Moving Along Monday!

Just another Maniac Monday at our house. The weekend progressed great with the final cabinetry being installed Saturday and the trim carpenter working a good chunk of Sunday while our little family was off celebrating all sorts of 1st and 2nd birthdays! The trim carpenters were back at our house this morning finishing up the last few pieces so the painters could move ahead at full force.

Today was one of those days that I thought might put me over the edge. There were 6 painters, 2 carpenters, 2 exterior contractors, 1 architect, 1 countertop provider, 2 children and 1 insane woman in the house all at the same time. Rosemary and Gloria were all over the filthy floors while the painters stepped over and around them trying to keep working while I was attempting to discuss countertop details. Thank goodness for our architect Susan who was able to woo the stone measurer with her knowledge of all things countertop. I am BEYOND thankful she came out because the amount of detail in the countertops is more than I ever imagined and I never in a million years would have come up with some of the things they were discussing. All along, one of my favorite things about the kitchen Susan designed with us was this little stone ledge that will wrap the perimeter of the kitchen countertop. It's about a 5" deep ledge that will be a perfect little place for keeping regularly used items. Here is a photo of a similar ledge Susan did on another project:


We decided on Absolute Black granite for our kitchen surfaces and white Carrera Marble for the built-in Hutch. From the photo above, I was able to decipher that I didn't want to do the ledge in the black granite because it gave it a heavier, more rustic finish. In the photo above, the dark surfaces are balanced by the deliciously warm cabinetry. However, in our primarily white kitchen, we felt it might be too overbearing in black. So we decided to do the ledge in white carrera marble tying the two areas of the kitchen together. We also decided to carry the marble up above the stove all the way to the hood rather than doing the Subway tile backsplash I've mentioned again and again. Ultimately, there just isn't enough room to add another material there and the marble will keep your eye from being drawn to such a tiny space of tile that would have looked forced and frankly, awkward.

To get to what was actually done today, the interior painters were hard at work filling holes, sanding, caulking, covering all the mechanicals of the windows so they are ready to be sprayed, covering all the glass and cabinetry, floors and stairway. Eyeyeyeye! It's a ton of work just getting READY to paint. They also managed to get a coat of primer over ALL of the wood work which had it looking soooooooooooooo beautiful! Even if it's just primer, seeing all the trim the same color for a change had me giddy at the idea of what is to come. My actual camera ended up stranded behind a layer of protective plastic covered in wet paint, but I did manage to capture a few embarassingly low quality shots of the interior progress with my phone. Although it arguably looks worse than ever, the end is closer than ever!






The exterior crew was back finishing up the very last of the loose ends on the outside in order for the painters to get underway outside. Sadly, we won't see our favorite exterior contractors again until Thursday now that things are ready to roll. We have the painters starting on the back of the house so deck building can begin towards the end of the week. Jon thinks we will have no problem having the back deck built and ready for traffic by next Friday. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The exterior painters were delayed a day due to the crazy weather over the weekend. I did meet them out at the house this evening to walk through all the details of what is being painted what. I just can not wait to see the transformation take place on the exterior and all that trim go a bright, beautiful white! I'll have the first of the exterior pics to post tomorrow!