Several Weeks...

Owen informed me the other day that a couple is 2 and several means 3 or 4. I'm so glad I have him to keep me straight. :) So...we are several weeks out from moving in!!! 

I am going to say that again. 

WE ARE SEVERAL WEEKS OUT (4ish) FROM MOVING IN! 

I am pretty sure I've said this before, but Kyle and I both sort of have a hard time believing we're actually going to live in the house we've been working on for so long. It sort of feels like its just been this theoretical exercise. But 4 weeks is super real and just around the corner!

So, here's what's been going on lately.

Cabs got all finished, island is in place (view onto kitchen)

 (view out from kitchen)

 mudroom

 guest bath (flooring!)

 stair risers

 And lots and lots and lots of paint samples. I should have bought stock in Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams. For anybody painting in Austin - I have a definite opinion about paint stores now. Our painter was getting all his supplies from Sherwin Williams so I got a lot of samples there - and they are great about little test samples - plastic easy open w/ a handle - definitely nice. But my favorite store as far as color selection and help was definitely the Clemmons/Benjamin Moore shop. I'm tight w/ those fellas now. 

We ended up using BM "Owl Gray" at 50% mix throughout the house. I say this like it was simple. Seriously - sooooo many "gray" paints that all ended up looking blue, purple, green, crazy. I finally just had to decide even though I wasn't 100% confident. I liked Owl Gray but was afraid it would end up too dark as an all-over color so we did the 50% - or as we like to call is "Baby Owl." So hard to capture the true color (if that even exists since lighting makes it look different on just about every wall at every time of day) in photo...but here it is next to some white trim.

It's a lot lighter than Kyle was expecting - and me too (really white w/ a hint of gray). But I am glad we went too light instead of too dark. And I'm super glad it didn't end up blue. We're going to add some Owl Gray at 200% (again, after lots of samples) as an accent in some parts of the open great room. Paint Dra-Ma. Oh, we call her Fat Owl.

Barn doors are installed - yet to be stained. 

 Cieling in the study (room on the other side of the barn doors from the dining room) up

 Stone going up around the fireplace - did you notice we closed in the "niche" that was there? Not sure if that was clear in the last post's photos. I went back and forth on that one for a long time, but ended up deciding to just let the stone be the statement on its own. The niche just wasn't me. And the idea of having to put just the right thing (or anything!) in it really stressed me out. A fireplace shouldn't cause stress. :)

 Our awesome tile guys lead by the friendly and fearless Douglas are reworking some of it to get some of the brownest pieces out. I really think its' going to turn out well when its all done, and add some much needed warmth to the space.

The messy process.

 Hum...not sure what the subs used this for.

 About a week later - shazam!!!

 I have some bad iphone photos of the painting process when I ran through a couple of times w/ a rag over my mouth...but I'll just stick to showing you the final product. Stain happened first (master bath cabs, office cabs, pillar), then painting all the white trim, doors, windows, cabinets, then wall color (they kept me and my Baby Owl in suspense). And then countertops went in and I was giddy like a school girl. (Above picture) - also you can see the Fat Owl test spot (lowest one).

 Dark gray quartz around the outside, white quartz inside. The center cabs will be painted a muted aqua (woohoo!) to match the ceramic prep sink)

 Fun surprises - you get sinks when you get countertops!

 Master bath sinks and countertops (more aqua and white) - I guess I have a favorite look.

 Guest granite

 Kids absolute black granite

 super duper cool tile (that looks like metal) on the mudroom island

 powder bath sink. love.

 The tile guys working away in the kitchen - holy backsplash!

 Two things I like - my kitchen faucet, Douglas the tile guy (in blue)

 backsplash behind where the hood/vent will go. This is one of those - it didn't turn out quite like I thought, but its' all good things. Those are all WHITE tiles!?! The barely green ones are readed glass (think little carved lines) and I totally love them. The darker green ones are white glass tiles but up against the wall and in certain light (okay, most light) they totally read green. I'm okay with it. Just sort of surprised me.

 The yet-to-be-painted mini-garage door out onto the backyard.

 The yet-to-be-painted regular garage door we'll actually drive into.

 Then we got the word that it was driveway time. And that means handprints!

We actually ended up doing them on the AC pad around the side of the house (drive-way side, but not in the driveway. It was a photo-finish. Kyle was on his way to work for a night shift and Maggie was seriously overdo for her nap, but we got 'er done. 

Kyle went first.

 Then me. But Kyle was wrangling the kids and Luke was helping me push my hand into the almost set-up cement, so no photo. 

Then Owen.

 Then Rebecca

 Then Maggie

 Then all of us!

I haven't been by the house since yesterday when we met w/ our landscaper. But when we were there we had all our LIGHTING boxes stacked in the dining room and that makes this girl super duper excited because I think I'm going to love our lights. And we may or may not have a driveway...I know they had done the form boards for it the other day - a multi-step process. 

It is seriously ALL COMING TOGETHER. I am overwhelmed and giddy w/ anticipation. I talked to a mover today...because we actually have a MOVE-IN-DATE!!! APRIL 15TH YALL! To you, it's when your taxes are due...for us it's party time! 

Did I mention I went on a CraigsList rampage during the last couple of weeks and got rid of: our couch, 2 chairs, ottoman, desk, desk chair, Owen's dresser and bookcase, train table, 2 antique secretary desks, filing cabinet...I think that's it. I LOVE getting rid of stuff. And having a little money in my (okay, our) pocket for the effort is super fun.

Okay, I think that's it for now...more later!