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.

We Love Concrete...Not exciting...But it is Progress

 

Lots of concrete work got finished this week. Got to love these guys,  they come and they finish. Of course they kind of have to. Once you start you can't stop. It has been a source of major frustration the last few weeks that none of the trades seem to finish a job. They come and they go and they come and they go! The roofers came eigth times to finally finish the job. If they only paid attention to how much time they were wasting coming and going they might stay put and just finish a job. 

The concrete work got done a in a timely manner and right before the rains started. After 100 days of unheard of no rain in Oregon, it started again. We went from living in dust, to living in mud overnight.

 

 

Visit to Wood is Wonderful Foundation to find our New Reclaimed Wood Stairs

Today our cabinet maker extraordinaire Duane and I drove to Sheridan Oregon. We went to see the Wood is Wonderful Foundation Recycled Wood Alchemy Warehouse. We met Rich Mathis and he showed us around. I think we were both pretty blown away by the amount of wood that they have stocked. Everything from old barns, schools, warehouses that have been demo'd and wood salvaged. You name it they have it, and alot of it. Rich is quite passionate about what he does and very helpful. We told him our project: stairtreads for an open stringer stairway and also a seat portion for our entry hall bench. He guided us around the options and we settled on some pine beams that came from a tobacco storage warehouse in Lexington, Kentucky. Those beams are in the middle of that pile of wood below. He will mill them to the depth we want from the outside of the beams. That way we get the patina of the old beams for our stair treads.

Our Fabulous New Porch

I have been waiting for our new porch to come together for months. It is finally taking shape and we could not be happier. Our old house had a saltbox style and no porch. Here in Oregon Bad Idea! Nothing like having your guests huddled against the house in the rain until you can get to the door. I have always  dreamed of having a large front porch with a place to have a bench and a place to put wet umbrellas etc... and I think I got it.

City Hicks

I took Jake down to OSU on Tuesday. On the way down I said " I am kind of embarassed to be dropping you off at college in such a filthy truck." Our vehicles are constantly dirty here from all the construction debris and dirt blowing around. We gave up trying to keep them clean weeks ago. Jakes says thats ok Mom because we are "City Hicks". I was like right on, that is exactly what we are, very fitting. The blog is now "City Hicks".
That is Jake and his old friend and new roomie Jake ready to rock at Wilson Hall. It has been three days since I dropped him off. Man we miss that boy!

Clean Water Services Work on our Creek

Clean Water Services has brought in the Big Rigs this week to put in a new manhole and run new line next to the creek. They start rolling in at 7am and don't leave until 7pm! They say they will be done by the end of this week and then they send a crew in to replant and clean up. Hope So!  

New Addition, Framed & Roofed

 

 

Our new addition which will have our Master Bedroom, Bath and a Laundry Room is framed and roofed. We are very happy with our choice of using a 50 year shingle on the house. The thicker shingle gives a great depth to the roof. For just $1,000 more than using 30 year shingles getting 20 more years of roof life and a better look was well worth it. The steel framing for our deck off the Master Bedroom was expensive but required by code since there is a garage underneath. One the upside that deck is never going anywhere. I think you could park a car on it! I also love the roof gables the Architect Steve Nyes designed. Its just little different and adds some character to the house.
On the downside we are still waiting for Northwest Natural Gas to come and move the meter on the front of the house. Waiting and waiting..... it is really holding things up. Oh and Clean Water Services showed up to start their new sewer project behind our house. Oh you can't imagine the big equipment that is in our backyard. Better they get it done now while everything is already a mess.

Summer Garden Feast

Our friend Chris came by last night with dinner. She is a fabulous cook and it was a real treat to have a real meal!

Back from a week at the Beach and ....

Progess! We have a second story on our addition. Yahoo! It as great to walk through and get a sense of the rooms. The boys rooms in the basement are framed in as well.
The giant pile of dirt from excavating is gone from our backyard. Another good thing.
We had been hoping that our front porch addition would be framed. We are still waiting for the Gas Company to come and move the meter. Please come soon?