Housing matters

I thought that I would enjoy documenting our house remodeling project extensively on this website during 2017. The truth is, I haven't wanted to write about it as much as I thought I would because the process has been rather frustrating since our delays started this past summer. And the delays have not stopped - in some ways it's even worse now because we all thought we would be celebrating the start of 2018 in our "real" house. But here we are in January 2018, and we still have over a month of construction to go.

I learned a helpful phrase when I was younger - "If you can't change your situation, you can at least change your attitude about your situation". So while we are all disappointed the that construction and finish out has taken months longer than anyone anticipated, the best I can do is to at least have a good attitude about our situation. I can remind myself how lucky we are to be able to build a beautiful "new" home to move back to (true), and I can find joy in imagining the moments in the not-too-distant future (hopefully!) when we will all be enjoying the end result.

So let's back up to early fall. The photos below start in early October and continue through mid-December. During the fall months, I spent a lot of time selecting different finishing items for the house. After we selected all the countertops, next stage was tile. Tile for the bathroom showers and tubs, backsplashes (kitchen, utility, bar in the game room, bathrooms), and tile for the floor (certain rooms). The kids wanted to be involved in their selections and I think they did a good job showcasing their tastes in their bathrooms.

Amelia has a tub/shower with an arched ceiling above. She chose basic white subway tile for the majority of the space, and featured a very cool turquoise/silver dot pattern on the back wall of the tub. The photo below was taken before they properly grouted the tub, but you can still see the pretty pattern. Our contractor sent us photos of the tile installer performing all the precise measurements needed to cut the tile perfectly and get the pieces centered, which looked a lot more complicated than I ever imagined laying tile would be.

Cabinetry work continued while the tile was being installed. This is the start to one of the master bedroom closets. I am showing this because it will help with the before/after aspect because the difference in raw cabinetry is dramatically different than the painted and finished version!

Building the bar in the upstairs game room (first photo) and the kitchen (second photo).

The photos below depict John's shower and bathroom floor after the tile was installed. In typical John fashion, John was quick to decide his color and pattern choices because he knew exactly the look he was going for (modern and sleek). His entire bathroom is a warm gray tone, and it's awesome.

Amelia and John each selected the color and style of carpet for their rooms.

And John helped me narrow down the primary and accent paint colors for the exterior. The finished product will be shown soon. The "old" house was grey with black accents and we wanted to lighten it up this time around.

 The photo below depicts the guest room shower. I think this looks great in person (not so striking in the photo). John repeatedly tells me that he doesn't like this shower because of the concrete-like tiles (his bathroom tile is all shiny and sleek). The accent wall tile is multi-colored and shiny.

This is the beginning of the cabinetry and tile work in the master bathroom. 

The exterior of the house, painted in the final colors. It looks a little darker in person, especially on a cloudy day.

A more complete bar in the game room upstairs.

While all this was going on at the house, I went on about a dozen appointments with our contractor to select other fixtures. We selected all the light fixtures for the house - primary ceiling lights, pendants, and sconces. Funny how I never knew half of these terms a year ago but now I feel completely comfortable in a lighting or fixtures showroom. We saw so many lights!

 

One of these pendants (actually, three of them) will be hanging above the bar in the upstairs game room.

 We also selected ceiling fans. Who knew there were so many options of each little thing that gets put in a newly constructed home?