Tuesday, February 17, 2015

In-Progress Update + Pics

Hello friends!

It has been such a process to get things in order here!  There were strong winds the other day and I am pretty sure those shingles in the backyard belong to us!  LOL...do I hear our first 'real' maintenance call?  YUP!  

Anyway, I thought I would snap some quick photos and talk a little about what we have done or plan to do in each one to make it flow a little better...so here we go...it's a long one!  

Garage Door
First, we had the entire place painted, including the garage side of this entrance door.  Knowing that we will finish the garage once the weather is a little better, I decided to go for a navy blue color.  I ordered this 'hello' sign from WordFactoryDesign on Etsy in black, then realized I needed it in white.  This will become a white 'hello' sign as soon as it arrives.


Man Cave

Man Cave
This is snap of my husband's 'Man Cave'.  He decided to go with a peanut color with a blue accent wall in the back.  We had most of the entertainment installed.  This includes the rack for all the components, PS4, receivers, and TiVo Roamio Pro.  We are a TiVo family so there are TiVo mini's attached to the back of each TV.  My husband is a stickler for wires showing by a TV!  hahaha

In his room, he decided to go with MartinLogan for entertainment sound.  The room was wired for in wall speakers before he made his decision, so we have someone coming out to patch up those spaces and re-paint since they will not be used.  He has a 5.2.1 setup (5 in-wall speakers including center, 2 floor speakers, and 1 subwoofer).

Peephole
Our door did not come with a peephole, so we could either pay to have it done or do it ourselves.  Since it did not appear to be a major effort, we did this in 2.37 minutes!  It was super easy!  I could not believe someone would charge to do this.  Call it a good deed and just do it!  LOL



Nest
We installed the Nest a couple of weeks after we moved in.  It originally had a white plate behind it because it was smaller than the builder thermostat.  Since we were having the house painted anyways, my husband removed the place and patched and sanded the area.  The painters painted the area and we placed it back.  I really wanted a fluid look so now I have it!  Side note...this little guy is great if you're on the fence about installing one.


Powder Room 
We decided on a rust color for the powder room.  In the future, we will add a mosaic tile to the back wall (sink and toilet wall).  We are still deciding if this will be a DIY or hire someone.  Removing a toilet and sink...ehhhh I am not sure.  This will also be an opportunity for us to change out the sink and maybe the toilet.  I will keep you posted on if we take on this challenge!  


Dining Room 

Dining Room 
The wall color can slightly be seen in the picture, but not really!  This is a Restoration Hardware table and (4) chairs.  The head chairs are a charcoal color, which I found from Home Goods.  I decided on slate placemats and coasters for the table setting decor.  This picture was taken around Valentine's Day so that is why there are candles and roses.
The back wall will also become a DIY.  We are attaching wood planks to the wall to add some depth.  There will also be more furniture/decor added like an area rug, buffet, console table or dresser once the wall is in place.  They charge so much for a darn buffet that I doubt I go with that option unless I can find a good deal.  The dining room is on the same level as the kitchen and eventually this room will be the same wood as the kitchen.  


Living Room (Woman Cave)
This is the living room in which my husband has deemed the 'Woman Cave'.  You can't really see the color of the main wall but it is a light gray color.  The accent walls are purple.  I also had shelves added on each side of the fireplace and above for a 'mantle'.  You will notice a cut out above the TV.  This was the original location for the center channel, but it was moved to the right a little bit so this too will be repaired and re-painted with my husband's area.  I have a 5.1 speaker system (5 in-wall speakers including center and 1 subwoofer).  For my speakers, I went with Sonance which is a great sounding speaker, just not as huge as the MartinLogan's.
I have not decorated the shelves yet, so please forgive the placement of items! 


2nd Bath

This is the second bathroom which is like a green-ish color.  It makes me think of a beach when I walk in.  This room will have a theme but I am still deciding on which way to go.  I placed the white towel to try to show the true color.  


Master Bedroom 
Master Bedroom 
This color is really hard to see but it is a mix between a light brown and peach.  We had just put the bed together so please excuse the bed.  LOL
This room still has a lot of items to be added.  Sitting chairs, floor mirror, and other decor.  


Master Bath
The color in the master bath is a light brown and the color is pretty true in this pic.  It goes really well with the counter, floors and wall.



My Closet

My Closet
Here is my closet.  I have a pink-ish color on the back wall and gray on the side walls.  It's hard to see...not because of the picture, but because there is too much crap in there!  HAHAHA
We put in the Elfa system in both closets and instructed the builder to not put in their shelves.  We knew we didn't want them, so instead of having to patch holes, we went bare for about a month.  

Laundry Room
This is our laundry room color, which we actually painted.  LOL  Since it wasn't a main room, we decided to try our artistic expression by painting it a light green.  THIS is the reason we hired painters!  HAHAHA  While our work is not bad, it's not perfect.  It was fun, but that was enough!  LOL  I ordered this decal from TweetHeartWallArt on Etsy as well.  We will also add some cabinets or shelving system in this room.  Again, we told the builder to keep their shelving.


Savant System

Savant Remote
Lastly, this is how we control all TVs, music, and lighting throughout the house.  The main rooms have iPads and the guest bedroom has a remote.  We figured a remote would be easier for guests like our moms.

My husband also changed all the lights to LEDs and had a future tube ran to the attic.  He also put placed a wireless access point in the attic for Wi-Fi throughout the home.

Pantry

This is next on our to-do list.  We will be removing the building shelving and DIY-ing a better solution.  I am still not sure what the solution will be, but something without holes.  We will also paint and/or wall paper this room.  More to come on this project.  

We still have some lighting to install.  There will be path lights for the stairs and special settings for things like 'movie time'.  

For the rest of the home, we still have lots of furniture to purchase and decor to hang.  I keep a list of projects and I believe there are about 30 more to go!  LOL  My husband will have a fit once he sees there is a lot more to do.  Most of them are small things like under cabinet lights for the kitchen.  We will add a backsplash to the kitchen as well, but we wanted to wait until we had it painted.


I hope this wasn't too long...I owed you all some updating.  

How are your projects going?  Any learned lessons to share?

xoxo,
E








29 comments:

  1. Everything looks beautiful! I love your closet. I want to eventually do different shelving too. That will be for later. Haha!

    We really did lose siding in that wind storm. Lol! They just did it yesterday.

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    1. Thank you Bridget!!!
      Ohhhh no to the siding! Well if you're like me...at least they will fix it! LOL

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  2. Wow you have done so much to your house already! It looks so good! I love your living room with that beautiful purple accent color!

    Our house is still being built so no big projects to share yet. I am working on reupholstering my grandparents dining room chairs that they left me for our future dining room. I have 4 out of 6 done so far.

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    1. Thanks Mary! I am following your progress now so I can see these chairs! I admire people who can reuse something awesome and make it their very own! I also love that you too are building a town.

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  3. Everything looks great! I love the dining room and your closet!I love that the living room is your "woman cave" my husband basically said the same thing about ours. Lol What brand is the purple you used in the living room? I'm thinking purple for my "woman cave" as well.

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    1. Hi Rashida! Thank you! Whoop Whoop to the 'Woman Caves'! LOL The color is Orchid Orchestra (by McCormick Paints).

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  4. Eboni, Everything looks fabulous! Such beautiful rich colors. That purple is so gorgeous. Hurray for technology! I love all of your extra fancy features in electronics. I can't wait to see more!

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    1. Thank you Natasha! I can't wait to see more your gorg home! PS...I love Milo! He is soooo cute and well worth it all! :-)

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  5. Your dining room table is an awesome find, but you are ready know that, i am all about reclaimed wood, have a wall in my basement. Also question about your bathroom. We had paint the "orange" color in our basement its Penny Wise by SW, we love it down there, thought about doing the bathroom with it.............but, its the main floor powder room and wondering if it would be toooo dark??? Any thoughts?

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    1. Thank you so much! I LOVE your color selection in your basement! Since I am a huge lover of orange, I do not think it would be too dark at all. I think with that color, mixed with some dark accents (browns, greens, etc.), it will give a 'warm' feeling. We will be adding some tile to the wall in our powder room (toilet and sink wall), which I think will give it that mosaic feel. Your color would go well with an accent wall. You all are AWESOME DIY'ers so that would not be an issue.

      So I would say go for it! The powder room can have it's own flare and still flow with your home. Your home is looking great!!!

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  6. All the home automation stuff you guys did is really cool. I don't notice any cable boxes anywhere, how was everything wired?

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    1. Thanks Owen! I am probably going to mess this up (since I am not the IT person of the house), but here goes my best shot: We are a TiVo family so basically we have one Roamio Pro for one television and TiVo mini's for the other TVs. All wiring (behind the wall) for televisions, speakers, internet, cable, etc. is located in our utility closet (on the downstairs level of your Andrew). My husband has an AV rack to house all the equipment (gaming, receivers, blue ray players, etc).

      I am waaay behind on updating you all, but I will post soon.

      I am not sure I fully answered your question, so I will have my husband chime in and help me out! :-)

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    2. Owen. Eboni is correct. You just need a Tivo box (has to be one of the modern models) and a Tivo Mini. The Tivo box has tuners. A tuner will allow you to watch or record a television channel. The Tivo Mini is capable of using one of the Tivo box's tuners to deliver a television signal to an adjacent room. The Tivo Mini just requires power and a network connection (CAT 5) or standard Coax cable. If using a coax cable, a special adapter called a MOCA will be needed as well.

      Tivo Minis are very small so I usually just get industrial strength velcro and stick on the back of the TV unless I have some other need such as multiple devices in that room connected to surround sound. The upfront cost is higher, but over time Tivo is a great way to cut down on your cable bill by not paying a monthly charge for a DVR and cable boxes.

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    3. Thanks for this information, Sean! This is super helpful since I don't know many Tivo owners.

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  7. Thanks for getting back guys. We have been thinking about incorporating some type home automation and centralized system. I know I'd be curious to learn more about your low voltage wiring setup/savant system and how it all works. Perhaps it's Sean's opportunity to impress the guys this time : )

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    1. No problem! Since we are actually close in location, we should meet up! I love a good meet & greet!

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  8. Eboni, I'm so glad you mentioned installing the peephole is easy! My husband and I are about the least handy people in the planet, so I always have anxiety about home projects. And -- "woman cave" -- lol!

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    1. Ha! No worries with that one! You guys will breeze through that. After you get it done, be sure to celebrate how great it looks!!!

      And yes...we need our space to...although since this post I feel like the entire place is now my woman cave. I will have to do better! LOL

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  9. Hey Eboni,

    Would you be willing to share the company or painters you used to paint your house?

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    1. Hi Ebbie! We used Liberty Painting (http://www.libertypaintingco.com/). They were really efficient and professional. They first came out to provide a quote and we scheduled the painting the same visit (because the price was great). Be sure to ask for specials because we got in on one of their current specials (that they tend to run frequently). Let me know if you have other questions!

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    2. Thanks so much! I will contact them as soon as we are further along in our building process. We would like to have the house painted before we move in. (fingers crossed)

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    3. Anytime! It surely helps to have it done before you get all your furniture in (that was our thought process) but on the flip side, you will risk those lovely nail pops messing up your paint. We decided on paint that would be easy to touch up for that reason and it's a good thing we did. LOL

      I will be looking forward to your posts if you decided to blog about it. Congrats on everything!!!

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    4. I thought long and hard about the nail pops, and then decided that I will just have to live with them and address them as they appear! Builder beige/white walls gives me anxiety (TOO many years of depressing apartment living), and since I'm living so far away from home and family, I really want my house to feel warm and inviting. We didn't experience many nail pops in the previous new build homes we've lived in, so I'm hoping that will be the case here.

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    5. HAHAHA! Call us twins then because we did the same thing! The good thing most of the nail pops (so far) are in the ceiling so that will not be a problem for the builder to paint. There are a few in the couple of the custom colored walls, but we will be patching those up ourselves. We are getting some things added in the master bedroom tomorrow so that will be our first time seeing if the paint will match up! Fingers crossed!
      Lucky you for your first build! I hope that you have the same luck this go-round too!!!

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  10. I can't believe I actually commented already and didn't remember seeing your Elfa system! It looks really good! I can see using a similar set up, and just maybe having more shelves for my embarrassing shoe and handbag (and nail polish) collection. Is it super customizable?

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    1. :-) Thank you! Yes, it is fully customizable to your sizing and item needs. As I told Owen, if you prefer, you could totally do all 'wood' shelving instead of the wiring. They cost more but will give a different look and functionality. I have my favorite fragrances on the wood shelving as the wires is not the best for those. I will tell you that even the wire shelves have a plastic piece (sold separately) that you place on top of the wires to give it that 'flat' feel. We originally purchased them for all the wired shelves, and then took them back as we did not use them.

      For nail polishes, I purchased this wall thingy from Amazon. I wish I could just upload a picture, but I may have to do a new post so I can place the pictures there. You sound like you have a butt-load of polishes...more than me, but I will try to get that post up soon so you could at least see one option.

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  11. Love your Elfa closet! After using the Elfa system for our pantry, we are definitely thinking the master closet may be next.

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    1. Thank you! Don't miss out on the annual sale coming soon (I believe December is the starting month). We are thinking about doing the pantry during the sale.

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