LIGHTS!

I've been looking forward to this day for a LONG time!

Well, this is one of a few days that I've been looking forward to!

The electrician came and installed our lights!

I was crazy and didn't go with the light guy that the builder suggested.  I chose to research all of my own lights and had them ordered and delivered to the house.

Surprisingly, this part of the home-building-process was really stressful for me.  I wanted them to be perfect!  I wanted them to be different and show my style.

It took a lot of time, energy, and research.

I LOVE THEM!

Here's a peek at them:

I wanted the porch light to hang.  There I go- shakin' things up!

Crazy, right??

But it might just be my favorite!

I like this light a lot, but not sure I love where it is placed.  We'll see.  It might move somewhere else in the house.

And these pendants- Oh man.  Aren't they divine?

I've wanted these for YEARS!

I went with a simple drum light for the dining nook.  

I didn't want to take away from the pendants because those are the focus of the room.  

The boys bathroom and then the master has the same- just bigger.

Progress

The past 2 days have been a whirlwind.

I wasn't sure what to even title this post.

The floor is finished.  The cabinets have started to be installed.  The railing is white.  The island is in place.

PROGRESS.

We are tired.

This island is my Dad's BABY!  He sprayed it- start to finish.

It looks beautiful!

I chose (with my sister's help!) Lead from Kwal.  I thought it would be a little more charcoal looking, but it appears blue with the natural light.  I actually like it.  

Thank you Dad for doing such a great job on this!

And thank you for working so hard to help us!

And a HUGE shout out to The Hubs for designing such a beautiful island.  He kept the shaker style going on the island.  He also knows me too well and built it so that it can come apart in 3 big pieces, so when I am ready to change the color, it won't be too much of a hassle to re-spray it!

He's a thinker- that's for sure! 

 I almost feel like crying right now as I write this post.

This railing is my BABY and I feel so happy, exhausted, and proud all at the same time.

The Hubs did an amazing job making my vision a reality.  Everyone (and probably The Hubs too) thought I was crazy when I said I wanted an ALL WOOD, WHITE RAILING.

But isn't it beautiful?   

I will re-tape each baluster and prepare to stain that piece of wood that lines the floor.   I had to custom match the stain at Sherwin Williams to match the flooring.

Floor Delay and White Railing

Oh geez.  We've run into a problem.

The floor was supposed to be COMPLETELY INSTALLED by today.  Don't worry, it's just barely getting started.  At first, we thought they would just extend our time to install seems how it was their scheduling mistake for the floors... NOPE.  I'm sick about it.  That means we basically have 2 days to install EVERYTHING.

While we waited for the floors to be installed far enough that we could start putting the base cabinets in, The Hubs decided to hurry and spray the railing.  We masked everything off and he got started.  

Cabinets Delivered

So we've dropped off all of the cabinet boxes and are ready to install them.  The builder gave us 3-4 days to install both bathrooms and the kitchen.  The problem is that we need to wait until the wood floors are installed to start the kitchen, so we've piled them up in the family room until we're ready.

The Hubs has been working his tail off spraying all of the hardwood.  Our Bro-In-Law, Dad and Little Bro have been a huge help at this stage.  We couldn't have done it without them.

Railing Installed

The railing is pretty much complete.

We'll add the tops on the newel posts and it's ready to be sprayed.

Behind the Scenes: Cabinets

Here's a behind the scenes look at the kitchen cabinet progress:

 We set up the "spray station" in the basement.  It actually worked pretty well.  The temperature was controlled, we didn't have to worry about wind, dust, etc.  My Bro In Law, Dad, Little Bro, and myself rotated each door through to The Hubs as he sealed and sprayed.  We sanded in between.

 We had a pretty good system going on.  We were super organized and it kept things running pretty smooth.

We only had headaches and sore throats for days following related to the lacquer!

No big deal, really!

We are 2 TONED!

Let's cross another item off the list:

2 TONE

Woot Woo!

Bro-In-Law and Dad peeling off the LAST PIECE of blue tape.

Taping Begins...

My Bro-In-Law and I have been taping and masking all of the trim work so we can 2 tone this weekend.  My fab Dad and The Hubs come and help us each night after they get off of work.

 At first, I thought that taping felt pretty therapeutic- I had my tunes on, no kids running around- just me and my thoughts...  And then the heat and never ending blue tape happened.

It was rough. 

 It's not pretty, but it does the job.

It only took like 15 trips to Home Depot and Sherwin Williams.

Interior Paint

1 tone paint is complete inside!

We chose Kindling Wood from Kwal.

It looks a little gray and a little taupe in certain lights which is just what I wanted!

Soffit and Fascia

Rain gutters should be coming soon and we're gearing up for 2-tone!