Take A Look At Me Now. . .

     
     H was on site today checking out the progress of the sea wall when he noticed the copper roof had been placed on the cupola on top of the garage.  This is the second try for the coppersmith at making a roof for the coupla. The first attempt was just a tad over stated as he had constructed a cross on the top. I have no problem with letting people know this is a Christian home, but I ask you, don't you think this is a litte much?

His second attempt, with our input, looks a lot more like we had intended. A simple spirial.  It was placed on the garage today to complete the cupola. (To be perfectly honest with you, I couldn't remember that there was a cupola on the house.) But this now looks more like the plan and a lot more like us!

      Above is a zoomed in view which was taken at a distance,which makes it look very big to me. Below it looks more proportional and when I saw it in person it looked great and sized just right. Once the copper patinas with age, it should be perfect.

                                        

 The sea wall was started this week and since I wanted to include photos of it, I almost entitled this post  "A Long and Winding Road".  That is the song I have been singing ever since I first saw it. I love the way it is defining the shape of our property. It will look so nice once it has been sodded and landscaped. Our neighbor mentioned that he has "longed" to see his sea wall connected with another that surrounds the point.  Can you see what I mean by defining the point? Can you see why I am singing "The Long and Winding Road"?



     The above view was taken from the road looking down towards the sea wall where it meets up with our neighbor. You can see the roof of his boathouse on the right side of the photo. Below, is a view taken from that boathouse.

      The next group of pictures were taken from another neighbor's pontoon boat. They are our neighbors that are two doors away. Gay and Scott Phillips. It was such a lovely day on Saturday that they invited us  to see the view of our house from the water. They also invited our next door neighbors, Phil and Gail Foster, to join us and we had a wonderful afternoon looking at our house, relaxing, and enjoying the fellowship with our new friends. In fact, it was so much fun, we invited another couple when Gail and Phil had to leave, to join us for a sunset "toddy ride". What fun! We packed up several bottles of wine, put together a wine and cheese tray with some grapes and rode around and watched the sun set.  Then we just stopped the boat out on the water, drank and talked until it time for the "potty" ride back to the dock! Below are the pictures of the back of the house, the retaining wall and sea wall that I took. I hope you can click on the photos and get a better view... but remember who is taking the pictures :)

     This past week was a wonderful week for the builders and the sea wall builders weatherwise. Hopefully it will continue next week as well. Last Sunday was so nice that I just sat out on the deck (see that orange chair) and looked at the water and waved to all the boaters. H keeps asking me, who are they? I don't know, they wave and I wave back, that's just what I do. We did have some friends from our church, who were out for a boat ride, stop by and take a tour, others  just yelled from their boats, "NICE HOUSE" and after seeing this view, I would have to agree.

                                             

It's Too Late. . .





     As I thought about what song title I would use for this post, Carole King's,  It's Too Late  came to mind mainly because of all the decisions and/or things that have been done to the house to this point!
    ALL the paint choices, to include ceiling color and trim color for the entire house, went to the builder earlier this week and today we will go to the site  to see them on the walls . . . and hopefully love our choices. It's too late . . .now!
     The stone arrived along with a beautiful week of sunshine and warm weather, and  it is now on the house and looking the way we had pictured it in our minds. This was one of the choices that has had me sitting on pins and needles wondering if we made the right color choice ...and we did! We love how the siding color, brick choice and stone goes together. For any of you who don't like our color choices, I'll say, it's too late. . now!

(In case you are wondering, the copper coupola on the garage has not been added yet.)



This is a view showing all three choices together
(One of the few places all three will be seen  together)



      Inside the house, the interior doors are installed and the trim work around them is done.  The door to H's office is in and I am really glad that I will be able to "share" some of his light coming from that side of the house. (The glass still has a film like covering on it so you can't see much through it...yet.)

The base boards are all in and the crown moulding is almost done. All the entranceways are now being trimed out which really gives each room definition and I really like it.  I can't wait to see the color on the walls with the trim color next to it to see if we are satisfied with our choice of color for each room.

I wanted to post some paint color samples but I am not sure how they will come out for you to see. I will tell you that they are soooooooo much prettier in person than in these photos.




This photo is in the dining room showing the picture frame moulding  under the chair rail.
It will be painted the color shown above the chair rail with the trim color painted below. 





This is the laundry room paint color. Can you see it with white cabinets with a black counter top and a black and white tile floor?   Our builder wants to rename this room...he says it looks too nice to be called a laundry room. (H keeps calling it the utility room so I think Laundry Room is an upgrade from that.)

This is the foyer, but this color will  f-l-o-w throughout most of the house

This is the color choice for the Jack and Jill bedroom with the white furniture. The other room, with the darker furniture, will be painted the same color only it will be a lighter shade.

   These are just a few color samples which I am sure you can't tell much about, but I thought I'd try to show them since you have listened to me stress about them for several posts now.  I realize that paint colors can still be changed, and I could even change them after we move in, but so many other decisions, such as bed linens, and all the upholstered furniture that needed fabric and rugs needed to work as well. . . each depending on these paint choices, so in my book and to keep from doing this again...it's too late now!

     The meeting this week with the designer depended on these paint choices in a big way! Since we have decided to have our furniture recovered instead of buying all new stuff, we needed to select fabric for all  of these pieces. We  found fabric that I liked for the sofa, the wing back chairs and possibly the Martha Washington chair. What we needed now, was a fabric to cover MY new club chair and ottoman that will sit next to H's chocolate leather recliner. The designer found 5 fabrics to pick from. Two were immediately ruled out by me, another H really liked, but it was too much like the sofa fabric in color and design, and the last two were very good candiates. Two completely different fabrics, one patterened, one striped, but both had almost the same exact colors. Both would go with the rest of the furniture great. Cost was not too much different, but definately something to consider. H liked one, I loved the other.....but I also liked H's choice as well. The designer suggested that we now start looking at rugs. Depending on the rug selection, it may help to make the decision about the fabric. One fabric would definately not want too much of a design on the rug, the other needed more movement in a rug.  She had picked out several rugs for us to look at when we met  with her and had even had them moved to the front of the showroom so we could see them in natural lighting. She had picked out some georgeous rugs and as she suggested, the rug we fell in love with (at first sight) made the choice we needed, not only for the chair fabric, but where the rug would go in the house.  She then helped us select the other rugs needed. Believe it or not, the rug we fell in love actually ended up in the dining room! Since that room has so much wood furniture (and floors) it really need that WOW factor people talk about to make that room come alive. The dining room is on your right and is almost the first thing you might notice as you enter the house. (The first thing, will be the view of the lake staight ahead in the great room.) Anyway, this rug was a "must have" from the first time we saw it! It is a persian style rug. We also bought this same rug in a smaller size to go in the foyer. I CANNOT believe I did not take a picture of this rug! The rug we picked out for the great room is really a carpet. It has a very subtle pattern and looked great with the patterened persian style rug. . .  and when we found out it had a contrasting border that could be added, it too, was a done deal! When these choices were made, we then KNEW which fabric would go on the club chair. . . the striped, which was H's choice but I really like as well. Not a problem.
     We have been a little afraid of this part of the decorating  process, but our designer made this so easy. (Did I mention that our designer came with the purchase of rugs, fabric and/or furniture  from the store we are working from?) She has be a tremendous help throughout this whole process, and we Thank You, Elaine. The same is true with several other stores we have been going to. The tile store has a wonderful young designer who helped us design our master bath and is fast becoming a friend since I found out she, too, is a paper crafter and scrapbooker! The lighting store has a woman we are working with for these decisions as well. Thank goodness!
   OK, so now we have the great room paint color, a rug for the hardwood floors, sofa and chair fabrics selected, a new club chair and leather recliner...what else could we possibly need for this room....I know, I know....how about a TV?  So we found this store with a sale going on. . . But first, am I the only one on this planet who did not realize that the size of the TV is directly proportional to the size of the room? Well, it must be true, since we have a big room and  I (we) just became the proud owners of two 58 inch plasama screen TVs! I just can't wait to see the Crimson Tide on these babies! (insert my face with eyes rolled back)

    Meanwhile, back outside. . .

    H went to the site  this week to meet with the guy from the Alabama Power Company who will issue the permit for the contstruction of the sea wall and boathouse. Permit granted! Now with the weather gradually warming up all next week, the construction of those "biggies" will begin on Monday.  Once the boat house is constructed, maybe we can bring "baby boat" home!

NOTE: As of February 17, we have officially been building this house for 5 months!  WHOA! I can not believe how much has been accompolished in that short a time. Can you? Way to go, Carlisles!

    

Ain't No Sunshine. . .

     And due to the fact there "Ain't No Sunshine" there has been no major progress made to the outside of the house. . .mainly stone work. The walls have been prepared and when the stone arrives, they will begin. But if the truth be known, even if the stone was at the site, it has been way too cold for it to be put on the house.       

     I have been able to go to the house twice since my last post but there hasn't been much to take pictures of. The only photos I have are of the trim work going on, but until there is paint on the walls, they really don't speak to me yet. I think most, if not all, of the interior doors have been installed and shimmed. The trim is going around those doors and crown moulding and base boards are being cut and measured.

     On my second visit, the builder had  put some paint on some walls to give us an idea of what it would look like in the light at the house. Our first reaction was that the colors we selected were too dark. After some thought and discussion with friends, we realized that a small patch WOULD make the paint look darker on walls surrounded by white (unpainted) drywall but would lighten up as the whole room would be painted. With that said, I think we will be going with our originial color choices. Whew!  I was not looking forward to going back to that "drawing board".

 And...the stair rail  has been started. See Rosanne, this is the stairway down to the lower level. It is located right behind the kitchen bar area. The doorway you see leads to the kitchen from the garage, past the laundry room and power room which is the doorway on the right.

  Breaking News!  I have just about completed paint color selections for the entire house. I have promised the builder that I will send him these selections by or before the week's end. In order to help me decide what colors go where, I have made a spread sheet for him to have for each of these rooms. On it he will find the name of the room, the floor choice (hardwood, tile or carpet), paint color for wall, ceiling and trim (to include closet colors) for each room. I have also included a special "note" section for each room. For instance, the notes for the laundry room will not only tell him my wall color choice, I have listed the color of the cabinets, type and color of the counter tops as well as the appliance color. ( I even enclosed a pieced together sample of how I want the tile laid.) I know what some of you might be thinking . . . but believe me, I did this as much for ME as for the builder!
     One of the reasons that I was able to select the paint colors is because I have finally made decisions that are now permanent. I ordered ALL the bed linens for each of the rooms that needed a paint color. When they arrived, and I was then able to make the paint color choice for the walls in each room. Then I also found a young woman who will paint some of our old furniture to make it look new. . .  or should I say it will be newly painted to make it look old since she will be painting and distressing it in a "shabby chic" manner. After I found her, and the Pottery Barn linens arrived for that room, I kinda got on a roll.   I then KNEW what I was to do for the adjoining room. We bought new furniture for that room, ordered the bed linens and then things started clicking! Wanta sneak preview?

    Forget the bed, focus on the bed linens. This room will have the "shabby chic" white bedroom furniture with a touch of  solid color added around the room in the form of  pillows and painted side tables here and there. The wall color is the exact blue/green shown in the toile quilt. Love it!



This table will be painted the color of the walls and then distressed.

    The adjoining room will go with this room. . .kinda. The furniture is expresso (or a deep stained color). After buying the bedroom suite, my neice sent me a link to a bed in the Restoration Hardware catalog  that was very similar but at almost twice the cost of what we paid for this entire bedroom suite! What a deal!
In this photo of the new furniture . .  . forget the bed linens.

The room will be painted  a shade lighter than the other room.  The bed linens for this room will be quilted as well, but is a solid kahaki color with white sheets. Both rooms will have  the same blue/green fabric pillows to tie them together along with the same color carpet. Thank goodness Renovation Hardware was having a sale! I found these linens as well as the sconces for the master bathroom on line.

     The Jack and Jill bathroom will  be painted the medium shade of these two rooms with the white and blue towels sets to be shared by both rooms. How am I doing so far?

    The lower level great room was almost done before we started. The existing sofa gave us the color of the room. The addition of a sofa table and two end tables (bought when we first got here to be use in this rental) was done, so all we needed was more seating. We purchased the two leather recliners mentioned in an earlier post (one for upper level and one for lower level) this past weekend.


This chair is for upper level, the other one is quiet similiar but photo didn't turn out.

      So all we need now is a matching fabric to recover the green leather chair and ottoman. Hopefully that will be decided on Friday when we meet with the designer to continue the fabric choices for the upper level great room.  Once these choices are made, I can then decide the color of the last room. The dining room.
     This week's mission is to finalize all paint colors, pick out remaining lighting (chandeliers for dining room and foyer, wall sconces for hall and stairways and pendants for over the island), plumbing fixtures for all bathrooms, and  look for a vanity for the powder room. Before the month is out we need to pick out and buy rugs for the house...there is a sale on until Feb 28th!  Hope we get to all of this, if not, there is always next week!
      I know the saying goes "Make hay while the sun shines" but in this case, all our "hay making" has been done because the sun wasn't shining.  At least, there is no snow to keep us from going out and about. Just cold weather.
     A shout out  in the way of a big THANK YOU to the (Atlanta) Lowmans and (Memphis) Stones. Today  I purchased some beautiful table linens to match my new kitchen decor with the generous Christmas gift cards  you gave us from Ballard Designs. I also bought a much wanted stairway basket to place items in that are going up to the Croft.  I love it that you guys have added a special touch to our new home! Your visits in the rooms I have created for you will be even more special!