Update on Family Room

This is the RED family room. It actually turned out pretty nice. The red really pops in the evening when the lights are on (we have electricity now!). I was initially afraid that the dark red would make it look like a dungeon., but it doesn't all all.

If you look on the upper left you can see the light fixture over the breakfast bar in the kitchen. The lights were hung in a straight line, but will be moved to more of an arc shape to match the breakfast bar.

View from Living Room

If you stand in the living room and face the foyer, this is the view you get. The opening on the left goes back to our bedroom. The second opening on the left is my office. The handrail on the stairs should be going in soon.

Newer Kitchen Pictures

Here are the kitchen cabinets stained. The stain is basically natural tone (over the beech wood) with a hint of cherry (to spice it up).







This is a close up of the counter top. It has plastic on it now to prevent the other contractors from messing it up.

Downstairs Bath

Here is a picture of the downstairs bath. The tile on the wall is a tumbled marble. It looks prettier in person.

Why we can never change a light bulb in the living room.

Seriously, look how high this is. I hope he doesn't fall.

It's all about the tile!

Master Bath

Upstairs Bath

Picture of the downstair's bath looks awful. I'll get another picture this afternoon.

Lilly's Kingdom of Girliness

Here is the bedroom you've been waiting to see. The paint is called magic wand. I have some material to make her a window bench cushion. It is kind of psychedelic 60's pattern.

Her furniture will look like the picture here at j.c penney

My Office

Here is a picture of my office after they installed the built in book shelving on the right hand wall. This next photo is a picture of the office in its current state.



















The book cases are finished in in white enamel. The room is painted a taupe color.

You can see a little bit of the light fixture poking down. It has an oiled-bronze finish and will match the antique desk and chair I have for this office.

Earlier Kitchen Photos

Here are some photos of the cabinets as they first looked when hung in the kitchen. I'll go back this week and take some more pictures of the kitchen as the cabinets are now finished and the counter tops have been installed.

You can see (hopefully) in the background the faux finish we had applied. It has kind of a cement wall-Tuscan kind of feel to it. I will probably have it darken some once the rest of the kitchen is complete. The faux finisher actually completed the project lighter than I asked for because she said it is easier to make it darker, going lighter is going to be difficult. So I will have her come back when the rest is complete.

Kitchen Update

Here is what the tile (see previous entry) looks like in the kitchen. Well actually it’s beside the kitchen where the bar is. The tile doesn’t actually go back as far as it appears in the picture. The last 3 full tiles and last 4 half tiles actually aren’t supposed to be there. The tile angle off at 45 degrees around the breakfast bar (to the right). I think the diagonal lay looks neat.

I will now resume blogging

Seriously I am still in school. It's June and I am STILL in school. We get out on Thursday (teacher workday Friday). And then I will get this silly blog caught up.

But while I am here lets talk about tile.

Here's what I know. Tile makers are mathematically challenged and picking out tile makes my stomach hurt.

O.K. so the first tile I picked out matches the faux finish on the walls in the kitchen. Not cool. So I get some other tile, which also looks like the walls. Finally I find the perfect tile.

But here's the rub. I was going to do a pattern that needs 6x6, 12x12 and 18x18. This tile comes in 6.5x6.5, 13x13 (so far so good) and 19x19 (what!). O.K. so the pattern thing is NOT going to work. So we are going to do the tile (19x19) diagonal through the kitchen and everywhere else that is kitchen related (laundry room, pantry, hallway).

Stupid tile.

Dinning Room Chandelier

O.K. so I was flipping though a recent issue of Real Simple and saw this dining room pendant lamp that I adored. Of course there was no source for the lamp. So I looked around on line and found...THE EXACT lamp at Lamps Plus .

Here's the picture in the magazine below.
















And here is the picture from Lamps Plus's Website. So tomorrow we'll be driving down to Arlington (where they have a store and one in stock) and pick it up. I just can't believe I found it.

Kitchen Counters

This is the counter top we picked out. (It takes a while to downoad so be patient.) The color is called blue sahara and it is composite quartz surface. The cabinets are going to be a natural cherry color. The flooring in the kitchen will be tile, but I haven't picked any out yet.

Paint

Just thought I'd let you see some of the paint colors for the house. The family room is going to be in Berry Blush. The dining room is going to be in Belle Grove Moss. The rest of the down stairs will probably be in Epic (which is a khaki) with the exception of the kitchen. The kitchen will be in a faux finish called Tuscan gold. Unfortunately I cannot find any picture of it. You can visit Valspar to see my palate. Once there, you have to choose the room, but it will be ugly because it is throwing all the colors together in one room. The trim in the house will be gloss white.

Best Things = Worst Things

The best thing about building your own custom home is that you get to pick out every thing that goes in to your home. The worst thing about building your own custom home is that you have to pick out everything that goes into your home.


Things I hate to pick out the most (so far): faucets.


I think this is what we are going with....



Brian picked this out because I kept giving him the look of death at Lowe's


More info about this series of faucets and accessories can be found at Kohler's website. The rest of the fixtures in our house will be the same idea.

All metal things in our home will have a brushed nickel finish.

Anyhow, as Brian will give you updates on construction, I will give you updates on the interior decisions, even the ones I hate making.

What happend to me?

O.K. I'll start posting again (with pictures) soon.

I have had a horrible few weeks and am feeling much better now.

I went to the doctor and he found some gastritis in my stomach along with several non-cancerous polyps. I am on medication now to help the erosions heal. It is a slow process and the medication is a pain to take as you can't take for 2-3 hours after you have eaten and can't eat for an hour after you take it. And as you can tell from my posts, I love food.

So it has taken me a while to get adjusted and the spots in my stomach are starting to feel better. Although the pain in the back is not.

I have an appointment in February to check on my progress.

This week at school we have semester exams and have to work on Monday (martin Luther King Day). Huh...do you think it's stress that causes the gastritis?

I am sorry I ruined everyone vacation.

For some quality "ha-ha" time

It's funny, seriously. Visit here for some holiday cheer.

A Week's Worth of Blogs in one Post

In an effort to streamline, I am going to post weekly.



So anyway...here are pictures of me enjoying the produce at the Central Market (aka super H.E.B) in Fort Worth Saturday the 1st. It is liked you have died and gone to foodie heaven. They are only found in Texas.







The produce section is where the store entrance drops you off at. They are 3 huge aisles like the one I am standing in just of fresh produce. It is impossible to think while you are in here. I can remember the first time I was here and spent like 10 minutes looking at all the variety of eggplants you could buy.



They also have a pretty good meat and seafood area, and outstanding bakery and cheese section. They also have tons of pre-prepped foods you can take home and reheat like you are some kind of chef god.





Here is Lilly at Hulen Mall in Fort Worth. She is fascinated by fountains and always wants to stick her hands in them. But then again, who doesn't. The malls in Forth Worth aren't quite as good as they are in Dallas. But that was the trade off for the supermarket.

On Friday, we went to the Burns' Fantasy of Lights display on Midwestern State University's Campus. The first picture is the picture of the entrance to the lights. It was the opening night and Lilly loves to go around and see all of the moving displays. Her particular favorite is the robot (that constantly blows bubbles; yes, that is her jumping around so much that I can't get a picture.) and the Santa that pops out of the chimney.

On Sunday, Lilly had here Christmas concert at school. They sang quite a few short songs about "Jesus' Birthday. Lilly is a born performer. So she belted out her songs like a champ. You can also see that my wonderfully tall child is in the middle on the back. Damn genetics.

Lilly's Baking Brownies

She can because she knows brownies start with "B" and there is a picture of them on the box. There are also pictures on the back to tell her how much egg, water and oil she needs to add. So she matched up the measuring cup numbers with the number on the box and got to mixing.

Job for mommy: greasing the pan, turning on the oven and putting them in the oven and setting the time.

Cookie Number One

Exhibit A:


First cookie baked for the Christmas Season. Into the freezer you go.