The finished product

We moved in several months ago and are finally settled in. Here are some photos of the finished prodct. More photos are available on flickr in a slideshow at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/99974662@N00/sets/72157604315441209/show/

Lots ‘o progress

There’s been lots going on this week. The garage doors and exterior lights have been installed. The exterior lights are powerful up-down lights that will really work at night to not only provide a lot of light, but also to showcase the house.

When you walk in the front door, you’ll walk under this groovy light:

 The painters have been busy this week. When you enter the front door, you’ll see this orange wall (it’s orange, not red as it appears in the photo) which goes all the way up the three floors along the staircase for a neat effect. Next to the orange wall is the downstairs bar which we’ll use as a wine bar.

In the kitchen, we did this really cool backsplash all the way to the wall. It complements the sleekness of the white and grey cabinets and countertop by having a whole lot going on with it. It’s going to look fabulous once the kitchen is all put together. I wasn’t too sure about the white Corian countertops since they seemed a little plain at first, but now with the backsplash the countertops work fabulously. I don’t think we could have pulled off the backsplash with any other countertop style.

Here’s a closeup look by the sink:

The rest of the house is painted white with grey accent walls and a dark steel grey trim and doors. We did the bedrooms and bathrooms in similar colors.

The orange wall carries through on the second floor landing:

The electricians have been installing the fans in the bedrooms:

On the third floor is the sunroom area where we’ll have a bar to serve the deck area. The wall here is painted orange which will look sharp once we finish installing the shiny black bar cabinets.

The master bathroom has sinks facing each other in the middle of the room. All of the bathrooms got measured today for a really cool muted grey granite that looks a lot like concrete. We’re not big fans of granite, but the slab we found doesn’t look like granite at all and is really cool. It will go in all of the bathrooms except the downstairs powder room where Kyle is making our countertop out of walnut. In the master bathroom, this sink has a buddy on the other side of the little wall for a his and hers effect.

We’re mounting a mirror and lights between the two sinks using this wood frame that goes all the way to the ceiling. It will be stained dark to match the color of the hardwoods throughout the house. Since it’s open, we’ll be able to see through to the person at the other sink, but it provides a way to mount mirrors and lights above the sink.

Countertop, stairs, etc

The kitchen countertops were installed. Keeping with a clean, modern look, we went with a white Corian countertop cut with a minimal edging for the kitchen. We also had the countertop waterfall over the end of the island so that it wraps the cabinets. We left an area for seating at the end of the island where it joins the wall:

The walls have all been primed and the painter will be painting this week. We’re painting the inside white with grey accent walls throughout the house. We’ll also have one wall that goes up the stairs all the way to third floor painted in orange.

Speaking of stairs, we finally got the stairs installed:

And interior doors too:

Plus the tiles are almost finished in all of the bathrooms:

The upstairs bar is being installed. It will be glossy black cabinets up against the orange accent wall from the stairs which should look pretty nifty:

This bar will be in the third floor “playroom” that opens onto the deck via the garage door:

To install the garage door on the interior of the house so that it doesn’t look messy, we decided to drywall in the tracks for the door. The initial installation job with the usual metal poles may work fine in a regular garage, but looked terrible inside the house. Our solution turned out well, we think:

The island for the kitchen in the mother-in-law suite has been drywalled, as has all of the floor baseboard trim been installed:

Lights and fans

Some of the lights and fans for the house have begun arriving. Over the kitchen island, we’re using four ET2 Starburst Pendant lights:

In the entry area, we’re using a cool Lumisphere ceiling light:

In the dining room, we’re using a large artichoke light that we received as a wedding gift:

In the living room, we’re using a
Modern Fan Company Cirrus fan in brushed aluminum:

And in the master bedroom, we’re installing a Modern Fan Company Ball fan in brushed aluminum:

For the covered porch on the third floor, we had a difficult time finding a fan that would fit the style of the house that was rated for outdoor use. We finally settled on a Minka Aire Concept II Wet ceiling fan:

In the bedroom bathrooms, we’re installing George Kovacs Two Light Contemporary Wall Sconces:

In the powder room downstairs, we’re intalling Besa Lighting’s 7735 series with amethyst glass and a chrome finish:

We’re also installing some simple stair lights that will be installed in the walls up the stairs in the house to illuminate the steps. These will look this this when installed:

In the mother-in-law suite entry hallway, we’re installing these wall sconces in a platinum color. These are from Eurofase. They look very George Jetson!

Plumbing fixtures arriving

It’s like Christmas at our house as every day new items arrive for the house. So far our plumbing fixtures have been delivered. We’re using two main lines. The first is Kohler’s Stillness line for some of the bathrooms:

We’re using the LaToscana Morellino faucets for the bathroom faucets:

In the kitchen and upstairs bar, we’re using the LaToscana Elba Deck Mount kitchen pullout faucet:

Kitchen cabinets and tile work

The kitchen cabinets are installed, although we’ve taken off the doors to protect them while construction continues. These are the Kraftmaid Venicia line. We installed white cabinets in the back wall and steel grey cabinets for the island and bar.

Tile work in the bathrooms continues. We went with a black slate tile and grey tiles accented by slate strips on the walls. The tiles go all the way to the ceilings in each of the bathrooms for a neat effect.

Deck garage door installed and drywall in

The garage door on the third floor deck has been installed. This will lead from the sunroom area on the third floor out onto the deck.

There’s also a door onto the deck from the master bedroom:

The drywall has all been installed:

Demolition party article in the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal did a story today on “The three-martini renovation” that included details about our demolition party that we had before we demolished our previous house on the lot. Check out the story here! It’s on page W1 of the print version.

About half-way down the page, there’s a picture of Kyle smashing his leg through a wall.

House exterior is painted

We settled on using a light slate blue for the exterior hardipanel with a dark grey stucco for the recessed areas. The white metal trim acts as an accent. We really like how it turned out. Here are some photos:

Possible exterior paint colors

Our architect has been playing with some possibilities for paint colors for the exterior of the house. We haven’t settled on anything yet, but here are some possibilities: