Lately

Autumn is my time of year.  Not only because I enjoy the cooler weather and fall colors, but also because I get the opportunity to display my vast cardigan collection.  

First, a family update:  Marielle is doing well and we're adjusting to our new life schedule.  She's up about every three hours or so at night, which means that after we get the kids in bed, I lazily flop onto a bean bag chair (for lack of seating in our tv room) and don't move until my back starts to hurt (typically 1-2 hours).  The girls are doing well at school, but with school comes homework.  Our home is not a fun place to be at 4pm: while I am trying to entertain/pacify/relocate a newborn and three year old, I cook dinner and help two [incredibly distracted] kiddos with homework.  I found that yelling a lot helps me feel better during homework time, but strangely, the children do not respond well to this.  I will have to experiment with other methods.

We have been cooped up a lot this week, so today was a lovely day to be outside, fly homemade kites, and drink vats of coffee.  

I also got a mini-date with the hubster this week.  I say mini-date because it involved bringing along two of the four kiddos, but we will take what we can get.  We dined on a rooftop.  It was lovely and I also got the chance to wear a cardigan and escape the after lunch clean up.

Our house update: our master bath has been tiled.  I love, love, love the herringbone floor.  I chose a porcelain tile that looks like weathered wood and it turned out nicely.  The carpenter began laying down the trim in our room as well and the floor got its first sanding.  The vanity and recessed medicine cabinet were also installed.

The carpenter also rebuilt the linen cabinet and we have the door put back on.  I have begun painting the trim and hope to get a few more doors painted this weekend. 

The countertops also arrived today!  If a person can develop a crush on a piece of rock, just consider me smitten.  It replicates marble well and I love the polished finish.  The fabricators did a wonderful job  matching up the patterns on the seams and carrying the patterns up the backsplash and down to the sink.  I'll have better photos down the road when I have the backsplash installed, but wanted to post these tonight.  

Also, this is a small thing, but we discovered that our old microwave fits into our appliance cabinet.  

I just love it when even the little things work out, no?  

On Priming, Painting, Insulation, & Trees

There has been a lot of progress in the past week, but I think that it's not terribly exciting to look at in photos (except for people like me).  

First, three tons of cobwebs have been sucked up. 

The upstairs bedroom has been insulated:

The half dead tree from the backyard has been removed:

The trim & doors upstairs have two coats of primer:

Kitchen has been painted:

The wall where the piano will be has been painted (so that we won't have to move the piano again):

Baby's room has been painted and assembly of her dresser has begun:

And the first floor bath has the new tile floor situated and we should have running water by the end of this week!

The plan for this week is to put the paint on the primed trim and prime the living room ceiling so that the light fixtures can be installed.  I have wished more than once this week that there was such a thing as maternity painting clothes!  Two and a half weeks until baby arrives.....

Drywall Progress

I am loving how the kitchen is coming together.  I think it's probably the room I am most excited about in the house.

The drywall guy was there over the weekend filling in the cracks in the plaster walls.  Here's progress:

Last week, I chose the tile and vanity for the master bathroom.  Our other bathrooms have the original white subway tile on the walls with white palettes on the floors.  While we wanted to keep the vintage subway tile vibe in the new bathroom, we wanted it to feel a bit warmer, so I chose a faux wood porcelain tile for the floor.  And I just had to do the herringbone pattern…I just couldn't get it out of my head. 

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?