A Quickie

The house is in chaos, we are both exhausted, we have - quite possibly - burned through every friend and family member willing and able to help us out...but we are starting to feel at home!

There is still a list (a short one thank gawd) of unfinished items, which hopefully will be done within the next month. For the most part, given the stress of construction, I was relieved that the "to do" list was so short.

Here are photos of the finished railing on the 2nd floor landing, and a view from the top and bottom of the stairs:

And a couple of shots of the dining room...and the china cabinet around which the entire house was built! No fake, it all started with the china cabinet! Ha ha.

And lest I forget to mention it, take a gander at the mud...the horrible, horrible mud! Thanks goodness for 4x4!

A quick update

Updated photos coming soon...hold your horses!

Behold!

**Cue the harps, the angels singing, and the clouds parting**

Allow me to introduce my new dressing room! It took me 3 days, but it finally came together. I am still missing a few shelves and some drawers ( and my island hasn't arrived yet), but it looks amazing...I am so pleased!

Most of my clothes and shoes had been packed away since last September, so it was like Christmas opening up all those boxes. Despite my ruthless purging of clothing last year, I still ended up with 2 large boxes of clothes for charity (or anyone willing/wanting to take them off my hands) as we unpacked and organized. Huge credit to Dallas, who seemed (although he'd never admit it) to enjoy the project as much as I did!

Here are a few pics - it's hard to get it all in one shot! lol

Almost there

Tomorrow the hubs and I have a meeting with our contractor to complete a walk through of the house prior to taking possession. During the walk through, we'll make a list of all unfinished items, and anything that needs to be changed, etc. While it's frustrating to know we'll be moving in while the house is less than 100% perfect, it's also exciting to know that we are just about at the end of this journey!

While there remain some outstanding "issues" regarding our railing (basically that 16 feet of spindles have not arrived yet), part of it, at least, is installed and it looks fab!

It's also great to see that the front door has been stained. It looks awesome!

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!

A little late

I debated whether to post about the install of our counters and sinks. I thought the subject matter was a bit yawn-tastic. But, because folks have asked, here are pics of them. These are a bit late, they were installed about a week and a half ago.

Kitchen:

Powder Room:

Main Bath:
Ensuite:

Man alive, that's alot of driveway!

As part of our contract, our contractor is obligated only to pour the half of the driveway that is closest to the house (this is standard practice I'm told) and the walkway to the front door.

Because we won't have paved roads anytime soon, we'll have to wait to have the lower half poured until the roads are done. I knew that the driveway was going to be wide and long, but man-oh-man, it's huge! No way am I shovelling that! And it's only half of what we'll have in the end! Cu-razy!