paint progress update part 2...

After two days of productivity, we are starting to see paint on the walls, cabinets, doors, and trim.  The fumes were so heavy, I only viewed the progress from the front door and was able to snap a quick photo:

Stay tuned...

paint progress update and exterior photos...

Well...it is unbelievable that the painters have been onsite for so long yet it only took a day to get most of the walls and ceiling painted with the Thin Ice color we chose.  Today, we have been told that the trim painted will be painted...  I doubt that includes doors and cabinets...I'm sure if the painters stayed past 3 o'clock a lot more could get painted...I'm just sayin'. 

But, at least I do have progress to report...so I will pull back on the nag wagon until they slip back to their old ways.  We complained once before and they had a productive day and then two weeks later we complained again and they had a productive day.

The positive side is that we are getting closer to the finish line...if this project were a real race though, I know a couple of painters that I would not want on my team!  Sorry...I guess I haven't pulled back on the nag wagon yet!

Now on to the exterior pre-landscaping...and, if you have not seen our lot, there is an overwhelming amount of landscaping. 

The pictures below were taken post dumpster removal and I have to admit, the house looks amazing (although as you can see in a few pictures, touchups are needed...which we hate to pile on top of the already lengthy list of things for the painters to finish...). 

Looking good.  Stay tuned for updates...

wishing that i could watch paint dry...

Since I get daily requests for updates to the blog, here goes nothing.  And, unfortunately, there is nothing much to update.  We had the cabinets installed on May 8, 2012...these cabinets were installed on unpainted walls which today are mostly primed, but still unpainted.

You know that saying that some folks say when they are doing something that they do not want to be doing...well it goes something like "I would rather be watching paint dry..." 

The crazy thing is that day after day I visit the house actually hoping to watch paint dry...and day after day I am greeted by the same mostly primed, but still unpainted walls. 

To be fair, the cabinets to be painted have been primed.  And, the cabinets that were to be stained have been stained and they are beautiful!  But, my goodness, with the amount of time that has passed since delivery I would hope that they would be...

Here are pictures taken of the cabinets...notice that the walls remain mostly primed, but still unpainted since May 10, 2012 (apologies to those of you who saw the original post, I have since corrected the incorrectly rotated photos...so you no longer have to tilt your head to the right):

Kitchen Cabinets - Stove Wall

Utility Cabinets

Entertainment Cabinet

Kitchen Cabinets - Fridge Wall

Kitchen Island Stained and Cabinets Primed

Stained Island and Drawers

Sanded Entertainment Cabinet

Lacquered Island

Sanded Upstairs Bath Vanity

So, that is my update.  You are probably frustrated just having to tilt your head in order to kind of see the pictures...imagine how frustrated we are going to the house in hopes of seeing just a little bit of gray on the cabinets...

And there are still a LOT of walls that do not have paint on them...  We have been promised that the trim will be painted tomorrow and most of the walls will be complete by Friday...if that happens, I will jump for joy.  But, I can promise I am not holding my breath!

Stay tuned...

we wanted a pop of color...

If you remember, we chose Beachball for the front door and the garage.  I now introduce the pop of color that the house needed...you like?

We do!

interesting interview with a soapstone countertop homeowner...

The Granite Gurus: An interview with a Soapstone Countertop Homeowner...: Soapstone is a very misunderstood countertop material, so I thought it would be fun to do an interview with someone who has Soapstone counters...

Learned a lot of very helpful information from this article and thought I would share!

gotta know our house number...

With the many options of house numbers available, you would think that finding one would be a simple task.  There have been a couple house numbers that have been almost right - but they weren't big enough or they weren't "modern" enough or they were "too" modern...  It wasn't until we stumbled our way to Etsy that we were able to find the perfect house numbers. 

Interestingly enough, the company, Austin Outdoor Studio, is based in Austin, TX...my home for a couple of years while I was getting my Masters.  Check out their site here...

They do custom steel fabrication - we chose the vertical panel with our house number on it.  You can kind of get an idea of what the finished product will look like below (and we ordered our correct house numbers for those of you who are thinking that these are the wrong numbers...).

With the down lighting from the overhangs, the address will look really neat.  After receiving the product, I will post an update as to the quality.  But, after a very thorough search of the world wide web, we think that these will look great. 

So, we hope you enjoy visiting us and can find us with ease now that we will have these cool house numbers...and with the awesome illuminated doorbell by Spore, you have no excuse to not visit!

concrete crushin' should only be done by professionals...

If you can try and remember back to a time when there was an enchanted forest enclosed by a much sturdier than required concrete retaining wall.  We have hated this retaining wall and have been told that removing it will be really expensive - so we thought we would take a jackhammer to it and see just how much we could remove ourselves...you know, kind of a goodwill gesture. 

OMG...after 4 hours being thrown around with that loud, rented power tool, I am sore in places that make me firmly believe that that the aforementioned tasks should be performed only by professionals. 

We were somewhat successful in our endeavor - the part of the retaining wall that the landscaper was "pretending wasn't there" is for the most part gone!  We will definitely be feeling it for a while...but at least who ever will take over from here can now square off the retaining wall which had an awful curve before.

We, of course, hope that they make that wall go away! 

You can kind of see the terrible, awful in the photos below which I took during one of my many breaks from the power tool madness in which I probably said "oh my goodness" and "this sucks" and lots of other things which do not require repeating here.

The fella who lived here before was serious about building things to last - this retaining wall is at least a foot wide.  I doubt that it was built to code since the city had to condemn the pool that the enchanted forest was covering and fill it in - they knocked the fence down which previously sat atop this lovely concrete monstrosity.  Oh, and did I mention that the wall was about 3 feet tall...surprise!

So, I admit to saying words that probably should never be said and being way too overdramatic and almost overheated had it not been for our buddies Bobby and Alan for bringing us much needed hydration (Oh, Thank Heaven!), we were mostly successful in demolishing the terrible, awful that our landscaper was pretending wasn't there!  Since we do not possess her capacity to pretend it isn't there, I am proud to show you the fruits of our labor...

We were no longer feeling goodwill at this point and since there is still grading to be done, we figured it would be best to let Tom and his team of professionals take care of the rest, including getting that concrete into the dumpster.  And, since we do not own a tractor, this hot mess of a concrete wall is now to a point where the trained professionals can take it from here...

And, we will go back to doing the hard things, like picking out countertops!

hardwoods and house stalking...

How fun is it to be talking about hardwood flooring...I actually cannot believe that the day has come and I no longer see concrete on the first floor!  Right now, I can mainly see the sub floor, which is wood but not the pretty kind, but it sure is a great change.

But, check out the progress of the house.  The exterior is complete except for painting the trim and flap boards.  The stucco turned out beautifully!

I tried to capture a couple of different angles...below is taken from the garage looking toward Cortez.

Taken from front left (you can see the potty in the bottom left of the picture for those of you who have been following from the very beginning...).

Taken from the back courtyard.  The flapboards require us to choose a color - now that the gray stucco is complete, we can grab a couple of different samples to make the final decision.  We are thinking a darkish gray color...not too dark, but definitely a contrast that will bring all of the colors together.  Only two areas require this color and they are aren't really visible from the front or side of the house.

If you look really closely, I kind of gave a preview of the subfloor.  We chose hickory for the flooring and are leaning toward using a finish that brings out the natural color of the wood.  We haven't really made up our minds, but we have made up our minds about the sheen...we are going with a low sheen finish.  I am not sure what the technical term for this is...

The subfloor looks great!

And, below you can see the blue line that will be the start of a beautiful thing.  You can also see the unfinished wood - so pretty! 



And there is a lot of wood that has to be installed...

Oh, and a very interesting aspect of the home building process is all of the friends we have met...as they have been stalking the house!  We have met some neighbors, we have met some strangers, we have met all kinds of folks just walking around the house and checking out the floor plan and the progress.

We are actually the biggest stalkers though...we have worn out the roads between our house and the new house.  I have finally broken myself of the habit of taking the long way back home...which is a huge win for me!

But, now...even we cannot stalk our own house!!!  It is locked up!  We tried to go look at the progress late last night and found a lock on the door and all other doors locked...just another indicator that we are really going to have a finished house soon!!!



Please don't be offended if you are one of the many house stalkers...we have found it awesome that folks have visited and not one single thing has been vandalized...I hope that I do not jinx anything! 

We are looking forward to inviting all of you over once we have a completed home - we have never had a housewarming party before and our first is going to be somewhat of a blowout...well, at least for a couple of consulting nerds! 

Stay tuned...

thinking about fire in may...

While we will not be able to take advantage of our fireplace until it starts to get cooler, which is kind of funny since it is only May and we are already experiencing 90 degree days.  I can only imagine the kind of summer that we will have to endure...hopefully we will get some kind of reprieve from the heat, not enough to light up a fire, of course! 

But, even in Dallas, we can maybe start thinking about lighting a fire in early December or maybe even late November.  During Fall months I can usually remember past weather based on Alabama football or Christmas lights...  And I definitely can remember that we have had a fire blazing during the Alabama vs. Auburn football games which are played in late November. 

But, this year, even the heat is not going to keep me from thinking about fire in May...  Since everything seems to be progressing at light speed, we have already purchased the really cool products that we will have installed in our fireplace - and instead of picturing logs burning in our fireplace, picture glass instead...lots and lots of glass!

If you haven't seen any fireplaces where glass is used instead of logs, check out this site for more details.

Just to remind you of the wall that houses the fireplace - I have provided a rough sketch of the fireplace wall, including notes related to the mantle and hearth, fireplace surround, and audio/video equipment is below.

Like many of the other products that we have ordered for the house, the 60 pounds of glass and burner sits in our house (the one that can usually be seen from space during the holidays...) awaiting installation day.  The fireplace below is not ours, but serves as an example of what you can expect once ours has been installed.

It looks like the folks in the fireplace above chose clear glass.  We chose Caribbean Blue Metallic Glass and one of their smaller 18' burners.

Believe it or not, it takes a lot of glass poured over the burner if you want the recommended 3" to 4" of glass.  Luckily, we were able to save money by choosing 40 pounds of the clear glass to cover the burner and provide the base.  We will then pour the 20 pounds of blue on top of the clear glass which is pictured below.

When lit, the fire will kind of dance on the glass.  It is a beautiful effect and we have seen it in different places.  Most recently, we saw it at the new Omni Dallas hotel. 

I cannot wait to have folks over in the winter and show off the glass crystals in the fireplace - and hopefully celebrating an Alabama victory as we sit and watch the fire!