Happy 4-month-aversary to my construction site! This would be a perfect time to travel back in time and do some side by side comparisons but maybe we'll save that for next week. I'm still deep into plumbing fixtures. Hey remember when I was worried about shingle color? Those were the good old days. After about a month of nothing happening except a blizzard and bitter cold weather, activity has picked back up at the site. The house being up in the air has been a huge roadblock for progress - so logically getting the house on the ground is a key part in moving forward. Well this week that got a whole lot closer to reality. Over the course of the week, the house slowly inched closer to the front of the lot and by Saturday afternoon was about 2 feet off its foundation - which is a far cry from where it was even a few days earlier. For the past several months the views from each room have been a bit skewed since the house was in a whole different perspective than it would be ...
I've been jumping into more of the design details recently but was drawn to reflect on some of the differences between the design iterations over the past year plus. I'm so excited about where this house is going - and how far it is from the awkward designs of a year ago. Here are some details about one of the main functional areas of the first floor: the mudroom and bathroom area. Some details: this is a high utility bathroom // it is the only bathroom on the first floor. So it'll be used whenever someone is sprinting in from the grocery store, guests are over for dinner, or perhaps when I'm home sick with the flu and stuck on the couch. location // close to the back door and off the mudroom full bathroom // it was important to me that there be a full bathroom on the first floor. I joke that it I need it for when I break my hip and need to live on the first floor - but that's a real example that happened to my grandparents mudroom // really want this to b...
So not much to report. The house hasn't moved. Which means, the house looks exactly the same as it did last week - and perhaps even the week before. But, it's getting closer. Every week I say this, but as soon as the house moves onto the foundation this work is going to really pick up speed ... and I'll find myself behind again. I have spent a fair amount of emotional energy on beginning the designs for each of the bathrooms. I learn something new every day. Yesterday I went to the tile store to begin the process of picking out tile. The last time I went to Bellew Tile - I was completely overwhelmed. I had a rough vision for the house, but nothing incredibly specific. Which is where each of the individual room moodboards has been incredibly helpful. I knew what type of product I was looking for and so the massive selection wasn't as overwhelming. Things that happened this week: went to the tile store nothing happened to the house thought a lot about bat...
If I've learned one thing about myself in this process, it is that I will never stick to my first decision. I come out of it feeling pretty confident and accomplished .... and then whamo. Change my mind. It's not that big of a deal and honestly kind of expected. But the bathtub is the latest victim. I first visited the bathtub decision over a year ago - and walked away with a few takeaways. My visit to Snow & Jones this past weekend only made me feel perplexed about what I want. I know that I want something that feels traditional but also perhaps more important than that ... Timeless. I don't want to walk into my bathroom in 13 months or 3 years and feel like it needs to be changed. I'm very concerned about having "bathtub buyers remorse". So here are the latest round of specs: timeless // above all the things that I care about, this is the most important. ceramic, not plastic // the plastic wouldn't bother me at all if we were going w...
I'm pretty deep into the mood boards right now - and as part of that trying to pick out actual products to put on the boards. Novel concept right? I'd like to note the worst parts about this whole process are: conflicting advice cost trying to pick a lasting aesthetic  industry leaders Conflicting Advice examples: we had a frozen pipe at the house this week and so I took the opportunity to interrogate the plumber about his favorite brands. He said a lot of things but all I remember is "no Kohler". His rationale was really maintenance based which as a plumber you call when your pipes freeze, I took pretty seriously. When I took this feedback to the plumbing store, she said it was probably because he was an "older" plumber and asked his age. In shopping for appliances, I went to 4 different stores . My main source of conflict is around GE. One appliance store gave it as their first recommendation. The next one said they had stopped carrying it...
So - not much. These weekly posts were easier to write when work was actually happening and it was not freezing cold. Also, I've been buried in mood boards so all my mental writing energy is on faucets. I know this sounds totally bananas but it hit me yesterday that I literally had to buy everything that was going into this house. Nothing is coming for free. No bonuses. Everything is being picked out and bought by this girl. Yikes. But, back to week 13 and 14. In general, it's just been too cold to do anything. As of today I think we are on like day 10 of temperatures being below freezing. Nobody wants to work on my house because without doors... you can't contain heat... and without heat you loose feeling in your fingers. Fingers are important. What has happened in the last two weeks: shingles arrived for the exterior house slowly began the process of moving back on the foundation boarded up the house for the blizzard dug out the foundation after the blizzard...