I see the light! Go towards the light!

There is, at LONG last, light at the end of this difficult and frustrating construction tunnel!

While there are still some obvious items left on the 'to do' list, it's starting to look like the house it was meant to be! I can honestly say, despite my iffy-ness on the kitchen handles, there hasn't been a single decision that I have regretted or second guessed. Finally Dallas sees what has only been, until recently, in my creative little mind!

Most of the lights are installed - still waiting on the foyer showstopper, the under cabinet lighting, and some pot lights. And one of the bathroom vanity lights came broked...but it's still all good!

All but one of the taps and drains are installed, and I am in lust with that oiled bronze finish!

My trim and casing are in - still need to finish the casing around the windows. WOW! I know it cost a bundle, and it was a pain in the contractor's ass to source...but I am seriously drooling over the 3 1/2" and 5 1/4" oak we used for the casing and baseboards. It's gorgeous!

All the flooring is done and I really love it! Again, it was an upgrade, but an environmentally friendly one, and we were a bit nervous about what it would look like (being that it's a material made of recycled plastics). But after I saw my sister have to get onto her hands and knees rubbing it and knocking on it, and STILL not knowing that it wasn't actual wood, I know we made the right choice.

Here are a series of shots I snapped today. Keep in mind the place is a total mess!

Kitchen and eating area (lights, tap, dishwasher, flooring installed):

Living Room (flooring, baseboards installed):

Dining Room (floor, light, baseboard installed) - can you tell how much I adore my twig light?:

Bonus Room (carpet, baseboards installed):

My very berry girly whirly PINK Laundry Room (cabinets, baseboards, floor installed):

Spare Room (carpet, baseboards, closet doors installed):

My Dressing Room (carpet, baseboards installed) - for some reason these pictures came out blurry:
Master Bedroom and Ensuite (carpet, flooring, baseboards, shower doors and fixtures installed) - the first picture is darker than it appears in person:

Upstairs hall and foyer from above (flooring, railing, carpet, baseboards, casing, closet doors installed):

My doors and hardware - in this photo, the hardware appears black, but in person it's a really warm aged bronze:
Exterior lights and rear deck (still waiting on the smoked glass inserts for the deck railing):

And file this in the, "Well, ain't that a thing" file: there are wild rose bushes growing all over the property! They are everywhere...and have even choked out alot of the usual wild grasses and weeds! Interesting for now, but I assume a huge pain in the buttocks region come spring!

Well, that's my update for now...if the real estate gods are looking out for us, we'll have occupancy in 2 days!

Yeh, yeh, yeh...I'll get to it!

I readily admit that I can be a first class procrastinator. One of the things that has been on my “to do” list for over a month has been to pick out kitchen and laundry appliances. Dallas, poor guy, has been chomping at the bit for ages to go appliance shopping – he’s already got his heart set on a Jenn Air fridge so, being that the kitchen is becoming more and more, Dallas’s domain, I know I’m gonna have to give in and give him what he wants. It’s his house too, after all.

I am taking a practical approach to my washer and dryer needs. While it would be great to have a set of ultra chic, high tech machines, the reality is that I don’t need anything fancy. As long as they are front loading, and the front control panel doesn’t look like the cockpit of a 747, I’ll be happy.

So, whether I like it or not, here’s what we’ll likely get for kitchen appliances:

My next house will have no kitchen; just vending machines!

Friday was “pick the kitchen” day. The contractor had already given our wish list to the cabinet maker, so my job was to pick out some finishes, and give the thumbs-up to those items that he had already planned for (layout, etc.).

I managed to save a few bucks by switching the countertops from Granite to Quartz (something I’d wanted all along), and also squeezed a few dollars from the budget by changing the cabinet in the laundry room from oak to an mdf cabinet that we’ll have painted on site.

I also compromised a bit on the hardware, picking an aged copper finish instead of oil rubbed bronze. This saved me some cash, and got me the handles I wanted.

I am happy to report that we are well within the kitchen budget and I still got my custom oak cabinets, the layout I wanted, and even added a few items to make sure that the end result would be top of the line!

The wood being used is a 'Shaker Oak', pricey but so worth it! We'll have ours finished in an oil stain called 'Provincial':

The countertops in the kitchen and main floor bath will be CaesarStone Quartz in 'Espresso':

The upstairs baths and laundry room will have CaesarStone Quartz in 'Blizzard':

We'll also be having a microwave drawer installed in the island. I wanted to hide my microwave (I think they're so ugly) and this is the perfect solution!