House on Hillsboro

OMG. The Stone.

 

 

 

I nearly fainted.  I laughed out loud.  It is more beautiful and perfect than I could have imagined.

One Week Later

 

Picture above:  Here is the desk off of the kitchen.  I have decided to top it in the same Caesar Stone I will put on the kitchen counters.  The upper cabinets will be covered with doors and are deep enough to store my printer, freeing up the top of the desk of everything but my monitor so that I will have space to lay paper and write.  The cabinet below will store my hardrive.  There will be lighting mounted flush under the upper cabinets and a corded wall phone mounted on the wall on the left - the one in the house that will work even when the power is out.  The guys will create several tunnels through the wall into the pantry so that all my computer/printer cords can be organized in there and out of sight.  And not underfoot!

 

Picture above:  The bannister made by hand by the builders.

 

Picture above:  Master bedroom with finished ceilings! looking through master bath and into the closet.

 

Picture above:  Master bath counter tops.  I wanted something seamless and shiny and white to match the tubs and toilets.  I went with the cultured marble from Lowe's and while I had no fewer than five nightmares that they didn't fit, they did!  And I am really happy with them.

 

Picture above:  Can you believe it?  Flooring!  Not only have I finally committed to something but I LOVE it, it was UNDER budget ($2.77/square foot), and some is even installed!  It is a SwiftLock laminate from Lowes. 

 

Picture above:  The master closet is finished except for a small piece of trim that will finish the molding around the floor.  Ray built the custom closet system after a quick consult with me and it is so nice.  The shelves on the right will serve as the bathroom storage for towels and such.  The thought of filling the rest of the space neatly with our things AND having space for it all is so exciting.

 

Picture above:  Here is Ava's cultured marble counter top.  Perfect fit!  And, yes, that is a shell sink.

 

What?  She really loves the ocean. 

 

Picture above:  This morning they laid the floor in her room and closet. 

 

Here is one of the windows in Jack's room.  I had fifteen or so lights in various spots throughout the house that I wanted to match and be relatively simple and inexpensive.  I found the school house-esque ceiling mount at Lowe's for $30.00 a piece and was thrilled to death. 

No stone progress this past week.  Here's hoping for Monday!

First Floor Update

Um, I've fallen a bit behind with the blogging.  I really have nothing to say for myself except that it must have something to do with a computer that will not cooperate.  Or the fact that I have had 67 house decisions to make every single day.  Or that I have spent nearly all of my free time in home stores or plumbing warehouses or on the road somewhere in between.  Or that I went from walking over each evening and finding nothing to report to finding lots and lots of progress and feeling overwhelmed about what to photograph first in the quickly fading light of day. 

Or this sweet baby I am making.  (Second trimester!)

Or a particularly exciting recent development.

Or that school is out and glorious summer is here. 

But I am not complaining just explaining.  I am thrilled to death with the house and things have been going so well - house building and baby growing. 

Here's some of the latest:

 

The house is white and I love it! 

 

The roof is nearly complete.  They had to stop there near the middle to wait for the stone to arrive so that they could bring the chimney through the roof before laying the tin around it.

And finally,

 

it is here and waiting.  Rumor has it they will start laying it on Wednesday. 

 

Picture above:  pantry entrance

 

Picture above:  pantry looking left  The same shelves are on the right .

 

Picture above:  Here are the tile I chose for the kitchen and pantry floors after a very, very long search.  They are made to resemble the clay tiles in old Italian farmhouses.  The tile felt right but I could not for the life of me decide between the light or dark.  Then I had an idea.  I have always loved the old black and white checkered tile kitchens but would never be THAT bold but I could checker these two colors on the diagonal and have a similar, more subtle effect.  I will use the 3x6 wall tile for the back splash.

 

Picture above:  the dining room ceiling, still to be painted    Beautiful.

 

Picture above:  master bedroom ceiling

 

Picture above:  laundry room

 

Picture above:  Master Bath  In real life the paint isn't the least bit green (It's a really light cream) and the wallpaper is breathtaking and not at all pink (more gold).  I just couldn't capture it, Becca.  So sad.

Frank, however, is exactly like that in real life.

 

Picture above:  view into water closet   The floors are perfect.  I love them so.  I have decided to put them in the laundry room, too.

 

Picture above:  wallpaper detail   So sweet.  This wallpaper is the most delightful thing I have come over to find yet.  I am already regretting that I didn't have the time to find more wallpaper for Jack and Ava's bedrooms. 

 

Picture above:  vanity wall

I can't believe we have come this far.