Dining Room and a SURPRISE...

Hey Y'all,

It has been an excruciatingly long time since we have been in touch; which of course means that we have been super busy living exciting lives.....haha, yeah right. It actually means that we have been busy working on the house and continuing to truly make it feel like our home.  Most of the work has been to the outside of the home and with landscaping however, we did recently compete one big DIY goal and vision that I have had since the home planning stages. Over the past couple of weekends, my family has been up frequently, assisting Adam and I in making my dream dining room a reality.

To refresh your memory, the dining room has been a lovely coral since the initial painting during construction. I have received some love for this color but even more skepticism. I kept reminding Adam of my big plans for this room but he remained very hesitantly on board telling me, "I just need to see it completed."

Well, it is complete (except for some needed additional furniture pieces and decor) and I think he has finally realized my vision. We started with the chair rail and then wainscoting trim on all walls above and below the rail. Between taping everything out to get a visual and plan (thanks mom), return trips to Home Depot for additional materials, and trying to tap into my past geometry lessons to master the miter saw (I failed, my dad saved the day... thanks dad!), we were able to complete this part of the project in two weekends.

We placed the chair rail 36" from the ground (there are tons of "standard heights" for this but I just picked what I thought looked best - 1/3 of the height of the wall).  We used quarter round molding for the wall panels and started them 4" above the rail and 4" below the rail. They all came 2.5" off the edge of the wall and 13" down from the top of the wall (to be in line with the top of the openings on each wall).  I have seen other tutorials that make all the panels the same size on all walls but I was more interested in making sure the spacing was uniform. This of course made for more work but hey, go big or go home right?

chair rail and trim complete

wall ready for fabric panels

The next step was to apply the fabric panels to the wall. I always love my ideas but seem to aim high when I go for a new DIY.  This fabric was pictured on a chair in one of my favorite rooms of all time from a past Southern Living magazine. When I first say it, I knew immediately that I wanted it incorporated into my home. Of course, it is made up of horizontal and vertical lines, making it almost impossible to get perfectly straight on the wall (especially for first timers like my mom and me). I think we did a pretty good job though. We started with the middle panel (not sure why we thought that was a good idea), and quickly realized that we would need to paint the wall panels white so that the coral did not show through.

fabric and molding up, now to trim the fabric

After the paint dried, we were ready to try again. Unfortunately, applying an already starched fabric panel for a second time is not as forgiving. Once that one was up, the other two went pretty smoothly. We used a liquid starch and rolled it on the wall with a paint foam roller. We then applied the fabric starting in the top corner and slowly moving across then down. They key for this pattern fabric was to find one reference point and try to make the lines straight around that point. Fortunately, we were using linen so there was some stretch and give in the fabric for straightening. Once the fabric was up, we rolled on another layer of the starch then allowed it to dry. I definitely recommend having two people for this project. The molding around the panels was then applied and my dad used a razor knife to trim off the excess fabric. Caulk was applied to the nail holes and seams, curtains were hung, and voila, my dream dining room!

I will be adding an antique buffet and decor to this wall once I find the right depth :)

 We still need to paint the molding to hide the caulk and add some furniture and decor of course but I think it is safe to say this was another successful DIY! Next up............

THE NURSERY!!!

 
Thanks to our friend Jen for taking these amazing pics (and to her husband Josh for getting Tanning to look like a calendar dog)!

   

SURPRISE!!!! Adam, Tannin (yes, we got a puppy in February), and I are excited to announce that we will be adding a fourth member to our happy little family! Stay tune for more updates on what this past 10 months of life and homeownership have entailed for us.....

Happy New Year.... We Are In!!!

Well, I know that I start every blog post with this but....once again, the stress and drama of this process has severely delayed our updating. BUT, we are officially IN and I have no more stress to delay my blogging (just tons of house to do lists haha).  When we started out on this journey, we knew that it was going to be stressful, time consuming, and would involve some arguing with contractors. What we did not expect however, was to lose all trust in those that were working for us and have to fight to make sure we were not taken. As some of you know, we had some serious issues with our builder that resulted in us having to hire an attorney and spend endless days and hours on the phone with lawyers, our lender, and the bank. Fortunately, we had been limiting all conversations to writing with our builder so we had enough evidence of his wrongdoings to make it a seemingly cut and dry case. Of course, our builder continued to fight it out until the bitter end ultimately leaving us struggling to maintain our faith in humanity. We were able to come to an agreement at the final hour though and managed to close on December 11th! Hallelujah!

By the time we left the closing table, we were emotionally and physically drained to say the least. We made a couple of phone calls to update our family who had been praying for us relentlessly and then went home and spent the evening quietly at the condo. We did manage to go over to the house for a small glass of champagne though (I was trying very hard to make sure that our builder did not continue to ruin this process for us). That determination and mind set paid off the next day when it finally sank in that the struggle and fighting was over and we could move on in our dream home as an even stronger couple than when we started this process.


That weekend, to help us move on and put a different, more exciting feel into the home, we had my awesome friend Jen Smith (wife to super hero Josh who cured Adam's vertigo a few months ago) come over and take some pictures of us in the home before we moved in that day. It seemed a little crazy at first taking so much time that morning to snap some pictures when we had an entire condo with 4 years worth of stuff to move. However, after seeing the finished product, I am so so happy that we did. They are priceless moments that we will now have captured forever! Thanks Jen!                                                                                               

 

It took us two days to move all the large stuff out of the condo (just Adam and I) and another couple days to slowly move over the small things and clean the condo up. We definitely saved money not hiring movers but to say I was sore for a week is a gross understatement. It was definitely a bittersweet moment for us. We are extremely grateful and excited to move into the home but are sad to say goodbye to the place that shared our ups and downs for the past 4 years. That beachside condo is the first place we lived together engaged, the place where we shared our first 3 years of marriage, where Adam started a new career, and where I started 2 new jobs. It has seen our highs and our lows, our tears and our laughs. It was a great place to start our lives together as husband and wife and allowed us to live the dream of walking a block to the beach while helping shape who we are as a couple today. For that we will be forever grateful.

The first load all packed up: 12/13/14

morning tree view

We spent the first night in our home saturday night (December 13th) on our mattress, on the floor, with no blinds on the windows, but it was OURS and the backyard view was AMAZING! There is a ton to do and the list is rapidly growing but we are in, it is ours, and we do not have to worry about looking at everything with a critical eye or waiting to be stabbed in the back anymore. Like I said before, we are so grateful for the opportunities that we have been blessed with and for all of our friends, family, and coworkers who have tolerated our craziness and emotional instability while supporting us and praying for us for 10 long months. We could not have gotten to this point on our own and in one piece without all of you. Your support and love does not go unnoticed and we are so thankful to you all. There is a ton to update y'all on and we look forward to being in a happier place now, enabling us to blog out hearts out!

Lighting the first fire in the indoor fireplace 12/20/14

First indoor fire 12/20/14

Thanks again, we love y'all!

Kitchen Sneak Peak

Well, in the last post, I said that we had some very exciting news happening in the following couple of weeks.  Needless to say, the drama and stress of building a house took over again and delayed this post.  Unfortunately, we have been hashing it out with our builder recently but, so far the good has prevailed and we are back on track.

top: honed travertine countertops
bottom: potential pantry wallpaper

With that said.....the exciting news is that the kitchen cabinets (aka, my babies since this process began) have finally been delivered and installed. The process of designing my dream kitchen (and yes, I have big dreams) began April 4th when we had our first consultation at R Cabinet Studio. I came equipped with the "house inspiration binder," several samples, and, of course, I dressed in the dream kitchen color pallette to set the mood (hehe). We talked about layout, style, and must haves. We then met several times after that (April 24th, June 3rd, and July 24th) for further designing, and plan revisions. Then, some additional meetings in August and September to sign off on drawings and contracts. One of the greatest moments was the first time we got to see the kitchen we had been envisioning in our heads go three dimensional on the computer screen during our June consultation. Some changes were made since but it as a great sneak peak and got us extremely excited!

The cabinets are now light gray with a white island and the appliances are stainless.

There is currently no door on the pantry to expose the window and wallpaper
(we will see how that goes...)

The window over the sink is about double that size.

We also went with open shelving to the left of the sink.

We went with maple doors painted a light gray in a transitional recessed style with moulding and a complimentary white island with furniture legs and open shelving. The hood was custom made locally with doors to match the cabinets. We also had a lower cabinet installed in the pantry for the coffee maker and toaster oven. I wanted the cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling because I hate having to decorate and dust that open ledge that many cabinets leave between them and the ceiling. I absolutely love the storage that the upper cabinets offer and the crown moulding adds a nice sophisticated finishing touch (I think even Adam will need a step stool to reach the top shelf of these). We went with a gorgeous fireclay farmhouse sink in white and will be installing a backsplash of white subway tile in a herringbone pattern. The white sink and tile will really pop against the gray cabinets!

After much planning and anticipation, the cabinets were finally delivered on September 25th! Even though they were still pretty much encased in cardboard boxes, we were ecstatic! This was also the day that we had electricity in the house for the first time. Something about being able to flip that switch at night and have our home all lit up made it feel more real than it had this entire process. To say we were giddy would be an understatement. I remember when Adam flipped that switch. I immediately had this overwhelming feeling of happness. I could not stop smiling (and jumping around hehe). After all the hard work and and hurdles that we had to jump over, it all felt worth it and we could see our future together in our home!

Tada! They are finally here! 

Let there be light!

Unfortunately, several of the doors and boxes arrived damaged. R Cabinet Studio took great care of us though, and had replacement pieces ordered and on their way to us immediately. The replacements arrived the following week and our wonderful installers finished installing the lowers, uppers, doors, island crown moulding, and moulding under the wall cabinets. They will return to install the hardware, kick plates, and legs for the island overhang once the wood floors and countertops are installed.

Spot for refrigerator and beverage center/wine cooler

Pantry cabinet 

Back wall with range hood and spot for gas cooktop 

Ready for countertops! The sink and dishwasher are to the left, cooktop in the back, wall oven and microwave on the back right, pantry, and the beverage center/wine cooler, and refrigerator with wine rack above.
Whatever wallpaper I put in the pantry will go on the back of the shelves in the island.

Countertops, open shelving, hardware, and appliances still to come. Stay tuned for the finished product. This room is truly the centerpiece of our interior. Until next time...

August and September Updates

Attic ladder - now white (Aug 28)

Like I said in the previous post, I have shamefully been absent for a month during which it seems like a ton has been done (it could just be the overwhelming feeling of needing to catch up that I feel). As you saw in the previous "Oops" post, the shake shingle was added, the exterior trim work was completed, and the interior and exterior of the home was painted. The built ins were also installed as well as the ladder for the walk around attic in the garage. The greatest update though, in my opinion, has been the completion of the tile in the bathrooms. We have shown y'all the floor tile in all the rooms but now, the showers are complete (sans the grout which is held until the end). Our master shower was definitely not something that gabbed our attention in the drawings as we sacrificed the hidden, doorless, double shower head design for our his and hers closets (a decision, I will never regret). However, after we designed the stripes concept and found our mint penny tile, I was excited. And, I must say, seeing it transform from a vision in my head to real life is beyond anything I could have imagined. Our unassuming master shower is now one of the our favorite components of the house. Our tile guy even said he was going to put it in his portfolio (success)!!!

Niche cutout in guest shower (Aug 7). 

Master shower with beveled white subway tile stripes going in
(Aug 8)

Master shower stripes with beveled white subway tile and mint green penny tile stripes
(Week of Aug 18)

White penny tile shower floor
(the green were too  glossy for the floor and did not come in matte finish)
(Week of Sept 8)

Guest bath shower with white subway
(Week of Aug 18)

We also completed our task of picking out all the lighting fixtures for the home. we picked the ceiling fans for the porches and the bedrooms (we eliminated the living room fan for now because I just couldn't find one that I could live with in a common space. At least not that was our idea of reasonably priced), the exterior garage carriage lights and front entry pendant, the foyer pendant, the dining room chandelier, the kitchen island pendants, and the bathroom vanity lights.

Left: Exterior entryway pendant. Right: Garage carriage lights

Top left: Foyer capiz shell pendant. Top right: Kitchen island pendants
Bottom left: Dining room chandelier. Bottom right: Bathroom vanity

Now that we are also almost through September, I will also add the September updates in this post so that I can finally be caught up...sort of! The air conditioning was hooked up and installed September 11th as well as the utilities meter. The air conditioner is not turned on yet but is ready for the kitchen cabinets when they arrive. This also means that we can order our engineered wood floors (which we are now on the hunt for AGAIN.... our original pick has been discontinued and is no loner available in the quantity we need. I knew things had been going too smoothly lately...).

A/C unit. This will be creatively hidden at some point

Utilities meter

They also installed the front door on September 16th, which is not yet painted, and the carriage style garage door on September 19th.

Our unpainted front door and side panels. This is 8ft tall too of course.
No ducking for Adam!

Entryway with front door.
Ignore the heinous numbers, they are temporary for the city

Carriage style garage door without the bracket 

Whole house view with front and garage doors

We have some VERY exciting news coming up this week and next. Stay tune! Until next time...

Labor Day Weekend Scores

Labor Day weekend was a fun filled exciting time for Adam and I and for the house. My parents got to come up for an extended weekend to see the house progress and make a special delivery, we made some great house finds, and we got to revisit our old stompin' grounds. My parents have not seen the house since the framing stage so it was very exciting to get to tour them through and show them how far it has come. During the last week of his summer break, my dad helped us with the oyster shell outdoor fireplace by bringing 5 gallon buckets down to the local raw bar for them to fill up. He would then pick them up at 10:00 at night which, if you know my father, is equivalent to me having to wake up at 4 am (something he does daily with a smile - yuck), clean them the next day, and let them dry out in the sun. He tried to recruit the neighborhood kids for a small incentive per shell cleaned but that only lasted one day. Luckily for Adam and I, my dad was on summer break and is always willing to help us out! This weekend, the 1,000+ oyster shells were delivered to us. I am now a very happy coastal crafter!

Neighborhood kids on oyster duty day 1 

Dad, the master oyster cleaner on duty days 2-5

So may oysters drying in the sun!

To add to the amazing-ness that is going to be our back porch coastal fireplace, I really wanted a large piece of driftwood for the mantle.  Unfortunately, the only driftwood that is readily found around here is protected on one of my favorite beaches at Big Talbot Island State Park. Thus, you can imagine my surprise when I spotted a large, unprotected piece of driftwood on our local public beach that Friday while we were beach combing. The only problem was that it was still a little water logged (I think it was washed up after the storm the night before) and at least 20ft long. In my euphoric state, I attempted to convince Adam that we could carry it to the nearby boardwalk but Adam was not nearly as on board as I was (or just more realistic depending on how you want to look at it hehe). So, that day we left empty handed. I, however, did not forget the gift that had magically appeared before me that day. When my parents got here that evening, I convinced everyone to go back to the beach, saw in hand, and cut off the 7ft piece that we needed for the mantle. This made the wood manageable to carry and allowed us to leave what we did not need in its natural state on the beach to be enjoyed. I cannot wait to share this next DIY project with y'all!

The remainder of the driftwood after we took our mantle piece 

Adam in front of the remaining wood for a size reference

Our piece for the mantle with the buckets and coolers full of oyster shells.
I can barely contain my excitement!

Totally unrelated to the house part of our fun weekend, Adam, my parents, and I got to go back to the Swamp! We managed to luck into tickets on the 50 yard line 24 rows up after we were called and told that our tickets on the 35 yard line 38 rows up were accidentally released to us for purchase. Unfortunately, the cursed Florida summer rain and lightning caused the game to be cancelled and our tickets refunded. We did get to see the one play of the game from those awesome seats and had a great time tailgating with the fam and indulging in a Gainesville staple: Satchell's Pizza!

Also unrelated to the house, but in line with the "scores of the weekend" theme, Adam and I found a starfish that we have been searching for for years at our local fish store. Meet the newest member of our family...Albert! (He is orange with blue spots).

That Monday, my mom and I decided to do some house shopping while the boys went fishing. I needed some lighting fixtures and mirrors for the bathrooms. We did not find any mirrors but did find a great chandelier for the dining room at World Market for a steal $80. We of course also found some things we were not looking for like this amazing cane print rug at Homegoods. Those that know me know that I am somewhat obsessed with caning. I have been searching for a cane print rug for awhile now and have found very little selection and nothing in my price range. So, once again, I was surprised when I saw it hanging up on the other end of the store in all its cream and navy blue glory. It is 8x10 and will be perfect for the home.  Homegoods has been good to me lately. A few weeks prior to the rug find, I found this $300 dollar lantern on clearance for $30! While my mom and I scored in the shopping front, my dad and Adam scored with some delicious redfish, trout, and flounder! That night Adam made us his famous mango fish tacos...yum!

Top left: Dining room chandelier. Top right: cane lantern
Bottom: Cane rug

Nice catch guys!

Left: chef Adam. Top right: mango fish tacos.
Bottom right: impromptu baked apple biscuit with honey and ice cream

All in all, I would say it was a fun and successful weekend (even if we did not get to see our Gators play).  Until next time...