These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

The kids' bathroom really is the most beautiful bathroom I've ever seen.  I sort of want to sleep in there...

For awhile, I was a little worried about how the entryway was going to turn out since it was my number one top priority, but I had no reason to worry- it is absolutely stunning...

California room ceiling with light and a breeze...

The back of the house lights were installed, and I love them!  The small size...

The large size...

I organized my baking center today...

The inside of the master bathroom shower is all tiled (but not grouted yet), including the ceiling!

Gary's closet is getting done...

The playroom pocket doors are on (but still need hardware)...

And finally, our cabinet guy brought the skeleton of our fireplace built-in and mantle sample for approval today...it's going to look so great!

Reaching the Finish Line

The house is nearly complete so we've started moving stuff in.  I got a lot of the kitchen moved in today.  Spices...

The backsplash, pot filler, stove and pot/pan drawers are finally in...

Maybe my favorite spot in the kitchen...the dedicated baking station/appliance garage (which isn't quite organized yet), which will house my mixer and food processor...

I'm so excited to have all my appliances plugged in and ready to go at a moment's notice yet not in sight!!!!  Especially my food processor, which I use quite a bit and hated always having to lug that heavy thing out of an upper or lower cabinet. 

The other appliance garage will be our "bar" where I'll put the blenders on the bottom, and all our alcohol and casual stemware on the top...

And I loaded up our plates, bowls, glasses and mugs in the two glass front cabinets (which don't have glass yet but supposedly will tomorrow!)...

Landscape

The front yard is almost done...looks a lot better, right?

It still looks a bit bare to me, but of course the plants need to grown in.  The plants along the front of the house and the walkway will all grown much larger.

All we have left is to add the fence (which will hopefully start next week), take all the tape and covers off the front door and side lights, install the porch lights, and add my porch bench and flower boxes with trees on the porch.  I'm thinking of maybe adding a flower box under the front window too.  OH, and of course the garage doors.  I think I'm blocking that out because it's just been a pain.

They finished the master bedroom paneling, and the kitchen backsplash.  Both look amazing.  The master shower is almost done being tiled.

Gary and my dad are installing closet systems in both master closets tomorrow so here's to hoping that goes well!

Almost Done!

Lots is happening at the house, and we're almost done!  Today they installed our interior doors and doorknobs (love), continued installation of the master shower tile, painted the front exterior, installed our kitchen counters (gorgeous), installed our kitchen sink and installed our rangetop!!!

The guest bathroom toilet, sink, light and mirror are installed so that it's all done except the shower door (which is only not done because we forgot about it so we don't have one yet).

The kids' rooms are both completed...chandeliers and closet doors installed, and they even took the floor covers off and cleaned the floors so we can start moving their furniture in tomorrow!

Of course I left my phone at home when I was over there this afternoon so no photos. :(

I am giddy.  Everything is so beautiful.  I feel like I'm going to cry!

Oh, and even better news...we figured out the master bathroom vanity light situation so that I can have side lights!!!!  I'm so happy.  I ordered these beauties from Restoration Hardware that I've been lusting after but didn't know where I'd put them...

Chuggin' Along

Things have been happening at the house for the last 6 days, but nothing that really makes good pictures (lots of painting, prep for landscaping, etc.).

Here is half of the tongue and groove ceiling of our California room (it's done now, but I don't have a photo)...

Here is how they started our family room coffered ceiling...

And almost finished...

I can't even believe how perfect it turned out, and it's not even caulked or painted!  It's definitely my favorite feature of the house so far.

Here is the start of our entryway tongue and groove mini-cathedral ceiling...

I've been told that it has been a "b*tch" to install.  Sorry guys!

And the paneled entryway walls...

Ella's room is complete except for installation of her lighting fixture...

I absolutely love the contrast of the navy against the bright white.

It looks pretty ugly right now, but the landscaping is coming along...

And then there's master bathroom.  The bane of my existence.  It just seems like nothing in that room is working out how I planned, and it's starting to get to me! 

First of all, the chevron pattern floor was apparently going to be too difficult of an installation in such a large space so we ended up going with the same floors we have in the kids' bathroom.  I'm ok with this change since I adore the kids' bathroom floor, and I read that chevron is so trendy that it will go out of style soon (not sure if I believe that!). 

Then there's vanity lighting.  I was dead set on sconces on either side of both mirrors (like I'm doing in the kids' bathroom), but I've been informed that there simply isn't room for sconces on either side of the mirrors so I have to do above mirror lighting (which is actually how it's already been wired because they did it before asking me).  I don't want above mirror lighting.  I can't find one fixture that I like.  Although I've been told "no", I'm still not accepting that. ;)

Then there's the shower.  It's smaller than I thought it was going to be.  Fine.  At least I can have the tile design I want.  Oh, but of course I can't because that is not the theme of the master bathroom.  First, I couldn't find the white ceramic pencil tile (I'm sure it exists but we don't have time to special order anymore) so I omitted that detail.  It is also supposed to have a chair rail (like the kids' bathroom).  I wanted to use the same chair rail, but since there's no time for special order, I bought the much less pretty in-stock version.  They started tiling the bottom of the shower walls and had to stop because due to the layout of the shower, there is no way to make the chair rail work with a shower door.  ARGH!!!! 

It was back to the drawing board.  Since there isn't much that I like in terms of bathroom tile, I'm very limited design-wise.  So now it's going to be 3x6 subway tiles (as originally planned), and this design will go around the shower about 3/4 of the way up...

Yes, it's pretty simple and plain.  Just how I like things.  If you don't like white, carrera marble and subway tile, you're pretty much going to hate my house. ;)

I'm just hoping I end up loving (or at least really liking?) the master bathroom.  I'm trying to focus on the fact that the kids' bathroom is gorgeous.  I've never seen a bathroom that I love so much.  Too bad it will probably be destroyed by next year!

The Vent of all Vents

Behind this beautiful range hood...

Is this super powerful hood insert with lights and 5 settings!

Ok not very exciting, but for some reason I love this hood liner- it's so pretty yet so functional!  I'm so excited to cook in my new kitchen. :)

Kitchen Progress

I'm not sure why the kitchen takes so many days to install, but nevertheless, it's getting done!  They installed the crown (which is different than the crown in the rest of the house, and I love it!)...

We finally have light!

And some of the appliances...

Stucco installation...

And photos of the shelf detail in the playroom (sorry for the repeated shelf detail shots- I'm obsessed with it!!!)...

Kitchen & Bathrooms

The kitchen is coming along...

The corbels for the peninsula are wrong so those have to be redone...which is kind of annoying because I showed them photos of what I wanted, then when we went to approve them at the shop, they were wrong so I again showed the photo of what I wanted, and they didn't change them!  And now it's a much bigger deal because that whole thing is all one piece (the thing the corbels are attached to) so it has to be redone.  The "miscommunications" (which really are just mistakes) are really irritating!!

After I took this photo, they installed some of the cabinet doors/ drawer faces...of course, I didn't like where they placed the hinges on the cabinets (long story) so I had them take the doors off and reinstall the hinges so the doors would be at the right height.  I know they think I'm so nitpicky, but I don't want to let little things go that will bug me forever!

The other possible issue is that because the kitchen is larger than I expected, the stove is quite far from the sink.  So now I think I do need a pot filler, which is also annoying because everything is drywalled so to install one, he needs to cut through the ceiling to run a water line and then cut through the drywall behind the stove (in the pantry), which obviously would have been much easier when everything was wide open.

They've placed the kids' bathroom cabinets- here is the linen closet, which I really really love...

 
And my exciting drywalled bedroom and bathroom...

Window Dressing...

They installed the casing around one of our windows, and it looks soooooo good.  I have always wanted big pretty window casing with the shelf detail at the bottom, and I finally have it!  I never thought I'd be so excited about wood around a window...

They also installed the tub/shower faucet, and I absolutely love it...

The master bedroom/bathroom addition is drywalled (forgot to take a photo), and the house is prepped for stucco!

Don't ask me why my bathtub is on the patio????

We are getting so close!!!  It's almost worse now then when we started because I can taste it, yet there is still so much to do.  They are in the middle of installing the kitchen cabinets, and so far it looks great.  The kitchen is actually much larger than I thought it would be- plenty of room for an island in the middle if I want one, but I might just like it open.  I am going to have so much storage between all my cabinetry, the big pantry and the china closet...I say that now, but I'm sure I'll have no problem filling it up. :)

Getting Closer!

I feel like we are finally approaching the finish line (with everything but the addition, which isn't even drywalled yet).  It's CRAZY though how much finish work there is because we are doing lots of paneling, crown and base moulding, custom casing with a shelf detail, etc.- it takes forever!

To help move things along, I've started painting and Gary started paneling.  This is an awful, grainy photo, but Gary installed horizontal tongue and groove paneling on one of Ella's walls, and I painted the remaining walls navy blue...

Since I took this, they have installed crown and base in her room, but I forgot to take another picture.

Gary is also in the middle of paneling Everett's entire room in a board and batten style...

The guys poured our front walkway concrete a few days ago, and I'm thrilled that it turned out exactly how I wanted!

Today they installed our front door.  Finally, what I have always wanted...a Dutch door!  I don't care how cold it is outside, the top of that door will be open every day! :)

Ok, so it doesn't look so hot now (well, it does to me, but probably not to anyone else), but imagine it in a dark navy, almost black, and the siding around it all white.  With pretty lights on each side, a porch bench and two flower boxes with some type of topiary tree in each one...can you picture it??  Or is that just me?

We also put our kitchen and master bathroom slabs on hold today!  YAY!  Another thing I can mark off my list...

It's a carrera, but apparently it's the top grade or one of the top grade carreras???  I didn't even know there were different grades of carrera...is he just saying that so he can charge me more?!  Regardless, it's the prettiest marble I've ever seen. :) 

And I want this or something like this for the master bathroom floor...

I actually wanted a chevron pattern as opposed to herringbone, but I didn't see that while we were out.  This tile is ridiculously expensive so I'm trying to find an alternative.