Wooden Countertop

Last week before we left to go out of town I was surprised when I walked into the kitchen and saw that the tile backsplash had been completed.  I am SO happy that I waited on this tile and it really is just the color I was hoping for.  The beveled subway tile in the tannish color (evening shadow is the exact name) is so pretty!

The stone columns are wrapping up as well as the fireplaces.  Also, the little dog shower is pretty much done. We have a room off the garage, before you get to our main mudroom, and this dog shower is in that room.  We saw the ideas on several websites and knew it would be perfect, not only for washing a dog, but also for cleaning muddy feet of children after playing outside.  Our builder thinks we are crazy because we don't even have a dog yet, but I explained to him we are dog people and have just been waiting to get in the house before we get a new dog!

The rest of the driveway was poured today, but the most exciting thing that happened today was when our wooden countertop for our kitchen island was delivered and installed.  I met the installer at the house this morning. I had gone upstairs to check on something and when I came back down I saw it in place and literally gasped.  It is so beautiful and I'm so, so, so happy to stuck to my guns about wanting it.  Our friend from high school owns a company that does a lot of commercial custom cabinetry and in my quest to find someone to make it for me I reached out to him.  He said he could absolutely do this for us and the end result is perfection.  A HUGE thank you to Eric and his crew at Five Star Architectural for making and installing this piece.  It might just be my favorite thing in the house to date!

And in other big news...we have a move-in date.  We will be in the house in just over two weeks!!!  Hooray!!!  This has obviously been a long time coming and I'm just a little bit anxious and overwhelmed about all that will have to be done between now and then.  Not to mention how overwhelmed I feel just thinking about getting us settled once we are in.  But, this project has been going on for about a 18 months (since we first found this property and started with the idea of building), so I am going to be jumping for joy on moving day, despite the overwhelming feelings I might have.

Lots Happening!

There has been so much happening at the house this week and I just love stopping by and seeing all of the changes each day.  On Friday afternoon we saw lots of great stuff.  

I was so excited to see our mudroom lockers installed.  I am dreaming of days with no more backpacks, sports bags, jackets, hats and shoes being dropped off in the kitchen and instead being placed neatly in their spots.  :-)

The hardwood floors also were completed this week.  They are all covered up so that they don't get damaged, but I pulled back a little section so I could see what they looked like.  We went with a 5 inch, pre-finished, hand-scraped floor.

The guys have been there working on completing the porch and all of the railings and steps on the front of the house were almost done when we were there yesterday.

Our shower is finally done and the frameless door was completed.  Because in the 10 years we've been married, neither of us have used the bathtub in our master bath (except to maybe give the kids a bath), we decided to forgo a bathtub and do an over sized shower instead.

Every time we are there the kids like to check out their rooms and see if anything looks different. On this day Harper was really excited to call me into her room and show me her closet shelving.  She told me she loves it because she can't wait to hang her clothes and be able to reach them without a stool.

Painting and Sewing

I guess you could call Robby and I DIYers  (Do It Yourselfers).  When we got our quote for painting the painter wanted a very large amount of money for each color change.  We already had two main wall colors and with the interior doors being a dark gray, that meant two trim colors, too.  I really wanted the kids bedrooms to be painted specific colors, as well as the dining room, so we had the painters do everything our main color and Robby agreed to go and paint those rooms to get it done before we moved in.  

Last weekend was the painting weekend.  He worked all day Saturday and Sunday, but got the four rooms completed.  I fretted for months over the colors and I love the result.  The kids do too because as soon as they saw their rooms they were all very happy.  

Harper's is a light lavender and her room bedding/accessories are gray, lavender and aqua. 

Hudson's is a light blue and his room will be nautical with navy, red, and blue.  You can see from the picture below, he loves his blue room and has fun running wild with no furniture! 

Handley's is a light aqua and her bedding/accessories are pinks, aqua and green.  And yes, that is a bungie cord holding Handley's chandelier together.  Ever since I bought it, 7 years ago, one of the arms has been broken.  Robby's fixed it a bunch of times and in the move it got broken again.  SO, that is on our to-do list before we move in.  

Our dining room also got painted and in other big news, the electricity is finally working to the house (after having to re-run the underground lines) so we can actually turn on our lights now.  

While Robby was painting all weekend I was sewing.  There are so many different projects I have in my head and my bag of fabric swatches is bursting at the seams.  But, my goal was to get the kids rooms done before we moved in so that then I can focus on the rest of the house.  I finally finished Harper and Handley's panels, so they are hanging out on the stools in Gigi and Papa's basement until we can hang them closer to our move-in date. 

Earlier this week the kids and I waited around for our appliances to be delivered and it was such a beautiful day that they were content just sitting in the driveway working on homework and coloring.  LOVE having our driveway done now so we can do stuff like that.