Intentions

I had the best intentions with this post. These pictures were downloaded at least seven days ago, uploaded to the blog three days ago, and then...well, that's about it. So, here I am, finally. These are from my phone, so bear with me.

The chandelier is up in the breakfast nook and the cushion for the window seat is in the works.

The dining room chandelier is also installed. Whatcha think?

This week has brought so many new, little details....like bulbs for that chandelier and covers for outlets and light switches.

The tile guys came back to finish up. I'm excited to have the area around the fireplace finished and ready for the gas guys to hook up the logs. Soon I shall have a fire at the click of a button! (Since I have a fear of putting logs on a real fire, this is great news for me!)

The tile guys also wrapped up the back splash.

We lack a little bit of touching up on the ceiling and installing the cabinet doors and the kitchen will officially be finished!!!We now have running water! Sinks can flow, the dishwasher can clean, and toilets can flush!

We're also four feet (literally) closer to having my tub in the bathroom!  Take a close look at this disaster area...we'll revisit it soon.

Those were just a few of the things that happened last week. The sod was delivered on Thursday...which meant that our work was cut out for us this weekend! Friday brought a really great surprise. The driveway guy (who we thought wouldn't be able to start till next week) showed up to start setting things up. His forms are set and, as soon as the rain leaves the forecast, he'll get started pouring the driveway and walkway to the front door. Husband took off last Friday to get started on the sprinkler system. With the help of a really cool trench digger, the ditches for the sprinkler pipes were done in no time. I can't wait to show you what all we accomplished this weekend, but that will have to wait. We worked so hard that now I can barely move. I'll be back after a few Tylenol and a good night's rest!

Today's Tour

In the past week, we've gotten a ton accomplished. I use the term 'we' loosely because Husband is the organizer of the worker bees and the bees are the ones actually doing most of the work...but you know what I mean.

Let's start in the kitchen...

The island is now safely rooted in his permanent home (you may have noticed it floating around the kitchen while the tile guys were working). The cabinet doors and island shelves are next on the list. 

Finally, the farmhouse sink! This treasure has been in our garage for quite some time and it is nice to see it out of the box.

The master bathroom is starting to look like a bathroom now. We went with hammered copper his/her sinks with Venetian bronze faucets.

Tile Guys have a little bit of grout to wrap up and the walk in shower will be finished.

I am really excited to see how the shower has turned out. When it was just a hole in the slab, I was not convinced that a person could actually fit in it to take a shower!!

The 'potty room.'

The only thing this area is lacking is my TUB!!! I think these windows may be next on Husband's glass list.

Another exciting addition to the house is the HVAC equipment!

The Heat Is On barely!!!! (♫Anyone singing that 80's song now♫)

The Stair Guy has installed the wooden stairs (covered with cardboard), the handrail, and....

the banister!

I feel much safer now that this is up!!! Please excuse the dust particles shimmering in this photo.

The crown molding is finished in the foyer and the new window looks perfect with the sun shining through.

I am finally able to show you the unveiled chandelier!!!

The columns have been painted and are back on the mantel where they belong.

In outside news, the steps down to the pool are being built...

....and we have gutters. (not shown in this picture, but you can see where the downspout will go.)

That's that! We are extremely excited at all the progress going on and I think it is actually starting to sink in that we are going to be living here soon! Stay tuned...you never know what the weekend will bring!

I'm Back!

This was me for a while....

Thankfully, 'help' came today.

Thanks for sticking with me. I'll be back soon with pictures of the most recent house happenings! A lot changes in a week at this stage!!!!

The Stained Glass Windows

My husband is simply amazing! How he can work all day, come home, THEN go to the studio to work on the next stained glass project!?!?! I'm tired just thinking about it! I feel certain that if I had to anything creative after working all day, it would not be very high quality at all! Needless to say...he amazes me!

 Now, normally I leave him to his designs and I wait for the big reveal. This time, however, I actually graced the studio with my presence...but just to do a little polishing! 

After he draws the pattern and cuts and grinds the glass, it is time for each piece to be foiled. The middle stage looks like this: 





The next step is to solder (thanks sister in law for the correct spelling) the pieces together.

(Please note, he can make a huge window in one week and it took me 3 hours to make this little hummingbird!)

(Photo circa 2007...before we were engaged!)

And here is his finished product that was installed on Sunday!! 

I can't wait to see what it looks like from the front yard with the lights on behind it!!!

I hope you all have a happy weekend!

Hebrews 3:4

"For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything."

I am proud to report that we have had tons of progress on the home front. One of the most noticeable changes has been the back filling and grading of the yard.

Having the yard leveled makes it just one step up to the front porch. Not bad!

The back yard is done too, but it had rained and was a muddy mess...so you can just take a peek through the glare on the back door.

If you take a peek out of our window, you will notice the diving rocks are in. (That actually happened a while ago, but was always too dark to show you.)

Our bedroom is now Tiki Hut by Sherwin Williams, and if you look through the door you can see into the master bathroom where the tile guys were wrapping up our walk in shower.

The outdoor living area is Beach House with a white-washed ceiling.

The tile is in and grouted!

The tile guys were wrapping up in the kitchen so the grout was still wet and the room was blocked off. This was as close as I could get for a picture. The walls have their first coat of Golden Gate...final coats will go on after the tile guys finish making their mess. (and you can see what a mess they make! Anyone want to come over and help clean up this weekend? Anyone...?)

The living room is also Beach House, but in this picture it looks a different color than the outdoor living area...hmm...And you get a sneak peek of Diva's room at the top.

Phase One of the mantel. It has columns, but those were taken down for the painters to caulk and paint. Phase Two coming soon!

Dining room walls are Mediterranean Blue and the lighter ceiling color escapes me right now...

Again, colors look so much different in pictures...

Dear Scaffolding,

Your days here are numbered. Soon you may get out, never to return again. Unless I need to change light bulbs, in which case you may come back...and bring someone to climb you...

Many thanks,

Acrophobic Homeowners

A peek into the office reveals...Lemon Grass!

The upstairs is almost 100% finished and ready for flooring! The girls' loft area:

Guest room, also Lemon Grass.

G's room, appropriately named Grounded. She has pink polka dots that will be placed sporadically around the room. Should be cute!

G's bathroom...also freshly grouted, so it looks a bit dark.

The opposite of dark is Diva's room. She chose Frolic and will have accents of aqua and brown which are in her bedspread.

It actually doesn't look this bright in person and is a lot tamer than the sample appeared!

The lesson I have learned with sample paint is that it can change colors based on what and where you're painting.

Example: We wanted to paint our kitchen cabinets Everyday White. This was a color we had sampled for the trim around the windows on the exterior of the house and we loved it...just not for the exterior trim. It would be perfect for the kitchen cabinets. Or so we thought! We got a call from the painter asking if we'd seen it. Sure we had...in the evenings and early mornings. At his suggestion, we came back to take a look using his super lights and the cabinets looked PINK. I'm talking pale, baby girl, nursery room pink!!!! I do hate that I don't have a picture of that, for, by the time we returned home, they were back to white! (thankfully!)

Whew! Close call!