Since we returned from London, our project feels like it’s crept along at a snails’ pace. In some ways, that’s true; our cabinet guy was running behind schedule, so work slowed down a bit at the house. However, it also gave us the opportunity to save some money and install the wood floor ourselves. (A double-edged sword if ever there was one!)
Here’s what’s been going on at the house in the last few weeks:
Our contractors have trimmed and painted most of the window openings. We chose the style of trim that we already had in the oldest parts of the house. Most of them are painted white, but we (I should say Andrew–he had the vision!) chose black for the kitchen. They are really going to pop against the white(ish) wall tile!
We also got our front doors in! We really shot for the fences on these…instead of going with a mid-grade single door and sidelights (which had been in the plan from the beginning), we decided over Christmas break this past year that we both really loved double doors and wondered why in the world we hadn’t considered them before?! We quickly verified we had room and began to shop around. Of course, Andrew fell in love with ‘the Cadillac of doors’ (per the Weatherpanel rep–we chose Therma-Tru Classic Craft Mahogany Grain in Rustic Clay)…and we bought two. Trust me when I say spending that kind of money WAS NOT in our plan. But, you only buy doors once (hopefully!) and these were the right decision all the way around. We wanted to beautiful new front entry, and boy, did we get one!
The contractors also finished their work on the second level of our house (our closet and the workout room), and I’m still incredulous at the results. Below is a shot of our closet:
I wish I had a ‘before’ picture! Our closet was a literal cave: a smaller opening for the door, dark blue walls, super low ceiling, one small dim light. Now it’s lit up like a Christmas tree!
Back to that double-edged sword… We chose to install our own wood floor because we had some extra time, but it doesn’t mean we weren’t on a deadline. A good friend of ours is in the floor refinishing business, and he was going to squeeze us in before Memorial Day weekend. Andrew got a bit done over Mother’s Day weekend (May 12), but then traveled for work that following week. So, we basically had from May 18-22 to get 2/3 of our downstairs floored before Queen City Hardwood arrived.
Andrew’s dad helped A LOT, which was a huge blessing, and a friend from church lent a hand as well. Otherwise, it was just the two of us, and Maelle got sick (of course!) during that time… Here’s our set-up on the deck so we could work into the wee hours. (Which we did, twice.)
Here’s the stain we chose (natural oil-based poly with water-based poly on top) with a sample of the two colors of cabinets (painted blue and black walnut) with our countertop:
And here she is, in all her glory:
I cannot believe how good it looks! We chose rift- and quarter-sawn white oak, with a natural (no color) stain. Now we wish we could do the rest of the downstairs right away…
Another big change is the back windows! Or lack thereof…
When we took out the far window to create space for a ‘mudroom’ at the back entry (see white weatherproofing above), it *sort of* forced us to look into ordering windows for the back as well. It wasn’t part of our plan, but now that the symmetry is off and because it’s the kind of thing we’d need our contractors to do, we decided to go for it. (Glad we saved some money on the floor!) We’re still trying to figure out what size and how many windows to get–that’s an architect discussion–but this will be our view for the next 8-10 weeks:
I’m not letting the view (or lack thereof! ha!) get to me; I’m thrilled to death we can oven order more windows! Having the new windows will really ‘complete’ that room, and we’re excited to try to get some more glass looking out into the backyard.
In the past week, Andrew and I have actually been hard at work at the house ourselves! He began using the leftover wood from the project in our closet, which needed a floor. (So does our bedroom…) Thankfully, it’s a small space and we weren’t on a deadline; in just a few days it was done!
While Andrew was doing the floor, I was repainting the workout room! The ceiling work required some extensive touch-ups, and truthfully the room needed a fresh coat. I LOVE this color (Valspar Sparkling Lake) and think it goes so nicely with the warm honey tones in this original (pine) floor.
Also, the ‘Great Clean-up of 2024’ has begun! Since our contractors are finished upstairs, we can start cleaning up, which will be NO. SMALL. TASK. Drywall dust, not to mention our stuff, is EVERYWHERE. Basically, everything will have to be Shop-Vacked, dusted, laundered, mopped or a combination! I’ve already cleaned the workout room (it’s just missing the bike!) and Maelle’s room, and repainted a bit of her ceiling where we had water damage just before we moved out. I’m feeling quite accomplished…and then I take a look at our bedroom:
Send all the positive vibes and cleaning supplies my way!
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