Built-ins built-ins built-ins

Let me just start by saying our builder is amazing.  Seriously amazing.  He does carpentry on the side and has agreed to add built-ins on both sides of the fireplace.  Here is a picture of what he did in another house he built.

Our layout is the same for the family room with the fireplace in he middle and the two square windows on each side.  We plan on having above the fireplace detailed out like he did in the picture and then we'll hang our TV up there.  I am so so so so excited about these!  Little does my builder know that I'm going to be using and abusing him for projects like this....

We went INTO the house today!!!

Well...sort of...

The girls and I took our daily weekly trip down to the new house today and were able to walk in what will be our basement. I know...I lead an extremely exciting life.  The builders are saying they will finish with all the foundation work this week and have it all filled in so then by next week, we could possibly get the framing up.  I will chug a bottle of wine if this actually happens on schedule.

Here's a little recap of the last month...

The start of the digging...

The pile of crap they found...

The sub-foundation...

The sub-foundation filled in...

Actual foundation!!!

I forgot my camera so I had to take this with my phone so the quality stinks.  But you get the idea.  You can see the line in the middle in the picture above where the sub-foundation was buried.  Then the sides of the foundations are tiered down since we'll have a walkout (I never knew they did that but I guess it makes sense...).

Here is a view from the street.  They still need to do the fill around the entire thing.

This is looking on from the garage side.  They suggested we put the garage a few steps down from the main part of the house for drainage.

This picture is in the back.  It shows how tiny our backyard will actually be. Why the heck didn't we ever figure that out before now?  Who needs a huge backyard when you have amazing neighbors who will let your kids play in theirs.  Right????

The corner in the middle of the picture above is the back of the garage.  Apparently we will have just enough room to get a person through there.  Awesome.  I have no idea what the heck that footing in the lower half of the picture is.  It is where the main house starts...so maybe it's something for the deck above???  That will go on my list for the builder.  Another one of my super knowledgeable questions.  It will go something like this "Hi...it's Holly...again.  Thanks for actually picking up the phone.  Ummm...I was walking around the construction zone with my two young children while taking pictures and not really watching them by the steep cliff and I noticed this weird block of cement.  Uhhhh...you know...it's sticking out of the back of the foundation and it's long and square???  You don't know what I'm referring to?  Weird..."  I bet he thinks I am super smart. 

When I talked to the builder last week, he mentioned really large landscaping blocks/stones that they'll use in order to give us as much usable yard as possible.  He also said not to get super worried with how it looks now and to wait until we get to the landscaping phase.  Personally, I like to think the absolute worst so the outcome is inevitably better.  So if our yard sees any part of the sun and isn't covered completely by the deck...that will be a score in my books. 

So we are finally making some good progress.  Hopefully we'll be in there by the fall.

We have a hole

I can't believe how excited we are about a little (or should I say BIG) hole in the ground!  Last week we broke ground on Friday and I have been stalking my new neighborhood ever since!  I took the girls by on Monday and they loved watching the tractor dig. 

Like everything else with this house project...we have hit a snag.  It seems that an old building was burried in our lot.  Awesome.  Here is a picture of some of the things they are finding as they dig.

Because of all the debre they are finding they had to dig down deeper to get to "virgin" soil.  Well...10 more feet down they came across this...

I'm not sure how well you can see it from these photos...but I think it is the basement foundation of the old mill.  Our builders are working with the architect to come up with a plan on what to do next.  At least we have a hole though!

The soil has been tested and there is nothing to worry about in that department.  Plus, my builder lives on the street too (more on that to come...).  So how bad could it really be?  Right?!?!

Hole update...

The builders reached a decision with what to do with the foundation they dug down to!  To make the ground stable so there is no shifting down the line, they are building a larger footing on the old foundation floor, then they will fill that back in with soil and rocks, then they will build our houses actual foundation on top of that.  We are getting somewhere!!!

Here's a better picture of all the crap they had to dig up.

I got to walk around the property for the first time and see the actual layout of the lot.  I was a little surprised to see how small our backyard is:(  The tree line is basically the beginning of a steep drop and I believe the builders said they would need to put a fence there.  Hopefully there will be enough room for the girls swing set!

A week later...we now now have this!

This is the actual footings that they will fill in with the soil and rocks and compact.  They are estimating that it will be filled and compacted this week and then the foundation will start next week.  I am praying for no rain or other unforeseen circumstances that will slow down our forward movement...

Bedroom color changes

I've changed my mind...yet again!  I've decided to go in a completely different direction for my bedroom and bathroom paint colors.  This is the color I was thinking about before.  Perfectly fine..I might even paint it in the spare room.

Then, I came across this picture which is now my inspiration room:

Holy moly do I love this!  The color is called Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore.  I've never been afraid of dark colors and just think this would be so amazing in our bedroom.  The only hitch is that I now want a new upholstered headboard (king size preferably which also means a new mattress!), new end tables and white bedding.  That's not much...right???  After talking it over with Dave, I decided on just getting new bedding for now and then eventually replacing the other things down the road.  Hopefully sooner rather than later...right Dave!?  My good friend clued me into the fact that Ikea has a lot of all white bedding choose from so I'll start there (because you know I'm going to have the bedding bought, washed and ironed before we even more into our new house).

I just can't wait for it all to come together...especially when I purchase these amazing pieces:

 -

And Mom - before you email me about how crazy it is to get mirrored end tables with two little kids and a gianormous dog - I don't care - I love these and they will be mine! I can just keep a bottle of windex and some paper towels in the drawers - and for those of you who think I'm kidding about that - definitely not.

With this new paint color for the bedroom, it changes the bathroom color as well.  I'm thinking I'm going to go with a softer grey in the bathroom like this.  It's called Stormy Monday by Benjamin Moore.

I think it will be softer than the bedroom but still go.  This in turn changes my ideas on the hardware, faucets and lighting too.  Eeeek!  Who knew everything would snowball from changing one itty bitty color!?  I found this light online for a steal and quickly bought it.  FYI - Overstock had free shipping on it.  Not sure why...but I'm not questioning it and am just going with it.

I LOVE THIS LIGHT.  I LOVE THIS LIGHT.  I LOVE THIS LIGHT.

I had been going back and forth on how many lights to get above our 6" double sink vanity.  Do I need one long light?  Do I need two shorter lights?  If I get two, do I need them to have 2 or 3 or even 4 lights on each?  Who the heck ever even notices these things?  Not me.  Luckily when I googled this light it came up with this picture and made my decision real easy.  Only one light.  Done.



Paint

In one of our last meetings with the builder, we asked how much extra it would be to have his painter paint colors in all the rooms instead of the standard white.  We wanted to at least get a quote for the foyer since we don't have staging.  Dave would happily paint every room before we move in...I on the other hand would very much like to pay someone to do it!  To our shock...the builder said that his painter would do whatever colors we wanted in each room as long as they aren't crazy and need 4 coats.  SAY WHAT?!?!?!  Now I'm pretty sure I heard this right and hopefully the builder doesn't have a mental block about this conversation when the time comes...  He said the painter used Benjamin Moore paints and we would just need to supply those for him.  I feel like I hit the lottery.  The thought of painting each room before we move in makes me throw up a little in my mouth. 

So I have been scouring over paint colors like it's no one business.  The local Benjamin Moore store in Lexington actually has a paint specialist so I had her help me out (she was no extra cost and really helped me narrow it down...i highly recommend using someone like this!).  So here is what I am preliminarily thinking for colors.  There might be some changes once I am able to pick out our hardwood color and granite...but I am pretty certain this is the palate we'll end up with.

Foyer/2nd floor hallway/kitchen/family room: Morrel.  I wanted this to be a neutral color that adds some warmth. 

Dinning Room: Hale Navy.  Holy moly I love this color!  I know it's dark...but I love it anyways.  My plan is to have the bottom kept white under the chair rail (then that will hopefully be detailed with some trimmed squares) and then the top walls AND ceiling will be the navy.  I just think it will be romantic and cozy especially with the chandelier I picked out.  And if we don't like it...then we'll paint it white.

Girl's playroom (the front living room with the french doors): Safari.  I wanted a color that went with the rest of the houses color scheme.  This will eventually become an office once the girls get bigger.

1/2 bath: Storm.  I am obsessed with this color but am afraid it's too cool to do a larger room in the house. 

Master bedroom and bath: Flora.  This color is super pretty on the paint chip but I had a hard time finding images on line.  I hope I end up liking it!  I wanted a soft green that will go well with our dark furniture.  Our bedding is pretty neutral so hopefully I can add some color with accessories and pillows.

Olivia's room: Kona.  Yes, I am totally recreating her old room!  I loved it so much...so why not?  I also added a picture of her old room.  Hopefully the colors come out similar.

(I just loved her room!)

Sophie's room and girls bathroom: November Skies.  I don't have her regular bedding yet for when she transitions from the crib so I thought this was a nice color that most things will go with.  I want to add pinks and reds to make it more girly.  For the bathroom, we already have the vanity (I scored it from craigslist!) which is in a cinnamon color so I think this will blend nicely.

I still need to decide on a color for the spare bedroom.  I am leaning towards doing the Safari (yellow) in this room too to keep it neutral...but who knows what I'll end up picking! 

I realize it's crazy that I have paint colors picked out before the foundation is even done...but that's me.  Why put it off until tomorrow when you can obsess about it today...er...last week...er...last month?