Day 92

I took an unintentional blog break over the past few weeks! We spend most of November traveling to NYC and Atlanta and I have not had the chance to give a house update.

 

We had the best time in NYC! We went to see UK play and were able to spend a few days just being tourists. This is the second year that we have made this trip and it is always so fun. This picture was taken in Central Park, in the pond outside of the Boathouse.

 

When we got back from vacation, we went right into the Thanksgiving holiday! I wanted to share this picture from Thanksgiving day with my favorite babies.

 

Work has continued at the house even though we have been gone. The electrician has been working to get all of our can lights installed and electric wired for all the light fixtures. We walked through the house and picked out where we wanted each of the lights to go.

 

A few days ago we went to the house and the majority of the cans were installed and turned on. It was the most exciting day of the renovation for me so far! The house had no overhead lights so I felt like I could really see the inside for the first time.

 

This is the view standing in the kitchen, looking towards the back wall. The sink will be under that window.

 

 Another view from the kitchen. The family room is the dark room on the left. The cans were not done yet in that room. The room on the right of the framed wall will be Bens office and the peach colored room you can see is the dining room.

 

 View from the kitchen into Bens office. This wall will eventually be covered up with cabinets, the refrigerator and double wall ovens.

 

 View of the dining room front he front entry way. I cannot wait to paint over the peach and take down those window treatments. The room straight back is Bens office.

 

When we first started researching appliances a few months ago, we learned that the best time to buy is black Friday. Thankfully the home improvement stores start honoring the lower prices the week of Thanksgiving, so we did not have to fight the crowds! Mom and I went the Tuesday before and purchased all of the kitchen appliances and the washer/dryer. We are to the stage when I get to pick out everything and I think it is so much fun!

  

We have also spent the past few days researching what to do about our *now* outdoor fireplace. I may have mentioned this before, but the previous owners had a see through fireplace going from the family room to the addition on the back of the house. When we took out the walls of the addition, the fireplace was still there, but is now outside. While we think it will be really neat, it also presents a set of challenges.

We have to have a chimney sweep come and look the the flow of the fireplace. The concern is that if it doesnt flow correctly, then we could be using it outside and walk back into the house to a black living room full of smoke. If we can determine that the flow is good, then we will have to buy a custom fireplace door with an air tight seal and lock. I am hopeful that it will work out and we can use it both inside and out!

Day 72

We found out that Sherwin Williams is going to be having a 40% off paint sale this coming weekend. Great news for us, since we are buying enough paint to do the entire interior and exterior of the house! However, its not nearly as exciting when you do not have a clue what color you want to paint.

 

Saturday mom and I decided that we were going to get the color figured out. I knew I wanted something either in the cream or grey family, but that is about as far as I had gotten. We made our first trip to Sherwin Williams and bought 3 exterior paint samples, 2 creams and 1 grey. The grey was called "worldly grey" and I loved the paint swatch. I honestly thought that was going to be the color. In the end, I learned that it really doesn't mean beans what color it is on the swatch. I was shocked at how different it looked on the brick! Here are the first 3 that we tried. The worldly grey is in the middle and a color called "stucco" is on the right. I can not remember what the left color was called.

 

 

It is hard to tell in a picture, but all 3 were ugly! The right was too creamy, the left almost looked white and the grey that I thought I loved, ended up being almost blue! Major strike out on round 1!

 

We loaded back up in the car and decided to drive around Chevy Chase (an older neighborhood in Lexington with a lot of painted brick homes) and see if we like any. My dad came along for round 2. Ben was in Casey county and missed all of the fun, I am sure he was devastated, hehe. We drove around and saw several we loved. I even looked up the phone numbers of some houses and my dad called them to see what color they used. Unfortunately no one was home at all the numbers we tried.

 

The real highlight/funny part of the day for me, came when my dad spotted a color he liked and my mom walked up to the house with a paint deck trying to match it! The color in this picture looks super dark, but it really was a pretty grey. Notice I am taking the picture from inside the car.

 

 

 

We ended up back at the paint store and got 2 more colors. We got one stroke into one color and knew it was not good. Then we tried the last one we got, called "grey area." We knew immediately that we loved it! 

 

 

 The color mom is painting is the one we really like.

 

 

 

The problem is, I am an over thinker and started wondering yesterday if we really made the right choice. I think I just realize that this is probably one of the biggest house related decisions and needs to be perfect. I have followed Darby Sticklers blog for several years and she did a complete home renovation a few years ago, including painted brick. She used a Benjamin Moore color called "Clarksville grey" and I decided I wanted to do a test spot just to double check myself. I went after school yesterday and got the sample. When I put it on, I was shocked to see that it was nearly identical to the color we picked! I am going to go back today to see it in the sunlight (it was getting dark when I went yesterday). Hopefully Ben and I both will get a chance to look and pick.

 

This picture is so dark, but the color on the right is the clarksville grey" and the "grey area" is on the left."

 

 

 

 This is the paint swatch for the "clarksville grey," it does look slightly different here, but you really can barely see a difference in person.

 

 

This is what it looks like on Darbys house (main house color, not trim). Photo courtesy of www.flythroughourwindow.com. Also, this is a good picture of exactly what we have picked out for our front door. You can tell just by comparing the paint swatch to the house that they look so different, even though it is is the same color! We also have a black roof like she does, but our trim and windows will be white. Our house really needs shutters, so we are going to add those in black to match the roof.

 

 

We have until Monday to decide. Ben and I leave for vacation Thursday and do not get home until Sunday night. Hopefully we will know for sure what we want to do by Monday!

One other funny thing I wanted to be sure to post is this picture. When I walked in the house last week I could see the direct sun coming through the family room ceiling! The house had 2 skylights that we both hated and decided to removed when we put the new roof on. It was just funny walking in and being able to see the sky from the inside of your house :) I am happy to say that the skylights are covered up now.

Day 68

It seems like things are really picking up at the house! There are so many different projects going on all at once and so many decisions to be made. Ben had said when we first started this project that there would be a point that things would really start to move fast, and I think that time has arrived!

 

We met with the kitchen designer again earlier in the week to go over the plans. I am so in love! I need to scan in the design to share. We are getting a lot more cabinet space than I ever dreamed we would be able to fit. I have obviously been thinking about the kitchen a lot, because last night I had a dream that it was finished and I hated it! Yikes. In my dream it was nothing like I am planning on doing. I woke up very glad that it was not real : ) The designer also came up with plans for both the master bath and laundry room. All of this is starting to make it seem more real, and I am loving the process! Although I am sure Ben is ready for it to be over already becuase he has been working at the house nearly everyday and so hard. I am so thankful for his sacrifice to work. I know he enjoys helping and his hard work is really helping the budget.

 

I went by yesterday and took a ton of pictures. When I pulled up, they were putting the roof on! We are going to be painting the brick in the Spring, probably a grey or cream color (still trying to decide) so we are going with a black roof.

 

This is a picture yesterday when they first started actually putting the shingles on.

 

 I drove by this morning and took this. They got nearly the entire front done! I am really pleased with the way it looks. I can't wait to get the new windows, gutters, door and paint on it.

 

 

I also took a picture of the back patio and garage after they got all the large chunks of concrete out. It is so muddy in the back of the house.

I was also able to take some pictures of the inside yesterday. When I walked in, Ben was cutting a hole in the drywall to create a new door to our dining room. With the way we are changing the floor plan, we needed a new door put in to have easy access from the kitchen to the dining room. The new opening really makes the room feel more open already.

 

This is the view from inside the family room. The dining room door is on the left and the kitchen is straight back.

 

This is the view from the front door, when you walk in the house, the dining room is on your immediate left and Ben's office will be just past that. Also, the pool ladder is a nice touch :)

 

 

Ben has also been making little changes that are making a big difference around the house. When you walk in the back door, we will have a mud room of sorts with lockers and a bench. Originally there was a wall that divided the space from the kitchen. He decided to just take out the small wall and make it so that the mud room was more open to the kitchen. I love the change. Its just incredible what a difference doing something small like that makes!

 

This is a picture standing inside the kitchen looking at the back door.

 

When you walk into the house, to the right is a narrow hallway to the bedrooms. The original door did not go all the way to the ceiling, making it feel small. Ben took out the drywall above the door all the way to the ceiling and will make it a cased opening. It makes the room feel so much taller and with 8 foot ceilings, every little bit helps.

 

 

Getting closer every day!