Occasionally, I do write more than 2,200 characters (thanks for the limit, Instagram), and when I do, you will find those words here. I also love participating in Calling It Home’s One Room Challenge, which happens every spring and fall. You can find past rooms I’ve worked on here. Want some help with your own One Room Challenge? Let me know so that we can get planning for the next round!
I had every intention of sharing our progress on picking paint colors last week. I even spent much longer than I’d like to admit drafting a post that I scrapped because it was totally not worth posting. I realized after letting go of the need to stay on an arbitrary posting schedule that I was using the writing process to try to break thru our color scheme for the house. Words are good for many things. Picking paint colors is not one of them.
Read MoreWe are at the point in our remodel project where I can’t believe it will still take two months (fingers crossed) before we can move back into the house. At the same time, the outside of the house still hasn’t been painted, the tile is still incomplete, the floors unfinished, the cabinets still in process. So, yeah. How will it possibly be done in two months?
Read MoreNo, you didn’t miss week 25. It turns out that we’ve actually been at this for 26 weeks already, possibly 27, and I just miscounted when I started telling you all about it. Quick reminder of where we came from...
Read MoreOne of the things I keep coming back to from my California conference tour was Justina Blakeney’s story about how and why she chose the colors in her very blue bathroom. The story goes that Justina wanted a serene feeling in her bathroom, so she thought about places in her travels where she had felt the kind of serene that she was going for in the bathroom. For her, that place was Lake Tahoe. The deep blue of the lake inspired the deep blue of the shower tile.
This is a brilliant way to approach design. What if you really got in touch with the feelings you want to convey or attract for each space individually? What if you used those places where you find peace or inspiration or center as a muse for your own home?
Read MoreI missed last week’s update not due to lack of movement on our project but because of too much movement. I’m going to lay it all out there right now in a very non-gramable fashion. The juggling act is real. I’m barely able to keep up with my family and my work and this remodel. I’m definitely not ahead of it in the way that I would like to be. There are literally piles on my desk that have been moved from desk to floor to bed (because I have no office at the moment) to chair and back to the floor again since I returned from my double conference jaunt a month ago. It is a little bit like the cobbler’s children having no shoes. As I sit here encouraging you to clean things out and make the home around you the place you really want to live, I am constantly aware of the irony of my situation. This beige apartment is closing in on me almost literally because there is simply no place to put the stuff.
Read MoreWe have floors! Ok, we have partial floors. The upstairs floors have been installed and the downstairs floors are in process. We also received confirmation this week that our wall tile for both the kitchen and master shower will be here on Thursday. It feels like things are getting closer even though we still have 14 weeks to go assuming all goes well. Please cross all your fingers and toes. We are so ready to get out of the apartment.
This week, while we waited for flooring and tile, we began looking at furnishings. I know what you are thinking. Fourteen weeks is a long time. But furniture, even from a big box store, is very rarely available the day that you want it. Many furniture stores are really show rooms, where one can try out pieces but not walk out with them. Even a basic table can take 6-8 weeks for delivery. Sofas can take up to 12 weeks for delivery.
Read MoreAbsolutely nothing has happened in the house during the last week. We still have not decided on an exterior paint color, we still need to make decisions on door knobs, and we still have no floors (although word on the street is that those will be going in starting today). We do, however, have drywall and primed walls and a lovely sketch of on the kitchen wall of where the cabinets will live.
I’m a huge fan of our new mural because it really gives a sense of how the kitchen will flow once the cabinets are built. I can’t wait to see how the tile looks.
With the one day that my husband and I were both in town this week, we made a trip to yet another countertop supplier to see if we could find the perfect countertops for the kitchen. There are a ton of articles out there about how to select the perfect countertops for your lifestyle (and perfect countertops because some designer said they are perfect). I’m not going to bore you with one more of those articles. I have learned a few things in the process though that I think are worth passing along for those thinking about a kitchen remodel (or a bath remodel with new countertops).
Read MoreWhile it feels like we have been at this forever, a quick look at the calendar this weekend revealed that we still have about 15 weeks to go before our tentative job completion date. Tile should be here in a couple of weeks and the wood floors will begin going in this week. The cabinet maker is beginning the process of building the boxes for the kitchen and vanities. We are still in the weeds making decisions about cabinet fronts and door knobs and pulls. Let’s be honest. There is a whole lot of decision fatigue at this point in the process. And we have so so many more decisions to go.
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