It's been a while since we've last posted, mostly because things have so busy and every spare minute has been spent priming and painting every square inch of the house. My poor husband has honestly taken it on as a second full-time job so that we can keep progressing. The last two weekends and every day during the week were spent painting. Also a huge thank you to Mom and Dad for helping out. I think mom has established VIP status at Home Depot since she was running errands for us multiple times per day! We're nearing the end of the painting and have only the basement left. Phew!
In addition to all of the painting, our fireplace surround was installed. This was something that we were SO excited to see and I think it came out better than anticipated. We gave the brick-layer our inspiration photo and he was able to replicate it to a tee.
And even better than the fireplace are the hardwood floors. Although they come out a little lighter than anticipated, they are breathtaking in person and will work perfectly with all of our finishing touches (tables, buffets, island cabinetry, etc.). We chose 3 1/4" #2 Common Red Oak flooring. I love the look of the grain that #2 Common offers. We chose a dark walnut stain and it brought out the wood grain and shows all of the little imperfections we love. I think it was a wise choice to have it a little lighter with the dog and cat fur and nails so we're not spending every spare second swiffering the floors. Hopefully you'll love them as much as we do. Here's a few shots of the finished products:
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| The finished fireplace :) |
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| Closer up with the sun shining in from the french doors. |
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| A view of the finished flooring from the family room into the kitchen. |
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Originally we were going to tile the foyer - but I'm so glad we didn't. There really wasn't an easy place to stop the tile and looking back, it would have made the room feel really disjointed. We are thrilled with the decision to continue the wood flooring throughout.
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| A view of the fireplace from the kitchen. |
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| The dining room. This room has such great views from all angles. |
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The kitchen will have white cabinetry around the perimeter with a dark espresso island. The floors and the contrast with the white and dark cabinetry should look amazing. Fingers crossed!!
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| View of the staircase from the second floor. Our stair treads are being stained tomorrow and should be installed shortly. They will also be the dark walnut color with white newel posts and spindles. |
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| View from the northwest bedroom toward one of the two linen closets. The sun was pouring in the house today. 50 degree temperatures were a nice change for February! Maybe Punxsutawney Phil was right...an early spring? Let's hope so. |
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| A view into the northwest bedroom and hallway. |
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| View across the "cat walk" toward the master bedroom. |
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| The second bedroom - and future nursery. |
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The master bedroom.
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We're just absolutely thrilled with how the floors turned out. Initially when we were in the bid phase, we thought we were going to have to put carpet in all of the bedrooms as bids we received were very cost prohibitive. After multiple recommendations to put hardwood throughout and finding a hardwood floor installer who could install and finish the flooring for as little as carpeting, we were sold!
