Week 21: Moving Along

Week 21 and all the interior doors have been installed and the base boards in the bedrooms, office and media room is done. The closets and both pantries have shelving, and the shelf over the W&D in the laundry room is in.  

Speaking of, they must have been working in there yesterday because there is a river of water in the laundry room that has flowed into the media room, master closet, hallway closet and the half-bath.  I let the sales person know when I stopped by the office and he called someone go over right away to see if it was an actual issue, or if someone forgot to close a valve all the way. 

I measured out several area's today and sadly discovered that my wonderful plan for the craft room won't work.  There is not enough room between the long wall and the window.  There is only 9 inches to work with there, and the plan cuts into the window by 5 inches.  So change in plan; once in, I'll keep the bulk of the room packed and play around with the craft furniture for awhile until it falls into place.  Probably best to do that anyway; it would be a pain to go with a plan, unpack everything and then find the flow is off and have to move everything all over again.  

The front guest room is all planned out; the bed, night stand, chair and my Grandmother's beautiful vanity are measured and will fit perfectly into the space.  Since that room faces the street, it will have plantation shutters asap.  The only thing missing is artwork.  

And speaking of, the gorgeous picture below was my Mom's.  It is a very large piece and I plan to hang it right in the main hallway on the opposite wall from the office.  It will have natural light, but no direct light, which will really show it off nicely.

It is currently hanging in my office at work so the color in this picture is not very good.  The prominent color is obviously green, but there are purple, blue, yellow and some pale pink flowers in the foreground.  I have always loved this picture and I am thrilled to have such a great spot to hang it in the new house.  

A few pictures of the current installs.

Media room from the far corner.  I like that this has the double doors.  

Kitchen Pantry.  I will ask tomorrow if I can have one more shelf at the top installed.

Master bedroom, doors installed and trimmed and the base board trim all in.  Love that there are some many electrical outlets.  The two that are side-by-side are actually for cable/internet.

Kitchen nook from where the fireplace hearth will be.  

This is the hallway pantry; it is right outside the laundry room and next to the coat closet.  I was thinking this would be good for guest towels and such, but there is so much room in the guest bath and closet, that it would be easier to just keep the towels there.  Love that I have storage options.  

It's late and monthly close starts tomorrow.  **sigh** Long long days and very little sleep will is how this next week will go.   

Can't wait to get into this house so I can start looking for a new job.  

Furniture Choices

The general design or style of my furniture is traditional, but distressed.  I want my home to always be inviting and warm.  I want family and friends to feel like they can come in kick off their shoes and curl up on the sofa. 

So in order to maintain this style, I have to buy piecemeal which means I adore furniture sales.  More than that, I LOVE it when floor samples are sold.  There is simply no better bargain, and since most of my items are distressed, a dent or scratch here and there just looks like part of the plan.  :)  

EA is having a 30% off on one item sale this month so I went in to have a final look-see and decide on which item to apply that discount.  

But instead I find that the floor sample bookcase set that I've been wanting for years....literally.....is up for sale.  Of course the 30% discount doesn't apply when its a floor sample on sale, but that's just fine by me because it's almost 50% off and the right color for the study, YAY!!

This is a three piece unit with interior lighting.  The best feature is that it is glass enclosed. Along with the books, I'll be able to put some of my MA dolls in there as well as maybe a few tea cups, though it will mostly be books.

While I was at the store, I checked out counter stools and found some that are wonderfully comfortable, especially at it relates to my bad back.  There are three designs, with the Baylor being the favorite choice.  The only issue is they are iron, but in a silver tone.  Everything in the house will be in oil-rubbed bronze so I don't think these will do.  Kind of sad because I could sit in these chairs for hours and not ache.  

Baylor, Becker Dempsey (the bottom left Dempsey was in the store with fabric seat.

 Now the hunt is on to find stools that are as comfortable as these but in the right metal or wood finish to go with the rest of the house.   


Last for tonight's post is the ceiling fans.  I found the exact same fan that was in the Plano house but I also found another I like.  The first fan will be for the family room, but the second one is coming in at a super close second.  I might just buy both and decide on which room later because the 1st one would do very well in the media room as well as the family room.  

1st choice for family room.

2nd choice for family room.  This will more than likely go in the media room since it does not have a remote.

It's late and I have to work tomorrow, so off to bed.

Week 20: Wall Texture and Cabinets

It was a beautiful day in North Texas and it was made better by the progress on the house.  

The main garage door has been installed; the kitchen and bathroom cabinets are basically in; all the drywall and texture appears to be completed.  All the interior doors are leaning up against the garage wall, but unfortunately we only had an iPhone for a light source (the flash is not working on the camera) so the picture didn't come out very well.

I am hoping they begin the stone work on the fireplace this upcoming week.  

The great big mound of dirt is still in the front yard, but I'm not too sure what that is for.  It looks to be a bit too sandy for landscaping; maybe it's for the brick and stone work they are doing next door .  

Did a lot of measuring today so I can start to plan where everything will go and what I need to purchase.  Later this week if I can escape work at a decent hour, I'll work up a post with some of the decorating choices.  Now that I have the counter height, I will begin looking for stools.

I'll head over to Peek's Flooring this week and see if Mark or one of the other men can get out to the house to measure the guest room and master bedroom so we can get the carpet ordered.  For now the carpet in the media and craft room will remain unchanged.


Off to bed now, its been a long week.

From master bedroom looking into master bath.

Standing in the closet door at the end of the master bath, looking towards the bedroom.

Standing at the end of the entry hallway looking towards the main living area: kitchen to the left, family room straight ahead, nook to the far left, and dining immediately to the right.

Kitchen from the nook.  The island is 38 inches in height, and the back counter is 36.  I think they raised the back counter to keep the visual in sync.  The model cabinets were only 34 and that's just too low for my freakish height.  

From the front door looking down the entry hallway.  The hall to the right leads to the media room, a half bath and the garage entrance.  The door to the left (where the light is coming into the hallway) is the office/study.  The model and plan calls for solid doors, but I requested glass framed doors to let in more light.  The study faces north so the lighting will be perfect. 

Kitchen cabinets from the family room POV.  I plan to be three counter stools.  

Kitchen from the nook where the china cabinet will go.  

Not sure where this door belongs.  It might be for the media room or the master bath; more likely the master bath.  There is a good dozen or more doors stacked up behind this one.  Excluding the exterior doors, there are 15 doors in the house.  

No news right now other than no work has been done on the interior of my home in over five weeks.  I didn't even bother going out to the house yesterday.

The brick on the exterior is the only work completed in over a month.  Hugely disappointed when looking at all the other homes around me which weren't even foundations when my home was at framing stage.  Now every single one of them is past drywall and cabinetry stage while mine is still sitting at open framing on the interior.