Christmas Rush

Again, the more I work on the house, the less I post. In this instance, correlation does mean causation.

I do feel like I have a true following because I'm getting requests for photos and updates. So here goes.

I took this week off from work. Some call it vacation. Others call is "staycation." I call it more work than my work. But it's been a productive week thus far.

First, Jay Wilichoski, our super painter, finished up painting everything but the breezeway/den. I am really loving the colors. The white dove is the perfect trim - a lovely soft white that goes well with our kitchen cabinets and the colors we chose for all rooms. The fact that he sprayed all the trim, doors and ceilings really makes everything look uniform and perfect. We did a semi gloss on the doors and trim but, since it was sprayed, it comes off as more of a cross between satin and semi gloss. Which is perfect, because I couldn't decide between those two finishes.

Of all the colors, we love our master bedroom most. The Manchester Tan is THE perfecte neutral.


Second favorite is the Revere Pewter, which is a perfect "greige" for our open floor plan.


Thirdly, I am a little bit obsessed with the Van Courtland Blue in my office.


Lastly, I am very happy with a soft but rejuvenating creamy yellow for our guest room.


The painter plans to come back in a week or so to finish/touch up...

In the mean time, I've spent my vacation...cleaning. And if you ask my husband, it is a chore that I am actually pretty awful at doing. Not this week. This week, I rock at cleaning. To the point that my hair is covered in sawdust and my fingers are shriveled from spending countless hours in a soapy bucket of water.

It took forever, but I can finally say that all of the kitchen cabinets are clean and READY FOR DISHES!

While I was cleaning today, I was also on standby to answer questions from the electirician like... Where should I hang the wall sconce, how long do you want the pendant light to hang, what should the order of switches go on a certain switch box?

We're making good progress on the electical front. Our electrician is coming back next Tuesday to finish up, but check out some of the more exciting lighting intallations:

Pendants!


Office light! LOVE IT (see above) - thank you Nate Bennett!

Murray Feiss Barrington Sconces for living room - thank you Nate Bennett!


HVAC came and installed all of the vent covers today as well as thermostats...that, combined with the fireplace install, means thats I was nice and toasty at the house this week.


What else can I update folks on...

...Kel is installing the stairs between the breezeway/den and house.
...I can't tell you how messy, dusty and gross everyhing is in the house. It took me an hour to clean off fan blades for the electrician to install.
...The granite on the island just got installed...as did the quartz on the master vanity...and the window sill in the kitchen. It took a couple trips to get it right, but they figured it out and we're happy with how everything looks. Kel will install brackets on the island so the 12.5 inch overhang won't cause a major issue if someone decides to lean on it.



...We. need. furniture. Anyone heard of Modern Rust in DC? We may check it out over Christmas while we're in Virginia and have some items sent.
...I love wayfair.com
...We are moving December 29th!!! Let's hope we have an occupancy license before then.
...Carpets arrive in the bedrooms one week from today.
...We bought stools for our island. Who knew World Market, our favorite place in DC delivers?


...I need to rent a husband. Chris is working all week and I really need a husband to: hang mirrors, install doorstops, swap out our side door, patch a hole in our master bath (Long story there but not incredibly interesting so I will save for later), and install closet systems. I found Steve Butcher on Craiglist and we're going to give him a whirl...in hopes he doesn't butcher our walls. I mean, he can't screw them up any more than the guy who actually plastered the walls did!

That's all for now. Wanna know something kind of silly but true? The simple act of installing the plastic covers for the outlets really made the house look like a home. We can't wait to move on in to Salt Wall...in time for our second anniversary on December 31 - and even before then - our first overnight guest...Ms. Ellen E. Carey

Full House and Halloween Costume Inspiration

Lots going on at Salt Wall today. Literally, the street was packed with trucks and cars when I showed up this morning. We've got several different contrators coming and going this week. Here’s what work is in process:

Affordable Refacing showed up at 8am and got straight to work on removing our cabinet doors, refiguring the cabinets themselves and – eventually – the moment we’ve all been waiting for – they will spend the next 48 hours giving our dark and dreary (but high quality!) cabinets a brand new look. It’s a two-day process and will really look complete after tomorrow when the granite is installed. We timed the installation of the granite so that it will sit perfectly on the cabinets – no shims will be required, no gaps between wood and granite. These guys are great. They’re even going to install the shiny polished nickel knobs and pulls (from Restoration Hardware – I splurged).


Affordable Refacing also plans to layer a piece of linoleum that Chris bought at Home Depot below the sink cabinet to prevent future damage to the wood from drips and leaks. This was Shawn from Affordable Refacing’s idea – and we thought it was brilliant. A good DIY project for people who want to protect new or refinished cabinets - or even to patch up some rotting wood or damage from leaks!

The electricians are also at Salt Wall today installing the recessed lights. With the days getting shorter, it will be so nice to be able to walk around the house with Chris when he gets home from work to check out the progress – without it being so dark. Before that can happen, we’ll need switches, though…which comes after the skim coating. But still – it looks more complete with the recessed lights in!
On the topic of skim coating… In just a few days we will have white walls! Right now, we have blueboard or drywall. Already, the house looks more like a house with real rooms rather than rooms that are framed out with just wood. Now we don’t have to use our imagination as much when we say things like, “This will be our bedroom” and “here is our guest bath.” The photos below don’t properly convey how awesome it feels to have walls up – mostly due to the lack of light. The effect when you’re inside the home is pretty dramatic: Everything feels “closed up” (but not in a small/claustrophobic way), and no longer can I see the guest room through the master bathroom’s closets.


For those not in the know, skim coating is the process of applying a layer of muddy compound to smooth out rough or damaged ceilings and walls - which will happen on the first floor because we've had to patch up a skylight in the ceiling, holes from electrical, plumbing, HVAC and demolition work (e.g., chimney and wall removal) - or to cover up seams in and smooth over new blueboard (which will be what it is used for in the upstairs).

After applying a slab of skim coat, the excess is skimmed off and a second layer is often added. The wall can then be painted or wallpapered without the appearance of dings, paint bubbles, or roughness. Which means it really is time to think about paint color! Of course, the floors will need to be done (tile in bathroom, hardwood downstairs and upstairs hallway, carpet in bedrooms) before we can actually paint…but I’m ready to make decisions on color – with your help, of course. But we’ll save that topic for another blog posting. As an aside, Chris has put a moratorium on me actually talking about paint and breaking out paint samples at home, so the blog is my only outlet on that topic.

Btw, our neighbor (er, my parents’ neighbor) Dave Boucher is doing the drywall and skim coating. We’re hoping to catch a photo of Dave in his stilts during the project. For now, I will leave you with this photo of not-Dave. I may have just found inspiration for a Halloween costume.

Mom Was Right: It's Good to Save Receipts

I'll start this off with an audience participation question: Kohler or Toto toilets? Cimarron or Drake? Bancroft or Clayton? If you know the difference, I feel sorry for you...

Okay, so I have been getting a lot of heat about not blogging lately. Here’s the thing: This whole project was a lot more fun when we started it. I won’t belabor this point, but it is worth mentioning that the last few weeks have been, well, trying. It all started with the white vs. antique white cabinet debate. It's been downhill from there…but I think we’ve turned a corner. (Sidebar: A particularly low point was when the cabinet guy said, “I’ve never had someone care so much about the color white before.”)

Since the whole antique/white cabinet door saga, we’ve reneged on a number of decisions (faucets, tiles, vanities, shower valves, toilets, you name it); second guessed one another; made 6 trips to Lowes and 3 trips to Home Depot (in a matter of 4 days); and formed very strong opinions about toilet height and elongated vs. round toilet bowl. Most importantly, we had to give a “final answer” on placement of all pipes, light switches, light fixtures, faucets, etc. Sounds easier than it really was. Imagine going through an entire house that has no electric or plumbing and asking yourself questions like:
• If I got up in the middle of the night and had to go down stairs, where would I expect the light switch to be?
• Where do we think we will want the light fixture over the dining room table that we don’t yet own?
• What wall do we want the shower valve on?
• Do we care more about flush power or looks when it comes to toilets? (Okay, that’s an easy one)
• How much recessed vs. flush mount vs. wall sconces vs. lamp lighting do we want? (keep in mind that four months ago "flush mount" and "sconce" was not in my vernacular)

Perhaps the silver lining is that we are so much more educated than we ever were about all things house related.

So what’s been happening at Salt Wall besides my indecision? Well, a lot…even if it doesn’t look like a lot on the inside. We’re in the midst of the rough plumbing and electric, which is quite an important phase in the project but, for me, a very stressful phase (as indicated above).

The good news is that we’re making progress. We had our second bank inspection today, and Albert gave us good marks! So we have that going for us… And Kel, our fearless GC, has been a great guide throughout the entire process. He has been through this as a GC and as a homeowner, so it's really helpful that he can see things from both perspectives.

Back to me feeling sorry for myself... So truly this hasn’t been uber fun. If you're contemplating a project of this size, DON'T DO IT. Get a hobby! We’re over budget, over tired, and over the project. We miss the days when choosing what color or type of wine to drink was the most difficult decision du jour. And we miss being more social with family and friends. Where does the time go?! BUT… To end on a less negative note, as I mentioned at the beginning, we have turned a corner…and I only have Janice Desimone from Home Depot to thank (okay, I also have an amazingly supportive husband and parents who are letting me live with them and eat all their food). But Janice lifted my spirits tonight. She fixed our bathroom dilemma by helping us find a 72 inch vanity that didn’t require I get a second job (more on that later but basically we’re getting two 36-in base cabinets). Janice is kind, attentive and - the best part - she reads our blog, which clearly means she is cool. (Sidebar: Someone, please buy her house so she can move to Nahant where my mom grew up!!!) Janice even found me a vanity for our first floor half bath (the third one, in fact). The price was right, and it was exactly the look we were going for!


We're going to pair it with these vanity lights and this faucet (from Lowes - allen + roth and Delta, respectively).



Boy, do we have a lot to return to Lowes and Home Depot this weekend... Now that we got the new vanity for the half bath (pictured above), we plan to use the vanity originally intended for the half bath for the guest bath (pictured below) - and we will return the not-so-awesome white guest bath vanity I purchased so many moons ago. Btw, allen + roth is the only line worth paying attention to at Lowes. How great is this mission-style vanity, which will now be in our guest bath?

So that's all for now... Thanks for reading. I will try my best to keep the blogs more consistent. Feedback welcome!

P.S. For those of you who were anti the monochromatic kitchen, we’re contemplating adding some color to our kitchen in the area of backsplash. My husband likes blue...and returning 600 lbs of already purchased tile and grout. (Note: photo looks more earthy toned; it's actually a mix of carrara marble, blues, and greys.)

P.P.S. We went with antique white. I know – crazy move, but it just felt right for the colonial, warm, inviting, soft feel that we wanted. I can’t write much more than that on the topic because I’m still not totally sold but needed to put it to bed. That and the order had already been placed (no turning back!), and I pinky swore my husband I wouldn’t bring it up again...or else he gets to buy a weed wacker that we can't afford. A deal's a deal.

P.P.P.S. Gas fireplace getting installed next week in living room (if the fireplace guy ever calls me back - sigh); we're getting quotes for the finish work and floors (trim, staircase, etc.=fun part); and Jim Delaney, who sadly broke his knee recently, has his guys finishing our porch starting tomorrow. As a reminder, JD Builders built, sided and roofed our amazing home. Moral of the story is, even if we can't afford to finish the inside of the house, at least it will look nice from the outside. My husband does love camping....