The Many Moods of Dottie

This one's for all the Dottie fans out there! Life just hasn't been the same since out little friend went back to her home. We did visit her (umm, and her humans and furry roommate, Jerry) for New Year's Eve! I think we made it a bit distracting for everyone else since Wonder Husband and I each wanted to hold or pat Dottie and Dottie just wanted, well, we're not sure - but something that made her bark and howl! I'm pretty sure she wanted to go outlet shopping again. But that is another story that I will tell you later!

Here are some of Dottie's adventures (and snoozes):

relaxing; visiting the new house; chasing squirrels in the snow; couch nap; being dignified in the window chair; looking homesick in the window chair; helping Wonder Husband drive ("Yes, officer, she is fully licensed"); relegated to the back seat (early on in the ride).

Christmas came early!

On Christmas Eve, my true love gave to me:

Granite countertops,

Rejuvenation light fixtures,

and

a resting doggggggiiiiieeeeeee (visiting)!

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the gorgeous granite, but I did manage to accidentally leave the imprints of two of my fingers in the stuff they stick it down with. The nice UPS man brought us our big boxes of beautiful light fixtures from Rejuvenation ! We're excited to see how these fixtures dress up the new living room and dining room and hopefully make them look, ummm, old!

More photos (and a Guest!)

We have lots of progress on the 22, 23 and 24 December. Here are some photos to update you!

Dottie while hunting squirrels down the street from the house. Dottie is our special Christmas guest while her mommy is out of town! I cannot believe how much snow we still have. Dottie seems to enjoy it though, even though she is a Louisianan.

Pantry shelves!

Lights and appliances in the kitchen!!!

A random photo I accidentally put it, but thought it was nice to see how far we have come!!

The powder room light fixture, which the nice electricians moved higher for me, so that it better accommodates the forthcoming medicine cabinet.

The master bedroom with Wonder Husband and our guest, Dottie the Doggie.

Master bath, with floor tile (almost all) in and paint; awaiting subway tile on the walls.

Hall bath, with subway wall tile in!

Light fixture hanging in the stairwell. We are loving the exposed brick!

Merry Christmas!

Is this too green?

We thought it would be nice if the entry hall could be a nice, bright, cheery color. What do you think?

What is it called?

Because John the Builder had to question my first choice of grout.

Because I cannot simply choose the less-expensive in-stock grout.

Because the tile store only had 4 small bags of Laticrete Silver Shadow unsanded grout.

I came home after lots of errands and happenings and said to Wonder Husband, "Oh, I remembered we need to find the grout!", thinking we would turn to the good old internets.

Wonder Husband responded, "Yeah, what is it called? Ludacris?"


Well, no. Not Ludacris, the rapper. But ludicrous? Yes. I believe it is.

Updates!

Here are a few update photos!

We still have not found our camera, but we have absconded with that belonging to The Brother.

These photos show:

First, some progress in the guest bathroom - that is our paint color, Palladian Blue, on the higher part of the walls. The lower part will be white subway tile. The door is in the tub. I don't know why. But surely a door in the tub in the bathroom is an improvement over the tub in a box in the kitchen!

Second, a first look at the base kitchen cabinets!

Third, a sample of the guest bath floor tile - it has actually been installed now and awaits grout!

Fourth, the sunny guest room! It is a richer yellow than the photo actually shows. I think the photo makes it look a bit brighter than it is.

Finally, our Christmas present from my Mom and Dad! It is a Moravian Star light for the foyer, a welcoming sign to our future guests and a little reminder of home. I grew up near Old Salem in NC, a Moravian community founded in 1766. Here is are some information about the star: info from some nice Pennsylvanians and from the Moravian church web-site.

More photos soon!

Snow Day(s)

Yes, we have snow a plenty!

It is amazing - lots and lots of snow. It was relaxing and peaceful to have it come on a Friday night and Saturday, so there was none of the "will it be a work delay? work cancellation? will I have to dig out the car while wearing a suit?". Ahhhhh.

Saturday was the perfect day for sleeping late, doing a bit of packing, and eating leftover Curry Butternut Squash Soup! We managed to even get out of making dinner since our nice friends - who happen to be almost immediate neighbors - had their annual Christmas open house!

We did walk over to check on the new house in the afternoon and I have some photos from the journey and what we found there! We couldn't believe how long the snow kept coming down! When we were walking over, it was really hitting us in the face, making it hard to see.

Sunday was also relaxing. We're very spoiled - since we live across the street from church we were still able to get there without any trouble. We had NC country ham and cabbage soup for lunch and then I packed some more while Wonder Husband snow-hiked to Frager's to get some parts for our current bathroom sink. It has the sniffles in a big way.

We found out that the Federal government is closed tomorrow so we both have a snow day! I have a feeling we will both be doing some work anyway, along with more packing/cleaning!

The cleaning part has been good. I think I'm clear to throw away (shred, don't worry!) my check stubs from 1998 and church newsletters from 2005....

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Happy anniversary to my wonderful and amazing parents! Today we celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary!!!!!

I am so proud of them and so thankful for my Super Dad and Miracle Mom! They are both so talented, but more importantly, so hardworking. They are amazing stewards of all the Lord has given them and have been blessed abundantly because of their faithfulness.

They are the best parents a girl could ever hope for! And I am not just saying that because Dad is so handy and Mom is a decorator and I have a house to finish and decorate. Promise.

Mom and Dad, we love you and can't wait to have a guest room where you can stay! It will be a big step up from the air mattress!

Here is a little photo of me with them on my wedding day. Wonder Husband and I aspire to be such a fabulous couple and great parents!

Photo by Kristen Leigh.

It's so prettyyyyyyyyy!

So, there is some good news! (There is more bad/annoying news, too, but we'll just skip over that.) Skip! That is what I wanted to do when I saw the pretty little bedroom upstairs!!!! They painted! They finally painted!

There was primer, boy, was there ever primer EVERYWHERE. I have it on the bottoms of my boots. Everything was beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiigggggge. For days. And days.

And today we had a trying meeting about the kitchen and all was bleak and Wonder Husband called me upstairs and I saw it! The refreshing, lovely water.

The middle bedroom is Sherwin Williams Waterscape. It is that pretty little block of color at the top of this posting, but that swatch doesn't do it justice. It is just a lovely watery color that brightens up the little bedroom.

They also painted the master bedroom which is Benjamin Moore Silver Marlin. Hmm those swatches look really similar, but the Silver Marlin looks much more silver-green. Anyway, with the trim painted Benjamin Moore White Dove it just all looks so sharp and fresh!

It was really exciting and encouraging to see something that signals Good Progress!

Tomorrow they measure for the granite and start putting down the bathroom tile!

I'm no drama queen

I thought my low point would be the day I was asked to design a better lay-out for the basement heating/air duct work. (I mean, yes, I grew up watching This Old House thanks to Super Dad, but duct work is not my speciality.) But no. Maybe it was Friday. When the kitchen cabinets didn't really make sense and I was blamed. It was kind of like this except without the bleepies. I didn't say any bleepies. Please ignore the bleepies! And then sympathize with Wonder Husband and Jason, Realtor to the Stars who were on the receiving ends of my phone calls:

Brown paper packages...

sealed up with tape!

Not as romantic as those tied up with string, but it is like Christmas every day! We are receiving packages left and right.

Today the nice UPS and FedEx men (and yes, they are men; I am not generalizing) brought:

kitchen pendant lights!

hallway ceiling-mount lights!

guest bathroom vanity light!

powder room vanity light (I think. There are so many lights!)!

And some Christmas presents for our favorite little monkeys! The nice thing about being in town for Christmas this year (due to the move) is that we will spend Christmas morning with our little friends!!!

Anyway, it is good that I have the feeling of opening Christmas packages every day right now because...there won't be any more come Christmas morning. Wonder Husband's present is the aforementioned lights! Mine will be a faucet that is on back-order!

Pictured: Pottery Barn Leo Double Sconce, for the hall/guest/future kiddo-roonies bathroom. We thought it was kind of fun!

Lights out!

Everyone can sleep now.

Almost all the light fixtures have been ordered. Including the lovely Hudson Valley Petersburg Pendant for over the kitchen island. (In polished nickel rather than what is shown here.)

Sigh.

You Will Be Mad That We Still Haven't Found the Camera....

Lots of changes at the future Home of Hill and Home!

Let's see, so many things: walls, hardwood floors, installed windows and doors! I know, I have missed documenting all the individual steps. It was a slow slog though, so you won't regret it.

Where are we now? Well, I just e-mailed off the final (version 3) paint color selections. I can't say I am sure about all of them, but I think it is hard to decide since:
1.) we haven't lived in the space, and
2.) we don't know how we are going to furnish the space!
Apparently it is important to get some paint up so we can see any flaws in the drywall finishing.

I am sure we will have some paint changes in our future! We are going with a BRIGHT front entry and then fairly subtle colors throughout! A lot of bluey-grey-green. In fact, I guarantee that my brother will make similar jokes to what he says now about the apartment (three different yellows in three different rooms; he's convinced it is all the same color, but I proved that I could tell the difference when Super Dad tried to trick me while painting here!). We're planning to re-use our current bedroom color (one of those yellows) in the guest bedroom at the new house because it is also north facing.

What else is happening? Hopefully John the Builder will be able to come pick up the large number of boxes in our current place which contain, as I think I mentioned before, sinks, faucets and lights.

I know you have been curious - how did www.everyfaucet.com deliver? Pretty well! They had a fast delivery time and only one item is not perfect. The tub/shower set for the hall bath had some damage so we have to exchange it. [Actually, we will be returning it and buying a new one since their less than fabulous Customer Service Rep couldn't "exchange" it for us in a prompt time frame. But for the price, selection and shipping time, I would order again!]

I must run to pick out some doorknobs for the exterior doors!

This promises to be a busy week with painters, floor sanders and stainers, and cabinet and appliance deliveries!!!

Oh, I forgot! They installed the pocket doors, so that is very exciting!

Did I Tell You We Can't Find The Camera?

I'm serious. We are fairly sure it is....somewhere.

So, the lack of photos. I do have some from the borrowed camera de Brother, so I will post some random ones:

The INSTALLED window in the master bedroom!

The new skylight over the stairs!!!

The better-now fireplace - the bricks were SO damaged so Miguel "parged" it. I don't know what that means, but John the Builder showed me a sample and I liked it. It will be covered by the original (!) mantel and some reproduction Victorian tile anyway!

Bonus snuggly dachshund shots from their visit last month.

To be honest, most of the other house pictures are just the wall studs from different angles! I do need to find the exciting ones of Max busting out the brick wall to install basement windows!

I will also tell you about http://www.everyfaucet.com/. Guess what they carry????

Did you guess? Every faucet. I am not kidding! How did I only stumble upon them yesterday? I can't believe it. They also sell, for many sets, the shower handle, shower head, and tub spout separately! So you can really mix it up! Wonder Husband was concerned when I told him this wonderful fact. He has learned, as Super Dad and Miracle Mom learned years ago, that when it comes to options, it is best to limit my choices. As I must see them all.

Anyway, I can't remember what I was searching for, oh, ADA compliant bathroom sink faucets and I found http://www.everyfaucet.com/ and ordered up the faucet and shower set for the hall/guest/future kiddo-roonies and basement/apartment bathrooms! For better prices than I had seen elsewhere. Last night.

And I JUST got an e-mail telling me it had all been shipped! Yippee!

(ADA compliant search: Wonder Husband suggested that lever handles rather than fabulous, metal, cross handles would be easier for kiddo-roonies or visiting old people (that's what he said!) so I had to find fabulous lever handles.)

I also did another http://www.overstock.com/ order for the apartment kitchen sink faucet. We received the main kitchen sink from http://www.overstock.com/ and then the wonderful Archer pedestal sink (on sale with free shipping from Home Depot)!! Plus the master bath faucet from Signature Hardware (nice people in Kentucky!).

Needless to say, between boxes being delivered and boxes we are packing to move, the current apartment looks like a box factory. John the Builder is coming Friday to pick up the new stuff and move it off-site.

Anyway, great progress at the house with drywall up and hardwood floors partially installed.

That reminds me, I need to e-mail John the Builder about paint and order my dreamy light fixtures from http://www.rejuvenation.com/ (and some from e-bay to balance the budget).

Hear the Bells Ringing

Priorities, folks! No, we don't have the toilets, much less the faucets, ordered, but what do you think about this doorbell? Do you think it is a suitable tribute to my Canadian, salmon-loving Wonder Husband?

(Image from www.craftsmandoorbells.com)

Romantic Notes....

The subject line of the first e-mail I received from Wonder Husband this week read:
"Link to Toilet seat on Lowes".

Sweet romance. Sigh.

Design Teaser II:

Master bath lighting: Restoration Hardware Devon Sconce in Chrome (on clearance, baby!).

Secret: sometimes I say "scones" instead of "sconce".

Image from Restoration Hardware

Design Teaser:

Powder room sink and unmentionable (Carreen told me I can't say that word at the dinner table). They are from the Archer line by Kohler. If you zoom in on the prices I can promise we aren't paying that much. This photo (by moi) was made at Fergusons, the Showroom with Cookies, and ours will come from Ye Olde Lowes or Home Depot (which sometimes has popcorn and our local one has an Italian sub trailer out front).

I just put the Hound on there again because he still cracks me up! "Your t.p., madame."

How much can a woman bear?

In the midst of a major house renovation, when a woman is plagued with thoughts of faucets, duct work, and sudden (urgent! with no warning!) requirements to select door hinges, should she also be plagued, each time she looks in the mirror or her hair brushes her chin, with the nagging reminder that Melba cut one side of her hair at least 1/2 an inch (if not more) shorter than the other side? How much is one woman expected to bear?

I hereby task Wonder Husband and my Brownie with the duty of not allowing me to return to Melba. Yes, Brownie, because I know you will ask - this is the 2nd time Melba has apparently taken this approach to haircutting.

I now return to monitoring the e-bay auction for an antique door knob.

Many, many updates...

There are many updates. Exciting updates. Mundane updates. But I am too tired.

It is a busy time at Hill House. As you know, Super Dad and Miracle Mom were visiting last week and did perform what seemed like miracles in the current abode: a clean, evenly painted radiator! bookcases that are not crammed with books, but instead have enough books to make us look tastefully literary, but stylish in our placement of interesting objets d'art; clean laundry!; dinner ready when I came home from the office! Sigh.

Wonder Husband has safely returned from abroad. With the sniffles. I think I caught jet lag from him. Can that happen?

Hill House progresses! I promise I have lots of photo updates. And one decision has been made. The Elizabeth Classics Exposed Pipe Rainshower (with optional handheld shower) in Chrome will grace our master bath. Once it clears back order (don't tell John the Builder--he's holding his breath waiting for it.)

I'm definitely not going to tell him the other faucet is on back order till mid-December.

Image from Shop4Classics who has THE MOST RESPONSIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE e-mailers ever. And they are patient. I may have needed to ask 6 questions before placing my order. And then 2 afterwards.

Hardwood Floors II and House Progress

Here are some photos of the hardwood floor samples with the satin finish poly coats...Thoughts? I'm still leaning toward the middle color on the 4" plank. I also included a shot of Sally & Lucy on the couch viewing the hardwood floor samples. I need to make a pronto decision on the hardwoods as the nice guys from Cherokee called me today to let me know they are placing an order tomorrow for a shipment and after that they won't get more of the flooring I am considering till 'after the holidays' = yikes!

House progress - big news on the basement front, well, the basement floor! I haven't shared too much about the basement because there hasn't been much to share other than dirt, new underpinning and darkness. Doesn't that entry photo look ominous? But it shouldn't! I'm feeling good about the basement! I visited it Monday morning and was impressed with how much light comes into the front half moon window and then found out that the back bedroom windows are going to be really wide. I envision it with the nice Berber carpet and the glow of the recessed lights...It's going to be a really nice apartment. On the progress front, today they poured the concrete for the floor!

I didn't visit, but Super Dad went over yesterday and today to check things out. He was impressed with the basement floor progress and observed them pouring the concrete (no photos due to serious rain). He also found out the plan for pouring the concrete for the parking pads. Since the big truck won't fit into the alley, the concrete truck will park out front and they will run the hose OVER the house. OVER the two story row house. Should be a good scene.

Super Dad also inspected and approved the bathtubs for the apartment and the hall bath. He was impressed with them, so that bodes well! Hopefully they remember to repair the little hole that is currently in the bathroom wall before they install the tub...