Friday, September 30, 2011

Time is wrapping to a close as the month ends.  Although we are finishing later than anticipated - it's probably not actually much later, and to Brian's point, we (I) have had much more of a hand in the selections than we would have been able to with other builders.  And, Kai has/is accomodating some of my more quirkier requests - like a backsplash of beadboard, and actually making an old washstand into a vanity in the guestbath.  : )  So, I'm still not complaining.  Is everything perfect?  No.  I'm not an interior designer, and half of what I did was off the internet, where I couldn't see scale or place it next to samples.  I'll tone down my OCD-level knowing that it's not perfect, but for the most part, it can be changed at a later time if we really feel the need to do so. 

Here are some pictures of items as they are starting to fall into place, and clean up some of the clutter:

The Living Room:
Fireplace and lights

Kitchen with undercabinet lights
The Kitchen:
Range and Hood installed
  
The kitchen island chandelier

The Bar:
Tile uncovered.

The kids are obsessed with the carpet in the basement, I guess because it is new and nice and fluffy.  Here they are making "carpet angels":



Pulling each other around:

Oops!  Better not get rug burn ...


The Office:

Guest Bath - Vanity still in progress.  They removed the drawer front and drilled a hole for the drain.  I'd say the oval vessel sink is backwards, but I'm not going to sweat these details . . . .

The stairwell:
The Master Bath: -- not sure this is coming together as well as I'd hoped, so might have to play with some colour in here (hard to tell that the walls are a creamy beige).  But, at least it is almost done . . . 


Master closet
Kids playing on the master bedroom floor.

Jacob's room.  I think this fan is awesome/hilarious. I don't care what anyone says, it's fun!
Mady's Room: (and a look through the Jack and Jill bath)


Friday, September 23, 2011

Here are some pictures of some of the progress.  Most items are at the house and staged to be installed, but still waiting to be done.  The agony here is me still waiting to see how all the details fit together! 
~*~*~ All of these picture were taken with my iPhone - since I cannot for the life of me find my battery charger for my camera and it's dead.  Thankfully a friend of mine let me borrow hers, so hopefully I can get some better pictures this weekend ~*~*~

There is some re-work in the Master Bathroom, which is one of rooms that seems to be the hardest to pull together!   The vanity tops were damaged fairly badly in shipping so our builder called upon his granite supplier for some replacements, which worked out in our favour!  The medicine cabinets were hung super-low (Brian would be looking at his belly button) and had to be raised.
Next, the bathtub surround has to be re-done to fit the corner jacuzzi tub and to create an access-panel in case there was ever a need to work on the pump.  The jacuzzi tub wasn't something that was important to us, but since Kai had already ordered it, we went along with it.  But yikes - look at this mess!


The kids call the tub a "boat"
The mess in our bedroom!
Brian's half of the bedroom closet! (whoa! this is awesome)
Looking out the 2nd floor bay windows at sunset

Hardware added to kids' bathroom (Note - I would not have put the drawer pulls in the middle on bottom drawers, but oh well)
Kitchen:
Fridge installed

Some molding finally finished and backsplashes are up. You can also see my "vintage" chandelier waiting to be hung above the island.
The mess the kids can't stop playing with (ugh):


Yay for finally getting the hardware installed!  I LOVE them! 
The mudroom:
  
The bar:
Getting a few lights
The (long-awaited) butcher block came in a different colour than I had intended.  It looks like it was stained, rather than a dark natural colour.  But nevertheless, Brian and I like it - it might even look a little classier.  It still works, so we'll stick with it.  : )
Back cabinets (and a lot of dust)
We picked out a 1x2" slate backsplash for the bar.  It looks really interesting and we love the natural colour variation in the tile.


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Wow.  So, I guess our initial inclination that mid-September will come and go was correct.  Very little progress has been made at the house lately.  A lot of waiting.  It's incredibly painful!

Tasks left to be done include all of the faucets and cabinet hardware, many lights, painting, replacing the broken window, installing the carpet in the basement, installing the appliances, installing the irrigation system and sod .... details, details.    One setback was the butcher block counter top for the bar - apparently the store required a re-do due to some mark or issue on the wood.  It isn't anticipated to arrive until the 20th. 
Everyone told us that this final stretch would seem like forever, and boy is it!


On the other hand, there is nothing urging us to move into the house quickly except the anticipation and the changing of the season (again).  Kai does do quality work, although it seems there are other houses in the area going up faster than ours!  We are lucky that we are biding our time in the apartment rather than waiting on the closure of the new house before leaving our old one, or some similar situation.  I'd like to take some time moving in.


These last details are what seem to pull everything really together, so that is probably why I am so anxious to see it played out.  It is frustrating, but we'll continue to play along.
What we were surprised to see already was some landscaping of a few plants, trees and bushes!