Our Room

The upstairs in our home has three bedrooms, one of which has never been finished, as far as I can tell.  We decided to make the unfinished space our bedroom, but first we had to address a rubber-roof porch off the back of the house.  The roof had been leaking badly the past couple of years and that leak led to a hole in the ceiling of a downstairs bedroom.  Here's what it looked like before we enclosed the porch:

We enclosed the porch into a dormer that matches the dormer in the front of the house.  This gave us a nice seating area in the bedroom.  This dormer will be stuccoed (if that's a word) sometime in the next week or two.  

The floor of this bedroom has never been refinished and it was exciting to see what shape the floors are in.  We are not going to sand the floor all the way down to the raw wood, but have decided to leave some of the gray tones in the wood because we like how the ruggedness ties into the gray brick on the exposed chimney.  

Here's what the floor looks like today:

The tub is getting moved into our bathroom tomorrow and the trim work in our bedroom and tile work in our bathroom will begin this week as well.  [Hello, awesome herringbone floor...looking forward to meeting you.]

Home.

This past week, there's been burst of activity here.  I haven't been able to post as most of my time is now dedicated to homework, floor sweeping & scrubbing from drywall and sawdust, sorting an endless pile of paperwork from the girls' school, and kissing the wrinkled forehead of a sweet lil' babe.  

Last Thursday, the install of our kitchen cabinets began.  It's incredible how a kitchen can make our house feel less like a campground and more like our home.  Here's the kitchen we've been working with the past couple of weeks (it had a nice, minimalistic design):

I was feeling a little apprehensive about the new cabinets because I have never actually seen them in real life.  I was hoping they would be the perfect shade of cream and not too white & institutional-looking.  Turns out they are a perfect cream and pair wonderfully with the floor color.  Today, the cabinets were all hung and the crown molding was put on.  The countertop guy came yesterday with my 230 pound sink and took measurements. Fingers crossed that the countertops arrive yet this week.  Here's what my kitchen looks like today, without any staging or tidying up.  I have no time for such frivolity ;)

Our bedroom has also been drywalled and painted. Thankfully, I have not done any landscaping in the backyard because a giant truck pulled all the way into the yard to lift the drywall into the house through the rear window.

A lot of work has been done on our room in the past couple of weeks.

I had originally purchased a giant orb light fixture for the living room and it was way, way too large for the space.  We decided to hang onto it and use it in our bedroom which has a vaulted ceiling.  We looked the light over this weekend and decided to upgrade to the larger size.  So glad we did because the light is now up and is the perfect scale for the room.

As exciting as this past week has been, I was reminded today about what really makes our house a home.  Sure, it's cool to have a house with a rad light fixture, but what's really wonderful is watching our kiddos work on puzzles in the living room, do homework at the table, and help me out with gardening; it's sitting outside with our neighbors at a block party; it's walking to friends' homes for playdates or dinner; it's inviting friends & family into our home. Those moments are what breathe life into the culture of our neighborhood & our home.  I want my contentment to come from that.

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.....