Week 11...What's Happening?

The answer to that would be not much.  Actually, all of the window and door trim has been put up and when I got home today, the tile in the bathroom and the laundry room is laid but not grouted.

Above is the laundry room tile.  Note that we are missing 9 pieces of tile.  Apparently we needed more than the contractor told me.  And I asked twice.  Whatever.  He got the powder room amount correct.  It's below:

I love it.   My 13 year old does not but that's fine.

We have really elaborate baseboards and trim above all of the windows and doors.  I'm sure it's not cheap to duplicate but it really looks nice.  This is what the current looks like:

This is what the new version looks like.  It's not all painted yet.

It's really as close to a perfect match as you can get.  I'm really happy with it.  I think when it's painted you won't even be able to tell the difference between old and new.

The cabinets are coming on Monday.  That's going to be really exciting to see when they get installed.  I've been trying to choose cabinet hardware and that's another paralyzing nightmare.  The ones that I really liked would have cost $950 so I found plan B at around $250.  Much better.

This is what I liked:

It's a terrible picture and they are $12 each.  Not happening.  I need 56 of them.  Yes, 56.  It's a lot.

Instead, I'm going with this:

This one is $5.18 each.  I found even cheaper ones that were similar at overstock.com but I really like the details on this one so I'm going with it.  It's about $250 for everything and free shipping.

Also, I think I mentioned the fact that my lighting was taking forever to be shipped. I ordered it on 3/21 and they promised 2-3 weeks to ship.  I got an email last week saying the ship date wouldn't be until  April 30th so it was going to be more like 6 or 7 weeks.  Definitely not making me happy.  Anyway, I got the shipping notification today I can't wait for that to get here and be done with it.  My third floor is completely full of stuff that needs to be installed someday.

More as things happen.

Where we are: Week 10

This is what it looks like now:

Walls, floors and lights.  It's getting there.

Sid is not so sure...

He doesn't like the camera.  Not at all.

Approaching Week 10 & More Decisions

It's an every day occurrence in my life.  I finally got the tile ordered.  I took the slate back for the laundry room and found out that the tile I ordered from Lowe's for the powder room was back ordered for 6 weeks.  Anyway, canceled everything and went to a tile store.  The p.r. tile was actually cheaper there and it's the same thing.  And I can get it Wednesday.

This is what I picked for the laundry area:

Yes, that is my foot in it.  And even though it (the tile, not my foot) looks like slate, it's really porcelain.  And it looks like it's bumpy but it's not so it'll be easier to clean.  I hope.  I think I'm going to use darker grout though.  More gray=less dirt.

All of my hard wood floors are in.  It'll be interesting to see it finished with stain and stuff.  From what I hear, the cabinets will be here at the end of next week.  That's something to look forward to.  I can't wait to see what they look like.  All of the appliances are waiting in the warehouse and my lighting should be here in the next couple of weeks. 

I still have to get a lot of plumbing stuff ordered.  It's making me nuts.  The choices are overwhelming and I don't want to buy something crappy but I also don't want to pay $500 for a kitchen faucet.  I think I just have to bite the bullet and order it and be done.  That's my plan for today or tomorrow. 

Things to buy

I spent hours at Lowe's on Friday.  Why?  Because I needed tile and faucets and a garbage disposal and a hot water dispenser.  Oh, and some lights.

I chose a slate tile for the laundry room but of course after I carried 5 boxes of it to the car and brought it home I decided that it didn't really look like the display sample they had grouted.  It was far too bumpy so I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it or not.  If I don't, I'm making Frank come with me to return it.  The boxes weigh a ton. I ended up buying the hexagon tiles for the powder room so that will be pretty. 

I also had to buy a new ceiling fan because the other one is so hideously ugly it can't be in the lovely room anymore.  And that's saying something because the one in my golden yellow bedroom is pink.  Dusty rose to be exact (it used to match the dusty rose carpet and ugly rose wallpaper...all of which are gone).  Someday I'll replace that one too.  I also got a new outside light for the back door.  Nothing fancy but nice.

Someday I'll post a run down on how ugly my house was when we moved in.  Dark green carpet, drop ceilings all throughout the downstairs and really ugly wall paper everywhere.  I mean every single room.  But that's a post for another day.

Countertops Selected! (Finally)

After much torture and many visits to granite yards, I've finally gone ahead and chosen the countertops.  We went yesterday and I brought home samples and I still liked it when I got up this morning.  Very unusual for me.  I've already bought and returned floor tile twice since I liked it one day and not the next.  Very fickle!

Anyway, I'm getting honed absolute black for the perimeter counters.  It looks like this:

This is river white and it's for the island:

I really wanted marble for the island but didn't want to deal with the etching and staining that goes along with it.  Anyway, the cabinets are quarter sawn white oak stained a medium color with a bit of a reddish under tone and the island is stained black so I think this will look nice.  I think my mother disagrees but I figure I have to look at it a lot more than she does.  Actually, she just doesn't like the black ones, she does like the river white.  I wanted soapstone on the perimeters but it's too soft and I'm not willing to deal with that.  Some that I saw you could scratch with your thumb nail.  I would prefer not to have chips and stuff all over the place.

Overall, this is such a stressful decision to make.  The cost makes it very unlikely that I'll be able to change it any time soon.

Anyway, another decision I can check off of my list.  Yippee!

Done with week 7...

I'm afraid I'm starting to lose it.  I honestly don't know how much more of this basement kitchen thing I can stand. 







See how my head is tilted?  That's how I have to walk in the basement so I don't clock myself on a pipe.  It's actually getting really painful but there's not much I can do about it.

Anyway, we are getting floors put in and who knows what will happen next.   I hope the cabinets will be ready to install when they need it.  I'm going tomorrow to finally make a decision about granite or marble countertops.  It's all so expensive and permanent.  If I don't like it, I won't be changing it any time soon so I'm getting a little paralyzed by the process.

Also, word to the wise.  If you ever decide to do something like this, make sure you budget a lot extra (like 15% or so) because stuff comes up all the time.  Things you want, things you have to do and a million other things as well.

I'm off to take some advil.  Maybe it will help.