October what? 23rd? WTH?

As some of you may know, we moved in on September 2, 2011, Labor Day weekend. I have been so busy, working, being pregnant and moving in, I forgot all about my blog..

Here are some pictures from moving day (FYI for those of you who are more than 20 weeks pregnant, don't move, it SUCKS).

All movers are crooks...somehow my husband got sandwiches for 6 and gas for his car on the way back from the storage unit & still beat them back to the house by at least 45 minutes...Ridiculous (this happened when I moved from Chicago too, assholes)

This is our living room...

My helpful brother-in-law!

Surveying the office/bonus room

The master bedroom

Hubby HAD to install the mailbox, the weekend we moved in! It was easily 100 degrees that weekend, as he dug and dug, he found gravel and clay and more gravel...poor guy

My father-in-law and brother-in-law came to watch..

He eventually got it installed...

I also need to thank my husband's cousins, Pat & Brandon, my mom, and my husband's family also did a huge amount of work to help us. THANK YOU AGAIN!

So we cooked them some Ribs...(why not have company 2 days after moving in :)

Next up...landscaping, my grandmother's redone dining room table, baby's room, my office, guest bedroom, curtains, well about everything... Stay tuned, now that I'm not flying for work anymore, I SHOULD have a little more time, RIGHT?

Holy Progress

Our counter tops were put in yesterday! Look at those swirly-speckly granite-y patterns!

Also if you look closely, the first coat of, "Koi Pond" is on my kitchen walls!

Here are some other paint previews

The family room/entry way in Barcelona Beige:

My master bedroom done in Mindful Gray:

My master bath in Silvermist:

My dining room in Dovetail, can you imagine the wainscoting? I can :)

The entire upstairs was done in a single color to make my life less stressful (Wool Skein)

And finally ladies and gents...my FRONT DOOR, STAINED! (I think it may need another coat)

Oh and our driveway/sidewalk, if the cement wasn't still wet while we were there, I'm pretty sure my husband would have been doing basketball drills getting ready to use the hoop we do not have. I personally was trying to imagine what type of landscape genius I could come up with for the very large area of dirt near the house...

Also we may have someone to complete our siding! They are supposed to start Monday. Now we can only hope that the electrician and plumber get in to complete the final work. Then carpet and the deck after the siding and we should be closing...

What's your guess??

Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring

Me: "Hello?"
"Miss this is 1987 calling"
Me: "Yes?"
"We want our vanity back"

Alright it isn't that bad, but it is definitely the worst decision we have made to date...ugh. Anyone need a Pewter Vein 49" wide x 22" deep vanity top pre-drilled for a 4-inch faucet?

Thanks God for the Big Box stores, I was able to quickly run out and get this beauty, which also resulted in me having to exchange our 4 inch faucet for an 8 inch wide spread. FUN!

To match the beautiful tile work (sorry for the crooked pictures, apparently pregnancy has thrown off my balance).

Anyway we are so incredibly close to closing I can taste it, I'm not going to give you a date because I believe that is like saying, "Look honey, no traffic in the loop!" As you are driving into Chicago, only to come to a DEAD stop for approximately one hour.

My amazing wood floors are in, as well as, my beautiful cabinets in the kitchen. I told my husband that I will hug and kiss my floors daily. The floors are hand-scraped Asian walnut, check out the kitchen with the cabinets and floors.

Look how lonely my cooktop is, waiting patiently to be installed (counter tops are going in this week).

I am also in love with my fireplace tile choice (again a crooked picture..so sorry).

Here is the finished product with the mantel painted, again simply gorgeous.

And finally ladies and gents, my master bath, tub.

I promise there will be another post soon. The painters were in all week last week doing CUSTOM colors, we stopped by yesterday and I am so far very happy with my choices! They had even stained the front door.

Now if only we could get that pesky siding on...which will likely delay closing until December, thanks to the many significant hail storms we have had in this area, every siding person in the world is booked.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Let me start by saying, I hate building a house more than sticking a dull fork in my hand repeatedly, okay, maybe I am being dramatic, but everything that can possibly be delayed because of some unforeseen circumstance has. happened. to. us.

RIFLIPPINGDICULOUS.

1) Electric
"Dear homeowner, your lot has to be within 6 inches of final grade to install lines." This was done after 2-4 weeks of pain

2) Siding
"Please have your lot at final grade"

3) Hard Surface Installation (disclaimer, our hard surface guy is amazing and the delays have been beyond his control, you know who you are, you & your help rock. Thanks for your hard work and patience)
"Please allow wood to set for 3-5 days in home with A/C before installation." All fine and good but the flooring company "forgot" to ORDER IT from their warehouse before the nice long holiday weekend. "Oh and you need the tile for the Master Bathroom shower pan, we will order that for you today?" What the fruck? Do you realize it is July 7? I was told it was on back order and now we are just ordering it??? We began installing hard surfaces a month ago, I guess shower pan tile isn't a priority.

Check out the amazing work so far!

Our 2nd floor bath

The master bath:

The laundry room (and powder room have the same tile):

4) Brick
Pesky licenes you have to renew those things or the inspectors make you stop working. ONE WORD...WTF?

5) Stone
"We can't start the stone until the brick is finished." See #4 The stone is now partially completed but my front door and columns are still naked (which was an upgrade, yippee, money grows on trees right?)
Poor naked door and columns...

6) Trim Work/Cabinets
This poor guy started over a month ago and has been patiently awaiting delivery of the correct trim for the main floor, a curved window-which has supposedly arrived, according to my connection at the local supplier, the stair railing system, and wood floor installation (see #3 for more detail of why our hardwood has yet to be installed)
Mr. Catlow, your work is beautiful I can't wait to see the kitchen after the wood floor is installed (see #3 for more detail of why our hardwood has yet to be installed)
**Anyone picking up on a pattern here? If this doesn't happen than you are out of flubbing luck for that...**

Here is a picture of the beautiful doors, closets,and trim while we wait patiently

7) Deck
Wood? Who needs wood? We have to order that, huh? Oh yeah AND the siding AND final grade have to be completed...

8) Final Grade
Pesky cable, electric, phone & internet lines all happen to be on our lot for the ENTIRE FRUCKING neighborhood. "Don't worry homeowners, I know today is Wednesday, I will be back next Thursday or Friday to complete the work, that won't put you back right?"
(Please see number 2 and 7)
So our lot pretty much still looks like this

Hey look there is a bridge for our little furry friends to get over the crick, that's creek in Indiana speak...

What else can be delayed? Cleaning? Carpet? Final Electric? Final Plumbing? Appliances?

When do you think our house will be complete? My lender, home owners insurance, and lawyer would like to know as well...

Adios, I'm off to buy crap for a house I don't have!

Exteriors! and a little bit of interiors...

Our house is finally starting to look like a house! The contractors began exteriors finishes should be complete this week, early next week. TBD, UGH

ANYWHO, Check out our garage doors! They are absolutely perfect and we couldn't be happier!

From Cape Coddin' in Indiana

***Also notice the brick! Isn't it divine!? Stone and siding pictures are coming in December, err soon.

Thanks to Higgin's Overhead Door of Crown Point! I never thought I could be in love with a garage door...

Here is my beautiful front door, before stain, the sales rep, pulled the wool over my eyes & made it sound like it would show up all pretty and dark mahogany brown upon delivery, not so much :(

From Cape Coddin' in Indiana

Aren't the dentil shelves cute? I hope no one attempts to hang their teeth on my DENTIL NOT DENTAL shelves, eeww :)

AND FINALLY a sneak peak of my kitchen

From Cape Coddin' in Indiana

Yippee! I am dreaming of my gleaming cook-top and rustic hand-scraped Asian walnut floors! Aren't you too?!

I promise I will be back sooner next time, things are coming along quickly. This week they started on the interior trim work and all hard surfaces are soon to follow. The stone and siding should be done soon as well! I think we will be in by the end of JULY, yes I said JULY, don't ask, I'm not happy either...So maybe just maybe we will have a Labor Day Housewarming party! Wish us luck!

**Please don't hold your breath hoping for completion of our home, as blogger is not responsible for extended breath holding that may lead to loss of consciousness or death.

This has been a public service message from "Just say NO to building a home because all it will do is constantly cause disappoint and frustration"

I will try to make this fun to read but I can't promise anything...

Here is what our house looks like today
First the front:

Here's the back:

What's the difference between this one and my roof post?
Look closely, here it is again, maybe a different angle

Give up? Look again a little closer...

Yeap it's roof shingles...that's it, that's the only difference and this is what it has looked like for well, umm, FOREVER. Everyone told me once the framing is done it D.R.A.G.S and they weren't flipping kidding.

However, when you walk inside, I do see pretty wires and big pipes (Ha-ha that's what she said) Check it out..

See those pretty blue boxes? Those are for light switches and plugs...cool huh? Yeah, I agree not so much. (This is the 2nd floor bathroom in case you were wondering).

Oh yeah and the fire box was put in, this is kind of exciting, I was so excited I have yet to take a picture of it, but here is the framing...

(That's the bathtub for the master bath in the big ol' cardboard box...it looks tiny now that it is installed, I'm pretty sure only little people and small children will fit in this tub) Again people who have built a house keep telling me everything looks smaller before it is complete...pfft..

I'm not frustrated..really.

On a positive note, we finalized our flooring, tile, and carpet choices. Now back to that annoying task of picking lights.

Wish me luck

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is on...

FIRE! The framing is almost complete, the roof is on, and they even put the pretty black paper on the roof (AKA Tar Paper)!
Check it out:

I also bought some kick ass lighting for my kitchen this weekend! I ordered 3 pendants to hang over the island and a "chandelier" of sorts to put over my table in the "nook"
I found them at a lovely home boutique in Crown Point, called Dwelling. Unfortunately they are no longer carrying lighting but here are some pics!

Here is the nook light

Here is the pendant

Now I need to find the perfect entry chandelier for a 16 foot ceiling and a chandelier for my modern-traditional dining room that I'm envisioning. I will be using my Grandmother's Dining Room table (that was given to my grandparents as a wedding gift but I don't want it too be too 1930's formal, so I need to find the perfect balance with an area rug and chandelier)!

Any suggestions? The dining room is right next to the foyer and I am using Oil-Rubbed Bronze finishes throughout (for door handles, hinges, etc).

What about this one?

Or this one?

or this one?

Two completely different lights that I love! Any thoughts? Do any of my interior designer friends out there have suggestions? I already broke the budget with the kitchen lighting, I can't kill it with the chandeliers too!

Spatula, oh spatula, where out thou?

AAARRGGGGHH, I just wanted the last bit of my yummy "lobstah" salad for lunch and this was the only spatula I could find! REALLY?

Yes that's right, a crummy little, bent up, melted, dollar store spatula...Ridiculous, I stomped up to the "gift room" to find one, afterall, I recieved every single kitchen utility tool that was ever invented...but all I found was this:

You got it lots and lots of bubble wrap AND this:

even MORE boxes...

So since it is Spring (well at least it feels like here in the Midwest today), I am going to think happy thoughts!

Our builder tells us, framing should be complete in two weeks. Crap, I guess that means we should stop procrastinating the brick & stone choice.

Anywho, back to happy thoughts, we have our appliances narrowed down to two brands for each appliance. The sneaky Eletrolux rep at the monstrosity of an appliance store we shopped at this weekend, convinced us we need Electrolux! They are oh sooo shiny and sleek!

Refrigerator, now this is a big one, one brand is significantly more than the other:

1)GE

2) Lux

Bar Fridge:
1) GE

2) Lux

Oh yay, that is a blue LED on the INSIDE of the fridge to illuminate my brewskis

Double convection oven
1)GE

2) Lux

Did you notice the pretty blue inside?

36" cooktop
1) LUX

2) GE

Dishwasher
1) KitchenAid (which is rated by consumer reports to be the QUIETEST) and is nice and big inside, we eliminated the Bosch because the inside is TEENY TINY

2) Lux which is rated at 45dB

Lastly Microwave..remember our microwave will be UNDER the island, do we get this cool drawer:

Or do I go with the "el cheapo" microwave since it will be under the island?

Hmmm...decisions decisions? I have mulled over forums, consumer reports, you name it, I just don't know what to do, this really shouldn't be such a monumental decision! (oh yeah, I never found a spatula, so I had to use my fingers)

**by no means is the blogger promoting or endorsed by the above mentioned brands, looking strictly for opinions or donations :)