Counter Point

It may or may not surprise you to know that I have used great restraint in most posts not to put in too many pictures. But today, restraint goes out the beautifully painted windows!! So many things happened at the house today that it was hard to select only the below pictures. Allow me to narrate your journey...

The view of the living room from the loft.

A few light fixtures were installed today - this one was the most exciting one (located in the entry). There are also a few switchplates upstairs... surprising how thrilling those things can be.

The kitchen looks spectacular with countertops and a sink! If you look close, you can see the switches that were moved from the corner to the right of the sink...
The next several are of the master bathroom. Bear with us - we're excited about it!!

Paint is finished in the below and looks really sharp.

Aaron is pumped about the countertops!

If Vanna worked in a bathroom showroom...

An unobstructed view of one of the vanities in our bathroom.

The powder room vanity and counter top.

The upstairs bathroom vanity.

Who makes up paint color names anyway?

The paint is really coming together now! The north wall in the living room has been painted (the color is called Granite) and it looks amazing!! The upstairs is mostly complete, except for the stairwell and the crew was hard at work in the master bedroom when we stopped in today.

Below, Aaron is surveying the Dusty Trail (tan), Eiffel Tower (gray) and Whiskers (light gray) in the loft.


The most exciting part was seeing the powder room painted! The Indian Bead color (aka reddish orange) looks spectacular with the tile. We'll be at the house twice tomorrow as we are dropping off all the door hardware in the morning and then going back after work to see all the progress.

The Paint Shop

Tonight we stopped by the house to drop off light bulbs for our light fixtures. We were fully expecting to see more trim painted (important, but unimpressive visually to see white painted trim on white walls) and instead, were rewarded with seeing 3 of our 6 paint colors on the walls!!

Upstairs, both bedrooms and the bathroom were completely painted and the loft was done on three sides! It looked even better than in my imagination!! The crew also started painting in the master bathroom. It was a total thrill to see the colors on the walls - it really makes the house start to feel personal. Aaron has the lucky job of meeting the appliance delivery crew tomorrow from 12-2 and I am envious as I think he is going to get to see some more good stuff. We'll see if I can get him to tuck the camera in his coat pocket...

Day's Never Finished

We stopped by the house on Christmas Eve and again yesterday, fully expecting to have the place all to ourselves and were pleasantly surprised both times! On Christmas Eve, the guy that has been working on our exterior was just finishing up with the railing on our screen porch (shown below!). It looks awesome!! Our cabinets and other stained wood also had clear coat applied and they were shining... well... at least the ones that weren't wrapped in plastic were! The crew made a lot of progress and they had started to cover all the stained wood so that they can move into painting.


On Sunday, we needed to drop off all our light fixtures that were stored at the apartment (I know what you're thinking... what will we do with ALL the space?) and we were surprised to find a guy there working on painting the trim. It looked amazing... especially upstairs where all the trim has been painted. It practically glows in the sunlight! We're less than a month away from moving in now and we can't wait to see all the finishing touches complete!!

Little Things

We went to the house on Tuesday night after church and were able to take our time and scope out the whole place. I can tell that tons of work is being done (filling nail holes, sanding, etc.) but things like that just don't have the same impact as big pieces. A lot of prep work was also done so the crew can clear coat the cabinetry in the next few days.

Our basement is doubling as the workshop - it was cool to see all our doors and other woodwork stacked up neatly. There's section for cabinet doors, regular doors, shoe strips and other things! Aaron also got to test out our new snow scoop (delivery charges avoided thanks to Mom & Dad) and was able to clear the whole driveway and sidewalk in around 10 minutes!

Stain We Don't Want to Remove

We met our architect out at the house this morning to give her and her family a tour of our ever-improving digs. We were surprised to see all the progress since Wednesday! Staining the woodwork has continued and painting on the trim has started. It's getting really exciting to see the changes now, as they are all the final details that we've had picked out for a really long time. 32 days from now, it should be complete!!

Carpentry Gives Way to Color

We returned from a week-long trip to Mississippi to find that all of our finish carpentry had been completed! Most notably, the hearth and mantle were installed by the fireplace, but it was also cool to see benches and handrails in the entry way and other missing pieces finally in place. With this work complete, the painting and staining crew were able to get started with finishing off all the woodwork. It is equal parts thrilling and impatience as we await the finished product!!

Catch a Cab

I think you'll have to take my word on the above picture, but honestly, it's a stone path that leads from our driveway to our front porch! It does have a dusting of snow on it, but that didn't prevent the crew from spreading the giant piles of topsoil all around our yard and adding stone to all our patio and driveway areas. We couldn't see all of it in the dark last night, but the new snow reflected enough light for us to get the gist of it and it was pretty cool to have a yard!


Inside, more progress was made with our trim work and all the cabinets were starting to be stained. They also did the beams in our dining room and those look spectacular! All of our cabinet fronts are lined up in the basement, but looking no less spectacular down there!

You've Got Mail

We were at the house three straight days, but the most surprising thing happened on Saturday morning. Our mailbox (which we ordered a little while ago) was installed! Although it's not our personal style, the subdivision required mailbox really made it seem official. And not surprisingly, we've already started receiving junk mail!

On Friday night, we scoped out more detail work and everything that gets put up looks amazing!! One of our favorite things is the dining room ceiling. The picture below doesn't do it justice, but the craftmanship is fantastic and the overall effect is exquisite... and it's not even stained yet!!

Our master shower tile is also complete and is B-E-A-utiful!
On Saturday, we spent several hours working on various tasks around the house. One of them was outside and we took many breaks to go warm up inside, but eventually, we were able to spray paint the outline for our sidewalk.
We also finally figured out where the strange smell in the house was coming from. The basement is set up for painting and staining! It was cool to see our finished stair parts lined up so neat and orderly! The only thing better will be when they are installed!!

Well Lit

We got to the house last night just before 9pm and were surprised to find it illuminated! The tile crew was still there working and they had the lights on. It was really exciting to see it lit up at night - almost like someone lived there! We still did a quick tour of the very dark exterior area before going inside and found that our siding had been finished around the sun porch and the garage doors! There is still the section around the lower level door and the section around the front door to be completed. I'm looking forward to the day when my eye isn't drawn directly to all the white Tyvek around the front entrance!!


On the inside, there were plenty of thrilling changes. The tile in the master bath was all hung and the crew was cleaning up when we arrived. It looks truly amazing and we can't wait to see it once it's been grouted. More trim has been hung around the house and there are even baseboards that have started to go up!

We then went upstairs and used the headlamp to peer around at the changes up there. Just as we were about to head out, I tried a light switch for fun and lo and behold, there was light!! After getting over our initial embarrassment of not thinking to try that sooner, we ran around the house playing with all the switches to see which ones did stuff and which ones are still waiting for the decorative fixtures stored in our apartment living room. We had a blast exploring the place and can't wait to check it out later this week - the painting and staining is supposed to start soon!!

All the Trimmings

We stopped by the house after church this morning and were greeted with more trim on the interior. It's really starting to take shape in the hub of the house. In the kitchen, all the windows, the pantry, and the doorway to the dining room have trim around them. It looks very different than the 2-D drawings of the trim; it's much dressier than I ever imagined. As usual, Mary was right... it's exquisite!!


The tile in in master shower also continues to take shape. But even partially installed and with no grout at all, I think it looks fantastic! I am anxiously awaiting the final product on our shower (much like the rest of the house, actually!) as it's sure to be amazing when it's complete!

Getting Trim for Thanksgiving

Although some of us have Black Friday off, I'm thankful for everyone that was working on our house today! We met the finish (not Finnish) carpenter, Jim, out at the house this morning and reviewed all the trim and finish carpentry with him. We also walked through the kitchen and determined the best location for the island to allow us the most space all around it. We were thrilled to get a compliment from Jim on what a cool house it's going to be. He gets to work on different houses every day, so it was awesome to get a compliment from someone who has seen so many other places.

We also got to review the tile with our tile installers today and the progress looks amazing! Our powder room is finished and they were more than halfway done with the master bath. The fireplace and kitchen backsplash will be installed once the wood around them has been stained, so we have more tile to look forward to in the very near future.

Our house felt so much house-ier today with all the detail work starting. We can't wait to check in again later this weekend to see what else gets accomplished!! For now, there are a few additional photos below...

All the pocket doors and closet doors were installed. They look pretty sharp even without trim around them yet!

Here's a view of trim around the laundry room doorway and around the laundry room window
This is the floor tile in the master bathroom - it looks even more spectacular in person!

Wood You Like to See Our Cabinets?

Since Thursday, progress was made on the exterior of our house - the columns continue to take shape and more siding went up on the south side. However, the really exciting stuff was inside the house this weekend! All of our millwork was delivered on Friday - I thought that the view from the loft captured it best (above).

All of our cabinetry was also delivered on Friday! After months of living surrounded by stacks of everything we own, the sight of piles of stuff at the new house really made it feel like home!! Actually... it was fantastic to see the detail-oriented stuff get delivered - we're really anxious to have it all completed so we can move.

And speaking of moving... the below pic is what we found when we went downstairs to go to church this morning. Some ne'er-do-well in our apartment complex backed into our car and drove away without reporting it. So instead of being on time to church, we got to hang out with the local police and fill out a report. Did I mention we're anxious to move?

And now... on to more enjoyable pics of all the wood stuff that is at our house awaiting installation and finishing.

This is the powder room cabinet - just a cute little guy!

A pile of kitchen cabinets!

Aaron inspecting the dining room cabinets

Me showing off the built in cutting board and garbage area in our island