Slow day, move-in date, and lovin' my pendants

Rather slow day at the house today. It was just a crazy slew of events that caused today to be less busy than the frenetic past few weeks.

Three good notes from today:

1. We have a move-in date: February 17!!! Time to start recruiting strong friends and planning a play date for D.

2. The tiling is thisclose to being done. The foyer, in-law suite and master bedroom are done. The mudroom is set and only needs to be grouted.

Our downstairs laundry room is about the same size as the laundry room in our old house.

3. Lighting went up in D's room, the guest room and the kitchen. Unfortunately, the circuit was down so we didn't get to see the lights upstairs. But thanks to our camera's flash, we were able to get a peek.

D's fan with airplane blades. He LOVES it! 

He was also excited about the airplane pull. 

The guest room has a Casablanca Claremont fan from Tuesday Morning. 

But what really thrilled me was seeing my ET2 Fizz Pendants hanging above the outer island in the kitchen! I went a little crazy taking pictures of these beauties because they are so interesting to me. Unfortunately, the circuit was off for them too, so the lit pictures will have to wait. In the meantime, maybe you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

  

Lighting, LVT and loving our tile.

Today I had two sick boys with me all day. (Shocking that Niels got sick after sleeping with Typhoid Daniel the last four nights). After Niels got up, we headed to the house so D could sleep in the car and we could watch the progress.

In-Law Suite:

Jim Duffy hung the lights this morning so the tile guys could work on the floor. The bathroom is nice and bright now. 

Making progress.

All done!

Artsy shot to show off the subway tile set.

Mudroom:

Another light up. These Maxim Malibu lights were such a good choice. They provide a ton of light and are quite a bargain. We used daylight CFLs and love the bright light they provide.

We found these hooks for our mudroom cubbies at Lowes.

Now to decide between three hooks or two.

Office: 

Niels and Jim ooh and ahh over Niels' Dutch light fixture.

 Stairs and Hallway:

Our stair lights have been installed. These will be very nice when my vision is wonky.

The upstairs hallway lights are in. These are the three-light version of our ubiquitous Maxim Malibu light.

Laundry Room:

Putting down the luxury vinyl tile: Konecto Exotic Woods Vertical Bamboo (Caramel)

First peek at the floor by the wall.

And the floor with the maple cabinets.

And done. It went really quickly. It's a stick down plank tile.

View from the window.

All three of us were on the floor today. We'll put a tension rod between the closet and cubbies if we need to hang anything.

D's Bathroom:

Jim hanging D's vanity light.

D's bathroom is nice and bright. The vanity is the Urban from Menards.

We used the same Konecto LVT in D's room.

Close up of the LVT with SW Solaria paint and espresso cabinets.

View from the tub area.

Master Bedroom and Bath:

Our ceiling fan is up! This is the Craftmade Fifth Avenue.

Our water closet with SW Sensuous Gray and the newly grouted tile.

Close up of the grouted (but not yet cleaned) tile. The grout color is Natural Grey, and I think it's a great match for the tile.

We really like how the tile surround turned out. 

This tile didn't have any matching trim, so the tile guys cut full pieces for trim.

Close up of the tub surround. Love it!

What a great week of progress it has been! What a difference from last Friday! Work will slow down over the weekend--the tile in the foyer and mudroom will get done. Then, on Monday, the frig and oven will get placed, I think our quartz countertop for the kitchen and command center will be installed Monday or Tuesday, along with the River White granite in the in-law suite. Also, to the delight of everyone, the toilets are coming!!

Tile, Tub and Tricked out Window

This morning, in addition to the fun of seeing the lights go up, I also got to watch the tile guy draw on the floor as we confirmed the direction and set of our tile in the foyer, mudroom and in-law suite.

This is how we make sure that everyone agrees how the tile should look, no matter who places it.

In the mudroom, the backerboard has the natural grey grout we discussed yesterday.

There are three guys working on tile. This is how we know that everyone is working from the same plan: 

We're really happy with how the tub surround turned out. It's hard to see because in the dark, my camera seems to have focused on the dust, but around the tub, they placed a full piece of tile, and then cut smaller pieces of the the tile to make a border.

Last night, Niels and I picked a replacement light for one that broke outside, a fire extinguisher for the pantry (gotta love those home owners insurance deductions), and this frosted glass film for the powder room. Here's Todd, our GC, holding up the film while I check the transparency from the front porch. Since we was wearing a neon yellow shirt, I think that it's safe to say that unless you sit nekkid on the window sill, we've mastered the issue of privacy.

The cork was finished today, and is now covered up to protect it. The tile (and maybe the LVT?) will be done by Monday. Jim will continue to work on lights and electrical. Monday, they'll start putting in appliances and plumbing. We're looking at about two weeks til we get our certificate of occupancy!

First flooring down!

Our little boy was sick today, so we didn't get to enjoy the 56 degree January day or get to the house in the daytime. But, since the tiling started in our master bedroom, I couldn't wait til tomorrow to see it. (Plus, I needed to confirm the set of the tile). So, off we went.

We don't have a lot of lights working upstairs yet--that will happen Wednesday, I think--so it was a good thing I had my camera or I wouldn't have noticed that our bedroom has turned into a tile store!

Here's a peek at our tile. It's Olympia Tile Monocuttura Reeds in Taupe. We really wanted Emser Strands 12"x24" glazed through body porcelain tile in Olive, but to cut costs, we went with the Olympia ceramic 13"x13"tile. The main difference (other than cost) is that the color of the Emser tile (and Daltile Fabrique is almost exactly the same, and easier to find) has color throughout the tile, and the Olympia tile only has color on the glaze. If the Emser got chipped, the tile would have the same color. If our tile gets chipped, the tile will show a pale gray. We had porcelain tile in our old house, and in five years, we never chipped the tile, so we decided to save money.

Olympia Tile Monocuttura Reeds in Taupe.

The backerboard used by Northport Flooring America is Wonderboard 1/4" Cement backerboard.

And now, some photos - taken in complete darkness:

I love how great the tile looks with the espresso cabinetry.

The room was blocked off, so we couldn't get the light on, but we could see how great it looks. Tim, the tile guy, called me to confirm the set of the tile. We knew we wanted all the tiles facing the same direction (reduces vertigo issues for me), with the lines of tiles pointing from tub to the closet. I wasn't sure about the grout lines, but as we talked about, I'm glad we went with the grout lines going from the water closet/tub to vanity. We really like the way it turned out!

So, they still have a little bit of the water closet and tub surround to set, as well as all the grouting, but it's a great start. It was really exciting for us to see this room tonight because it was the first time a room looked real. This week is going to be the most "house to home-becoming" week with paint finishing, floors going in, counters going in, appliances going in and lights going up.

Time to start packing up the apartment!