Paint!

Controversial! But I love it. Thanks for all the hard work, Bob!

Solid As A Rock

So, Sam, the nicest guy from Flintstone Granite came over this afternoon and installed the countertop on our new bathroom vanity. Man, was I a handful when it came to this vanity. Couldn't find a cabinet. Couldn't find a sink. Couldn't find a top. It was a nightmare. But Sam was a lifesaver. He was very calm and talked me through it like an air-traffic controller would talk a 12 year old through a plane landing after the pilot died of a heart attack. Just what I needed.

Here's a pic. Still haven't decided if we're going with that charcoal glass sink or a clear one. I think I like the charcoal.





And here is an up-close pic of the granite texture. As you can see, it looks alot more black than it does in the big pic above.

Pictures of the Deep Below

I'm going to try to post a few pics of the basement finishing project tonite. But I don't have a ton of time to comment too much. Note though, that it is Wednesday night and he just started work 48 hours ago. And he's working alone. I think its impressive progress! This is the first change to notice. Rick suggested and we agreed that it was a good idea to cut a hunk of unnecessary drywall out of the bottom of the tunnel that is the staircase. It opens things up a bit down at the bottom. BEFORE AFTER Unfortunately, I didn't take these next two from the exact same spot, but you'll forgive me. This is a view out to the left from the bottom of the stairs. BEFORE AFTER The wall on the left is the entrance wall for the storage room and the bathroom. You see the left column in the first pic? Its behind that wall on the left inside the storage room. Ahead of you on the right you can see the framing for a short wall that will be a kind of ledge/open room divider between the larger space and a play area. Great for puppet shows, I think! And on that back wall under the windows there will be storage/bench window seats. Both are the idea of my fantastic designer--BOB. That's all for tonite. Palmer has big tooth coming in and he is really fussy. Tomorrow....the bathroom!

Basement Beaming

Well, I had a new experience today. Bob sent me to the Loudoun County Building Office to attempt to obtain building, electrical, plumbing, gas, and mechanical licenses for our basement finishing project. The document said you needed "plans" so I drew this up on some graph paper.



As you can see, we're not doing anything too complicated. Just a bathroom and finish out the whole space. Maybe a fireplace in that bump out. Anyway, this was way more advanced than they required and I actually have to dumb it WAY down for the application. We'll do that tonite. And I'll try to stop over-acheiving.

T-5 Days

Baby's room is ready! Diaper bag is ready! Car seat is installed! Stroller is assembled!

Our surroundings are prepared--even if we're not.

And you have to at least give me credit for TRYING to make polka dots work in a boy baby's room. I know its a stretch...but they are boy colors!!

Nesting

Before we had Connor, we had what we called the "Pre Peanut Project List". That thing lived forever and evolved week after week. Now, TaterTot 2 is almost here and we've got the same thing going on. A list is constantly revised and sits on the kitchen island and we heartily cross of items as they are completed. I used to go back and look at the list we had going for Connor and laugh about it. But our PC crashed and its gone. So I'm saving the new ones here. Its a glimpse into psychosis. This is last Sunday's list. And yes, #25 is a joke. In the midst of it all, we did manage to do it, though. So, we figured we might as well give ourselves credit for it.

Nesting-New Paint

Last week we had pretty much all of the common areas in the house repainted. Major nesting underway! They did a great job and the colors are unusual and awesome. As we get each room reloaded, I'll post a picture of how they look.

Here's the kitchen. Dark orangey-brown called Chestnut Stallion on all the walls except the one back, accent wall. That one is called Spring Moss and its an awesome drenched green. We also reorganized and moved things off center a bit rather than have the table and sideboard all be at perfect right angles. We went with three shelves instead of four of them in a grid as we had them before. Its really opened up the eat in kitchen area. But now the light has to go and we have to find someting flush or semi-flush mounted.