Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind . . . .

     I know I am constantly writing about all the decisions we need to make as we build this house, but up until now, all the decisions we have needed to make, have more or less been narrowed down to one or two or three choices. Nothing final. These are all things that we have been thinking about, talking about, doing research on or going to places to get an up close and personal look. This is so we would have some ideas about what we want when the time comes. Well, THE TIME HAS COME.  Our builder gave us a major list of "home"work to do this week (pun intended) and we have just about exhausted ourselves to get them all accompolished.  I think I mentioned all the things we needed to do in my last post. . .  so every day this week we had an appointment with someone to "make up our minds". I am writing this blog ,with drink in hand,to get this post down before I forget what we have done and collaspe in bed. We just returned home from the last appointment this week. We spent 3 1/2 hours picking out all the light fixtures  for our house. We are pleased with all our selections but we still have to return next week to pick out the 13 ceiling fans and tweak a couple of ideas after taking a few meaurements. Most of these selections were fairly simple but the chandeliers for the foyer and dining room has had us in a quandry for several days.  H liked one style, I liked another.  We found one we both liked, but couldn't find a companion piece to go with it. . . or the size or price was wrong.  Another problem we kept having was deciding on the finish of the piece. Today we hit the jackpot! This was one we and the designer liked, it has a companion piece for the foyer, the size was perfect  for both places, the price fit the budget, AND it is in stock! The electrician will be called back next week to get started on these projects.  (By the way, he (the electrician) called me at home to make sure which color of plugs and switch plates we wanted. Considering there are 109 outlet plates and 111 switches and covers, he wanted to make sure he had the right color :)
     So, the lighting is done, we picked out all the remaining plumbing "stuff" on Tuesday, and met with the tile person on Wednesday to design a backsplash for my kitchen which, by the way, will be sporting UBATUBA granite counters. I went with a neutral color 3x6 tumbled stone for the backsplash and it will be laid on the diagonal in a herringbone pattern in case you are wondering :).  I always knew I wanted a nuetral color and nothing trendy so I kept it plain and simple. I even decided against doing some fancy design underneath the vent.  I decided I am going for the big "Ta-Da" over the island in the way of pendants. Still TBD. H is not quiet on board with this one yet. Will  tell you more once the decision is made.
     Thursday, as we drove to Pelham (about a 35-40 mile drive, each way) it hit us how tired we were and that we were really looking forward to this phase being over before it was no longer fun.  We met with the designer to pick up the fabric we had ordered for the sofa and the two wingbacks (still loving that choice). She also was to help us choose the remaining carpet for the house. We had already picked out the great room, dining room and foyer rugs but now we needed the carpet for all the bedrooms and both stairways. We also needed to pick out a 9x12 area carpet for the LL great room floor. The bedrooms were a no brainer after I found the quality I wanted, but I have to share, that for this area rug, we went  waaaaaaaaaay out of the box, for us at least! Here is a photo to let you see what I mean. 
     This photo shows you a swatch of the sofa (on the left), on top is a piece of the  fabric (a kind of bonded leather) that the green wingback and ottoman (we had in the den) will be re-upholstered in, a sample of the floor is on the right (this shows it much lighter that it really is), the bottom is a hint of the wood from the bar cabinet and right in the center of this box, is the carpet!  When the designer first pulled this out, I couldn't help but say to myself, "what the H - - -  is she thinking? But after realizing that all the other elements in this room are pretty much a solid color and oh yeah, there is a chocolate leather recliner in there also, we thought maybe this room could use a little WOW! This is a lake home after all, and there are some trees left on the property. . . so it's only natural that there are leaves on my floor too! Go figure.

     In between all the appointements (one a day), we had to squeeze in a couple of Dr. appts., hair cuts,  and
a lite supper and devotional for Lent on Wednesday night.  I would like to add at this point that this time last year, we were getting started on the renovation of our home in Virginia. We celebrated our 41st anniversary discussing our future. Considering the roller coaster we have been on since then, I am proud to announce we made it to our 42nd anniversary this week! The next 42 years should be a cake walk!
     We also made a couple of trips to the site to check on progress and give out checks this week. If I thought things were happening fast before...I was more than amazed at what I saw had taken place since Monday!  The tilers have been hard at work and I have a few sneak peeks to show you.
The first photo is the black and white tile floor in my laundry room.  The black diamonds are 2x2 pieces of granite that had to be cut for this design. Below it is a corner shot showing the cabinets, floor and wall color. The countertop will be a black laminate.  You can't tell in this photo, but on the cabinets doors and drawers are black, square knobs set on the diagonal. (Always thinking ) The open shelves will be for four baskets. There is another area like this for four more baskets on down the counter.  I thought this would break up the long spance of cabinetry. Can't decide if I will spray paint the baskets black or white. . .once I find them.  Any thoughts? (This is the room the builder says can't be called a laundry room anymore. :)

                                     

The guest bathrooms are quite simple but turned out nice. Below is a photo of Rosanne's bathroom. Now she can see her room color. Don't worry, that's only the first coat of paint. Should look better when trimed out around the window and base board. (The floor tile and shower have more beige in it than it shows in these photos.) Joan, you could have removed the blue painter's tape before taking the photo? DUH!

                                                         

     The master bathroom is still a work in progress but I will show you what I saw as of today. The floor had not been laid by the time we left but I'm sure it is by now. There was a slight glitch where they put the soap dish. One of us was unable to reach it! So there will now be three shelves in the corner. Two for soap, one for bottles. It was easier to add one more soap dish in the center than take out and re-tile the top one.  See my bench seat poking out?

      We plan to put rimless glass on the shower. The shower design will be carried out around the garden tub. The mosaic tile will be on the top and the bottom of the diagonal tiles but it is hard to tell in this photo. We did decide to put a wooden front on the tub to match the vanities. *That will be my front yard and driveway you see out the bathroom window. Gotta make an appointment for window treatments pretty soon after we move in don't you think? I'm thinking white plantation shutters.
      Besides the tilers this week, the painters are still hard at work putting finishing coats of paint on all the rooms. The trim is all second coated in most of the rooms and looks great! They have started on the second coats for some of the rooms and should be done fairly soon.  The weather today was in the 80's and they have started framing out the screened porch and will be ready to tile the deck next week.  We will go back to the site this weekend to meet with Frankie who will start the boathouse on Monday.  The landscaper has been on site this week back filling the sea wall with rocks and grading it all over. I can't tell you how much more yard space this gives us. I tried taking a photo but wasn't able to get enough in the picture to show you. He has more grading to do, so I will hold off showing you that photo and include it with the boathouse photos in my next post. 

     Speaking of posts, I am sure there will be lots to Show and Tell for my next one. It will be a week or 10 days before I post again. We are taking a much needed pause in our part of this home building to go to Memphis to see H's Mom and family for a long weekend. Liz will be joining us and we can't wait to see her! We haven't seen her since December 9th and we both need a "fix". It's hard to believe how close we are and such a long time between visits. There is a lot going on in all our lives right now but we hope that will change soon.

    If this much got done this week, I can't wait to share with you the next set of photos!