Organization Sensation

I finished up the master bath tonight. There isn't any more clutter! Of course there are still some issues with the master bath that we need to tackle. There is not a towel rack in the bathroom nor is there a good place to put one. We have a hook near the sink that we had been using, but it doesn't allow the towels to dry and it is so close to the wall that it gets moldy. We need a better solution for our towels besides having them on the bathtub where they are now, any suggestions?

What a good looking closet! Nick and I both rid the closet of unwanted clothes and put everything else in an orderly place. All my purses are up in their dust bags waiting to be returned to my shoulder when I no longer need a diaper bag...so basically years and years.

What a relief to have that finished! I am going to tackle the master bedroom tomorrow. We really need to get the living room and kitchen done because we have friends coming over for New Years. I get fixed on a system though, and it's difficult for me to stray from it. Plus it's working! Things are finally get done. I keep telling Nick if he puts something where it doesn't belong I'm going to kill him.

I figured I would get the master finished tomorrow (hopefully), and then focus on the areas that need to be done for New Years on Thursday.

What a whip

I worked all day...seriously all day. I only stopped when Ramona wanted to eat or needed to be changed. What did I get done? When you look at it basically nothing, but I cleaned the shower and the vanity in the master bath. I know that doesn't sound like much, but here's the breakdown. I wiped the nasty drawers in the vanity down and put some sweet green paisley contact paper down. I organized all the drawers and under the sink because we seriously needed it. I wiped the drawer and cabinet faces down with bleach wipes because they were gross. Then I cleaned the shower. Here's what it looks like now.

Pay no attention to the clutter in the mirror. I haven't gotten that far yet. I was just absolutely fed up today and figured I would start in the master bathroom and work my way out. I didn't think I would take me all day to do 2 things. I initially told myself to just clean and declutter and NO perfecting it, NO deep cleaning, and DEFINITELY NOT putting contact paper down until things were more manageable. Well I didn't listen to myself. It's done now though and I am glad. I think the problem is we are always trying to play catch up. We've lived in chaos for so long waiting for the remodel to be done and telling ourselves well one day we will change this...fill in the blank.

I think that's the most difficult part of taking on the huge project that is our house. We need to just accept that the majority is finished (thank you home improvement loan) and make the rest of the house our own working on it at a later, undetermined date. We know that the bathroom is not going to undergo a major (and much needed) face lift in the near future, so we need to clean it up and live with it until then.

Ramona will be getting into everything soon enough, so we are now on a new strict timeline. We can't have her crawling around in this mess. We'll see how much I get done tomorrow...maybe I'll actually get out of the bathroom! I hope our sweet girl is as wonderful tomorrow as she was for me today!

Remodel Update 10/16

For the Nursery

We're getting close to blast off, T-minus 4 days and counting. Today we paid for ramona's nightlight. I had it custom made for her by fruitflypie. She makes some amazing ceramics by hand. When I saw her light, I knew immediately that it was perfect for Ramona's room. I messaged her and asked her if she could make it in yellow, our nursery accent color. She obliged and we think that the result was amazing!

UPDATE: It looks like she is selling it in her store now. So if you would like one, order it at: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31813854

Floors being stained

Sunday we moved in with my parents to prepare for the floors being stained yesterday. We can't walk on them for the 3 days, so we'll be back in the house on Friday. It's cutting it close!

Remodel Wrap Up Days 14-18

Lot's of stuff has been happening around the house this week. We took out the trash compactor in the kitchen, but had little ideas about what to put there. Putting a door there would have been too expensive because the only way they can match our does is by creating a custom bit. We could have put an ice maker in there, but we didn't feel like we'd use it. So what we came up with is shelving it and putting baskets. I think it turned out really well and will look amazing once the cabinets are painted:

Then thurs we had 2 giant developments: The kitchen appliances got dropped off


And we got the granite installed! Here is a sample from the wet bar

The rest of the kitchen will be pictured soon. The funny thing is, when we pulled the backsplash off of the wall, we found this amazing wallpaper:
Pretty sweet eh??

Remodel Wrap Up Day 4-13

We have been super busy with the house and on top of dealing with all of the issues that arise when you are expecting a newborn, that both of us haven't been able to blog. Good news, the project has pressed on.

The wood floors have been completely installed, we are now have (had) to wait for 10 days until they settle and can be scraped and stained. We are currently on day 5, so only 5 more days to go. This past weekend, we pulled out the countertops, sink, cooktop and old trash compactor.

We ordered the appliances Friday and they should be in Wednesday. The countertops are going in Thursday.

Here are the pics from last wednesday, when they were in the midst of installing the wood and had finished grouting the tile.

Remodel Wrap Up Day 3

Today was not as eventful as yesterday, but it was necessary.

They finished the float today and finished putting down all of the tile in the kitchen. They also put the hardie board around the fireplace.

Tomorrow they will put the tile in the entry and dining room. Tile the fireplace and hopefully grout the tile.

The wood is going in on Monday! That is what we are super excited about.

Pondering Appliances

We did a lot of research on appliances during the planning stages for this reno project. Our main need was a 27" double oven that was preferably a microwave/convection combo and would fit in the spot of our current oven. From there, we wanted an induction cooktop, a counter depth fridge, and a dishwasher with a cutlery rack.

We looked at a lot of brands and here were our findings:

Electrolux - We love electrolux. The design of all of their products seems well thought out. Amber especially loves their oven. Unfortunately, the double oven doesn't fit in our spot and we decided to keepy looking.
Jenn Air - These seem to be good appliances, but nothing spectacular. I think we would have been happy with jenn air, but they were roughly the same price as appliances that we thought had a lot more features. They did have a double oven that would work, so we were getting closer in our search.

Bosch - Bosch seemed like a lot of appliance for the money. They are basically the same thing as thermadors, which is a really expensive brand, but don't have the best reliability ratings. Bosch did not have an oven that would work, so that pretty much eliminated them.
Miele - We loved miele, just like everyone else does. Unfotrunately, it was extremely cost prohibitive. We mainly wanted just one of their signature dishwashers, but in the end we decided that we could live with a different brand as long as it had a separate cutlery rack like the miele.
What we went with:
We went with kitchenaid because it matched everything we wanted to a T. Here is a list of the appliances we are ordering:

Refrigerator KSCS25FVMS


Oven KEMS378SSS


Dishwasher KUDE60FVSS
Cooktop KICU508SBL

Remodel Wrap Up Day 2

They started on the float today, and got most of it done.

They also began to lay the tile in the kitchen.

And that's pretty much it. We're currently already running about a day behind schedule and $300 over budget. So....we've got that going for us.

Pondering Side Tables

Now that we have the perfect glider for our nursery, the search is on for the perfect side table. My first inclination was to go with the trumpet table like Nicole over at MakingitLovely did.

I liked it, but there was still something that was not quite perfect about it. Next, I was loving the the Tray Side Table from west elm.


I still love it, but it might be a little more than I want to spend.

After that I looked for a vintage saarinen tulip table, but it was hard to find one that was in good condition that was reasonably priced.

Then during a stop at the HomeGoods in Mansfield, we stumbled on a drum table that kind of intrigued me (the one on the left).


At only $49.99, the price is right and I think it looks pretty great. I'm not sure how functional it is though. There's not a whole lot of space on the top to place items and it's bowed. Other tables like the tray table could fit a lot more stuff on top, but is more expensive.

Here is a photoshopped pic of the drum table next to the monte glider:

Remodel Wrap Up Day 1

Today was the day when we finally got this jalopy moving.

The work day was only about 6-7hrs long for our crew, but they managed to get the marble out of the entry and formal dining room. They also pulled the flooring out of the kitchen to reveal some sexy linoleum. Hooray!

We still have carpet throughout, but hopefully It will be out tomorrow.

Too tired to take pictures, maybe I will tomorrow.

UPDATE: Here are the pics. I forgot to mention that when we pulled up the marble, we realized we would have to float the tile. You'll see the drop off in the dining room.

Empty Again

Well the flooring is being demoed tomorrow, so Nick and I have moved everything off the floors (except the iron table base and the washer and dryer) tonight. It is hilarious to see where we stashed out stuff. The bed is in the middle of the game room surrounded by our dresser and other various pieces throughout the house. We'll have to post pictures of the mad stash.

Hopefully the demo will be finished tomorrow. The tile will be down on Thursday. The wood down on Friday, so it can begin the week to 10 day settling period. If we can get the floors done and the trim finished, we can start/finish the nursery. I swear if one more person tells me I'm nesting I think I'll scream. It's not nesting when you are doing an extensive remodel! We won't be able to be in the house after they stain the floors, so it would be impossible to bring a newborn home to that mess. Let's home she stays in utero until at least her due date! 

I'm extremely excited that this project is finally underway. I know everything will work out even if it doesn't work on my timeline. It's such a feeling of relief to know it is getting done. This house is about to take major steps into becoming what we've desired it to be.

Granite in the kitchen

This weekend we bought the granite for our kitchen remodel. We went with stonemark granite from Home Depot. The choice seemed simple because their granite has a different finish and doesn't have to be sealed every year. It has a 15 year warranty against staining.

We were originally going to go with silestone, but were having a hard time finding a color we liked. The stonemark seemed like a good compromise. We went with ubatuba, which is a pretty common color, but we think it will look good with the white cabinets.

We're still deciding what we're going to do about faucets, but I think we have narrowed it down to these two:

- Moen Lindley

- Delta Leland

For the wet bar, I would really like something like this:

Pegasus Newbury

Nursery Splurge

We've been pretty reasonable so far about nursery items. We're doing a lot of ikea and other bargain furniture stores. The one item that we decided we could not live without was a monte luca glider.


We have fought it for a while, and looked for substitutes, but we just can't find anything that compares. The reviews have all been off the charts and the look speaks for itself. Honestly, it was love at first sight. Here's Amber about 6 months ago at baby bliss in Dallas, sitting in the orange version pouring over fabric swatches for monte and dwell studio (both of which we love).


So tonight was the night when we finally pulled the trigger. Let's hope we don't regret it. No one else who has done the same thing as us (cheap on everything but the glider) has seemed to.

Bargain Find

A few weeks ago, we went out to a furniture warehouse sale for the IBB Design Group. It was the second time we had gone out there for one. We were turned on to them by a friend of ours that works part time for them.

The first time we went, we got there late and almost all of the good stuff was picked over. This time, we got there early and there was a pretty decent selection.

Most of the stuff they carry, I don't care for. It's a little too Haverty's for my taste. But we did find this awesome chair there for a steal. The springs on the bottom were broken (something that costs about $5 to fix), so it was only $99. The worst part was trying to get the thing in the prius and still have room for 3 of us to ride home (My mom was with us).

When I got home and looked at the tag, we realized that it was an even better deal than we thought. It turned out to be the Jasper Fireside Armchair from the Martha Stewart Bernhardt Collection. Brand new this sucker is more than likely 10x what we paid for it.

We're not sure what we are going to do with it yet, but you can never have too many cool shaped chairs in simple neutral fabrics like chocolate color velvet.

Re-Taped and Touched Up

Shortly after we pulled the tape off of the stripes, we decided that the easiest way to do the touch-up would be to tape the dark stripes up and touch up the lighter pink (the light stripes were taped up previously).

Last night we stayed up late to do the taping. Today we woke up and painted a coat. Went and ran errands. Then we applied the second coat of touch ups. Ran more errands. Then came home and removed the tape and marked for what should hopefully be the final round of touch ups. Later on I will outline what the whole process has been like.

Nursery stripes without the tape

Here's a quick look at the nursery stripes:

Late July Update

We've been doing a lot to the house lately, but not really updating it. Some big updates are coming down the pipe, so stay tuned! I will leave you with an update of the striping of the nursery. It's a subtle tone-on-tone pink. The colors are White Dogwood and Rosy Outlook (mixed at 75%) both by Sherwin Williams.

Featured on Project Nursery

I haven't updated this in a month or so, but I wanted to document that our mood board was featured on Project Nursery. You can check it out here.

Lightening the Mood

This weekend's nursery project was adding the recessed lighting. Overall, it only took a couple of hours, and turned out really well. We went with the white airtight baffle trim to match the rest of the house. Now we just need to pick out a ceiling fan.

Mood Board 1

They're all the rage on the interweb nowadays. So I thought I would make one to brainstorm what I am thinking for the nursery. Here is a sample of the direction we plan on going.

1. Possible Paint Colors : Comic Coral (Sherwin Williams), Wheat Bread (Behr)
2. Yellow Pillow from Pottery Barn (link) : Not sure if this is the exact pillow I want, but it has the right texture and fits the color pallette.
3. Bonavita Peyton Crib (link): The top rated crib on consumer reports and looks like it would fit in most styles.
4. Ikea Expedit(link) bookshelf: Displaying knick knacks, dolls, baskets to hold items, etc.
5. West Elm Capiz table lamp (link)
6. Pottery Barn Kids Audry Chenille Dot Panel Window Treatment (link)
7. Pink Piggy Bank from Target: This has already been purchased (not the exact one in the picture, but similar)
8. Dwell Studio Dragonfly Crib Bedding (link)
9. Babies 'R' Us Glider (link): and the ottoman.
10. Pottery Barn Moorish Rug (link): No longer in stores, so we'll have to snag one off ebay.
    

Extreme Makeover - Tax Addition

While this update is not exactly a home improvement, it will make it a bit easier for us to make some. You see, our tax appraisal came in at almost $70k more than we paid for our house. Amber went in and protested the appraisal. After a short disagreement, we agreed on a value of about $10k more than we paid for it.

This means we will save almost $125 a month in taxes. Every little bit helps I suppose.

The Media Center

As a testament to my possession of a Y chromosome, the media center is just about the only thing done in the house at the moment. Though most of the components have been up for about 3 months, I did not consider it complete until the recent acquisition of an xbox 360(mainly for netflix and guitar hero).

Overall, I have been extremely happy with the set-up. The tower speakers and turntable are probably the only things I would be interested in changing. The receiver is really a workhorse and I got a great deal on it. The remote is amazing, though I wish it was RF. The TV is exceptionally awesome, especially with respect to the deal I got on it on Black Friday.

Here is a list of the components with some linkage for specs:

• TV - LG 52LG60 (link)
• Blu-Ray - Sony BDP-s350 (link)
• Remote - Logitech Harmony One (link)
• Satellite - DirecTV HD DVR (link)

• Receiver - Onkyo TX-SR706 (link)
• Center Speaker - Polk audio CSi A4 (link)
• Tower Speakers - Polk audio r60 (no longer available)
• Rear Speakers - Polk audio OWM3 (link)
• Subwoofer - Hsu Research STF-2 (link)

• Turntable - Audio Technica AT-PL50 (link)
• TV Stand - PB Rhys Large (link)
• Other - XBox 360, Nintendo Wii

All Quiet On The Wills Family Front

Hello Blog. Long time no see. I hope you are doing well.

I hate that it's been 4 and a half months since my last post, but seeing as you are a home improvement blog and very little home improvement has been done, it makes some sense. Having left roadrunner for VHA (and acquiring a commute)in March and finished up my masters degree this May, you could say life just got in the way. Lest ye fear , updates aplenty are coming down the pipe (hopefully).

We've gotten back into the groove in the last couple of weeks and are looking forward to knocking out some big issues in the next couple of weeks. We've been picking out appliances, flooring, paint colors etc. and I expect it all to hit in a quick manner. Also, we're going to give our front landscaping a complete overhaul shortly.

Also, if you weren't aware, we are having a little girl. Oct 3 is the projected due date.

Paint Update

After having problems with the sprayer earlier this week and running out of paint continuously, we have the first coat on all 3 bedrooms (all that is left). Tonight I hope to put the final coat on all 3 rooms so we can start to bring the furniture in.


This is a bit tardy (I could not find the Memory card), but here's a pic of the 3 color swatches we were deciding against. L to R: Behr Sand Fossil, Behr Ocean Pearl, Glidden Parchment. As you've read, we went with Sand Fossil. I think (See: Hope) we made the right choice.

Game Room Update

Sunday I spent most of the day (more like all of it) working on the media room, trying to get all of the wires run and the boxes set up. Last night I finished up the first part, and this picture is the result of my hard work. I think it turned out pretty well. Sorry about the pic quality, I had the breakers flipped and had little light to work with.

I still need to install the rear speakers and the tv wall mount. Then I can begin to set everything up.

Painting Coming Along

We have no internet, so the blogging is not coming along as well as we would like, but I will update as much as possible.

When we got back, the drywall work was done and we have been painting as much as possible. The entry is pretty much done along with both living areas. We picked a color from Behr called Sand Fossil (770C-3). Overall I would say we are happy with the color.

This weekend we hope to be able to paint our bedroom and the laundry room. I have some more electrical work to do and I also hope that I can get our TV and surround sound set up this weekend.