The good news is huge: there's water in the kitchen sink! I have a strong urge to go do some dishes in there, but since Tharon is the one who's had to wrestle with dirty dishes in the bathroom sink for all these weeks, she's going to be the one to inaugurate the kitchen.
The bad news: we have to empty out the bedrooms and the office in the next 5 days. That will allow the paint and carpet teams to sweep in while we're on vacation. If this all works out right, we'll return to freshly-painted rooms with new carpeting.
And then we can start moving all the stuff back in that we're now moving out...
Friday, August 1, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Why Samples Matter
You can buy darned near anything from a catalog these days. And trust me, we have ALL the catalogs.
Trouble is, you can't always make a final decision without seeing the thing you want to buy.
I wrote earlier about the mad scramble to match wood finish on the media console and the family room seating. This time, it's about the speakers we're buying for the family room.
I thought I'd figured it out based on the speaker manufacturer's website photos. But a little voice nagged me into calling to see if I could get a sample of two different finishes. Sure enough, they were willing to send me two dummy speakers (I had to pre-pay the UPS charges) in two diferent finishes.
Good thing we did it. The coppery finish didn't look right. The brassy one did.
Case closed.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
OMG!
That's youth-speak for how I felt yesterday when I walked in to the construction zone. I knew it was busy in there by the crowded parking scene out front: carpenters, painters, stone guys.
The "oh my God!" moment came when I saw the granite counter tops, already installed. Set against the cabinets, they look even better than we'd hoped. It'll be even better when we can get the full effect of floor/cabinet/counter, but for now, the newly-installed flooring remains covered with protective paper while all the other dusty work continues.
Next step: getting those appliances out of the garage and into their rightful locations in the kitchen.
Can't wait.
The "oh my God!" moment came when I saw the granite counter tops, already installed. Set against the cabinets, they look even better than we'd hoped. It'll be even better when we can get the full effect of floor/cabinet/counter, but for now, the newly-installed flooring remains covered with protective paper while all the other dusty work continues.
Next step: getting those appliances out of the garage and into their rightful locations in the kitchen.
Can't wait.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Growing Excitement
I caught myself standing in the family room the other day, grinning like an idiot.
It was late afternoon. The crews had gone home for the day. And I was just loving what I saw.
The walls and ceiling are painted now. Despite the lack of flooring or countertops and the missing doors on the cabinets, it's starting to look finished.
For months now, we've been trying to translate what we saw on drawings into how it would feel. Even after the construction got underway, it was often hard to see the place as anything but a jobsite full of tools and supplies.
But now we're starting to see the finish line. Starting to think about how we'll live in the new house. Feels good.
It was late afternoon. The crews had gone home for the day. And I was just loving what I saw.
The walls and ceiling are painted now. Despite the lack of flooring or countertops and the missing doors on the cabinets, it's starting to look finished.
For months now, we've been trying to translate what we saw on drawings into how it would feel. Even after the construction got underway, it was often hard to see the place as anything but a jobsite full of tools and supplies.
But now we're starting to see the finish line. Starting to think about how we'll live in the new house. Feels good.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
It's Tan, Man
Made the decision on the upholstery for the new family room furniture. It's going to be tan.
The final decision didn't come until after we'd gone to the furniture store with a photo of the media console we plan to buy for the family room (on the theory that we would want the wooden legs on the sofa and chairs to match the finish on the media console). We then realized that we couldn't tell which of two finishes (mahogany or brown) made the best match.
Sigh. We grabbed the wood finish samples, piled into the car, drove to the nearest Crate and Barrel to have an up-close look at the media console. And I'll be damned if they both matched, depending on which part of the console we laid the samples against. The overhead halogen lights might have had something to do with it.
Sigh again. We finally convinced ourselves that either wood finish would work, and we'd go with whichever looked best against the tan leather.
It's going to be brown.
The final decision didn't come until after we'd gone to the furniture store with a photo of the media console we plan to buy for the family room (on the theory that we would want the wooden legs on the sofa and chairs to match the finish on the media console). We then realized that we couldn't tell which of two finishes (mahogany or brown) made the best match.
Sigh. We grabbed the wood finish samples, piled into the car, drove to the nearest Crate and Barrel to have an up-close look at the media console. And I'll be damned if they both matched, depending on which part of the console we laid the samples against. The overhead halogen lights might have had something to do with it.
Sigh again. We finally convinced ourselves that either wood finish would work, and we'd go with whichever looked best against the tan leather.
It's going to be brown.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
More Choices
Now comes the scary part.
We chose the wall colors the other day. Yesterday, we went to the granite-finishing place and decided how they should cut our big granite slabs (they'd made templates for all the countertops and we had to lay them out on the slabs).
Next, we face a decision on which color upholstery to order for the new family room furniture. The array of choices seems dizzying. Four different ranges of leather and I don't know how many colors (to say nothing of the choices of leg shape and color). We ended up squatting on the floor of the granite shop with Jim the Builder, shuffling through little leather swatches while looking at samples of our hardwood flooring, carpeting, and wall paint.
Now the hard part. We managed to narrow it down to two options: tan or forest green. I like them both. Tharon likes them both. Either looks classy and I'm sure we'd be happy with either.
But they're, well, different. One color says one thing and the other says something else. This is a big decision: you can't just slap a different coat of paint on expensive furniture if you don't like the way it looks.
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo...
We chose the wall colors the other day. Yesterday, we went to the granite-finishing place and decided how they should cut our big granite slabs (they'd made templates for all the countertops and we had to lay them out on the slabs).
Next, we face a decision on which color upholstery to order for the new family room furniture. The array of choices seems dizzying. Four different ranges of leather and I don't know how many colors (to say nothing of the choices of leg shape and color). We ended up squatting on the floor of the granite shop with Jim the Builder, shuffling through little leather swatches while looking at samples of our hardwood flooring, carpeting, and wall paint.
Now the hard part. We managed to narrow it down to two options: tan or forest green. I like them both. Tharon likes them both. Either looks classy and I'm sure we'd be happy with either.
But they're, well, different. One color says one thing and the other says something else. This is a big decision: you can't just slap a different coat of paint on expensive furniture if you don't like the way it looks.
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo...
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Choices Made
It happened while I was at work, and I'm just fine with the decision.
Tharon and Jim the Contractor decided on paint colors today. You can see what they decided by checking out the photo gallery. Basically, the old living room will be a greenish shade, the bedrooms and office will be a tan, and the rest of the house will get a yellowish shade called "Pale Moon". Ceilings are all a just-off-white shade called "Lemon Chiffon".
Next decision: which color speakers to buy. I'm leaning toward this one rather than a glossy black.
Tharon and Jim the Contractor decided on paint colors today. You can see what they decided by checking out the photo gallery. Basically, the old living room will be a greenish shade, the bedrooms and office will be a tan, and the rest of the house will get a yellowish shade called "Pale Moon". Ceilings are all a just-off-white shade called "Lemon Chiffon".
Next decision: which color speakers to buy. I'm leaning toward this one rather than a glossy black.
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