It's Electric!

The pictures don't look very exciting, but I am excited! The electrician has been working hard and will finish up tomorrow.  Chris put up all the cans for the recessed lighting and the wiring is just about completed.

Found the chandelier for my craft room, the foyer light and the pendants for over the island.  

Shortly after my surgery, I got on-line and started looking for other dealers for the hardwood floors we picked out. I talked to a guy in Kentucky who promised and delivered the best price.  Upon questioning him, it turns out he used to have a store, but retired.  Now he says he is reopening his store. At any rate, he had the best price, but I was a little concerned so I called the manufacturer who hooked me up with the regional rep.  The rep said he wasn't set up as a dealer and couldn't order.  He called the floor guy and he got set up, so that sounded legit. To protect our sizable monetary investment in these floors we decided to pay him with a credit card and bite the bullet for the $511 credit card fee in exchange for the security of knowing that we would be protected.  Well, my card was charged immediately, but he couldn't order the floors because he never completed the paperwork with Square the iPhone credit card app.  He promised a full refund and asked us to pay half the cost of the floors and he would pay the other half until delivery.  He did give me a full refund. So after physical therapy, I met him in the bank parking lot with a large check.  Ten minutes later I get a phone call from the bank asking if they can cash the check.  I said yes, but I was getting more and more concerned about who we were dealing with.  Fifteen days later, he is on his way to our house with a van and trailer loaded with our floors.  He would not allow anyone to unload until he got his check.  Chris refused and said we had to open one box to insure that we were getting what we ordered.  

Sample on the right, out of the box on the left. Perfect match!

Six guys and 90 minutes later the floors are loaded in the house. Whew, what a sigh of relief from me.  I saved a ton of money, but may have lost some hair worrying about this deal.  
The electrician will finish tomorrow, the plumber will come and then the sheet rock goes up!  We decided to plank the dining ceiling and we are going to wash it with the watered down blue paint from the upper cabinets.  

This will also be the color on the back wall of the two
built in china display cabinets on either side of the back door in the dining room. The cabinets will be stained, but the back wall will be paint washed blue. 

It's getting close!!!

Picking colors

No progress seems to be the way this remodel is going!  The crew came in on Mon & Tues last week and installed the sub-flooring and we haven't seem them since.  

We did receive cabinet color samples. The upper cabinets and the bottom of the island in the kitchen will be Benjamin Moore Palladium Blue. The lower cabinets will be stained a slightly lighter version of the stain you see below.  

 The backsplash tile is below.  Wall paint color is Benjamin Moore Summer Harvest (3rd one down on color sample below)

The hardwood floor is engineered Hickory.  It is not thick enough to compensate for all the irregularities in our old subfloor, so we had to install the expensive Russian Birch subfloor to even it all out.  

Master bath flooring, tile, quartz countertop and trim/cabinet color.  

The second electrician came today to do an estimate. No, those are not pumpkins hanging above where the island will be located, they represent where the pendant lights over the island will be located.   

 Looking into my walk-in pantry.  It will be all natural color maple with pullout drawers, open shelving and maple board counter tops.  There will be no cabinets doors in the pantry.  These are the antique doors we purchased for the pantry.  The refrigerator is in it's new home.  

Electrical, plumbing, and HV/AC is next on the list.  

The Doors

I am so excited that there has finally been some progress around this house!  You may remember that a month ago the framers raised the ceiling in the dining room from a lowly 8' to 12 feet.  

 We realized immediately, we needed some light in that empty space.  Our architect suggested an 8 foot door with a 2 foot transom.  We found the exact thing at the Habitat Store for $300!   

In order to install, my poor husband was up on scaffolding in 90 degree temps most of the weekend, removing the brick above the old doors.  The new doors were finally installed this morning and they certainly brought the light!  It looks amazing. 

These are the old front doors, dark and dreary.  

The second set of doors we found at the Habitat Store.  

The new doors installed!  It's amazing how they transform this part of the room!   

 Just past the new doors, is our expanded coat closet. You can see the place the previous closet ended, the new closet is 3 feet longer.  In the space between the front door and the closet, we plan to add a bench with some hooks above for company coats and purses.  

The electrician came and we are awaiting his bid. The crew also got all the walls prepared for new sheetrock installation. It's slow, but it's progress!