Beautiful Coincidences

 

Some beautiful finishing touches were added to the house this week. And in one of those "it's a small world" coincidences, I found out this weekend that our cabinet maker's daughter (Emerson) and Caroline are in the same kindergarten class and were in Pre-k together last year. It's strange to get to know someone through a totally unrelated means (choosing and installing cabinets) and then find out how much you have in common with them. It made me like the cabinets even more knowing we had a personal connection to the family who built them.

 

Below is a picture of our new fireplace mantle. Of course, it still needs some kind of tile or brick background and hearth and a wide piece of wood across the top. But, it really makes a big impact in our living room.

Here we have our master bathroom tub surround with beautiful Carrara marble. Once I figure out what color I want to paint this room, it will be beautiful.  I told Maribeth that this bathroom would end up selling this house. I think she had a little heart attack! Of course, I told her, barring some unforeseen event, we wouldn't be selling for a very long time.

This is Brian's sink and vanity.

And my sink and vanity.

Here are our Brazilian granite counter tops in our kitchen. They are also installed in the butler's pantry and the upstairs bathrooms.

Balusters, Handrails and Newel Posts

Up until this week, the home has seemed somewhat like a death trap. With two wild, hyper children roaming the halls and eager to see their bedrooms and playroom upstairs, we were constantly on edge from the possibility of a two story fall. It was all we could do to keep two children holding our hands anytime we ventured up the stairs. We were very happy that the final construction on the stairs has finally arrived and thankful to have the safety of the handrails and balusters in place.

I've loved seeing wrought iron balusters in homes for many years now. I think they are beautiful. But I wanted to make sure whatever we chose for our stairs would be something that was timeless. Plus, I think every house built on this side of town in the last 10 years has wrought iron on the stairs and I just wanted something different.

We went with a classic, vintage square baluster and a custom designed newel post. Both have very simple, clean lines and are different than anything I have seen in my home search.  Below is one of the staircase installers putting in some trim.

The stair treads and handrails will be stained to match the wood floors.

 

The stairs off the back deck have been installed. 

 

 

All of our interior doors lined up for their coats of paint.

 

I'm not taking this experience for "Granite"

Brian and I had the big decision this week about picking granite for our kitchen and bathrooms. We had narrowed down our decision based on samples that a granite salesman had provided. The samples are about a four inch square block. It was hard to envision what a huge island would look like from that little four inch block. Luckily, it was pretty easy to go from 12 choices down to two or three favorites. Since it is such a big decision, we decided we better take advantage of Brian's vacation day and make the two hour drive to west Atlanta to the granite warehouse. The whole way up there I kept thinking that we might be wasting our time. But once we got there and got to see everything in person, I was glad we went. 

Even though there is a name for a certain color or source of granite, there can be huge color variations in that one group. When you buy granite, you have to pick out something you like and then ensure that, if needed, they have enough slabs taken from that exact "block" of granite.  It's like picking out a wallpaper and making sure that the lot numbers match.

We were able to pick out a slab that was our favorite. After going to the check out counter, they informed us that there was only one slab available in the color we wanted. We had to start over. Luckily there was a very similar "block" that we were able to pull from. Hopefully it will all work out and I'm sure we won't know the difference once it is installed.

Just FYI, all the granite at this particular warehouse comes from Brazil. Sounds very exotic that our little Auburn, Alabama home will have countertops from South America!

Here is one of the warehouse workers using this machine and clamp to move the slabs around so we can check out the exact slabs we are purchasing. As you can see, he was reluctant for his photo to be added to this blog.

Although these slabs weigh hundreds of pounds, it made me nervous walking by them. I felt like they were going to fall over at any moment. But our sales rep assured me they wouldn't fall like dominoes.

 

Master Bath

Below are pictures of our master bath. I can't wait to start using it. Not only because it will have a large, walk-in shower, and a large bubble-y tub with a television, a private water closet, and his and her sinks and vanities, but also because I'm hoping it will be somewhat off limits to my children. Once we move in here, they will have their own bathrooms and I hope they enjoy using them. Right now, the bathroom is about the only place in this apartment where you can have a little alone time. And in a five room apartment, you don't get much time alone even in the bathroom.

Here is a picture of our shower. We picked out the tile at Lowe's. It was on clearance, but being the bargain shopper that I am, I asked for even more of a discount and they gave it to me! It is a porcelain tile, but is supposed to look like Carrara marble.  The name of it was Karrara- as in Carrara with a "K". Maybe it is supposed to make you feel like a Kardashian when you pick it out.

 

 

The photo below shows our floor tile. This was one area in which I spent a little extra. It is a vintage reproduction tile in little octagon shapes. We decided to put it in all the bathrooms which made us go a little over budget. But I have always loved this vintage look and I think it will look great once everything is done.

 

 

Later in the week the cabinets were added to the bathroom.  Here is my side of the room.

Here is Brian's side.

Cabinets and Tile

 

This was a long, slow week at the house. Everyday that went by felt like it was in slow motion. Until Friday, and then when we went to the house that evening, it was almost like I had blinked and in that second the kitchen appeared. I've been studying the house plans since June and we ordered cabinets July- which seems like forever-ago. And now we almost have a real kitchen!

 

Below is a view from where the kitchen table will be. On the far back wall will be our cook top. The stained upper cabinets will have seeded glass doors and there will be a decorative hood for the vent.  On the right wall, there will be the double oven and refrigerator. The island will house the sink, dishwasher and microwave.

 

This is a picture of the butler's pantry. My dishes and crystal are so excited to have their very own home!

We also got tile this week in the bathrooms. Here is the master bath.

Below is the upstairs guest bathroom.

Here are the tile workers on their first attempt at installing our shower. Fortunately I went to the house one afternoon this week and saw that they were not installing it in the correct pattern. I called Maribeth and she was able to go over and get them to take it down before it got too stuck. I think it looks a lot better in the correct pattern. No one other than Brian, Maribeth and me would have known the difference, but I'm so glad that we were able to get it fixed. It would have driven me crazy every time I got in the shower know that it wasn't installed the way I had wanted.

 

We got to trick or treat in the new neighborhood this week. We set up a little "tailgate" in front of the house. We met a lot of the families who live on the four streets around us.

By Friday afternoon, a lot of grading work had been done on the front yard. It won't be long now before we have a driveway and a front yard!