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first look: my upstairs (BEFORE pictures)

Posted by sew4tejhtr6ier Kamis, 27 Juni 2013 0 komentar

i have been holding out.
i have been waiting and waiting to take some "good" pictures of the finished upstairs of my house to show y'all....
waiting for things to be perfect. or at least really, really clean.
and waiting until my "good" camera got fixed.
waiting until the kids were out of the house playing and, of course, remembered to clean their rooms and make their beds before they left.
waiting until the last boxes were unpacked and i had at least one or two things on the walls.

well, guess what? i realized this morning that those things may not happen for a very LONG time.
so, here are some really terrible phone camera BEFORE pictures of the upstairs...complete with kids still sleeping, temporary paper shades, toys on the floor, boxes stacked in the corner, messy couch cushions, and unfinished construction details. i hope you can manage to see (like i can) the POTENTIAL of these rooms!
ok.

here we go.

the stairs:

i mentioned this before, but we ended up carpeting all of the stairs. one day (in the far, far future), we will pull up the carpet and install a fun runner on the stairs. i thought the carpet on the stairs might bother me, or look boring, but i am actually really happy with the way they turned out.

the plan for the stair well is to add some type of trim or paneling going from the base molding to the ceiling. this will add a lot of architectural interest and help protect the walls from scuffs and marks. we already have QUITE the collection after moving in and being here just a few weeks!

i realize this picture is terrible, but the camera on my phone is pretty limited. i had the electricians install three lights in a slightly random arrangement. i plan on having three moravian star fixtures hanging at different heights here. one day.

the door at the top of the stairs leads to a mechanical and storage room.

the upstairs hall, looking towards the bonus room. i am standing in the doorway of charlottes room. the first door on the left is olivias room. the second is the girls bathroom, and the third is gradys room. the door to the right is gradys bathroom.

charlottes room:

yep. she's asleep on the bed! i have some big plans for this room that include a new day bed with a custom head board and canopy, stenciled walls, painting her light fixture and current dresser, new bedding and adding a hinged bookcase that opens into a secret room. can you see that cut out in the sheetrock? it leads to a little area that is about 3.5 feet wide and 6 feet deep. charlotte has never had a room decorated just for her, so i promised her room would be one of the first that i worked on when we moved.

olivias room:

the two front bedrooms (olivias and grady's) are quite large. everyone who comes in comments on how big these two bedrooms are. i still have some curtains that i had custom made 7 years ago for her bedroom in our last house in tennessee that i plan on using agin. i will also paint the walls, update her bedding a bit and possibly make a seating area to the left of the door. her bed and dresser were purchased when we lived in knoxville as well, and need to stay due to budget. the mirror was a semi recent purchase from anthropologie and will also be staying. the light fixture is from world market.

the girls bath:

we finally got their drawer hardware installed! still a lot to do, but at least it functions...

gradys bedroom:

yep. there he is, curled up on the bed in his favorite footed pajamas.

we bought his bed (from jc penney) and dresser (from the furniture mart in hickory, NC) when we was three, and while i still love both of them, he is slowly out growing them. i did a mini makeover of his room when we lived in our last rental house that included new bedding and new art, but in a year or two, i would love to update his room again. his room can handle a larger bed and dresser, and those items will be on the priority list when i am ready to tackle it, but right now, we need a yard and about 765 things more than we need a new bed and dresser!

the bonus room:

we were not going to finish this room when we first started building, but i am SO glad that we did! it is the place where my kids hang out, play with friends, watch movies and play with toys.

right now, we have a sectional that we bought from craigslist, and old dining table and a few chairs that we use as a game table, and the top part of a dresser that we are using as an entertainment center. (the bottom part of the dresser is in our master bedroom)

the door leads to a room that we call the "toy room".

its where all the legos, games and toys are kept. i LOVE that the toys stay in this room and if it gets too messy, we can just close the doors.

this is the only room that we had the painters paint!

the color on the walls doesn't look as green in person as it does in these pictures.

it is called "deep creek" by benjamin moore. it is a deep grey/brown color, and i really, really love it.

the room is nice and large, but because of the slope of the ceiling, and the location of the door, it has made the furniture placement a little tricky. i finally have the sectional, tv and table arranged in a way that works really well for us.

from the bonus room, looking back towards the stairs and into charlottes room.

i hope you can see what the spaces can become! i view them as "shells" right now---empty and void of character, but waiting to be transformed! i am really happy with everything, and so thrilled to be in the house! there are just SO many things that i want to spend my time and limited budget on...it is so hard to zero in on a room!
i think i am going to start with gradys bathroom...can you already see that i have some samples up on the wall? more on that soon...
thanks for sticking around!

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construction progress: week 24

Posted by sew4tejhtr6ier Minggu, 21 April 2013 0 komentar

here is what has been happening at my new house lately:

there was more work on the front retaining wall. the wall will be about 4 feet high on the front of the house, and will continue on the side of the driveway.

the BIG news is that the painters started!

we planned on painting the house ourselves, but the whole TIME vs. money thing was not going to work in our favor if we spent 3 weeks painting. since we kept the colors simple, and we don't have any crown molding or additional trim, we were able to hire a crew to paint the house for us.

the VERY freshly painted bonus room. as you can see, the paint hasn't even dried yet!

once the walls were primed, they sprayed the trim.

the girls bath.

the doors, already painted and wrapped to prevent over spray from the walls and trim.

on the main floor, they had to completely cover the floors and the cabinets.

there is still a LOT to do on the back retaining wall. our original plan was to build a concrete and rock wall, but time and money were running short, so we changed to plan B...

these large metal cages called gabians....they will be filled with stone, and stacked on top of each other to create the retaining wall in the back. each cage is wired to all of the surrounding cages, so it is super sturdy.

we plan on getting some type of vine to cover the cages....right now, we are thinking of using creeping fig, but i need to do a little more research before i commit.

a look at the painted walls.

the color on the walls is actually the "official" ceiling color, so it doesn't look

GREAT with the grey in the marble here, but i will eventually paint the walls.

more finished paint.

i also dropped off this vintage lantern to get rewired. if anyone lives in salt lake, the BEST place to go is the lamp company, on 7th east, just across from liberty park. they have rewired several lamps for me, and they do a fabulous job, and are always affordable. i got this lantern rewired and got a replacement canopy for around $60. the man who fixed it said it was at least 70 years old. it will hang in my girls bathroom.

*if you follow me in instagram, then you have already seen the picture of the lantern, and you ALSO know that i am about a week behind in posting about my homes progress. this week i will be posting TWO construction progress posts to catch up! it is breathtaking what has happened in the last 5 days!
our target move in time is the first week of may, so things are moving fast!

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hardwood stain options: votes!

Posted by sew4tejhtr6ier Rabu, 17 April 2013 0 komentar

it is just about time to sand and stain the hardwood floors!

we have always used minwax stains in the past, and plan on using them in our new house as well. in the last few houses that we have built and remodeled, we have used "provincial" and been VERY happy. since we almost always use red oak, we know exactly how it will look...provincial is a very neutral, medium brown stain color. (when i say "neutral" i mean a color that doesn't read red or yellow or grey.)

here are my favorite "neutral" minwax stains, in order from dark to light:

of course, when i picked out the stain colors that i wanted to test, i grabbed "provincial".

but i also wanted to test two colors that i thought would be nice, but still neutral, so i also chose "special walnut" and "dark walnut".

here they are:

(and YES, i just realized that i spelled provincial wrong here. but lets just pretend that it is spelled right. i need the time it will take to correct it to pack a few boxes.)

i was pretty surprised at how light the "special walnut" looked compared to the others! after seeing the samples, i definitely liked "provincial" and "dark walnut" the best.

**TIP for testing stain colors:

when testing stain colors, you need to sample the colors on at least two boards, since there can be so much variation from board to board. it is also a good idea to test the colors on the SAME board so you can really see the difference in each color.

here are the colors again:

at first, i thought i might also test out "jacobean", but i actually want the floors to be a slightly softer brown, and i felt that jacobean was just a tad darker than what i wanted. so, the race is between what i know works and looks great and i have used many times before:

PROVINCIAL

or...

the slightly darker, never used before

DARK WALNUT

which is YOUR pick?

please vote!

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hardware for the island

Posted by sew4tejhtr6ier Senin, 08 April 2013 0 komentar

sorry for the lack of posting last week. it was our spring break, which means my kids were home all week, and things (of course) were busy with the new house. we decided to start packing and cleaning our rental house as well...hey, free child labor, right? gotta take advantage of THAT! my kids were not so thrilled. we didn't spend every second working of course...i made sure that we had a little adventure every day so that it still felt a little like spring break!

believe it or not, i have STILL not made all of the decisions that i need to for the house.
i still have not selected the hardware for the kitchen cabinets.
i know, i know!
nothing like waiting until the last minute! (my contractor/husband is being very patient with me!)
however, i HAVE decided on the hardware for the kitchen island. i feel in love with this image:

i think what i love about it is the mixing of all the metal tones...the hardware is brass, the faucet is chrome, the light fixture is black/dark bronze, and the sconce by the fireplace is vintage gold.
i know some people think that mixing metals is bad, but i think that brass and chrome is the new peanut butter and jelly!
mix away, i say!

in my new kitchen, i will be mixing metal tones.
my faucet will be chrome.
the light fixtures in the kitchen will be a combination of black and brass. (i am going to wait to purchase most of the kitchen and dining fixtures until after we move in. i know what i want, i just cant afford them right now!)
and for the island, i decided on some pretty antique brass campaign pulls from ansaldi & sons.

even though the sides and back of the island are striped with wire brushed oak and RH slate:

the front of the island (that will house the sink, dishwasher and microwave) will be solid RH slate.

here is a picture of them next to a quarter, so you can get a better idea of the scale:

things are starting to move quickly! i have some great update pictures that i will be sharing soon, as well as some more decisions and selections!

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construction progress: week 21 + 22

Posted by sew4tejhtr6ier Selasa, 02 April 2013 0 komentar

here's what's been happening over the last 2 weeks at my new house:

i finalized the order for the shower tile in the girls bathroom. i was considering using a smaller tile, like a 3 x 6 or the one i decided to use in my sons bathroom, which is a mosaic 1 x 2 subway tile, but i thought that the smaller tile on the floor needed the contrast of a larger tile on the shower walls.

the tile i chose is 4 x 16 white tile from florida tile, available through modern tile.

we installed all the backer board for the tile on the bathroom floors...

(the girls bath)

(the master bath)

(my sons bathroom)

i also narrowed down the tile for the laundry room.

since i was using the black slate for my sons bathroom, i decided to order some extra and STRIPE the laundry room floors! (don't worry...i am not going stripe-crazy in the house! just the island and these floors will be striped. OK, i will probably sneak in a few more stripes somewhere, but probably in subtle touches like pillows or paint.)

i knew i wanted high contrast, which i thought i could get with the same grecian white tile that i am using in the master bathroom...but i wasn't crazy about how it looked with the black.

i stopped by the dal tile showroom, and in their clearance area, i came across some 12 x 12 "chiffon creme" honed marble tiles for $3.25 a SF. how could i pass THAT up? i bought a sample and brought it home....

and immediately made a call to purchase it! i like the high contrast, and i also love that both materials

are honed, and have a very simple, utilitarian look---but together, they are going to be fantastic!

the tile started getting installed in the girls bathroom.

the elongated hex tile is totally worth the splurge! the soft whites, greys and neutral tones in the tile are so pretty.

we installed the base trim and door casings in the rest of the main floor.

AND, the master bathroom shower tile started.

i wanted a larger tile on the bottom half of the shower in an offset pattern, and the herringbone on the top half. we used the pencil molding to separate the two patterns. both patterns are outlined on the sides with a 6 x 12 band. can you imagine what the herringbone would have looked like if the pattern met in the corners? it would have been pretty BUSY looking. the banding frames the pattern beautifully.

we opted for a 6 x 6 tile on an angle for the ceiling.

we were initially planning on laying the tile ourselves, but decided to hire it out! a VERY wise choice, i must say. the "green stuff" is a waterproofing compound called "aqua defense" by mapei. our tile installed swears it is amazing stuff.

a detail of the tile.

on the outside....

the front steps and side walls were formed, and the stone was put on.

the steps will be formed this coming week. we originally wanted to lay flagstone on the steps, but
it was too pricey...plus, when it snows, plain concrete is MUCH easier to shovel than anything else!

and the front retaining wall was started. it will also be covered with the same stone as the rest of the house.

another view of the front retaining wall.

here are the finished side walls at the front entry....they flare out slightly, which makes the entry feel wider and really welcoming.

i decided i wanted another touch of pattern in the master shower, and so i ordered some herringbone
mosaic tile for the back of the niche in the shower...

and here it is installed!
i love the extra little pop of texture!

the slate tile for my sons bathroom was installed, as well as the shower tile...

we laid the 12 x 24 tiles in an offset pattern. the smaller shower tiles were purchased at home depot and are made by dal tile. i am super happy with the mix of scale and color here! the floors will get a lighter grout, and the shower grout will be dark grey.

speaking of grout....

we are using all mapei grout colors.

a look at the almost finished master shower. (i am having that really white tile in the corner replaced. i love the variation in natural stone, but that tile felt out of place to me.)

and----ta-da!!

if you follow me on instagram, you have already seen a peek at these floors.
the 12" wide tiles were ripped in half, so that the stripes are 6" wide.
i am in love! i think i am going to be happier doing laundry while standing on these floors!