Week 14!!

This week was the beginning of the big push to finish the main floor of the house. The cabinets were finished and the hardware was up on, the floating shelves were installed in the media room bar, and the electricians started to do the finishing touches on the main floor. 

I love the company we used for our cabinets, they have done an amazing job with our ordering and install. I am loving the hardware I picked. I love how the crystal pulls add sparkle but the pulls add a masculine feel to balance it out.

The floating shelves in the media room were installed and I love how they turned out. I was a little concerned that I would miss cabinets in there, but I think it will be fine in that bar area. It was worth giving cabinets up to have the mini split back in the bar. 

The electricians focused mainly on the kitchen to get ready for the appliances to be delivered next week. They changed out the kitchen table light, finished off the can lights in the family room, mudroom, and kitchen. They also installed the foyer light which I LOVE! I am so happy that I changed it out. 

Before and after for the kitchen table light:

 The foyer light: Billy still misses his "Game of Thrones" chandelier, but he is coming around to this new one...

There's a new hole in the side of the house to put the vent in for the new hood. I trust Virginia Traditions so much and I really trust Jim that when he said, I've never done this before, I wasn't even a little nervous. I think Jim can do just about anything and do it well!

With the advice of an amazing friend and Billy, we decided to do a chalkboard wall in the kitchen. We had one in our kitchen before and loved it and had a blank wall that was perfect for it. I spent one Wednesday night painting it! I had a bit of trouble since i was painting on brand new paint and it had a chemical reaction, but my amazing friend Janell came to help me paint. There are not many people who will come over and paint in their white pants at 9 pm at night! 

We picked our backsplash tile. The one on the left is the winner. I asked Billy his opinion, "Whichever one is cheaper" Thanks so much for your honest input....

The next two weeks are going to be very busy. Painting, plumbing, appliances, cabinets and trim being finished, and the media room is going to be started. We are on schedule and I am so excited to being coming to a close on this project. It has been really fun to see it coming together, but all good things must come to an end...right? 

Week 13!!

I can't believe we have been renovating for 13 weeks! It is hard to believe how fast this has gone by. Part of me can't remember not being under construction and part of me thinks that it has flown by. I think B thinks it has been forever and would really like for it to be finished, but it is still really exciting to see it coming all together.

The beginning of the week the painters painted the family and keeping room. The keeping room and family room fireplaces were completed and the countertops were installed. I spent some more time at Williams and Sherril picking out the finishing big pieces for our home! I ordered a chair for the office/pantry space for Target.

The painting of the family room and the keeping room has completely changed the look of the house. It always amazes me what paint can do to change the look of a room. We decided the change the trim and ceiling color to a very bright white (super white by Benjamin Moore). It has a slight blue hue to it which is right along with my cool color palette.

The ceiling is painted and looks amazing!

The very top is the new paint color for the family room

The bookcases were painted to match the trim. We are going to do something on the back of the bookcases but not quite sure what yet

The family room painted in the Accessible Beige. It is a Grayige color and I adore it!

The back mudroom and hallway was repainted in the existing gray/beige color and we have decided to paint the upstairs hall and 2 story foyer the same color to provide the consistency of the colors. 

The new paint for the foyer vs the old color

back of the mudroom. The laundry room door is on the left

Keeping room and new fireplace surrounds. They painted the brass in a high heat paint. It did not smell bad and seemed very quick to do. It makes it look like a brand new fireplace

the keeping room!! 

The countertops were installed this week. I had picked our countertops when they were polished and then they honed them. I had no idea what it would look like honed and once you do that, you cannot return them. It was a bit of a leap of faith, but I could not be happier with the results. I am so happy when I look at them and I am so happy that we went with the marble. It has already had a water spot and it did not bother me at all. I am happy to have the wear and tear to change the look of the countertop. 

installing the countertops

ladder is where the fridge will be

the office/pantry

wet bar sink

office

file drawers in office

2 of our 5 bar stools

The family room fireplace and mantle was installed and I am very happy with it. The mantle is bigger than the previous one which caused some panic that we weren't going to be able to hang the TV and vision art we had their before. My wonderful friend and neighbor came down and helped me hang the art. We just have to raise the brackets a little bit and it will be fine! Phew!

before

after! The painters will paint the mantle to match the door trim

The last big item of the week was finalizing the pulls for the cabinets. Here are the ones we decided on:

for the cabinets in the kitchen

for the drawers in the kitchen and office

for the cabinets in the office

We were going to do a marble tile backsplash, but it does not match the countertops as well as I was expecting. I am now going to do a white subway tile. We are deciding between these two. We will probably do the one on the right, but will decide this coming week

I am not sure what is coming up this week-maybe plumbing, more painting, electrical work, more trim? But the most exciting thing is our PODS comes home on Thursday and the movers come Friday afternoon! Billy and I will be back in our bedroom and bed by Friday night. The idea of that is so exciting to us! YAY! We are getting closer to this project being complete.