House Updates. Again.

It seems as if I've recently turned into a one-trick pony . . . only posting house updates.  Well for better or worse, the renovation has pretty much been consuming a good portion all of our time.  We are getting very close -- hopefully another 2-3 weeks and it will be done!  Then adios apartment, hello home!  I. cannot. wait. 

This may be the last set of progress pictures I share so the final result will be a big surprise.  You know, it's how they do it on all of those renovation shows.

Here's the latest in the bathroom -- the herringbone marble floors (pre-grout).  This iphone picture does not do them justice (and most of the floor is shadowed), but take my word for it, it looks 10 times better in person.  Justin said the other night he just wanted to hang out in there because the tile was so cool.  Very cool, indeed.  

And our new shower is coming along.  I love the shiny white subway tiles (also pre-grout).   

We stopped by the house the other night and the floor guy had been there to put some stain samples on the floor so we could see what we liked.  This iphone picture is terrible because it's blurry and it was nighttime so it was hard to capture the true colors.  But regardless of that disclaimer, any guesses on which one we chose?  I should be a tease and make you wait, but I won't.  We are going with the one in the top right corner.  It was a toss up between that one and the middle on the bottom row.  In the end, the top right one won out.     

More kitchen updates.  It just got a fresh new coat of white paint.  All it needs now is some new hardware, appliances, and countertops.     
 

And I've saved the best for last.  This is one of our slabs of danby marble for the kitchen.  We are actually headed out this morning to our fabricator's to go see where all of the cuts will be made to ensure we like the direction of the veining, etc.  I'm pumped to see them again.  And then the next time we see them, they will be installed in our kitchen.  I've got several stories to share about us getting these slabs.  But that's for another time. 

And that concludes the latest round of the renovation highlights.  What do you guys think so far?  Anything exciting happening in your neck of the woods.  Do y'all have any fun holiday weekend plans? 

More House Updates.

It should come as no surprise that we are still in the middle of our renovation.  It's been fun (and stressful at times), but more than anything, I am so ready to move in the house already! Here's a little update:

Remember the kitchen before?  Here she is in all of her green granite glory.  

And here she is now.  Bye bye granite and wrap-around, two-tiered counter and tiny island.  Hello new peninsula and bigger island (which you can't really tell from this angle).  The room feels tons bigger already.

Riley and Zoey came over with us one evening to check on the progress.  There is far too much for them to get into, so we used the old tub filler on the removed bathtub (and yes, it's sitting in our bedroom) to corral them while we scoped out the bathroom.  They didn't seem impressed.  For those eagle eyes out there, you can see our new hardware on the door. 

And last but certainly not least, I have finally decided on a wallpaper for our powder room.  I went back and forth for months on what I wanted, but in the end, I couldn't deny the beauty of this "hummingbird" wallpaper.  It has so many beautiful colors, and frankly, it's just pretty.  And who doesn't like pretty things?     

 

The tiling in our bathroom should start this week.  I can't wait to see it go up!

Master Bath Plan.

Since the last pictures I showed of our bathroom weren't very pretty, I thought I would share the direction we are headed with the master bathroom.  

Faucets: Newport Brass Fairfield Collection
Countertops: Carrara
Hardware:  Restoration Hardware Grafton Pulls
Sconces:  Byrant Sconce
Mirrors:  Reflection Mirror (we may not get these exact mirrors, but something similar) 

If all goes as planned, I should have pictures of some of the tiling this week!    

 

Progress.

What I've been up to lately . . . renovations!  In case you want to see how it looked before, check out the video tour.

I was not sad to see the ugly green tile go in the bathroom. 

I don't miss the hideous lighting either. 

Or the brass-framed shower door.

Or the cultured marble walls in the shower.  (Yes, they removed the toilet and it is sitting in the shower for now.)

And the kitchen already feels much more open after removing the bar-height wrap around counter.

 

While things may not be looking pretty yet, I am thrilled with the progress so far.  And can't wait to see things looking fabulous and just the way we want them.

House Tour.

Without further ado, here's a tour of our new house!

A couple of things to note:

• My video skills clearly need some work.
• I was really afraid of the video being super long, so I kind of breezed through some rooms.  Sorry about that!  Obviously, if you have any questions about the space, feel free to ask.
• At about the 25 and 35 second mark, when I refer to "Walter," I'm referring to the massive ostrich print previously mentioned here.  That's just what we call him now, so it didn't occur to me until I watched the video that me referring to a Walter could be a little weird/confusing.
• At about the 50 second mark, I guess I am very excited about the powder room.  Why do I say "powder room" like that?  I have no idea.
• Around the 1:30 mark, look for our new cabinet hardware on two of the upper cabinets in the kitchen.  We love them (anything is better than the current pulls)!
• About the 2:30 mark when we head outside, note that the grill is not staying, and the hose is in the fountain because Justin was siphoning out all of the rain water.

Hope you enjoyed it!  I can't wait to do a similar post with tour after the renovations are all done! 

Tub Talk.

I had high hopes of posting the video tour of our new place, but being the You Tube novice that I am, I had no idea it would take so long to upload my video.  I'll post the video tour later this week (unless I decide by then that listening to me talk for nearly 7 minutes as I cruise around a house is not entertaining for anyone).  So instead, let's talk about bath tubs. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a so many freaking decisions to make when you renovate.  This weekend, we spent a substantial portion considering various bath tub options.  In doing some research, I came across this fabulous post by Holly at Things That Inspire.  It basically sums up our dilemma.

I mean, you can't really deny the beauty of a free standing bathtub.

Source: decorpad.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: sarahrichardsondesign.com via Emily on Pinterest

We've talked with our contractor and a freestanding tub is going to be substantially more expensive to install since you have to rerun the plumbing and change the drain.  Neither of which are easy (read: cheap) to do on a slab foundation.  And maybe in an attempt to rationalize keeping the budget in check, I've realized that, with a freestanding tub, there are two potential downsides:  (1) there is no place to set my book, magazines, and/or wine; (2) the Inspector-Gadget-arm-reach needed to turn on the faucet.  The width of our tub is 42 inches -- that's a long reach across to turn on the water -- or maybe I just have t-rex arms.  Either way, I would probably have to stand in the tub just to reach the faucet.  See what I mean?

Source: sarahrichardsondesign.com via Emily on Pinterest

So now our search has been focused more on drop in (and possibly under-mount) bath tubs.  Even though we had jets in our last tub, I hardly ever used them.  So this time around, we are just going for a deep soaker tub without all the bells and whistles.  But we can't decide on whether to go with a rectangle shaped tub or an oval one.  

We had an oval one in our last house and we liked it:

The tub is in an alcove in our new place, like these:

Source: justinetaylor.tumblr.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Emily on Pinterest

But there's something sleek and a little more modern with a rectangular tub:

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: styleathome.com via Emily on Pinterest

The tub size we need to fill the space is 72" x 42".  That's a big tub!  I don't think I realized it until I saw this picture of a tub we were considering:

(photo: here)

I sure hope it's the angle of the photo that makes her look so tiny in there.  I don't want to have to wear a life jacket to take a bath!

Here's Riley and me trying to recreate the above picture in our current tub.  Okay not really, I was trying to figure out if I liked having those little arm rests inside the tub and Riley wanted to assist (he laid down shortly after this and got comfortable in the tub). 

So what do you think?  Do you guys have a preference -- rectangle or oval tub?  Anything I'm missing that I should consider? 

30th Birthday Present.

I turn 30 in 2 weeks.  Yikes!  I already know what Justin is getting me for my birthday.  And it's not because I'm super sneaky/nosy and figured it.  (But that would be something I would totally do.)  Instead, this present was one he couldn't really keep from me.

We are going back to Paris for a week! 

When I did my Paris recap shortly after returning from our 2-week Europe trip about a year ago, I said the following: "I seriously loved every single second of Paris. I would go back tomorrow if I could."  Well, it may not have been "tomorrow," but I will take a year instead.

Source: Uploaded by user via Emily on Pinterest

I can't hardly wait.  Our trip won't be as near as rushed this time around.  We are already planning on hitting up some of the places we didn't have time to check out last time, and I've been scouring blogs for some other great tips.  If you have any to share, I'm all ears!

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the house renovations go according to plan while we are away!  I like to think I can calm my worries of what's happening back home by drinking copious amounts of wine and champagne and eating lots of French pastries and cheese.

Decisions, Decisions.

Hope you guys had a wonderful weekend.  Ours was spent mostly researching and thinking about kitchen and bath renovation decisions.  There are so many!  My head is spinning with all of the options for the layout, appliances, sinks, faucets, hardware . . . and that's just the kitchen!   

We also got some tile samples this weekend for the bathroom.  We are debating between 1x2 or 3x6 carrara marble tiles, laid in a herringbone pattern for the floor.  The 3x6 tiles in the picture are just ceramic tiles from Lowe's so we could get the idea of the scale of those compared to the 1x2.  What do you guys think would look best for the floor?  1x2 or 3x6?   

I have also been contemplating some new art work for the entry way.  Specifically, I have been obsessed with a massive ostrich print from Z Gallerie.  It's funny because it really doesn't seem like something I would be drawn to, but for whatever reason, I love it.  I finally took the plunge and brought it home with me.  We immediately hung it on a hook that was leftover from the previous owners and knew it was perfect for the space.  It makes me smile whenever I see it. 

I had Justin stand by it when I snapped the picture so you could get a feel for the size (and so he could work on his Vanna White pose).  Justin has named the ostrich Walter.  So everyone, meet Walter!   

As you could imagine, a lot of our time has been filled with renovation decisions, meeting with contractors, and all of the other fun things that go along with buying a house.  I've been hesitant to post too much about it all because I don't want to bore all of you with the million and one decisions.  And since the house has really been the only thing on my mind, I haven't had much else to post about! If you want to hear more about the specific decisions we are making along the way, let me know and I can share them.  Or if you prefer just to be kept in the loop on the big things and see it once it's all done, that's cool too.  Just let me know . . . I aim to please!   

I plan to go over to the house next weekend and take good pictures of the house before the renovation starts so y'all can get a full house tour in its before state.  I may even go all out and do a video tour!  Crazy!   

Homeowners!

We're officially homeowners again!  We closed remotely, as previously discussed here.  Thankfully, our lender moved our paperwork to the front of the line and was able to get it all to the title company in record time so we could sign the docs before we headed out of town (and we would just have to fund the following day).  The only hiccup was that the sellers' paperwork was delayed because they were sailing off the coast of Florida and tropical storm Debby slowed down FedEx's delivery schedule.

But despite all of that, we closed and picked up the keys to our new house from our realtor on our way home from the airport!

(if we look excited but tired, we were.  we had been up since 4:45 am to catch our 7:05 flight!)

Of course we've been spending lots of time at the house.  Here's some iPhone shots from around our new digs.

Zoey's just chilling in the middle of the living room.

I love our huge crepe myrtles.  You can't really tell from the picture, but the flowers are pink and so pretty.  Not to mention the trees add such great privacy in our back yard.

Justin holding up our new entry way chandelier for size.  When you see the old one, you can understand why I was in such a hurry to find a new one!  

For those of you who are wondering, we've officially decided to go with white marble.  And don't worry, we will also be replacing those sweet cabinet handles. 

Justin was honing his MacGyver-skills and rigged up the hose to drain out our fountain, which is in desperate need of good cleaning. 

And my favorite of them all . . . sweet Riley and Zoey peeking out the backdoor.  

And I have to give a shout out to two sweet bloggers who I met up with this weekend.  First, Elz picked me up some amazing chocolate and almond croissants at the new Trader Joe's.  I knew we'd get along just fine when I discovered she was also addicted to TJ's mini peanut butter cups.     

Then I went over to Megan's house from Honey We're Home to check out her white marble counters.  It was so thoughtful of her to let us come check them out so we could see how they've worn before we made a decision.  Yippee for sweet friends met through the blogosphere! 

Hope your week is going well and you're ready for the 4th!

5 things . . .

Even though we're not moving until the renovations are complete, in honor of closing this week on our new home, I thought I would share the top 5 things I will not miss about living in our apartment:

(1)  Our high water bill.  It's actually more expensive here than it was at our previous home. 

(2)  Having to take the dogs out -- down the hall, down the stairs, and out to the back.  Justin does this task 98% of the time, but it is annoying -- and even more so now with 100+ degree weather.  We can't wait to let them run around off-leash in their new back yard!    

(3)  Smelling our neighbor's horrible fish dinners and mothball clothes.  Seriously, it's terrible. 

(4)  Having to go up several levels to park and then, usually because there are no close spaces, walking a ways to our apartment.  This is especially fun with groceries in tow.  I am pumped just thinking about being able to walk directly from my car in the garage into the house.   

(5)  Hearing every time that our upstairs neighbors walk around or use the restroom (and knowing that our downstairs neighbors likely have the same complaints about us).

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On a more serious note, please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers.  My Great Aunt (who was probably closer to a grandma to me than a great aunt) passed away Monday morning.  She was a wonderful woman.  Here we are dancing a few years ago at my cousin's wedding:

 
Every birthday (mine and Justin's), Christmas, Easter, and our anniversary we would get a card from her, always with a thoughtful message (in her handwriting that was so hard to decipher).  I will certainly miss getting those cards and, of course, her kind heart.  While in the hospital recently, after suffering a stroke, she got out of her wheelchair to help push someone else's wheelchair.  That story pretty much exemplifies her life -- always helping out others.

We will actually have to close on our house remotely so we can attend her funeral.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly!

Kitchen Counters

In case you missed the news, we will be closing on our new house in less than 2 weeks!  One of the things that we want to update is the kitchen.  It's not terrible in its current condition, but we have some ideas to make it work a little better for us.  So you can see what we're working with, this is the view from the breakfast room.  

We are going to get new appliances, make the island bigger, remove the bar-height level counters, and also reconfigure the wrap-around counter to make it more open.  We will also be refinishing and staining the hardwoods a darker color.  We plan to leave the white cabinets. 

But the biggest debate in our house apartment right now is the new counter tops.  We've narrowed it down to two options -- Option #1 is white marble and Option #2 is honed absolute black granite.  (Since it really boils down to either black or white, I always seem to get Michael Jackson's "Black or White" song stuck in my head.)    

Here's the breakdown of the dilemma:

• I love love love white marble counters with white cabinets.  Visually speaking, they are always my favorite kitchens.  (My pinterest page has been full of them for a very long time.)  It's safe to say, I like the look of white marble counters more than black.  But I don't dislike the look of the black counters.
• White marble has a tendency to etch, stain, and chip.  I have done substantial research on this, and think I'm ok with a less than perfect finish (or patina -- which doesn't make it sound so bad) over time.  Given these issues associated with white marble, Justin prefers the black granite over the white marble.
• The black granite is substantially cheaper than the white marble.  
• I've thought about doing the island in the white marble and the remainder in black granite, but don't really like the look of that since the island isn't very substantial (and has the stove).   

And for visualization purposes, here are some amazing kitchens with both black and white counters with white cabinets.

Source: tiekbuilthomes.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: awelldressedhome.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: caitlincreer.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: peppermintbliss.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Emily on Pinterest

So readers, do you have a preference?  What are your thoughts?  Does anyone have either of these counters and wish to share some of their thoughts on them?

We bought a house!

I mentioned here that I would be back to share our anniversary present to each other.  Nothing gets by Cassie, and she totally guessed it.  We found the perfect house!  And it's (almost) ours!  We could not be more excited!   

So this has been in the works for a couple of weeks now, but I didn't want to say anything before it was official.  We are past the inspection and the appraisal . . . so now we just have to wait until we close at the end of the month.  In the meantime, here's a little teaser picture from the entry hall we snapped during the inspection. 

Couple of fun facts about this house:

(1)  It is literally right next to this house (the one we had the back up contract on and didn't get).  How fun will be to get to know those next door neighbors?   The house we had the back up contract on was great, but neither Justin nor I were ever super pumped about it, but we LOVED the street.  Our new house is amazing and we are totally pumped about it, and it's on the same street we loved so much.  So now we get the best of both worlds.  Winning.

(2)  We put an offer on the house and were under contract about 12 hours after it was listed.  My mom was driving by the other house when there was still a chance it would be ours and noticed the for sale sign in front of house number 2.  She called to tell me, and frankly, I thought she was crazy because it wasn't showing up on the market.  I told her maybe it was a contractors sign, but she proved me wrong and called the realtor.  He said he had just put up the for sale sign that afternoon and it would be listed at midnight.  But that if we wanted to see it the next day, we could go ahead and schedule a time.  So we did -- we were already seeing another house in the area that morning anyway.  We knew right away that we loved it.  So we put an offer on it right after we got back to our offices that morning.  They countered about an hour later and it was a done deal!

The house needs some cosmetic updates, and we are meeting with some contractors to talk about remodeling the kitchen and bathroom.  The good news is hopefully there will soon be some great before and after pictures.  I am excited to share the progress along the way with y'all.  We cannot wait to make the house our own!   
       

Happy Anniversary!

So I'm a couple of days early, but Tuesday is our 8th wedding anniversary.  I really cannot believe I've been married to my wonderful husband 8 years (and he's put up with me for that long).  Time flies when you're having fun! 

Instead of telling you all how amazing my husband is (which he is) or how much I love him (a lot), I thought I would share one of my favorite memories from our wedding reception.  Surprisingly, it was when he removed my garter.  His friends convinced him to put a lace thong (that they picked up at Wal-Mart) up his sleeve and pull that out instead of my actual garter (without me having any idea, of course).  I should have known something was up since all of the guys were paying very close attention.  Look at those faces. 

I had no clue that he was going to do this, and when I realized what was happening, was embarrassed at first.  Then quickly thought it was hilarious.  And also wondered immediately what my grandma would think.  Thankfully, she was not offended!  

I love seeing how funny the guys thought it was.  Sheer and utter delight.     

 

And my sweet husband giving me a kiss and apologizing for the little surprise.  Clearly, I was very upset.

Thankfully our marriage has still been full of these fun moments together (though not necessarily of him removing a thong -- get your mind out of the gutter, people)!    

Hope you guys had a great weekend.  I'll be back very soon to share our anniversary present to each other!  It's a good one!