Our Dream Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom turned out even better than expected. We love having a large deck off the bedroom with our small two person hot tub. Our old house had a huge 10 person hot tub but it was two stories down. Any relaxing effect quickly wore off after coming and going. The upkeep on the tub was not worth the effort either as it rarely was used by more than my husband and I. Now it is 5 seconds to jump in and out.
Dual closets are amazing. Wasn't on the request list. The master bedroom was built over the new two car garage that was added below. So we had 400+ square feet to work with.

Master Bedroom Deck over Garage

Halloween 2013

Late Late post. We have been so enjoying actually living in our home that we have not posted in months. We had a great First Halloween in our new house. I finally have my huge front porch to decorate and the kids in the neighborhood loved it. We actually got as many trick or treaters as we had in our old house. Even though we are not in a development neighborhood. I think our decorations put up very early attracted quite few kids to come out of the way. We also gave out big candy bars to build a rep in the neighborhood!

The Big Staircase Reveal

Just got home from a week away in San Francisco and a miracle. Our stairs are done, Not almost done... Done Done. We were so used to the barn look they felt a little to fancy to be in our house, for about an hour. I was so anxious to get these done that I did the finish work on all the railings and posts so they would be ready to go for the finish carpenter while we were gone. I am so glad I did the work myself as I got the stain color just right to work with both the reclaimed stair treads, and flooring both up and down stairs. The last few things like the mantel and a few window mouldings are now painted as well. We are so close we can see the finish line!

The time has finally come. The miracle...we live in our House

Sorry there have been no posts. Busy Busy moving in. It is fantastic. We felt like guests in our home for the first week! I guess the roughing it of our temporary quarters kind of wore off on us. It seemed too nice to be in a real house. We are settling in and moving stuff in and around. Finding things that we do need from storage and wondering why even after our major dejunking of the old house did we keep so much. Another huge goodwill pile is growing in the garage. Still no staircase, no fireplace mantel, no hardware on the cabinets, lots of little things to finish, but it will happen eventually.

Our New Shower. How have we lived without this beauty?

Love Love Love this shower. We may not be moved in yet but we are using this shower every day now. It is amazing what about 3 square feet more size in a shower does for the roominess. Feels like a spa, we don't want to get out.

So Happy with the pebble floor, feels good on the feet.

First In! Boys have moved into the House... Oh Happy Day

 

The boys spent their first night in the house! We got the basics in their bedrooms for them and they are finally in warm and cozy

 

Check out Andys cool light fixture. Found on Etsy this artist in Isreal custom made one for Andy. It gives off the coolest shadows.

Searching for Cabinet Hardware...taking opinions

Any votes out there on what cabinet hardware to pick?

Like both the knob and the pull in this collection. Often I find a knob I like but not the pull and vice versa. But this one I like both

 

Like the farmhouse pull at the top and beaded knob at the bottom. Like that the beaded element would repeat the beading of the cabinet

 

Maybe a little contrast of the squared but rounded edge knobs and pulls would be great

Hardwood floors in and finished....banned from the house for 3 days

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a super patient person. This whole process is wearing very thin.  But just getting to press my face to the window and look inside at what is taking shape has lifted my spirits. Mark Chambers has refinished existing wood floors and added new hardwoods to the kitchen. Can't go inside for three days while stain and then finish cures. It looks outstanding. Can't tell the old from the new. I love what I now refer to as the goldilocks finish. Nutmeg was too light & gold and Provencial was too dark & brown...but half of each was just right! Mark says its the "Michele finish" but probably really calls it the "Michele Pain in the Butt" finish. And so I post a picture of all three on his crew and their butts.

Shopping: Vintage Finds & Treasures for the New House

 

We purchased a couple vintage light fixtures at Monticello this weekend. Aweome fixture find for Jays office. Silly me I keep forgetting to take pictures of what we purchased. But soon enough it will debut in the house

 

Discovered La Maison Consignment shop. Jay is on a roll. He purchased a gorgeous leather with nailhead trim rolling desk chair for his office. Crazy cool and just $195. Go check them out they just opened last week at 5639 SW Artic Drive Beaverton. I loved almost everything in there and her prices were great.

 

Then off to a flea market over at the Elks lodge over on the east side. We did not find anything for the house but after a hard day of shopping, great candy from Rose City Sweets....

 

....And we bought the boys some soap from the Filthy Farmgirl  www.filthyfarmgirl.com  Great soap and great packaging. Andys Filthy Zombie Soap says "Just cause your dead doesn't mean you smell like a corpse" "You will never wash away the horror". Perfect soap for teenage boys

 

More Kitchen Details.

 

Whew... so far so good!  Pretty happy with the cabinet, countertop and stainless appliance + farmhouse sink combo. Going for a vintage cool look. Hope I achieved it.  Love the leathered granite but I think we are going to put a color enhancer sealer on it to give a bit more of a sheen. Next comes backsplash and cabinet pull choices.  Two things I agonize way to much over.

Kitchen Update...Before & Almost After.





 

Before and almost After. What a great reminder of how far we have come. Dana thanks for poking me to start posting pictures again.

 

 

 

 

 

Exterior Stone Work

 Exterior stone work was completed. Now I can't wait to get the house painted.  It may be a while though as it hasn't stopped raining for weeks. When it does stop for a moment it is too cold to paint. We may just end up waiting until Spring?

Bathrooms : Ceramic Tile vs Groutable Vinyl Tile

 

Master Bath Shower and Floor Tile are done.  Love the mix of pebble floor, neutral field tile and glass vertical accent tile which kind of mimics rain. Not sure we need more of that here in Oregon? but feels appropriate in a shower to have the feeling of rain.

 

 

Powder room got the new vinyl groutable tiles. I really feel in love with these as they have a great color and just bit of metallic detail for a little bling. Substantially less cost than ceramic tile as the product is less expensive and installation is easy. Really can't tell the difference from ceramic once installed. Now lets see how the hold up.

Alden Street Extreme Home Makeover

Looking good. I came home for lunch today and had to park a block away there were so many people working on the house. I wanted to cry for joy. We had siding getting finished. Finish carpenters working on door/window trim and crown moulding, Exterior rock work starting. Flooring in the basement happening. Tile being installed in the master bath. It felt like an extreme home makeover show. Oh yes and gutters. Never thought I would be so grateful for gutters. Every time we walked out of the shop to go into the house you got drenched just going out the door and in the house... 4 times a trip out, in, out, in.... Man that was getting old fast.

I Love Paint!

I love paint, always have. Love the way it changes a room instantly, love everything about it even the smell. Must say I love even more the not quite so toxic smell of the low VOC paint we used over regular paint. I usually second guess myself on well just about every design choice I ever make but I am digging our neutral warm paint colors. Thought about going towards a grayer tone interior paint scheme but isn't Oregon gray enough already? So I chose a warmer palette.

Jay & The Power Stump Grinder

No its not a new R&B group, Jay & The Power Stump Grinder. But oh did Jay have fun! with that bad boy. Eat your heart out Jake, your dad can play with power tools too!

Things are moving along now, sheetrock, hardwoods and paint on the way

Great room. Still have a hole in the floor for our staircase but at least there is a plan for that hole now.

Things are starting to happen fast now. Sheetrock is done and the painter starts tommorrow. Guess I better finalize my paint colors. Hardwood floors guys came in and knocked out lacing together the old hardwoods with installing the new hardwood floors needed in the kitchen in just two days.! They were amazing.

Master Bedroom. Our King bed will fit right up to that bump out on the wall. Hope my design works Hoping that it will allow some interesting over the bed art placement by having a shelf above the bed

Staircase Design

The design for our staircase using open stringer design with reclaimed wood stair treads. What do you think?

Someday we might get to live here??

Windows and siding are going in. Nice to finally be able to start heating the place up and have it warm and dry inside. Jay and I are starting to have some fun, picking light fixtures, paint colors etc...
My new catch phrase is " They say".  Every time someone asks when do you get to move in? I have said a hundred times "They say"  by mid December. Please note this is said in a not to confident voice.

Ready for Siding and Windows

It feels like forever since there has been any real progress. We have had a really hard time lately staying optimistic. The completion of electrical and plumbing was long and very drawn out. Several weeks crawled by with virtually no visible progess. We seem to be back on track Maybe? The house has sheetrock now and is ready for siding and windows which should start tommorrow.