Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm back again today with my weekly update on the progress over at the new house. [By the way, am I overloading you with new house pictures and posts?] We visited our soon-to-be-home on Sunday and were surprised to see how much progress had been made over the course of the past week. With the exception of the front door (which has not yet been installed), the exterior of the house looks 99% complete. I was particularly pleased to see that the columns got a good dose of "Afternoon Tea" to match the shutters.
Despite soaring temperatures and a continued drought, my builder saw fit to go ahead and landscape several weeks prior to completion -- fortunately for me, if they'll be obligated to replace the sod and/or any dead plants prior to closing. I just hope they water liberally. While I'm sure Dave and I will fill-in these beds a bit more (especially the ones left bare underneath the oak trees), I'm fairly pleased with their "standard" landscaping package.
Aside from the exterior, the most progress was probably made in the kitchen, where the backsplash was tiled (but not grouted) and the granite countertops were installed. Overall, I'm happy with interplay between the backsplash and the counters, though I still wish I'd been given some more options for backsplash (or that they'd let me install my own later). Ah well. I'm going to have to let that one go.
Another view of the kitchen. This sink and faucet were both upgrades -- the models that came standard just looked far too cheap for the rest of the kitchen. [Edit: That is apparently NOT my faucet. It's a "placeholder" until the one I selected comes in. Just goes to show that I have already completely forgotten what I picked out in the first place waaaaay back in February/March.] I am continuously amazed at the places many builders decide to cut costs and where they really go for the good upgrades. In my current house, I have cheap cabinets, but beautiful moldings and doors. In the new house, I have nice moldings and better-than-average cabinets, but cheap doors. It's just bizarre.
The chandelier in the dining room. Not my favorite chandelier of all time, but it's fine (though maybe a smidge too big for the room) and it will certainly work for the next few years until I can afford to replace it with something I love.
The master bathroom definitely went under some big changes this week as well. The Silestone counters are in as well as the under mount sinks. I really like the contrast between the light counters and the dark cabinets.
The tile in the shower came out pretty well, don't you think? Certainly looks a lot better now that it's grouted. There's a pretty ho-hum flush mount fixture currently in the bathroom that I'd love to replace with a small chandelier or Moravian star.
Here's a shot of the ceiling in the master bedroom. Don't you think a pewter metallic finish on the ceiling would be lovely here? The ceiling fan (alas) is going to have to go...I wonder if I can just replace the blades (in person they have a very strange plastic-y, tortoise-shell finish)? Does anyone know if you can purchase blades separately and swap them out?
The pendant lanterns in the entryway. I actually really like these but I'm thinking they should be lowered some more and sit closer to the top of the doorway (or at least below the clerestory windows). What do you think?
The window seat. Still my favorite spot in the house!
I saw the pendant lights that were going into all the bathrooms and nearly fainted. I hate them. I know, I know they don't look that bad here, but in person they look cheap and fussy and they completely don't match the antique bronze faucets and towel bars. So I'm going to replace them pronto. Suggestions on replacements are more than welcome!
The landscaping in the backyard is just sod -- so we've definitely got a tabula rasa when it comes to setting up the backyard just how we like it. The wrought-iron railings for the upstairs' porch also went in last week. I also love how the back of the house is brick and not hardiplank (like our current house!). It's always nice when the back looks as good as the front, don't you think?
Based on their current progress, I'm expecting the house to be complete (or nearly so) by the time we get back from our vacation, so I think this will be the last "progress" post before the "after" pictures!
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