OMG Love

I'm thinking we may actually have some livable space by the time we intend to move in, in less than 2 weeks.

First of three coats to refinish the floors. We opted for the clear coat and I'm pleased with the choice!

A little bit of chaos, but here you can see: wall oven, microwave, dishwasher, faucet, hardware - installed!

Close up on the back splash. I am in love. It was a risk, but it works. Bold, but a great choice for Santa Barbara living.

Here's the bead board back splash to make this look like furniture. Kind of thinking it needs bead board above the shelf, too...

More chaos. there's a cook top under there.

An alternate shot of the sink, etc.

a little less stuff cluttering the view...

Just more pics

Master bath. Walls look more blue than they really are.

Master bath shower stall. Still needs a glass door.

There's actually a shelf now installed in the middle. We're doing beadboard "back splash" to make it look like furniture. My inspiration can be seen here: http://www.houzz.com/photos/101168/Buffet-traditional-kitchen-minneapolis

Framed

So that's the family room up there.  Ceiling joists in and laundry room (and/or future potential half bath) framed. Look at all that ceiling height we're gaining!

Guest/boys' bathroom. Yay for indoor plumbing! I am in love with the floor tile. You can't tell, but it's a pale gray with an almost linen-like texture. Very interesting stuff.

Our contractor very generously offered to center the sink, no extra charge. I had it nestled against the wall in the plans, but it just doesn't look quite right. Unfortunately, what you can't tell from these photos is how nice the sink top is. It's a sparkly white quartz - very cool.

I think the kitchen counter tops will actually get installed tomorrow! I need to figure out the back splash....

Small changes

Things at the house either seem to be slowing down or there's just more to be done than I thought. They are taking care of some of the less "glamorous" stuff like moving heat ducts, patching drywall, sealing tile.  But everything is important. Fortunately, we do have this bit of eye candy above - limestone tile floor being installed! Here's hoping there's enough tile because I've not been able to get the 360flooring.com website to load for weeks and suspect maybe they've gone out of business. Yikes.
Of course, what's also visible here is the microwave trim, apron front sink, and crown moulding.
Other updates to report: tiling in the bathrooms is done. I've put a first coat of paint on the walls, so they should be installing the fixtures shortly.
The ceiling in the big family room is in progress.
And the counter top is now scheduled to be installed next Wednesday (after some annoying delays by the manufacturer, which resulted in my choosing a slightly different color material.)
We move in next month!

Progress everywhere

So actually, I screwed up. missed a little part on the cabinet order where it said "perimeter white/island brown." It was supposed to be brown island AND brown hutch piece over there on the left. So it's all white. But I'm not beating myself up over it.

Somehow sometimes it feels like we move forward and it looks like there's more to be done. I'm feeling rather anxious about it all, but mostly it's just the prospect of carrying rent + mortgage for one more month. Probably, we can be done with that after September. At least, that's the goal.

Repairing the hardwood.

Here are some new shots of the oodles of progress to be seen...

Ran out of hex tile :( I should've known the order was wrong. Oh well.

Oooh, niche...

I wanted to be a little more bold/fun with the boys' bathroom. I think I covered that. The tile guy has his work cut out for him with the grouting for this surround!

And we're back!

Work has started up again, as of today.  phew!

master bath shower stall

chair rail close up

niche with hex

these guys are fast! I am so excited that work has restarted. It's beginning to feel like we might actually move into this place some time soon!

Guedelhoefer Island

Sounds lovely, don't you think?

The kitchen cabinets were delivered this morning! Sadly, they will remain in the garage until we get permits. Woops! Long story.... sort of.

Hopefully, work will restart at the end of the week and I'll have more to show you . . . .

Whoa! Where's the ceiling?

So I guess we're doing something about the ceiling! Actually, I knew we were eventually . . . just didn't know it was starting so soon!  Cool!

Popcorn... gone!

Actually, this is a somewhat dated shot of the shower stall. It already has some sort of base for the tile work. It's just been too dark for me to take a decent photo. And really, it's not that interesting until we get to see some of that tile!

Admittedly, this photo isn't that exciting for anyone except me. I have an inexplicable affinity for 5 panel doors. And now I have them! The previous doors were beat up flat slabs. Boring and dated. Although, I'm sure they fit with the era of the home. So I'm mixing it up a bit!  Hardware is ordered.

In other good news, all the tile has arrived - bathrooms and kitchen floor (1,800 lbs of tile for the grand total of $99 in shipping - awesome.)

And! I am told that the kitchen cabinets are slated to arrive between July 26 and 31.  WAY earlier than I expected! Yay for recession - we're probably their only order! Ha! Too soon?

Next up - choosing the counter tops....

A [two dimensional] dream kitchen!

Here it is!  Or rather... soon it will be! This is almost exactly what it will look like (barring major budget considerations :-) )

Dreaming....

BEFORE

DURING

Look!  No studs!  And despite having been told by the GC that we'd need a load bearing column, he now says we do not.  Sweet.

I have a little time for a brief design plan overview....

Master bath - going for the carrera marble look + chrome fixtures + black vanity.  Not sure yet about wall color - either blue or yellow.
Guest bath - basic decor. White tile floor, white sink vanity, big white tub with tile surround. Still haven't settled on the tile yet - I'm waffling between green and blue.  The tile store has some cool extra long subway tiles that tempt me with their slightly-more-edgy styling. Brushed nickel fixtures.
Kitchen - Mixing in some Mexican colors. Floor will be Uxmal limestone tile (the one tile I have officially ordered - thanks 360flooring.com!) Cabinets against the wall by the window will be creamy white with a brown glaze. Island and cabinets in dining area will be a medium brown stained wood. Thinking of Silestone (aka Quartz) in "Seleno" for countertops.  And back splash will be amarillo talavera 4 x 4 field tile with blue/yellow/white talavera accent tiles spaced periodically throughout.
Family room - we're vaulting the ceilings and the floor will be cleft black slate probably in a brick layout.

And some sites I'm loving right now, as the help me through this process.

www.houzz.com    Maybe the designs are a long shot, but a girl can dream.
www.cottagehomemaine.com    A new favorite. Old English farmhouse table in reclaimed pine? yes please.
www.amazon.com   Because you know, you can't beat free shipping, no sales tax and the best prices around. Sucks that sales tax will start in CA this fall :(
http://cityhomecollective.com/    Because I have to share this design eye candy. Maybe someday I'll have the cajones to put up faux library/book wallpaper.

Meeting with the kitchen cabinet salesperson on Monday!

Current floor plan

A very special thanks to Inga for these floor plans. This is just one of several that did she for us. To scale and everything - will really help me get a better sense of the space for planning!

Even more demo!

Before I show more gritty demo, here's a reverse shot of the "family room" which I haven't yet shown.  This is the wall opposite the one that formerly had built-ins - in case you remember that one. There's the sliding door to the back patio, old [nonfunctional] plumbing from the built-in bar, that part of the wall in the center of the shot is the back of the fireplace, and formerly more built-ins to the left of the stairs [which lead to the living room.]

So, we're vaulting this ceiling and putting in a laundry room in that corner with the window. Ultimately, the plan is to make that a 1/2 bath, too, but we can't do that now or we'll have to wait months for permits.  Not an option when carrying rent + mortgage....

Ok, now for more demo shots:

Here you can see the dining wall starting to come out.

This is where those built-ins were in the dining room.  Look closely and you can spot where the laundry once was, some time long before we bought the house.... removing house layers is always interesting.

Close up of where the dining room built-ins once stood.  That's hardwood under there!

An interesting shot. This is the view down the kitchen [from the dining room]. You can now see through 2 walls!  That's bathrooms 1 & 2 through there.

 Our bathtub arrived tonight. It's going in the 2nd bath, but I hope to make use of it, too. So I opted for a 5.5' x 3'. Should be nice for a tall gal like me!

Demo has begun!

Yahoo! That wall to the left will also come out.

Kitchen and storage - coming out.

This whole wall is actually coming out - currently between dining and kitchen.

View of kitchen - studs to the right coming out.

Kitchen ceiling (new duct work!)

Tile at entry... gone! And the hardwood might be salvageable!

Back to the Beginning

Now that I've given a taste of what's to come, let's do a little show of where we're starting . . . .

It's a 3 bed, 1.75 bath (the .75 seems pretty common around here as the large elderly population is fond of the shower stall - really, I don't blame them - we intend to stick with that fraction + eventually add a 1/2 bath - does that make it 2.25?? JK.) It's just shy of 1,800 sq ft on .27 acres. Below is a view of the side of the house + more yard. Bonus with all the land, aside from space for the boys to run:  we've inherited a lime tree, apricot tree, peach tree, avocado tree and 2 persimmons.

Next we have the back of the house from Right to Left. We don't really have any plans to change things here in the foreseeable future.

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living room windows. dining room sliding door on the left.

Now for the interior . . .

Front door and opening to family room

Entry - showing tile to be removed and excess storage (by furnace) also to be removed. Shelves to be turned into closet.

Old fireplace (as you've already seen) + entry to family room on the left.

Family room (former garage) - built-ins and carpet already removed. Tile to be removed. Ceiling to be vaulted. Laundry room to be added to the right of the sliding door.

This is the kitchen wall immediately opposite the fireplace. It's coming out!

Doorway into dining - wall being removed.

Dining room built-ins. All coming out.

Sliding door in dining room.

View into kitchen from dining room. This wall is coming out!

Original kitchen - some stuff already removed.

Another view of the kitchen + exterior door to the side yard.

Ew. former laundry + pantry. Will become fridge + pantry.

Looking down the hall to the bedrooms. Kitchen wall on the left - coming out. Storage on the right coming out.

Storage being removed.

2nd Bath.

2nd Bath.

2nd Bath.

Hall view of master bath. This doorway is being closed off to make it a true master bath.

Master bath shower stall (next to hall door).

Master bath.

Master bedroom.

I'm not going to bother posting pictures of the other 2 bedrooms.  There's not much to see and we're not making many changes, other than painting and putting in new doors.