few days prior to gluing it into place to let the backing stretch out.

It's glued in now though, and looks amazing. Grout will come later - we selected a light grey color that will complement the floor marble and show up great against the white ceramic subway wall tiles.

The floor tile is so satisfying - so beautiful and clean. I can't wait to see the grout between the tiles, making the floor one solid piece rather than the hundreds of small pieces it is now. 

Needless to say, it looks great with our newly installed bath vanity. I can only imagine how much more it will all come together with a nice marble slab on top.

And that's not all! They made some good headway on our wall tile around the shower as well. The two rectangles you see are alcoves for keeping soap, shampoo, etc. They will be tiled in with the wall, all out of ceramic subway tiles like the ones you see.

So, we're thrilled with the progress. In the meantime we're in the process of moving out of the main floor of the house, getting ready for our hardwood floors to be refinished on Monday. I scheduled piano movers to get our piano to the garage, and we've begun adding more piles to our already growing storage space/guest rooms.

Here are some candid shots of our house in the midst of construction. We've changed our guest rooms into storage for kitchen things as well as things we could do without on our main floor - rugs, curtains, decorative accents, etc. The long and short of it is . . . we're a mess. And with hardwoods coming up next week, it's only getting worse. 

So here it is. This is our third bedroom, stuffed full of storage as well as boxes of tile near the doorway.

And our middle bedroom, also a guest room. Or, it used to be. Can you find the bed in this picture? This is also where Nino, our kitten, stays during the day to make sure he stays out of the way of workers as they come and go. 

And, this is where we've been eating lately. We have our fridge, trash and table full of cereal hanging out in the dining room. Is it surprising to you at all that we've been eating out a lot? And see the shop vac box sitting out? It's just waiting to be packed full of stuff so we can move it all out for hardwood refinishing on Monday.