Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving! & Random stuff....

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!  We are spending this Thanksgiving without family but are so thankful to have good friends who let us crash at their lake home!  Our hardwood floors are in the process of being stained.  They started sanding yesterday and put the first coat of stain on.  We stopped by the house around 7 last night and peeked in through the windows while they finished up the staining.  I LOVE the color!   I had to swing by this morning to let them in the house.  I was in the house for maybe 15 min. and could hardly tolerate to be in there any longer!  The odor was so strong!  I opened up a few windows upstairs, hoping to keep our poor cat (Keno) from getting sick!

the view from the lake house!  :)


I only have a few new photos to share....

i finished painting the bathroom last week and have to say i did a much better job than the "professionals"!
the wall color of both the hall and bath look darker than they really are in person.  the bathroom
color is "gray owl"  from benjamin moore

just the inside of the pantries.  

grabbed my camera one morning while i took Fargo out... it was so foggy and kind of "eerie" outside!

our eat in kitchen light fixture.  (crate and barrel)  i need a different bulb for it. 

just another "eerie" picture.

I'll be back next week with lots of updates.  (I hope)  Granite and appliances should be going in.. although our sink won't be in until the 28th so that counter won't be in until that comes in.  And hopefully they'll get the bathroom put back together...I think we've figured out our tile backsplash too!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

We're getting closer!

Greetings...Just thought I'd pop in for an update.  We've had painters in since last week....what a nightmare that has been!   We arranged to have painters come in ourselves rather than go with our contractors painters....HUGE mistake!!!!  We thought we would save a few bucks etc.... We hired Certa Pro, who had good reviews when I researched them on line... Long story short, everything is fixed now, after a week of painting!  
Look what showed up a few days ago...

the goods!

in the meantime, the electrician put in the new outside lights, nothing too fancy
but puts the old ones to shame!  (remember the white ones....)

soooo, this is the dining room light fixture!!  i LOVE it!  terry and i were both
skeptical and were on the verge of not getting it.  but the salesman talked us into taking it home,
put it in the space and see what we thought.  turns out we love it!
our other lights are being delivered on the 20th....

we love the shadow it casts on the ceiling!  it looks so much better in person!  (i still
have to paint the medallion on the ceiling)

the new chair rail and framing in the dining room....so glad we decided to do this!
the outlets were a pain, they had to be right in the middle of the trim.  but i think
the carpenter did a great job blending it all in.  Wall color is
Revere Pewter from Benjamin Moore, it looks dark but the lighting wasn't that great.
So it isn't that dark.  

mudroom~wall color is Ellsworth Khaki from Benjamin Moore


the holiday greens are out at Hawthorn Woods Gardens...I just couldn't wait!



i need more berries!  looks kind of pathetic! 

Friday, November 09, 2012

A Post that isn't "Remodel Related"....

Just wanted to upload some crafty photos....I am teaching a class in December to a large group of women from the Hawthorn Woods Women's Club, I was asked to come up with a wreath.  I was told the group of women would range from 30-40 people and there was a budget!  (not a very big one for that amount of people)  So, I had to get creative and come up with something that wouldn't break-the-bank!  Buying greenery this time of year is not cheap so I opted for the sticks!  Nothing better than going au-natural.  I hope the ladies like it.   Their also making the clothes pin snowflake and spray painted pine cone.  All very easy and I think will be easy for them to re-create.  (now if anyone wants to come help me cut sticks, feel free!)
I was also offered to set up a table and sell a few goodies that I have made.  So I have been busy trying to get enough things made so at least one table will look full!  ha!  Just thought I'd share a few pictures. I did not take pictures of everything but here are a few favorites....

the 3 items the ladies will create 

3-D wooden star

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jute wrapped candy cane w/ a metal rim tag

sorry for the bad photo but these are vintage bulbs decopauged and glittered

paper mache star, covered in old book pages and glittered up!

i save the paper spools from ribbon...i covered both sides w/ sheet music, wrapped tinsel around the center where
the ribbon goes, inked the edges

just a few headbands, i have a bunch of flower clips made too!  
I'm excited for Christmas!  This is my favorite time of the year!

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

I Can See the Light!

It's been a while since I've posted... there wasn't much happening last week.  A few things had to be tweaked before we could move forward.  But when I walked in today, after being gone for a good part of the day, and saw the progress that had been made....I was very pleased and am actually "giddy" about how well things are coming together.   Millwork is being done today....like chair rail, base trim and some crown moulding.  The cabinet install was finished today!  The granite goes on next Friday and then we can tile the backsplash after that.  (once we figure out what we're putting up!)  I picked out paint colors for 5 of the rooms and sent those to the painters.  I am going to paint the office and 1/2 bath myself.  Not only to save a few bucks but I can actually got to a paint store, pick out several swatches and not be in a time crunch to pick colors.  We went with Certa Pro painters, who are probably going to be fantastic to work with and I'm sure they'll do a great job...BUT they offer a service where a consultant will come in and bring paint swatches and help you put colors together.  I know what I like, so I don't really need help but I thought the extra eye would be nice and she was totally on board with the colors I was picking.  She spent over an hour with me but then had to leave....but I still wasn't 100% on the colors I had chosen.  I usually tape the sample up on the wall and live with it for a few days.  Well, we don't have many lights that actually work right now, so lighting is terrible and we all know colors change with whatever time of the day it is....so feeling unsure of myself, I went on the Benjamin Moore website.  Good gravy!!!  I confused myself even more.  I must have spent 5 days 2 hours a day looking at paint colors.  One color led to another color to another....I had a list of 30 colors I now liked!!!  I had to make a decision today if I want them to start painting tomorrow.  So, this morning I sent the email with the colors.  I keep telling myself, it's just paint....I can always paint over it.  But, then we're paying someone to paint, so why would I want to have to paint over anytime soon!  uhg!!!   The colors I chose are very neutral and muted.  Nothing crazy...classic colors that all blend nicely together.  ( I hope!)

Anyway...here is where we are at:

cubbies in the mudroom...i have to pick up some hooks to go inside of each cubby 

closet in mudroom, small'ish but big enough for vacuum and extra coats etc...

looking into kitchen from mudroom

the lighting is terrible.  but the back of the island is bead-board and the sides have frames.

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dining room.  adding the chair rail and frames under the rail as well as crown moulding
yes, we're replacing the chandelier  in the dining room!  

not much new here other than the crown on the cabinets,  they still have to add the glass
shelves and grids on the glass (i can't wait to fill this up with goodies!)

dusty island!  the middle drawer is going to be for the dishes (every day eating plates/bowls etc)  and the
opening is for the microwave drawer.  

range hood

where the sink will go, obviously! 

IKEA handles & knobs...  handles on drawers, knobs on doors 

close up of crown, lights

above the fridge

another photo of hood...

i can fit down here!  :) 




That's it for now.  We're hoping to be done by Thanksgiving!  I can not wait to cook a meal or make a pot of coffee in my kitchen (rather than in my bathroom!)  

*side note: The floors are still needing to be sanded and stained.  I had a few ask me if this was our floor color.  This is raw wood.  Apparently, they like to install it and then sand and finish at the very end!  This way they don't have to be overly neat and if there are any dings they can sand them out.










Thursday, November 01, 2012

C A B I N E T S

The cabinets arrived today!!!!  Unfortunately, not all of them.  The truck wasn't big enough to make one trip!  Guess that means I'll have something to look forward to tomorrow!   I am loving the cabinets.... Terry has been doubtful these past few weeks, wondering if we made a mistake going with white (white-ish) cabinets...I am so glad we went light!  I have no regrets!   Our island is stained dark, so it will tone down the amount of white.  And the floors will be stained dark too.  It will all balance out.
The arch above the sink isn't quite right.... (Or they left a piece behind. ) Above the sink is an arch that is supposed to replicate the one above the stove.  As or right now they have a plain piece of wood up there w/ no architectural grooves and that piece of wood is supposed to be thicker.  So, I'm hoping that will get fixed tomorrow.  


love it!  of course the moulding isn't up yet, so there won't be the space in between the cabinet
 and ceiling

Keno getting in on the photo, again.  we considered having the butlers pantry in the dark
stain like the island but decided not to as we were trying to "lighten" up the space.

butlers pantry...i'll have to take a pict. of the inside of the tall cabinets...so much room . they
made a mistake putting in the electrical.  see the 2 dangling wires coming out of the wall.  ya,
not supposed to be there.  easy fix.  (i guess?)


Tomorrow I have a "paint consultant" coming over to look through a plethora of swatches.  It's a service the paint company offers, so I thought I would take advantage of it.  Maybe she can help make decisions faster!
Have a good weekend!