And then it stopped!

Well hello and welcome! We have had some amazing changes happen recently... But then again what isn't amazing when you are building a house!? 

Our floors are just getting further and further along....

And let's be honest.... They look AMAZING! 

So much so that I may or may not have rolled around on them already.... Haha! 

Some other new changes would be... 

Our grass is here! We had our irrigation installed a few days before our sod delivery.... But only for the front yard... Oh dear I'll tell you more about the back yard in a bit. They brought in two giant truck loads or 16 pallets for the front and side yards... That's a ton of grass! They installed it all in about 30 minuets it was crazy! 

These guys are going to go away and be swapped with actual sprinkler heads... They must have not heard me correctly when I told them that this area was going to be grass and not bushes... But it's pretty with these micro sprayers looks like a low fog! 

These cool sprinkler heads make me feel like spider man shooting webs all over the place! 

Obviously this means our Well is all set up and complete! The company we used was actually one of our clients so he gave us a hell of a deal! 

Here she is with all her grass! I would like it to be noted that it looks like a storm coming from over in the right hand corner but.... Since the day we had our grass installed we did not have one single drop of rain until today. 3 full days of no rain! Crazy right? When we need it the most it's bone dry! 

We have been waiting on the guy who did half of our fence to complete the rest of our fence.... But he's been MIA and hard to get on the phone. He has a few other jobs to complete around the property but we will see if that's even going to happen... From the last time we spoke to him we should be seek him out there tomorrow at 8:30am to fix the neighbors fence and also complete our fence. If you ask me I think he is going to be a no show and my patience is very very low. Get ready for an explosion. Not even joking. 

On a much better note, we headed out to the house today to begin preparing our back yard for more dirt and grass, and eventually a deck. On our way out there we passed by a local plant nursery... 

...and we picked out our first two trees! We got a beautiful magnolia (since the flowers smell heavenly) and a hibiscus! Yes, I know it's kind of a slow start but we are learning as we go and slowly building the outside area of our dreams. 

Here is my big strong man digging my holes :) how cute is he? 

We had great ambitions to clear out more of the saw grass and vines with roots from the back yard but the heat was a killer. Most of what we got done in the back yard was just clean up. There were tons of water bottles thrown in the back corner and I have no idea where they came from! We cleared some cement blocks and some boards with nails in them as well but I think they were left over from the land being so over grown for so many years!

We didn't even have a chance to spray the weeds! I think I almost blacked out a few times... I ended up with a t-shirt and shorts tan... And when I tried to power through throwing a few huge branches into the back of the truck I ended up covered in dirt! Thankfully no wasp stings or ant bites so I'm pretty happy! Even chugging all the water I could stand I am still fighting a headache that's just on the edge of being upgraded to a migraine. Oh and my knee... Bless its heart, after jumping out of the back of an SUV this week and landing wrong I am on and off crutches right now I'm back on. I'm ready to just cut it off and make it a peg leg. Seriously 3 surgeries is enough and I WON'T be going with a 4th

Here they are! 

Not much of a start but I am happy that I could do this with my wonderful husband by my side. 

This week brings some more changes, we got the phone call shortly after I took this photo tonight letting us know that our cabinets are being delivered at 7am. Yep. Gross, we asked that he push it back till a little later but he said the truck is already loaded and the latest he can do it it 8:30. We seriously have the worst luck with deliveries! Not even sure if the truck can make it down the road but we will keep our fingers crossed! I'll have my camera ready to see the struggle haha. Our appliances are also scheduled to be delivered this week! Not too worried about them but I'm sure we will have some delivery issues with them as well. 

We have almost all of our light fixtures and fans for the house but we are still deciding on what to do over the dining room table (that we also have not picked out), the office, and the bedroom. We were originally going to have a fan over the bed per The Hubs' request but he recently told me that he wouldn't mind a chandelier. Excuse me for a second while I pick my jaw up off the floor, what?! Okay. I know I want the chandelier covered in twigs for the bedroom but I don't feel like my stomach could handle me spending that kind of money only to hate it months down the road when there is dust on it! Haha. I have scoured my favorite salvage places looking for a shell of a chandelier I can convert into a luxurious drippy chandelier but have come up empty... Looking online I would spend about the same amount as the down payment on a car for the perfect drippy chandelier.... So I am open to suggestions on where to find one or what to do. 

This is my top contender for the bedroom. Does it look too much like the bathroom one? 

This is my top choice for the office. 

And this guy is getting all my love for over the dining room table. 

I just don't know. Obviously my theme is sparkles and bling. I just can't quit. I probably need to some sort of support group for this. Who knows. I've got to go pick some more money off the money tree so I will try and update tomorrow with news on the fence and the cabinets. Xoxo 

 

It's raining, it's pouring....

Let me start off by saying I am officially over the rain at this point. No, wait I am over the intense amounts of rain we are having right now... I still love me a mid day drizzle every now and again.

In other news... 

Our pavers were delivered,

...Installed, and now we have a driveway! 

Yes, I know it looks patchy in this last photo but the major storms seem to be hitting us at the same time we go over to the house! It's stunning. I've always been a sucker for a paver driveway. :) Ever since my dad taught me how to install one, they have just seemed so much more stunning. When I say installed I mean we literally took a weekend and put one down ourselves! Such intense work but the results are always pretty cool :) 

I did get to grab this photo one night but mostly for the sky colors! 

It's like a sky of cotton candy! Sunsets just don't get much better. 

I headed for my now weekly trip to the Architectural Salvage yards and finally came home with something big! 

Yes! My new entry way light courtesy of Sarasota Architectural Salvage! You can visit their website by clicking here! I love these places and flea markets so much that I totally don't mind getting a little sweaty and dirty for a few hours! 

This beaut had been in a dusty area for a bit so I had to clean it up! Yep with a margarita in my hand. Don't pay attention to the wine glass, we are about a month and a half (or less) away from moving in YEP! IT'S RIGHT THERE! :D and we are very close to be completely packed back up! 

I love that part! It looks just like a crown!

Pretty details! 

We also had another light come in the other day! 

Figured out what it is? 

It's my master bathroom chandelier! I made a very high pitched noise when I put it all together and forced The Hubs to carry it outside in the sun for me! Haha! It still needs a couple of min of straightening out but we can do that once it's hung! 

Another exciting happening is.... Drumroll please....

Our floors are being installed! 

DO YOU SEE THIS!? You can't even tell that it's tile! It's insane! 

Oh yea... Say hello to the front door 

It's a little dusty from all the hard work going on... But ain't it pretty? 

So as most of you know, me and The Hubs (The Hubs and I) have three babies.... 

,

Syler

Sooks

And Remmi.... 

Ha okay for real though... 

We have done everything we can to work around things that not only make us happy but our dogs as well... With the front door the glass opens up to let the breeze in, or to let dog noses poke out :) 

The backyard is completely fenced and with the house placement on the land we have quite a large sized back yard and is completed with the wall up front so the dogs have almost all green areas to be outside and free roaming. The floors are tile for the crazy moments when our "sled" dogs go crazy and run around the house, they won't damage anything ((well they won't damage the floors)) ha. They are just great to have around, everyone should own a few :) speaking of the little devils, they believe that now at 10pm it's play time so I gotta go run around for a bit! I'll post more soon! 

Walls.

Good Morning! Please dont hate me for lack of blogging we have had so much going on around here! There have been some great changes since I last wrote... one of which would be our wall! Yes, I know you have seen all the walls in the house but this fancy one is for our outside! 

After an intense day of trenching down through years of roots, they poured the cement deep down in the ground and hauled in all the block needed. 

It honestly was put together very quickly! 

Ah, here she is.

I want it to be known that this is My Husband's Wall. I like it now that its here but it was not something on the top of my "dream house" list. Ha! 

We also got to celebrate our garage door being installed! 

Cuuute!

I could bore you with a ton of pictures going up and down but I wont :) this time at least! I've never heard such a quiet garage door before in my life! This thing is amazing! On the button to open it it tells you the time and temp! These things are so fancy these days haha! 

Its time for us to get ready for our driveway! 

We picked out some really lovely pavers called Deep Sea they have hints of blue and grays but are a beautiful charcoal color! We are still going back and forth on if we should do some stone accents around the front door or to keep it like it is now. Thoughts? 

Our beautiful base boards, crown moulding, and door trim are all installed through out the house! 

The inside has all been painted as well! How exciting! 

Everyday that we go and visit the house I have to take a look at my beautiful bathroom, I just cant help but be super excited about it each and every time! The crown in here is stunning as well! 

We are getting ready for the tile to go in now, we had a meeting with our tile guy yesterday and we were even there when our tile was delivered! I'll update a little bit later tonight with those photos and some of the driveway! 

Oh yea... this baby... going in my master bath! 

I wish I could have these all over the house but sadly this is not a home that has a maid to clean every shiny thing.  :( 

I also have to still pick out some more light fixtures for the rest of the house and watching The Great Gatsby before doing this is not a good idea. Side note: I will be collecting charms and pieces of old or broken chandeliers so I can make a whole dress out of them. I've got quite a few already but probably only enough to cover my lady bits. 

I also picked out and priced a dining room table ((from Pottery Barn)) well... lets just say that I am now allowed to get a table from the local Architectural Salvage because they are more than HALF their price!  

Dear Pottery Barn, I love you but I am as the kids say these days 'Ballin' on a Budget' and I'm going to need you to bring your prices down a few thousand. 

This is how my conversation with The Hubs went about how I want our house to look:

Me: So I want a mixture of new and old!

Him: Right.

Me: So we can pick a few things up from the Salvage and work them into our decor.

Him: Yea, so you want to buy new things that just look old?

Me: No, I want new things and old things. Mixed. 

Him:<makes a scrunchie face> New shit that looks old. Got it. 

*facepalm*

You should have this conversation with your husband or wife before you walk into an Ethan Allen store because thats just overpriced new old looking stuff and thats the prices they will think of when you tell them this. Haha.

I'll try to post more later with some updated pictures of our driveway and any tile work thats done! 

Tile Time!

So we got the call earlier this week that we needed to finalize all of our tile choices in the house... Uh welcome to Panic Town USA population: 1!

So as I was focusing on light fixtures, vanities, and outside paint colors I completely forgot that we needed to finalize our tile choices

First stop is the flooring in the main house:

This is a Color Body porcelain tile. We would have loved to have real wood floors but that's just not possible when you own 3 huge huskies! So tile it is! This is one of the best ones out on the market right now, it features 3-D printing technology along with some of the most realistic grain waves we have felt from any brand! It's a nice looking tile for sure and will defiantly be able to withstand the moments when our go-fast dogs decide to go crazy in the house. :) This is not where I was panicing that would be saved for the bathrooms.... 

This is an actual photo of the main floor tile and the grout, the line should be super thin so that it has more of a real wood floor look! I am so excited!

Master bathroom:

 With the building codes being well... not what I wanted ha I decided to go in more of a "Zen" spa feeling in the bathroom... For the floors we will be switching to more of a darker look we originally thought of doing slate in there but with the prices being a leeetle out of our budget we started to look at other options.

These 3 big tiles here were some of our choices, we ended up going with the one in the middle. This tile we found at Lowes for a great price! It has the slightest shimmer to it almost as if someone sprinkled glitter on the floors (Yes, I am VERY excited about this!) The lightest one of the group is our shower wall tile. This one we found at Alpha Tile & Stone near our work, this one was really cool because it has some lighter specks in it! For the shower floor we decided to go with a river rock:

I have seen a few photos of showers with this in it and there was just something that I kept coming back to. I know that it probably wont always feel the best on my feet but honestly we have a bench in there so it doesn't really matter :) In the photo above you can also see the flooring for the 2 guest bathrooms. Its a chalk white tile and its stunning as well! That green speck of sample tile that has been in these photos is actually one of the shower tiles! 

We have had a bit of a struggle with this one! We needed a total of 99 sqft of tile in the back guest bathroom when I originally picked out this tile I intended on doing the entire shower, but when they called to find out what was in stock they didn't have enough. This tile comes from Italy and as it turns out the factory where it is made shuts down for a month in the summer.... well it just so happens to be the month we needed to order our tile! Aye! So we headed back to Alpha and started picking other possible choices:

First I thought, why not just do it in this white.... but no thanks that bathroom would end up being this bland white room, not to mention that I would hate to have to clean this all the time. 

Then maybe blue, but if I want to do a "Mermaid" theme in that room I dont want the shower to be so... blue. I am honestly using the word "mermaid" lightly. I would like it to be implied but not in your face. If I wanted to do that I would have thrown the budget out the door and done a tile a little more like this:

Yes. I stood there and drooled for a little bit when I saw this tile. How stunning is this!? Back to reality for now and back to looking at other options... 

For a split second I thought about this guy... but then it would be like showering in a cave. That seems uncomfortable. 

I may or may not have curled up into a small ball at work for a few min while I freaked out. All my plans swam right out the window with this dern company taking some time off! 

I mean come on guys! In the end I was able to crawl back out of my pocket of sadness and pull myself back together... 

THIS is the final option for the shower! These lovely bubble stones will be located on the floor and after calling the company back we were told that they had 85 sqft of the tile which would be enough to do the shower! CRISIS ADVERTED! haha! This beautiful sea foam green tile has a ton of texture to it and unlike your normal glass tile that just has the color in on the back of it with the glass set on top this is also a through body tile, so no matter how much scrubbing I do to it it will never lose the beautiful color. On top of all of that it has been made with recycled materials! Yay! If you cant find a vendor in your area you can find this product on most eco friendly building materials sites! (well not this color... we bought all of that haha) I cant wait to see how this all looks together! 

For the other guest bathroom we decided to go with a standard subway tile 

Nothing too crazy... except to break up the white we found this lovely glass accent tile to run a band around. 

This has some lovely blacks, browns, silvers, and all sorts of other beautiful pearl-esk accents to it. It reminds me of a butterfly's wings, its very delicate looking. 

All in all we have ordered roughly 3 1/2 tons of tile. Yep. TONS! Ha. Guess our tile guy gets to have a real work out! 

This is one of the loads of tile that we actually picked up today! I was so excited they forked it over to the car! 

Here we go! You can feel the weight in the back with all this tile and I know that this just a fraction of the tile that will be in the house but its massive already! 

Since we are on the subject of bathrooms, this also happened:

The front of my tub is coming together. Yep I shed a little tear over this detail! 

Well I'll end this post for now and we are headed over to see the house today and I'll update more later... but a sneak...