Some Recent Developments

Just a few little updates I thought I'd share.

We installed the cabinet doors above the oven / microwave ... they were already made.  The center cabinet was in our old house.  The plan was for the adjacent lower cabinets to have doors, but not sure when those will be done.  So I bought some fabric and made curtains.  Hmmm... I kinda like the curtains.  What do you think?

Found this neat antique towel holder on Etsy.  It's perfect!

The tile back splash wasn't done during construction.  I finally scheduled the guy that did our interior trim to do the back splash.  Two days before he got here, I still didn't know how I wanted it to look.  So I laid it out on the table.

 Here is the finished job.  It's subtle, but ties in the yellows, blacks and blues very nicely.

  We brought in one of the old beams and set it on the mantle.  Not sure if we will put a finish on it, but it looks great!

And our new couch!

 The other exciting news ... the designer I worked with at The Kitchen Place came out today to see the kitchen and take pictures.  She brought the editor of the magazine House Trends.  They want to do a story on our house in either the summer or fall issue!!!!!!  How exciting is that!! 

Open House

I apologize for leaving everyone hanging.  We moved in on Nov 7th thru that weekend.  Terry and Carol came for the long weekend and helped us get moved in and unpacked.  We are pretty settled.  There are still several boxes in the garage, but we've got the necessities moved in.  

My parents were so anxious to see the finished house (they were here the beginning of August when the exterior stone was being done and the inside was just rough framed).  So they drove up from Florida and were here Wed thru Sun of Thanksgiving.  I cooked Thanksgiving dinner in my new kitchen and the layout made it easy to have others help or be in the kitchen.

We hope to have an open house soon, but in the meantime, here is a tour of the (almost) finished product!  Thank you for following along on this adventure!

First the kitchen and dining area...

Sunrise and usually some deer walking across the pasture

eat-in dining room

I plan to paint all my chairs black ... so I practiced on one.  Slider goes to the small deck.

Preston built the blue cabinets.  There will be doors on the bottom and above the microwave.

the wall along the cook top will be tiled.  It didn't get done during construction ... my fault.

We plan to build a small table / bar in front of the island to sit at.

Sink area and my kitchen window!!!  The pantry is at the back corner.

this is the pantry.  We have the coffee pot set up to the right of the sink and there are cabinets on 3 sides. We made the wood tops from one of the old beams.  There will be open shelves above the 2 higher cabinets.

The island from the cook's side

Here is the island top we built out of one of the old beams... just like the ones in the pantry.

 

Now to the Mudroom ... 

This is the door to the garage.  Preston built the cabinets.  We'll build a bench between the green cabinets and hooks above.

the other green cabinet and dog bed.

The laundry room ...

Here is the old wash tub.  Preston built these cabinets too ... the one to the right that you can barely see is the other dog bed.  There will be doors on the red cabinet.

The other side of the laundry room.

Still in the mudroom looking toward the entry.  Coat closet behind the bi-fold doors.  The glass door is a pocket door.  We made it glass so the puppies can see out if they have to be closed into the mudroom at night or when they are muddy.

Entry

Living Room ... we have a couch coming still.  And need to select one of the old beams to put up for the mantel.  Preston built the cabinets.  The face frames are from the old floor joists.  They will also have doors and counter tops.

Living room ... the door goes to the deck.  (Still a huge pile of packing paper.)

French doors go to the entry.  Solid door goes to the basement.  The trim isn't as yellow as it looks in the picture ... it's more mustard / brown ... Sherwin Williams Stonebriar

Look from the living room into the kitchen.

Just another picture of the pretty floors!

French doors to the entry.

Powder room off the entry

Stairs ... and my pretty house warming gift!

Looking from the powder room into the master bedroom

Master bedroom

Wow, the moonlight this week makes this room bright at night.  I am going to have to buy window coverings.

Master shower ... I love it!!!

Master bath.

Looking out to the entry from the master bedroom and the antique butler stand ... a house warming gift from my mom and dad all the way from Florida!

looking down to the entry from upstairs

upstairs bath

To see the outside pictures again ... see my October post

Hurricane Snow

Our house's first snow is from Hurricane Sandy.  That's quite a Christening.  I'm anxiously waiting to hear from my college friend Kathy on Long Island who has been a faithful follower of my blog.  I pray you, Rich and the kids are safe!  

Everyone is here this week scrambling to complete all the loose ends so we can take possession this weekend.  The first task will be to put the final coat of finish on the floors and the stairs.  After that, we'll have to stay off the floors for 48 hours and then no furniture for another 5 days.  We will move everything into the bedrooms and just hold off on the dining room & living room.  Not sure exactly how the logistics of sleeping, cooking and showering will work over those few days, but we made it this far.  It is supposed to warm back up into the 50's and 60's so it will be more tolerable than today's wind chill of 15 - 20 degrees.

The "Home" Stretch

This is the last week of real work before clean up and punch out next week.  Preston and our neighbor put down grass seed and sod today.  Here's hoping for some rain Fri/Sat and maybe some hurricane remnants next week.  The trim carpenter was here all day finishing up odds and ends.

Here is a video clip of our neighbor Paul blowing straw with grass seed in it. (hit the play button) 

 

His wife, Michele driving the truck

Paul and Preston laying sod

Paul blew straw/seed on the hillside

a little sod to keep mud from splashing the edge of the house

the "back yard"

 

We'll put a walk way of some sort in the spring, but some sod here for now.

Can you see Valur looking out over the hillside?  He loves that view.

We had to "raise the ground" so the porch was a max 30" off the ground (code) eliminating the requirement for a railing.  The builder did it the hard way ... build the porch, push the dirt, then fill under the porch with stone.  Actually it wasn't hard for the builder at all ... just for these guys.

bi-fold doors -- closet in mudroom

hardware on cabinets... so the doors above the hood open, but it's not a usable cabinet... just the hood vent.  Should I put knobs on the doors?  Not sure if it would distract from the pretty hood or look like something is missing?  Looking at the picture, I am now thinking knobs.  What do you think?

more hardware ... still waiting for the dishwasher to be installed

More hardware ... my favorite knobs ... see the image below

 

transom windows installed above doorways from living room to kitchen

exterior door hardware installed

pocket door from mudroom to entry ... glass so doggies can see thru if they are "locked" in the mudroom.  Installer didn't have the right size rollers to hang the door today.

masterbath shower door ... this was the door out of our old shower.

ironing board cabinet in master closet... this bump out is where the main HVAC lines run from floor to floor

opened

and the board swivels ... all for a bargain hunter price of $111 on Amazon!!!

I started installing the ceramic knobs we had in the old house.

garage has been painted

pull down stairs to the "party room" above ... just kidding ... but it could be.