stairrail is done, working on tile and countertops

the stair rail is finally done, we are waiting on the mantle, re-arrange of the closet shelving and rods in the master and a couple of baseboards and we will be done with the trim work.  Painters are supposed to come this week to start prep work and hopefully start painting by the end of the week. Doesn't feel like much got accomplished last week, but hopefully this week will go well. Paint prep is very detailed work and takes a long time, but in the mean time, i should be able to make final selections on tile and countertops.  Ordered the kitchen sink and that should be here on tuesday, the hood vent should be here on monday and the kitchen faucet and pot filler arrived last week.

I will be calling  Martin Spoonemore with affordable tree service on Monday to deep root feed the trees out front, 2 large post oaks and 1 magnolia. They  have me paranoid about them and I really want the trees to continue to look amazing. This drought is hard on the trees and while i have been watering them regularly, they apparently need some extra food etc. So hopefully Martin and his team will come out and feed the trees! Below is an older pic, but shows the beauty of these trees.

that is it for this week's recap. hopefully next week brings some more excitement!

stairway and trim work

a ton was accomplished this week at the house. the stairs are starting to go in, the new design looks great i think. the floors are all finished, and the wainscoting in the dining room i think it going to be amazing. the biggest difference this week is still the coffered ceiling in the living room. it is so incredible looking, the trim team really is a great crew. so fast and so friendly, and their work is intricate and detailed.

i'll have to take a close up of the stair baluster design for the next blog so you can see it a little better.

we finally decided on paint color i think and i hope that it turns out nice, because the painters are coming next week! i can't believe that by the end of next week trim should be done and painting started. went with a lot of Dunn Edwards paint colors, nomadic taupe for most of the walls, china clay for the dining room walls and the utility & mud cabinets, rhinoceros for the inserts in the coffered ceiling in the living room and the accent wall in the master, trim color is called milk glass.  the wainscoting, kitchen cabs and the entertainment center will all be a benjamin moore shade of white called deep in thought. i respectfully reserve the right to change my mind until tuesday when painting starts i think :)

still working on tile and the countertops. i really want to do limestone tile and limestone countertops, but i am waiting on pricing. still have to stay in budget so might have to shift off of the limestone and go with something a little less expensive. love the way the limestone island looked in the last house and think having limestone in the kitchen counters, on the flooring in the utility room, mud room and bathrooms would be really nice.

moving at light speed

the house is really looking fantastic. the floors are all complete with reclaimed flooring upstairs and downstairs. Cabinets from Harbinger cabinets are all installed and look terrific, just need me to decide on what color paint in the kitchen cabinets.  The trim guys started yesterday and have all of the doors installed with the trim around the doors complete. Below is one of the reclaimed doors i got from historic houston before they closed.

The front columns are done and they look amazing.  these trim guys are true artists. 

check out the kitchen cabinets and the crown moulding.

we also got the bead board done on the front entry today and it looks really nice, tomorrow i think they are starting to work on the stairs and finish off the crown moulding in the rest of the downstairs and then that will be complete too. The trim is estimated to be complete on Saturday or Monday at the latest. This weekend i will have to decide on paint colors because that is next and then tile.

i am looking at some different options for countertops and tile flooring in the bathroom and the mud rooms. waiting on pricing for some gray limestone countertops and flooring- if that is too expensive, then i will have to work on some other ideas. 

the dining room will have this craftsman wainscoting along with the natural timber beam above the alcove. it is really moving so fast and it is a lot of fun to see everything that gets accomplished each day.