The Nursery

Today the drywall/plaster guys sprayed the girls' room and nursery.  I was so excited to see how it turned out that I made two trips to the house today to see how looked.  

The walls and ceilings look so fresh and new…love seeing these rooms transform into something that resembles a living space.  

The two rooms had 2-3 layers of painted-on wallpaper.  Here's some before shots:

And here's the north and south walls of the nursery, where Smalls will be residing in 9 weeks or so.

North wall:

South wall:

Token belly shot, mostly to prove that I can still see my feet

And here's my vision for how the nursery will look.  Not sure about the rug yet, but this is one option.  I hope she likes it.

Goodbye, Old Friend.

 I love old homes.  I love the stories attached to the people that have lived there over the years.

This past weekend, we packed up our things and moved from a lovely home filled with memories and stories from the best 6 years of our lives.  

We moved into our home six years ago with a one year old daughter.  We left this weekend with three daughters and a fourth on the way.  

I don't feel sad about leaving, just nostalgic.  The tree I painted in the girls' room was completed just before we got the call from social services about a newborn babe who needed a home.  Our little Luciana is now adopted and part of our family.  The circle around the kitchen and dining room has been run thousands of times by our kiddos and our friends' children over the years.  Our dining room has had countless meals and wonderful conversations with family and friends.  We've formed friendships that will last a lifetime.  Our home has been filled with people, concerts, dancing, and laughter.

We dropped the keys on Saturday evening to another family who will love and appreciate this home as we have.  We are excited for the memories they will create there.

Our "new" home has a lot of work to do yet, but there is already a story there that we are excited to add to.  One of our new neighbors grew up in the yellow brick home and he passed on a photo to me of a wonderful memory:

This is his mother escorted out of the home by her father on her wedding day on June 28, 1947.  We are so fortunate to have a home already filled with beautiful memories.

Bathrooms. (Not for the faint of heart).

This week has been busy.  I am packing up our home as we prepare to move into a 2-bedroom apartment while the renovations continue.  This week is about changing addresses, phone numbers, keeping the kiddos occupied, canceling phone/internet, figuring out how to get phone/internet, and wondering just HOW IN THE WORLD WE WILL SURVIVE IN A 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT.

Other than that, we are likely going to be finishing the master bath in addition to the other projects since the permits are already pulled.  I really like the look of reclaimed wood floor tile in the bathroom, but am wondering if that would be too much wood flooring in the house.

But let me back up.  Before we discuss bathrooms, let's explore the sad, sad state that our bathrooms are in right now, starting with the first floor bath:

Greg looking discouraged!

(I look discouraged).

And here's the second floor bath, in slightly better condition than the first floor:

And here's the creepy but possibly really cool vintage toilet in the scary basement:

Now let's all put on some rose-colored glasses and look at some prettier photos.  The original subway tile is actually in good shape in both bathrooms and I love the depth the finish has:  

Here's the tile that will go on the first floor bath floor:

 

Here's the look I'm going for in the first floor bath:

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The second floor bathroom is going to be primarily for the girls, and here's some inspiration:

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I'd like to relocate the scary basement toilet into our bathroom, but other than that, I'm stumped.  Should I go for the white subway tile/marble-mosaic floor as the other bathrooms have, or should I go for a different look entirely?  Here's some floors I have been digging on lately:

 

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I went to the Tile Shop today and found a couple of options, but I am looking for something a little more grey/worn looking.  Here's 3 tiles that may work:

I've also been on Craiglist daily looking for a 36" buffet, table, or dresser that I could turn into a vanity for our bathroom.  I really like these looks:

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I also want to take advantage of some unused attic space by adding some recessed shelving or drawers in the bathroom:

Should I go for the classic white subway tile look, or the reclaimed chevron floor look?

Let There be Light.

Today I felt filled with hope because of simple things.

Today, the carpenters took the plywood boards off the windows, moved all the miscellaneous cabinets/doors/countertops out of the living room, and swept the broken glass and debris off the floor.

The house was bright and looks like an actual, habitable home (almost).

I finally got the opportunity to see the house, and not just the "potential" in the house.  The windows are beautiful and the floors are in good shape considering what they have endured in the past decade.

View from kitchen into dining/living rooms

North wall of living room 

The excited kiddos

The mudroom

Mudroom detail

They also began framing off the master bedroom, bath and closet.  For the first time in 6 years, I won't be sharing a closet with everyone in our family. 

Remodeling is a beautiful thing, people.  

Kitchen Decisions

In the kitchen, I really like the look of marble on the countertops, but don't want the maintenance.  I have been researching quartz and different manufacturers are coming out with products that give the look of marble with lower maintenance.

Or so they say.

Last weekend, I went to look at some slabs of quartz.  I was really excited to see what the slabs would look like since all I have seen so far is the little 2" inch samples.  The salesperson & I were probably 50 paces from the slabs of quartz and I immediately knew that it was awful.

It looked like a large piece of shiny plastic that a toddler drew on.  Even the salesperson said to me that she thought they had missed the mark on this particular brand.  Of course, right across aisle was some gorgeous slabs of carrera marble which made the quartz seem even worse.

I left feeling disappointed.

Today, I met our designer at another place and there's a new product in porcelain that replicates marble.  From the little I know, they take photos of marble and then "print" the veins onto a piece of porcelain.  They sell the slabs in 5' and 10' pieces and seam it together in the same way as they would quartz or marble.  The sample looked intriguing, but I wasn't sure...until they sent me a larger photo of two different slabs:

I liked what I saw.  It costs about 10% more than the quartz and our designer will be getting the numbers to me tomorrow so that will inform the decision.  

I also (finally) chose the faucet today.  I like the vintage vibe; it suits the house:

I also selected a sink today (white apron-front double bowl) and hope to have the kitchen decisions wrapped up soon!

You Can't Rush Art...or Enduring the During

The wallpaper removal process has begun.  I do not envy the poor soul taking the three layers (and possibly 50 years or more) of paper down.  Did I mention that someone along the way also painted on top of the three layers of wallpaper?

We've also had some recessed lighting installed in the kitchen.  I am looking forward to how bright it will be in there.  

I decided to tackle one of the new pendants from Restore that I picked up recently.  I tried rushing the process because I wanted to have one light done before evening.  The screws holding the fixture together were pretty rusted on, so after trying 3 pliers and some WD-40, we were able to get rolling. Here's what I learned: I need a warmer day and more time to do the lights correctly, but I think the first one turned out pretty well.

 You can't rush art.