New House Kitchen

When we decided to build one of my first priorities was open space kitchen with a breakfast nook. To say that I spent time looking on Instagram, Pinterest, and blogs would be a slight exaggeration! I was definitely inspired by wowilovethat.design. I had saved pictures of that kitchen two years ago and definitely before we planned to build.

To see the inspiration become a reality was the favorite dream in my eyes.

Our walls are painted on Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray. This home has an abundance of windows and this choice seems to be a great one.

Moving day brought a quick decision on arrangement of dishes and pantry items. Since the sink is in the island the dishes needed to be in close proximity. And since there is a Rae Dunn obsession from someone in this family the extra counter space has delivered!

Our cabinets are a creamy white from Armstrong.

The nook is a favorite place to grab a quick meal.

Today I am blessed! 

Selling Our House

Our home. 39 Years.

So many memories are enclosed within our half acre lot. When we moved into this track home of four bedrooms we had one son. Little did we realize that I was pregnant. Only a few days later the wonder of adding to our family and needing a third bedroom became our life.

Now that the building of a new home is progressing it had finally become the time to put our house on the market. Empty nesters don't need four bedrooms and two levels. 

Social media and the internet has drastically changed the realty world. The realtor used a fabulous photographer. These pictures are some of the ones that were used on the posting. I have to think that they are part of the whirlwind we jumped into.

The living area that have provided family times over the years.

Many changes have been done over the time since the beginning. Open space living was gained and lost through my DIY projects. Build a wall. Tear down a wall. Extend a wall. Add wainscoting.

Memories of family that gathered around the dining table--some that are no longer on this earth. How many meals?

Oh, and the kitchen. Dark cabinets were transformed by MY painting project only to be completely replaced with the beauty of solid oak cabinets and hunter green countertops. Yet, the next painting was done by a professional that created a dreamy white kitchen. And the green countertops said goodbye to granite. My kitchen I will miss!

Can you envision the floor that looked like vinyl bricks? Thinking back to the years of harvest gold, rust and brown wallpaper, darkness that is thankfully a memory and not reality.

 The three bedrooms on this floor have gained various sons. Mr. Spouse and I kept the same bedroom since are the "masters" of the house.

Each of our three sons had a turn in the three additional bedrooms. As a new baby was added the room shuffling began.

Downstairs offered the final stop of our kids as they matured. The last bedroom they occupied before moving onto adulthood.

To my astonishment the downstairs "den" of the 90's became one of my favorite rooms. The cozy size is a great place for afternoon naps!

Privacy abounds in our backyard. Memories of the kids playing, riding big wheels and bikes, laughter, arguments, neighborhood kids--these will live in my heart as we exit our family home.

Our house was under contract the first day on the market. Hopefully, a new family will create their memories and enjoy the country living. 

So, goodbye 152 Highland. You have served us well.

June’s House

 May added quite a bit to the exterior in the completed brick. Selecting brick from a sample, viewing on a computer, and hoping the actual selection would be our vision didn’t escape our thoughts. Continued rain in May delayed the process as it ended being the wettest May since 1950. However we were happy that our worries disappeared behind the stormy clouds.

We are anxious to see the porta potty and mountain of dirt to disappear also!

Selecting siding from a sample was our second stress. Since our house will be in a neighborhood we (I) didn’t want to be a copy of those surrounding it. The selection was Sand from ABC Supply. With the first few panels on one end the color seems to be a winner! Now if the weather and installation will proceed this week it would be a perfect beginning to June!

 The inside work was a bit daunting as the new inspector had some changes he deemed necessary due to new regulations. I am not so sure our builder is happy at this point. One huge $$$ issue is that the entire unfinished basement ceiling requires drywall. We didn’t expect this as the basement level will be utilized for storage of lawn equipment and storage bins. Due to this change we have talked of letting them mud and sand it and we will paint the ceiling and apply waterproofing to the walls ourselves. This space will take on a light and bright space for sure.

 The application of insulation is giving a first glance of room size. Of course, it is only applied to the outside walls so a portion is still a pattern of 2x4 studs.

 A peek into the study makes us excited to enjoy the view of East Tennessee’s mountains.

I

 

Patience is a constant prayer as June has arrived. We won’t drop by this week so we are hoping for completed siding and dry walled spaces!

Jeanne

New Floors Nightmare

You know how what one dreams of happening may not be the end result when it comes to home decorating. Our home is a split foyer. The downstairs area consists of a bathroom/laundry room, bedroom, and family room. Since we have lived in this home for thirty-five years it has gone through a couple of changes in the flooring. What was once a dark chocolate carpet was changed to a lighter taupe carpet approximately twenty-five years ago. The carpet remained in the family room. We had changed the laundry room and hallway to ceramic tile--a DIY project. The bedroom had been changed to laminate--another DIY style. 

There was no consistency from the rooms to hallway. Each had different flooring.

Since the carpet had met it's life expectancy many years ago the decision was made to replace with laminate since it sits on a concrete slab. My thought was to just go ahead and change the hallway and bedroom also.

When entering the hallway from the garage now the laminate leads straight into the bedroom. It has a much nicer and cleaner look.

The family room is now fresher and feels much bigger.

But, you think--didn't the title of this post say New Floors Nightmare?

Looks pretty.

Clean. Neat. Eye-candy.

This was not a do it yourself. Yes, we hired it out. I won't mention the big box store that we purchased the flooring from or the company that provided the installation. The floor looks fine. No problem.

The first nightmare was that I was sick the day it began. Think stomach bug and lots of noise in the downstairs drifting straight upstairs. That noise sitting on top of my headache. Since I felt so bad I wasn't checking on the progress or peeking at the beauty. Nope. I was on the couch. Hoping that the whole thing would be finished soon. I should have suspected something when they arrived at nine and left at two. I heard something about needing a tool that they didn't have????

The next day they did arrive around eight and started working immediately. I still wasn't feeling too good but did peek in the bedroom and the baseboards and shoe molding was being placed in the bedroom. Progress! They were beginning on the family room with the actual laminate.

Tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were being predicted. I anticipated they would stop working when the bad weather arrived. Yes it did rain and rain and rain--heavily. Yet, the workers stuck with the project. The ceramic tile had to be taken out of the hall and cut at the laundry room doorway. Think lots of louder noise and my head is still hurting!

At five o'clock the main installer came upstairs and told me I needed to show them where to place the furniture in the family room. We had moved a lot of it before they came. The bedroom furniture had already been placed. Still thinking of nothing but the hope that this would be finished today. Quietness would resume. My downstairs would become part of OUR home again.

Homemade quilts sewed by Mr. Spouse's grandmother screams home and family.

Home, Sweet, Home!

Cozy white farmhouse sofa!

I signed that the project had been completed and off the installers went.

The furniture and flooring looked so nice. I was pleased. I was happy until I took a look at the baseboards and shoe molding. Not one corner was mitered correctly. There were gaps that Mr. Spouse and I could have done much better and we are not the best DIY people. Some of the baseboards were broken. Some were not even completely against the wall.

This is an example of what we had. For some reason they had even beat on our door frames. Holes were knocked in the walls and cracks from removing the old baseboards were our guess as to the damage we had.


I took pictures and sent them to the big box store and the
installer's company. It was decided that they would have to "fix" them. After waiting a few weeks the supervisor was to come WITH the installer to repair, replace, just make them right.

The installer came first and let's just say he wasn't too happy with me! The supervisor arrived later and from the conversation I heard--it sounded like it was just me and my OCD that was the issue. You know, caulking really isn't part of the installation. Mr. Spouse talked with them and stayed most of the time they were here.

Guess you are thinking that it is OK now. Yes, it was...until I began painting the baseboards and shoe molding. Well, the "fix" was to caulk to hide some of the lesser problems. Now, there is paintable caulk and there is silicone. They used silicone. Which has turned a nice shade of gray. And isn't paintable. Now I guess I will sand and sand and sand.

From a distance everything is fine. 

Guest are welcome.

Next time I think DIY sounds like a better plan. 

All in all, it has been a lesson in the fact that hiring a project may not give a better result.

OCD and all,