More progress...

As we leave for the "Happiest Place on Earth," we leave our house in good hands... with just about 5 or 6 weeks to go!

Color

This is the part when we begin to start seeing all of our hours and hours of design planning come to life.  It is by far the most fun part of the whole gig!  And the most time-consuming... who knew there were so many different colors of Schluter?  "Schluter?"  You ask, confused...

Here is the first peek at the ombre bathroom:  (Thank you, Radu, for your thorough tile calculations and tedious tile work... and thank you for asking me all of the right questions before you started placing tile on the wall.  You rock!  And it's gonna look rad.  So rad, in fact, that I can't decide if I should skip my pedicure today to go check on the progress.)

The exterior paint colors:

(Only two exterior colors to choose from and they still managed to mess it up.  Good thing we have a sunny week ahead.)

Inspiration for Master Bathroom

Here is our inspirational Houzz photo for the master bathroom design, except that I hope our color palate will be (much) less boring.  Think: ombre... hooray!

I love the floating double sink vanity with drawers underneath as well as the floating tall cabinet to the right.  This set-up will make the floors really easy to clean.

I also dig the offset mirror that stretches to the left.  I can't think of any rule that says I have to hang and center my mirrors directly over my sinks, and besides, I don't believe in rules.  (Ryan, that one's for you).  Okay, I do... but I'm going to break one or two this time around.

Special master bath feature: an outlet in the back of the floating tall cabinet so I can charge my Sonicare without it sitting out in plain sight.  (Almost but not quite as cool as our moisture-sensor bath fans.)

Gutters again

Okay, a bit better... but still...

Flamingos!

The battle of the wallpaper... it's over.  I won.  It was a battle of palm trees versus flamingos.  (Sadly, the original wallpaper that we had our hearts set on was not appropriate for a bathroom.)  Both papers are fabulous and very unique, but as most of you know, I have a soft spot in my heart for animals.

"What wallpaper did you choose for your powder room?"

"It's black.  With silver and turquoise flamingos." 

"Huh?"

"I said, silver and turquoise flamingos." 

"Why?"  

"Why not."  It's just wallpaper, people.  Relax.  And enjoy.  

It will look stunning with my JA sconce.  And it's much more practical than Ben's compromise of purchasing the Palm Jungle wallpaper and adopting a real flamingo for the backyard.  

Ready to paint!

That's a wrap.  The drywall is finished and primed.  We chose to do Level 4 flat walls so it required three, sometimes four, rounds of mud and sanding.  The ceilings are painted.  If you've painted a house, you know that the most difficult color, by far, is the white of the ceilings and trims.  People say, "white is not a color," but believe me, it is!  And for some reason too many whites lean taupe.  A sad, sad thing.  (I hate taupe.  It is almost as bad as building a brand-new house and saying, "I think I'll paint the walls khaki.")

The best, clean white we've found:  Sherwin-Williams "Extra White", SW 7006.  It goes with green, blue and gray.  It kind of just disappears (and isn't that what white is supposed to do?) but can also hold its own in battle.  Contradictory, yes.  But it's just what we needed.  
 

Oh gutter guy

A letter to the "gutter guy"...

Dear Gutter Guy:

This just isn't going to work.  What is this?  What are those things?  Why did you decide that your gutter concept would look nicer than what is called out on the plans?  I've never seen something quite so U-G-L-Y.

It will have to be re-done... like immediately, since we're supposed to start painting TODAY.  We'd prefer something a little less noticeable and maybe a bit more "clean."  Oh wait, if you could actually just follow the plans, that would be awesome.  

Thanks,
Homeowner

And P.S... The gutters on the other side of the house blew off in the storm over the weekend so maybe some additional nails?  Screws?

We've grown a bit this year...

Early 2013:

Late 2013:

Happy New Year!  (Better late than never...)

small sink?

We are having a heck of a time finding a sink small enough for our (shrinking) powder room.  Ben came up with this idea:

Ha!

Finished Siding, Pre-Paint

Our Resolution:  Finish house and enjoy!