Get your suit on!

Jump on in! The pool is finished! On the last pic you can see the hot tub (left rectangle) and sun ledge (far right semi circle). Its done! Just waiting on the firepit to be finished up.

its official

the numbers are on..

Landscaping insanity

John and our dear friend Thomas and his Brother in law and some sweet amigos John befriended at a gas station have been working overtime! I would say at least 50 hours has gone into this "budget saving" landscaping idea.  DIYers we are not we have learned.  John has been working all day then heading to the house or working at the house all day then heading to work for too many days! But mulch is in, rocks are in place, stone path is created, japanese maple in place, pine straw and hay layed, shrubs, dranes, etc. These guys are awesome! See below the stone path! I was impressed with those boys! 

odds and ends

The glass is on! Its hard to see in this picture but up top is screens and below is glass. 

Storage galore! I have no idea what I am going to put in all of these boxes. But they are painted and touched up. In this pic I am standing at the fireplace. The screen porch is directly to the right the kitchen to the back right and the playroom and front door to the left. 

Mirrors are in with a J molding i think is what they called it. they basically trimmed it with stainless steel if i understand correctly. 

The hardwoods are sanded and sealed, white oak matte finish. Just need a good sweep down and mop. This is the playroom.

This is the master. Carpet is in and due for a good cleaning! 

Driveway is finished! They still have to put some more wood slats on the stairwell now that the final grade is in.

Here is what is left:

Telephone/Power pole needs to be taken down and line buried outside, finishing up a fence on the backside of the property, stain deck/wood stairs, Deep Cleaning, Pool needs water, firepit going in, Paint touch up and punch list! At some point John will finish the mulch, shrubs, etc!

Concrete Jungle

The long awaited, long delayed driveway is going in today! I was thinking the rain would delay us yet again, but NOPE! They are working in the rain! Who knew you could pour concrete in the rain but apparently so! Here is a pic standing at the front door and checking out the action! The kids were so pumped about the concrete trucks!
The microwave is in the basement kitchennette, just waiting on the mini fridge for the bottom right.

And the glass is going the the lower panel area on the screen porch! Hopefully it will finish up today! 

Up to code...

We are almost finally up to code and about to get our CO! Fence is finishing up around pool, all railings are in, and gutters went on today. Last part of fence goes in monday as well as the long awaited driveway! Woo hoo! August 30 final move in date!

30 days out!

i believe we are finally 30 days out! Some pool/landscaping delayed the driveway pour which delays getting the Certificate of Occupancy (CO). But now we are back on go. The kitchen cabinets are all in and the pool only lacks the spray on coating. The rock wall is finished. John and a dear friend worked tirelessly on the grading, digging trenches, french drains, boulder placement, rock steps, etc. It saved us at least 10-15,000! Our landscaper friend told us he would typically charge 20,000$ for the job they did, and we squeaked out with just wholesale cost for trees/rocks. We owe him big! Our apartment is brimming with little things we need in order to move in... shower curtains, mats, curtain rods, curtains, rugs, etc. cant wait!

Orange you glad you're here?

Welcome to our orange front door! It is a little bit different but I love it! Very non-traditional which would fit with us! It is "raucous orange" by sherwin williams and has a little reddish tint to it.  These two colors in both pics are the same color, just the indoor and outdoor lighting on my phone turned them out differently. But the barn doors in the playroom and main entry are both orange as well as the front door. Its bold but i am loving it! It goes great with the greys in the house.
A funny tidbit from psychology today on colors "Orange calls to mind feelings of excitement, enthusiasm, and warmth."
Perfect....just what we are going for!

Kitchen finishes

These are bad pics from my phone, a little blurry, but cabinet faces and pulls are going on! They are a grey stain over rift oak. I am so happy with how they turned out! The left picture is where the fridge will go. The pulls are haefla little recessed pulls. The pic on the right is basically a continuation of the first picture headed into the dining room.  This will serve as extra cabinetry and a buffet area for serving (to the right of this is the door to the deck/grill).

what a deal!

So i waited in line memorial day weekend for not only the 800$ off sale on the samsung steam washer dryer, but also for the 100$ energy star rebate, free delivery, and extra 10% off! We got them basically buy one get one free!

bumped back...

well we got bumped out another 4 or 5 weeks.  The pool guy isn't quite hitting the deadlines he said he would which has delayed driveway and fencing which has delayed final permits so they can start cleaning and punch lists. Bummer. But we will be in soon enough!!

Here are some updated pics...
1. Carpet is in, door knobs are on, alarm system is installed, mirrors are in, shower door is in. Its looking good in there!
2. as you can see in the distance (master closet) the door knobs are on!
3. J and a good friend who is an awesome landscaper worked tirelessly last week for 3 days putting in 10 trees (at cost yay) in the side yard. The rocks are what was broken up from under the foundation of the house. Bobcats, blisters, augers, and a little sweat equity goes a long way!
4. Pool concrete decking is being poured tomorrow so we can finally get things moving some more!

Lights, appliances, paint... oh my!

 The lights are in and appliances (all but fridge) are in as well. We may end up having the pendant lights moved, they are more over the sink than the bar, but we will see what that damage would be if so! Otherwise, i think they'll be fine where they are!

 Barn doors are in the playroom. Yet to be painted orange though.. but looking awesome! Our architect and door guy did awesome creating a divot at the bottom of the door so it wont smash the baseboard or hit the wall.  Good move with two little ones in there!Fans and can lights are in. We went with no light on the fan and 4 inch cans (also called 3 1/2's apparently) instead of the standard 6. I think due to our aversion to overhead lighting and not a huge need for it in this room as you can see! 

The railings looks better than i had hoped! They are painted steel, a dark grey (cyberspace Sherwin williams) to match the interior doors. 

Still dusty but the shower heads are in. J went a little overboard with the two back sprayers and two rain heads but after being in one at the house we rented this week at the beach, i am pretty excited to try it out! 

Just missing mirrors in the master bath now! Love the lights and they look great with the vanity!

Our room is finished all but the carpet. Fan is in, speakers in place in the ceiling and can lights as well in the ceiling. Feels like you're in a tree house!

Should be in in a month or so possibly! Driveway, landscaping, carpet, mirrors, bath hardware, finish up pool... i think that is all that remains!

Indoor/Outdoor railings going in

 They are putting in the railings today. These are steel railings that a local guy does here. They are actually outdoor railings so they will be going on our front entry way as well but we are putting them inside too. It is way cheaper than doing that ultra modern rail system with cables that run instead of bars, but i like this just the same. They're looking good! 

more finishing touches...

A few more finishing touches are going in, plumbing fixtures are in, sinks, countertops in the office, kitchenette and laundry, and the whole house in painted inside and out.  The first picture is the office area/loft. The countertop turned out better than i thought and I am so excited to have a space for our office stuff. It is currently split between the top of the fridge and laundry room shelf. :( The second picture is the side of the house, the wood area is for the outdoor shower headed out to the pool. Third picture is the mega sink and mega faucet. There's gonna be some serious dish washing going on in there. Fourth is the barn door in the playroom. Turned out really great. It is a huge door, still needs a coat of paint but looks good. There is another one near the front door I just didnt take a picture of it. Fifth is the kitchen counters and sink. Appliances were delivered today but not installed yet. Lastly the green dual flush toilet with the soft close feature J just had to have.. i admit, after trying it I was hooked. ;)

Exterior elements

Lots of things are getting done. the exterior paint finished up this week with the window trim. It really makes the colors pop. Ignore the foggy windows, interior painting has started and they put some film on the windows. The interior baseboards and trim are painted and look good! The countertops are in and look amazing! Since we have been living in an apartment for the last month or so while the house is being finished and i have about 3 ft of counter space, when i saw the counters i about fell over! I am so excited. The island is about 10 ft long with the overhangs for bar seating. And i am so excited about the "buffet" cabinets in the dining room with countertops for serving or buffet lines. Can't wait to enjoy it with others!

In other news the pool is going in and there is some serious piping going on. The rectangle on the left is the hot tub that is set into the pool a bit. We are doing a "sport pool" which doesnt have the traditional deep end. Its like 3 1/2 ft 5 ft 3 1/2 feet so set up for the perfect volleyball game. We figured you cant really dive in 6 feet anyway so didnt know what we'd use a deep end for. There is a sun ledge on the other end of the pool which will be lots of fun. I really have no idea what this pool will end up looking like. I am so bad at visualizing plans! Just about a month and a half and we will be moving in! I can wait but I am looking forward to it!

living room furniture decisions to come...

still deciding but leaning toward these so far...
1. The delaney sectional from crate and barrel in graphite
2. The tracy recliner chairs from crate and barrel in orange fabric
3. The orange branch pillow from a designer on etsy.com
4. The solid pillow with buttons from west elm and the orange side table in the picture

5. The natural stump side table from west elm

Interior Trim and modern trinkets...

There is a lot of interior trim in this house! The boxes have gone in and the shiplap siding is finished on the columns, stairway and fireplace and its looking good! I am just hoping meditative blue from Sherwin williams is going to look good over it! I am pretty pumped about these boxes, which is surprising because we are not trinket people.  So i am starting my brain on what is going to go in them.
Here are two things that we have so far to go in them :)
Love the bird from CB2.com. J and I call each other bird so this one has a sentimental meaning. The orange and blue vases from crate and barrel will be some colors we will be accenting with, mostly orange...