Friday House Porn

It was a good week for house porn. 

(Yellowtrace via Apartment Therapy)

(Dress Design Decor via Plush Palate)

(Greige)

(La Maison Boheme)

(Lonny via Secrets of Domestic Bliss)

(Lonny Mag via Yellowtrace)

(Greige)

(Plush Palate)

(and MORE from Greige... LOVE this blog)

(Lonny via Elements of Style... yes, amazeballs)

This really has nothing to do with House Porn but I stumbled across a post on Katherine Westerhout's photography of abandoned buildings while going through some of the recent posts on Yellowtrace.  How absolutely gorgeous!

Saturday House Update

So, I'm guessing we have maybe another week left, maybe two, and then they'll be on to the basement for the remedial plumbing and electrical and we'll be doing final paint touch up!  Sweet!  Norm had Jeff working offsite for a lot of this week on the closet doors.  This was interspersed with floor stain and urethane application.  The floor is done.

In other news, our shower in the basement sprung a leak.  Not only did Norm fix it.  He also laundered our towels we used to dry off the floor just because he knew we didn't have access to our washer and dryer.  Stubbs Construction is fantastic.

 Here are some shots of the hardwood floor.

(The landing and study)

(The landing and study again)

(The bedroom)

(Another view of the bedroom)

(The bedroom and dressing room)

(The bedroom and dressing room again... they did a fantastic job replicating the original millwork.)

(The dressing room)

And that's where we sit right now.  It feels a bit surreal at this point that we're so close to completion. 

Friday House Porn

Brown chicken brown cow.  It's cold, grey and windy today, which could explain my sudden desire for a bit of colour.  Either that or I'm still a little stoned from the contact high we got off the floor stain yesterday.

(Elements of Style)

 (Secrets of Domestic Bliss via Dear Designer's Blog)

(La Maison Boheme)

(Elements of Style)

But at the end of the day, I like going back to neutrals.  They just make good spaces feel even better.

(Escapade via Plush Palate)

(Jose Picayo for Martha Stewart Living via Escapade)

(BHG via Secrets of Domestic Bliss)

Close but no cigar...

Damn I'm picky.  It's very close but after sitting with it for 20 hours, I'm still not sure about it.  And I'm also not sure if it's me being a little too crazy pants or if the floor is just a little too red and not quite dark enough.  We're playing with stain mixes and I'm coming home at lunch to pick a new one.  I've asked them to play with ratios of BM's dark walnut and pale pecan.  And if none of them are exactly what I'm looking for, I'll vote for me just being crazy and give the green light to clear coat the existing stain colour.  Stubb's is being super cool about my indecision.

Painted White

While I vacuumed up construction dust and made the rest of our house habitable again, Kurt caulked, nail filled and painted the bathroom.  The window seat and shelves are so pretty.  They are pretty much complete save for some decorative millwork on the front of the window seat that will mirror our wainscoting and closet doors.

It's not the right time of day to get a good shot of the entire piece without the picture going dark.  I can't wait to see it styled!  See?

 Over the tub, we're hanging a black and crystal chandelier and I'm going to use the ledge to display art. 

 In other news, our basement bathroom shower has sprung a big ole leak so we're now relegated to using the tub to get ready in the morning.  Horrible, yes?  I also can't wait until the diverter is installed and everything is sealed in the main shower.  Right now, it just whispers promises of awesomeness to me. 

Well, we won't be able to enjoy it for long as it sounds like tomorrow they're going to be staining the floors.  They didn't get to it last week as originally planned and Jeff is taking a bit of an extended Easter weekend.  After looking at his millwork, he's more than earned it!  Remember what we gave him to work with?

That's where the tub is now.  Here's another view of the room, where the the window seat and shelves are now located.

And here's the space from the bathroom that we co-opted to make room for the shower.

When Forsyth posted pictures of his bathroom on Facebook asking if anyone had ever seen an uglier bathroom I just laughed.  You have no idea, buddy!   I can't believe we lived like this for five years...  On the positive side, we will totally have the most astounding before and after photos.

A return to Restoration Hardware

As I mentioned in the last post, our washstands were installed and one looks great and the other, well, not so much.  It's noticeably off from both the side and the front.  Like, to the point where I went "oh, yay, they installed the washstands... um, wait a minute" upon first seeing them.  Turns out when we broke out the level that the basin is bowed and so that is why it doesn't look right, especially as it is directly beside a perfect specimen of itself.

To facilitate a return, RH has you submit photos for review.  Unfortunately, they have a 4 meg limit so we had to send them nine million emails to include all of our photos.  Here they all are in one handy, dandy spot.

First up, the non-defective washstand.  See how the level sits flush against the basin?

And here is the defective stand.  The level shows how bowed the basin is.  Sadness...

And here is the other side.  That's no small amount of daylight you can see between the level and the basin.

And here is the good basin resting nice and flush against the wall just like it should.

Look at home much of a gap there is with this one...

And it's not an issue with the wall itself:

All of the wowing and bowing results in the basin being unable to sit level in the stand.  Look at how level the good washbasin is?  That's some level-y goodness right there!  The bead is dead center.

And the defective washstand?  Yeah, not so much...

And here is a photo of the least of the problems with this silly basin... a divot.  I could live with the divot.  I'm not so fond of the drunken sailoresque listing towards the wall business and it will bug me every time I look at it.  *sigh*

I bathed! In my tub!

On Wednesday, I bathed.  In my tub.  It was awesome.

This week, Jeff installed the fixtures in the bathroom and the floors were sanded and are ready for finishing.  Have I mentioned Jeff is awesome?  If I haven't... well, he is.  The electrician showed up, installed two pot lights and disappeared again.  I think the idea was to get all the light fixtures installed. The rest of the weekend will be spent caulking the baseboards, filling nail holes and painting the trim and shelving in the bath.

My tub!

I love the shower and how it just floats in the space.  The modern, clean lines are a nice juxtaposition to the traditional soaker tub and washstands.  I think it keeps the bath from being too twee.  Still waiting on diverter trim kit and slide bar install.

Another shot of the bathroom!

One washstand basin is defective. Working with RH to have a different one shipped to us as it is bowed, making them not appear level.  So unfortunate!  They are otherwise lovely.

The floors are ready for stain.

 Lots of natural light.

 The window in the dressing room.

Well, there's a couple of switches and plug ins installed...  This wall is calling for a big mirror.