How did it get to be December?

Had a serious case of  WTF this morning when I realized we are now in December. Don’t laugh. It was morning and I hadn’t been up to optimal caffeine levels. So it’s almost three months since we started this tour of duty. Things are cranking at a furious pace.

• The painters are prepping, priming, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, painting… you get the picture. It’s dusty. And fume-ish. (fume-y? smelly? whatever!) We had the windows open for quite a while this evening and other than wearing cats and afghans, we were fine. (The cats thought they should BE our afghans.) The wall of horrors (where I took down the mirror tiles) is looking amazing. And it’s not really “painted” yet.
• The patio people have laid the foundation and capstone for the patio. It has poured BUCKETS of rain the last few days so I’ve yet to see it without tarps and such all over it. It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow so that may progress a little.
• We figured out what we wanted for our pantry shelving, and I went through the previous ELFA hardware we had saved to augment it. The doors are being painted for the pantry, the hall closet and the basement steps. It will look GREAT.
• Our poor powder room on the first floor has an inferiority complex because it will look drab and sad when the fancy new paint job is done. Hang in there, pal. The next time we rob a bank, we want to do the master bath and you.
• The cats are unaware that we will have to remove them from the house next week when the sanding, staining and finishing of the floors will be done. (PLEASE don’t tell. They will be wacka-doo enough.)
• Oh yeah, in case you didn’t hear, the BUCKEYES trounced the Wolverines. My nephew is not old enough to remember the last time Ohio State lost. (That was a dig on Mark from AWDB. Sorry Mark. You’re still OK in my book.)

OK, so the picayune details I’m considering at the moment.

PONDERING: CEILING FAN/FIXTURE

I have been looking for a ceiling fan and light fixture that look like “us”. I have been having a hard time. I don’t want something that looks like “cowbells” hanging down (you know what I mean?) and I’m also not a fan of the “eye of Mordor” round circular light, glowing in the ceiling. I’ve been looking and haven’t been impressed with what I found. What is it with the designers right now? Seriously! There is a lot of strange stuff out there…

There’s the “Sputnik” model:

Next – There’s the “guillotine” model:

Now just picture kids playing with balloons, or playdough, or a loaf of unsliced bread and that puppy’s on “HI SPEED”… I don’t think so.  Next??

So glad you asked. How about the “FANAWAY”? (I didn’t make that one up. I swear.) When it’s on, the blades unfold and… fan. When it’s off, it looks like… a diner light fixture? a donut? You decide:

And finally, there’s the Wind Farm nominee….

I sent an SOS email to Shannon at AWDB. Yikes.

 

PONDERING: WINDOW TREATMENTS

This is NOT for the kitchen “infinity” window. This is for the window that faces the street. I’m looking at natural woven Roman shades… or maybe wood blinds. It’s late and I won’t bore you with details. If you have an opinion on those two options, please let me know.

 

Timelines and deadlines

We opted to not have the painters around sanding and painting during the Thanksgiving weekend. With as much dust and mess as it made today, I am glad we made that decision. Plus I really do struggle with dust and odors because of my asthma. It’s been hard coping with that tonight. (Clean up is always done really, really well by AWDB — but the “fallout” is just hard on me physically.)

Now we’re looking at the possibility of having the painters here Saturday AND Sunday next week. These are the only days of the week that we have to get work done at home, especially laundry and cooking ahead. We’re trying to decide what to do. We have to do laundry in order to be ready for the work week, and both my daughter and I have a lot of homework that we get done on the weekend. I’m really not excited about this option.

But — the alternative is that we would have to push out our completion deadline AGAIN. The floors can’t be sanded, stained and sealed until the painting is done. And then the final tweaks on the plumbing and electric, the house cleaning and re-setting the furniture all get delayed…

If we delay  those things again, I have to bump out other things like Christmas baking and decorating, entertaining, etc. I would love to have the time between Christmas and New Year’s to ourselves. Heck. I’d love to have  kitchen I can use by Christmas.

This is not an easy decision. And it’s giving me a headache!!! 😦

 

A quick P.S. on this – Wednesday night –

The current plan is to be out mid-week for a few days. Cats and all. Will put a “vacation feeder” in for the fish and hope that the snake does OK… The painters are working long days and one extra one on Saturday. We’ll adjust.

Door handles

Geez.

Who knew door handles could pluck my last nerve? Well, they have. Since it has become a “you say poTAYto and I say poTAHto” kinda discussion, it is just not worth going on about any more.

Let the record show: I am officially NOT going to decide on what door handles go where, including the finish and design. I’m just not. I’ll use whatever is there once it is installed. And I am totally good with that.

The End.

Photos and an update

Time for a slide show!!

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As you can see…

1. Most of the siding is done. We are extremely lucky in that they found a match for our siding!! It is not available any more in the color we chose (it’s been changed slightly) — BUT — somehow our design/build firm found some! (Have I mentioned how much they ROCK?) There will be a slight difference, but not much of one. I’m really appreciative of that extra effort. 🙂

2. All of the cabinetry is in place. Next on the agenda is electrical work (next week) and putting in the patio (also next week). And the granite countertops should also be installed next week. 🙂

3. We’re making our final decision – this time on stain color. Three options: Golden Pecan, Golden Oak and Natural. No, there’s not a lot of difference…  If I get a chance this weekend, I’ll take pictures in better lighting. It was close to dusk when I took these. It’s not too clear what the options are.

Pictures of the decisions…

SO… here’s the color swatches on the walls:

 

I personally like the color on the left. I’m outvoted at the moment. Our kitchen cabinets will be cherry with an ‘espresso’ glaze. (I know, sounds appetizing!) The granite will have a lighter beige/brown base color and flecks of black and steel blue are throughout.

And here’s the knobs/pulls for the cabinets:

 

I like the pull on the right. I’m the lone vote on this one, too. We have to reach an agreement soon, because time’s a wastin’!!

The good news is that the cabinets are coming this week, as well as the appliances. I’m excited about that.

Decisions right now on…

…knobs/pulls for the kitchen

…floor trim

…wall color

At the moment we aren’t in agreement on any of them. This is not fun.

Drywall, paint colors and kitchen hardware, oh my!

There’s sample colors on the walls so that we can decide what shade we like. (We’re in the “grey blue” family.)  There’s sample hardware for the kitchen drawers and doors.

I’m too tired to make decisions, but need to soon. I’ll try and post pictures later today. In the meantime, it’s time to head to work and get ready for my RotoRooter appointment in the afternoon, oh Joy.