Day 92: Move-in Day Moves Again

Move-in day is delayed.... again. The weather is not cooperating with our floors curing, and we have 3 more days of poly coats before our 48-hour final curing and drying period. Throw in rainy weather, and it looks like we're not moving in till next week. I can hardly stand it!

Day 91: Floors looking good so far

The crew started work on refinishing the hardwoods on Monday - we've checked in every day and taken plenty of pics (they totes love it), and the floors look better already!

<< Here are a few sneak peaks.

We've picked the stain for downstairs (provincial - bottom left in the samples pic) and upstairs (natural) and the guys are moving right along. Upstairs is heart of pine, much wider planks and just a different wood altogether. Thus the different stain. There's also not as much natural light up there, so we didn't want it to be too dark.

We have our fingers crossed for good weather to allow for good curing for all three coats of  poly after the stain. This has delayed our move-in date though. Looking like next week. Fingers crossed!

Day 90: Phone Nook

Here's one of my favorite features in the house - the phone nook. I just love it! And now it's all painted and gorg. Behold! I've even outfitted it with an over-the-top light switch plate. It deserves it. The plate was originally IN the top of the trim, but I removed it, bondoed over and smoothed it out and Shannon moved the switch up. It looks AWESOME.  I can't wait to put flowers here :)

Day 89: A red front door

We've always wanted one, and now we've got it!  On the inside, anyway. Our paint guy was a little confused... that's OK we can enjoy it from within :) Until we get around to painting the exterior ourselves, that is. We did specify inside and out... which is a little unusual. But we wanted to enjoy it from both sides. And as Shannon pointed out, everything else was interior painting only... Anyway - it really is the perfect color for this awesome door.

Day 88: Bathroom Finished... er, Usable!

Today we installed the toilet, gigantic vanity, sink faucet and drain! The bathroom is now officially usable! We still need to install the wall sconces so we can have light (kind of important!;), hang the mirror, put up the shower curtain rod, install towel bars, TP holder, and put up some final trim. Then it's on to the closet! And the bathroom will be D-O-N-E. But for now, it's usable and that's what counts. :)

We also cleaned out the entire house, clearing the way for the floors to be re-finished starting bright and early tomorrow morning.

Also, joy of joys, we discovered the A/C did not break as we suspected last week, but rather by toying with the breakers we inadvertently turned off the cooling system, but not the fan. Now that we're done with all the electrical work and have everything switched back on, the A/C is working just great. Hallelujah! 

Photos from today's progress are here.

Day 87: Work Continues

We had the tub reglazed yesterday, and it looks great! It was pretty cool to see the whole process take place.

We also took some more pics of the paint crew's finished product. Lookin' good! We still love our palette, but I think we're in shock a little. We're going from khaki colored walls (in current house) to full-on color, everywhere. We keep saying 'It's just so GREEN...' every time we walk in. Ha ha! ;) 

I will say - Valspar's Hemingway color is our definite favorite. On the paint chip it looks so plain and khaki-ish. But on the walls, it has such a gorgeous greenish yellow glow. We just love it! So glad we went with that for the ceiling colors too.  Same story with the cabinets - the bottom cabinets (woodlawn charm) are pretty bright right now, but once the countertops are in place, and the appliances (coming next weekend!), everything will look fabulous.

We also got the call yesterday that our couch has arrived. Perfect timing :)

You can see more photos from yesterday here.

Five more days!!!

Day 86: T minus 6 days (eek!)

Chandelier casts a fancy shadow on the DR wall

It's here already.

Our last working weekend before move-in day. This time next week will be our first full day in the new house.

We're not sure yet whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a fact!

The painting team is done. The floor guy is MIA. And maaaaybe 1/5 of the house is packed in preparation for the move. Things are crazy busy at work, and at home.

We're kind of freaking out.

Just a little.   :)

Day 85: Kitchen Motivation

Here are some nice ideas to keep in mind with our kitchen re-work.  Although we don't like all of them, there are some ideas to be taken from most:  Cottage kitchens

Day 84: Painting preview

Finally some visual progress that doesn't involve making a bigger mess!  The painters are making headway.  From the looks of it they got a coat of paint on all the walls and closets.  They still have trim, cabinets, and windows to paint but here's a little mid progress shot.  AMAZING what a little paint can do to a room. (More photos here.)

Day 83: This Weekend's Progress

This weekend's progress was mostly in the bathroom, but also cleaning up for painting to begin. Here are our photos from this weekend:

Day 82: Painting begins!

Day 81: T minus 10 days!

We're getting close!

We've spent the weekend prepping for the final touches, including bondo over the many holes in wooden windows, drywall mudding our wall patches, beadboard mania, and clean-up.

The painter comes tomorrow, and the floors are being refinished Wednesday - Sunday.

And then, we'll FINALLY move in the following Monday-Wednesday. We can hardly wait.

Appliances will be delivered that Friday, and couch should be delivered soon thereafter.

Yippeeeeee!

It will be a mad dash between now and then, and we'll pretty much be working non-stop on the bathroom while the painter and floor guy do their thing. The beadboard is up, the paint soon to follow. But we still need to install the sconces and the mirror, and we'd like to acid etch the tiles in the shower, and possibly the floor as well. Some re-grouting, some accent tile strategic placing, and finally the tub re-glazing. And THEN, friends, we can bathe :)

We're planning an Open House to share our progress with you all in mid-to-late October, so stay tuned!

Day 80: Rocket Science

Turns out, it actually DOES take a rocket scientist to install beadboard over ceramic tile in an 'antique' bathroom.

Behold, the beadboard hold-in-place, apply-pressure-while-glue-dries contraption my brilliant husband created to do just that: hold the beadboard in place while the liquid nails adhesive dries, while assuring an even coat due to pressure applied evenly across the length and width of the board.

The man is a genius. And he's already finished installing all the beadboard and trim in the bathroom.

Love. Him.

Day 79: REALLY?

How hilarious is it that these two pieces of mail arrived on the same day?

Exhibit A: Advertisement for Fidelity Mortgage. Yeah, we did choose you Fidelity. And you promptly sold our mortgage. Thanks. Glad we spent all that time poring over companies only to be sold within weeks of our closing. Nice.

Exhibit B: Advertisement from our old agent at Allstate. A few weeks after they canceled our policy.
Well played, Allstate. Well played.

Day 78: Virtual Walk-through Part 1

Our tour guide extraordinnaire, Shannon, leads us on a virtual walk-through, This Old House style, highlighting the history and points of interest along the way. Part 1 features the front exterior from curb to front door as well as the living room. We've been meaning to do this since day 1, but finally got around to filming it. The full walk-through is about 25 minutes, but we've broken it into multiple segments, each around 2-3 minutes, so as not to bore you all. No one can sit through the full walk-through (except us, of course. We love every minute of it!). So, here's the first installment. Enjoy!

>> You can view the entire playlist (all 6 videos!) here.

Day 77: Swatches, Revisited

Thanks to everyone who voted by blog comment, facebook, twitter and e-mail on our last swatch post. Unfortunately, the clear winner, swatch # 5 Phoebe Green, has been discontinued :( I wish they'd told me that when they sent me the swatch!! But nevertheless, we must choose another. Here are our remaining favorites.

Please let us know which ones are your faves!

Reminder: Our palette is seaglass green, spa blue and chocolate brown.

Day 76: Sinkage

Well, I'm happy to report that everything's finally coming together in the kitchen! We picked up our new kitchen sink yesterday, and Shannon purchased our faucet a few weeks back (after he had a dream that it sold out ;) this is our life now). They're both gorgeous, and they were the last details to take care of in the kitchen. Shannon also picked up some of the parts for the base cabinets yesterday. While he insists the kitchen will be a surprise, we have picked out all the colors, appliances, and accessories together. So we'll see what he's got up his sleeve ;) Hint: It must involve configuration of base cabinets.

Here are the deets:

The Moen faucet is the Mediterranean bronze one-handle high arc pull-down (available at Lowe's), and it will contrast nicely with the white porcelain sink, and pick up the slate colored countertops. I'm loving the farmhouse sink look, and we found this baby at Ikea. Isn't it great? It's the domsjo double sink in white porcelain. Apparently it's sold out in several cities, so we're very fortunate they had it in stock at Atlantic Station. Can't wait to see everything in place!

Day 75: Jalousie Windows

As you may recall, the damaged wood on the front porch is one of the reasons our insurance was cancelled. So, while we'd hoped to wait until after the move to focus on the exterior, we would like insurance :) so we are looking for a quick fix for the porch. Only trouble is, these jalousie windows everyone love so much are REALLY in there. They're all linked together, one over the other, and we haven't been able to get them out so we can replace the damaged frame.

Any thoughts?

Day 74: Kitchen Progress

We hung 2 new sheets of drywall yesterday, and quite possibly perfected the art while we were at it ;) The kitchen is looking better already! The return wall where the gas range will be is a little trickier, so it will take some more time. The microwave will be installed above the range and has a ventilation system, and there needs to be at least 30" between the bottom of the microwave and the range top.  The upper cabinets currently come down too low to meet those specs, so we are working on some modifications to the upper cabinets to make it all fit the way we want it to. We'll also bring the outer edge of the side cabinet on the left side of the microwave down so that it will be level with the right side cabinets, and have a more built-in look. There are so many things to consider! But it's fun now getting to the finishing touches and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Day 73: Things Got Crazy

We tried smoothing the walls in the kitchen, we really did. Can you see the white splotches of dough-like material in the before photo? ;) In the end (read: last night at 8:00), we decided it would be better to just take it down to the studs (yes, I am a contractor now, it's official. Take 'er down to the studs boys!) and rehang new drywall. Start over fresh and clean and new and beautiful. Yes.

Many hammer swings and bucketfuls of dust and rubble later, and voila! There she is.

Terrifying, isn't it?

Never fear, by tomorrow night she will be good as new, and ready for base cabinets! Right? I'm sure it's fine. It will be FINE...

Day 72: Pearls

While sanding the rough edges off our new cabinet top covers, I was mesmerized by the little beads of sawdust that formed and vowed to set them to music. Because music is much better than the annoying sound of the palm sander. The name of this track is 'pearls.' Thank you, youtube.

Enjoy ;)

Day 71: Fun with fluff

Our monogrammed pillow finally arrived, along with our swatches. Isn't it sweet? It's also from Ballard (of course!), in spa linen with our monogram in chocolate brown, and it will soon live in our wonderful new living room on our adorable chocolate check bench.

It seems someone has staked her claim already!

Day 70: Swatches Galore!

Swatches from Ballard came today... which one is YOUR favorite?

You may recognize swatch # 6 - this is actually the print on our bench from Ballard Backlot.

We're trying to pick a fabric for our accent chairs to go in front of the fireplace. We already have a couple favorites, but please let us know your thoughts!!

And there are more where these came from. Three more, to be exact. On backorder apparently, but will post pics once they come in.

Day 69: Weekend Recap

Well, even though Saturday and Monday both had some interruptions, we were still able to get quite a bit done. The tops are on the cabinets. The plumbing has been pressurized and tested. The walls have been prepped for beadboard in the downstairs bathroom. Re-wiring in the bathroom is complete. Some walls have been repaired. Upstairs is now completely cleared out and toemolding removed, so it's ready for the floors to be refinished.


Here are our photos from this weekend:

Labor Day Weekend 2010

We've been slacking on the documentation, both blog and photo-wise. But we hope to pick up some more steam this week after a long weekend of work!

Vintage Find o' the Day

Check out the adorable vintage decorating magazines Mitzi over at the Vintage Goodness blog scored from the 60's and 70's. They are pretty wonderful!

Day 68: Lowe's Lowdown

We started our day like most others here lately - at Lowe's. Sometimes it's Home Depot, yes. But today it was Lowe's.

We picked up a few supplies for our various ongoing projects, and also finally picked out our new suite of appliances, but before we could place our order, the store was evacuated. Scary!!! Still not exactly sure what happened, but we were told to CALMLY exit the building and weren't able to make our purchases. We had been in Lowe's for a couple hours, so it was now lunchtime and we decided to grab some lunch at Moe's nearby. Cops had showed up at Lowe's and blocked the entrance off by the time we finished lunch, and fire trucks were on the scene. All the employees were lined up across the street. We decided to pick up a few things at Publix. Swung BACK by Lowe's. Still a scene. So, what could we do?

We headed to the house and got to work on some other projects! Still haven't been able to figure out exactly what happened. All we've found is this uber-informative post at cbs. Anyone hear anything?

Day 67: Theory vs. Reality

Since the plumbing rough in is finished up and we have water where we need it, it was time to get back to working on some stuff that Mary and others can see!!! New supply lines throughout the house don't really have the wow factor of stuff that most people care about. For me I will be smiling for a long time whenever I turn a faucet on or showering and knowing exactly where the water is coming from and how it was put together. I guess that's just part of being a dork/engineer.

On to the bathroom revamp. First order of business is to make a bigger mess!! Not really, but of course my plans didn't really match up with what I ended up doing (theory vs. reality). Good news is that the end result is a new light switch in place, the GFCI outlet has been relocated to the same terminal box with the light switch, wires have been run for the two wall sconces on either side of the mirror, and an additional wire is laid to be used with the exhaust fan to be added later and controlled at the same terminal box as the light and GFCI outlet. I was really hoping to minimize dry wall patching and be creative by working through the old GFCI outlet hole and the hole left by removing the medicine cabinet (theory). What I ended up doing was starting at the GFCI outlet hole and then cutting into the wall about 18 inches laterally to get through 1 stud and then doing some creative drilling to make a 90 degree turn through some serious 2x4 stack ups and snaking wire to where the original light switch is (reality). I had multiple ideas on how to get it there that did not involve a new hole in the wall but I couldn't bring them to fruition. :|

The bathroom currently does not have a vanity or toilet in place,the tile walls and floor were scrubbed by Mr. Clean and myself in preparation for bead-board and trim. Soon, very soon!

Day 66: Outlaws

Sometimes life is just funny. We've been finding it hard to get motivated to spend long days and nights at the house here lately. When I say we, I mean me. We finally get a plan together for the long weekend, and well...

Today, we started the day at Home Depot. Nice change from Lowe's, eh? Don't get too excited. I think it's about even. Anyhoo, picking up supplies, the usual. We're just about ready to check out when Shannon gets a phone call from his friend, who took his Harley out for a leisurely ride in the perfect weather, only to have his battery die in a not-that-great part of town. Turns out he and his wife were on their way to our house to check out our progress. Only they didn't take the highway. Fast forward to us sitting in the Georgia Tech gameday traffic on our way to 'rescue' them and then taking 15 minutes to find exactly where they were. So we find them, but it's just the Mrs. No Mr.

"Where did Mr. go?"

"Oh, he got in the car with some guy to see if he could find an auto parts shop."

"Huh. We were on our way..."

Waiting... Mr. shows up, no new battery. Luckily, still alive ;) But he needs a HARLEY battery. It's special.

So then we take Mrs. (Mr. will serve his punishment for abandoning Mrs. on gas station curb, all by his lonesome) to the nearest Harley store, which is about 15 miles from said gas station, get new Harley battery, and drive the 15 miles BACK to gas station to install battery.

Battery installed, all is right with the world. Mr. and Mrs. gear up and follow us to the house for an update and tour for Mrs. Mr. and Shannon spend about an hour examining friggin jalousie windows and scaring living daylights out of Me.

By this time, it's 2:30. I am hungry. I am tired. MY Mr. knows to feed me :) We eat lunch, grab some fro-yo and head back to the house to work for a good 4-5 hours, and then call it a night. Oh, what a night.

Isn't it funny how you have one plan for the day, and it just takes you in a completely different direction? In all seriousness, we were happy to help our friends in need, and it certainly wasn't there plan for the day to get stranded in sketch city USA. Glad it all worked out! Here's hoping tomorrow is more productive :)

Day 65: Everybody's working for the weekend

Day 64: Oh, the joys

Of homeownership, that is.

Last week our homeowner's insurance was cancelled. And our mortgage was sold for a SECOND time. Yippeee! Thanks a lot, Fidelity. I guess those 30 pages of signing our life away weren't enough for you?

The insurance thing is a bit more alarming, considering a) I like to think we can do something about it (unlike the mortgage scenario) and b) the factors cited in the cancellation notice included 'roof damage' (to the back porch, since removed) and 'rotting wood and chipped paint' (on the front porch, not a main structure of the STONE house.

Aye aye aye.

It's been incredibly frustrating, especially since, as Shannon pointed out, our agent has called so far to a) wish Shan a happy birthday; b) make sure we're happy with her services, and c) 'just check in.'  But call to inquire about the status of our renovations and repairs? Nope. We'll just send you a nice cancellation letter and a refund check. Done deal. And there's no getting the actual agent herself on the phone these days. No, we've been  banished to the world of receptionsist-intercepts-the-uninsureds. So it's underwriter's insurance for now. It's

Day 63: The softer side of Lowe's

Oh, Lowe's. How we love thee.

Sometimes it feels like we live there. But I've learned to revel in the small joys available to decorators there - from custom floor vents (love these) to switch plates to area rugs. I'm actually quite impressed by the rug selection at our local store.

Here are a few favorites.