Moving Up Monday

It is time for a long over due "Moving Up Monday" update!  I think the best way to update you all on the house is to go room by room.

Kitchen and Dining Room

Looking into Kitchen from Dining Room
(Photo taken July 8, 2013)

Not too much has changed in the Kitchen and Dining Room since the last "Moving Up Monday" report.  All of the layers of wallpaper are now all off in the Kitchen and the kitchen cabinets are ready to be installed.  Also, all new windows have been installed throughout both floors of the house.  We have also chosen a wood laminate to go in the kitchen and dinning room:

Tarkett Nafco Good Living Honey Oak 3" GLP420

And we have chosen to go with Glidden's Winter Oats 10361 for the wall color for the Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room and Den/Playroom.  I tried finding a copy of the paint online to give you an idea but ended up not finding it.  You'll have to use your imagination I guess!  It is a neutral tan/cream color that should go nicely with everything.

Living Room and Den/Playroom

A view of the Dinning Room and Living Room
I'm happy we aren't living in the house yet because as you can see
it is a big work zone.  Those are my kitchen cabinets in the middle of the space.
(Photo taken July 8, 2013)

A view of the Den/Playroom
In this current work space you can see the new sliding closet doors
for My Farmer's and My room and you get a good look at our new windows.
(Photo taken July 14, 2013)

Similar to the kitchen, not too much work has been done to these rooms (but there is work being done in them...).  These large open spaces have turned into great areas to work on projects.  Like I said under the first photo - this makes me happy we aren't living in the house yet.  Speaking of living in the house, our original plan was to move in at the end of this month but due to progress, it looks like we won't be moving until the end of August now.  This makes me happy but sad at the same time.  Happy because I don't want to be living in this and I'd like to move into a finished and ready house, but sad because I have many ideas on how I want to decorate and use the spaces of the house and I can't figure out what is going to work until the work is done.  Also I feel bad for our friends that are moving into our current home that they are going to have to wait longer to move in and find temporary housing for probably about a month.

The Living Room and Den/Playroom will be painted in the same Winter Oats color as the Kitchen and Dinning Room.  And we have decided to carpet the Living Room and Den/Playroom space:

Gulistan Bombay Oatmeal 4022-241

Mudroom/Office/Laundry

A view of the Mudroom from the main entrance of the house
This is another work zone in the house with drywall and mud
being stored in here at the time.
To the left you can see where our built in entry closet will be.
(Photo taken July 8, 2013)

This view of the Mudroom shows where the laundry machine and dryer
will go to the left of the photo and where things are piled up to the right
is where a desk will go.  The open door to the right leads into the bathroom.

The Mudroom/Laundry/Office has had work started for both storage and laundry in the space but things still need to be finished.  We will be putting in a laminate tile in this space, as well as the downstairs bathroom.  Originally I wanted to go with a ceramic tile but the flooring installers said there would be a height difference between the wood laminate and tile but if I went with a laminate tile (which I have to admit looks very similar to a ceramic) there wouldn't be a height difference.  I thought that sounded good - I didn't want anyone tripping as they were moving from room to room!

The tile we went with is:

Tarkett Permastone Travertine Weathered Beach

And we have chosen Glidden's Lil Sprout GLD702 for the wall color for the Mudroom/Laundry/Office.  I tried finding a copy of the paint online to give you an idea but ended up not finding it.  You'll have to use your imagination again...  It is a light green/yellow color that should be nice and bright in the space.

Downstairs Bathroom

A view of the Downstairs Bathroom looking in from the
doorway entrance of the Dinning Room
To the left is where the shower and tub will be, the right corner is
where the toilet will be and to the right is where the sink and vanity will be.
You can also see a new shorter window installed for privacy.
(Photo taken July 8, 2013)

A view of the Downstairs Bathroom from the shower/tub
You can see the sink and vanity area to the left and
the closet from the original hallway to the right.
(Photo taken July 8, 2013)

A view of the Downstairs Bathroom from the toilet
You can see where the tub and shower will go to the right and
you can see both entrances to the bathroom, the one on the left from
the dining room and the one on the right from the mudroom.
(Photo taken July 8, 2013)

The bathroom is waiting for all the fixtures to arrive - who knew getting your tub and toilet in bisque verses white would add so much more production time!  This room too will have the laminate flooring that will be in the mudroom and we are going to paint this room with Glidden's Spring Spritz GLD104.  This color too I can't find online but it is a light blue.

Upstairs 1/2 Bath

The Upstairs 1/2 bath after having dry wall installed.
The open hole is where a built in storage unit will be placed.
(Photo taken July 9, 2013)

The Upstairs 1/2 bath after having a primer coat
painted.  You can see the old kitchen tile floor
as well as the hook-ups for the toilet and sink.
(Photo taken July 14, 2013)

A look at the primed walls and space for the
built in cabinet.
(Photo taken July 14, 2013)

The Upstairs 1/2 Bathroom should be done soon.  All that needs to be done is have the sink and toilet installed and the built in closet finished.  Today My Mom (God Bless all Moms who help their children paint when they have a day off of work!) painted the bathroom with Glidden's Partridge Gray GLD808.  This is a light gray color I think looks nice with the flooring and will look nice with the white toilet and pedestal sink giving the "use to be unfinished closet" a clean and fresh look.

Bedrooms

A view of My Farmer's and My Bedroom
(with LP patiently waiting for me to finish taking photos)
You can see where our new sliding closet doors will be installed
to the right of the photo.
(Photo taken July 14, 2013)

A view of LP's built in closet shelves that were
made and installed.
(Photo taken July 14, 2013)

A view of MP's room which is being used as a building area for
the 1/2 bath's built in storage.
(Photo taken July 14, 2013)

All of the bedrooms have had their new windows installed but still need the trim around them put back on and work as you can see has started in the closets.  Having slanted ceilings in our closets has been an interesting thing to try to make into functional storage.

Both My Farmer's and My Room and MP's will be installed with Shaw Flooring's Manhattan Gray #704 carpet (which I couldn't find a photo of online) and LP's room will be installed with Shaw Flooring's Argentina Sky Crewel Work #104:

We thought this carpet would be very "farmable" for
LP and at the same time the pattern isn't too crazy
that it can grow with him and whoever might be
living in that bedroom in the future

As for paint colors My Farmer's and My Bedroom has been painted today with the same Glidden's Partridge Gray GLD808 as the Upstairs 1/2 Bath.  This should look nice with the gray carpet and our barn red bedding.  LP's room will be painted Glidden's Open Sesame #10362.  This light tan color will go well with his carpet as well as his tractor bedding.  MP's room will be painted Glidden's Homemade Custard #10412.  This light yellow will go nicely with the gray carpet and the blues, greens, and tans of our Noah's Ark nursery bedding and decor.

Septic Tank and Leach Field

Other than all of that, the biggest thing that has been worked on has been installing our new and updated septic system and leach field.  We installed a new cement septic tank that brings us up to current codes and then created a leach field that will remove liquid that emerges from the septic tank.

Our new Septic Tank
(Photo taken July 12, 2013)

Installing the pipes from the Septic Tank
to the Leach Field area
(My Farmer is on the right)
(Photo taken July 12, 2013)

Now it is time to grow grass again on top of the Septic Tank and Leach Field area
(Photo taken July 14, 2013)

So as you can see we still have quite a bit of work to finish on the house but I trust our general contactor, plumber, and other helpers that the projects will be wrapping up soon so we can move into a finished home.

Check out how far we've come on our home remodel by checking out past "Moving Up Monday" reports:

• June 17, 2013
• May 13, 2013

Moving Up Monday

I'm excited to share a "Moving Up Monday" update with all of you today - there has been quite a bit done to our new house since the last time I shared about our home remodel!

First up, the progress on our Mudroom/Laundry Room/Office.  We knocked down the wall between the "laundry hallway" and the old first floor bedroom.

Photo taken from back of the old first floor bedroom
looking through to the old laundry hallway
creating one larger mudroom/laundry room/office.
(Photo taken May 26, 2013)

And more recently, the mudroom closet (which will have an area for coats and cleaning products storage) has started being built.

The closet will be easily accessed as you enter the house.
We will be using the old closet doors from the original downstairs bedroom
as the new mudroom closet's doors.
(Photo taken June 11, 2013)

Now onto the Downstairs Bathroom.  We started by clearing everything out of the bathroom.

Photo taken from the old doorway of the bathroom.
(Photo taken May 23, 2013)

And then the hallway walls and old first floor bedroom's closet walls were knocked down.

My "studs" (LP and My Farmer) taking out the old studs.
(Photo taken May 26, 2013)

After the guys took the beams down, I got the job of taking out the old nails - but I had to quit doing that not too far into the job because I broke the hammer...  Who knew I was so strong!

Don't mess with me - I'm strong enough to break hammers in half!

And now the bathroom has been completely gutted and thing are getting ready for the new fixtures (shower/bath, toilet and vanity) to arrive.

Photo taken from the new doorway of the bathroom - see how much bigger it is now!
You can see the area where the shower/tub is going to be on the left
and in the right corner is where the toilet is going to be.
We also had a smaller window put in to give more privacy.
(Photo taken June 11, 2013)

Photo taken from toilet area looking through to both entrances for the bathroom,
one from the dining room (where LP is) and one from the mudroom.
(Photo taken June 11, 2013)

Photo taken from shower are looking at vanity area,
as well as looking at the linen closet that was kept from "old hallway".
(Photo taken June 11, 2013)

There also has been work started recently on our new half bath.  This old unfinished closet is going to make a great bathroom for the second floor.

Where the stool is, is where the sink will be located
and the toilet will be in the corner of the room.
Thanks to an idea from our general contractor
we reused the old kitchen's tile floor for the half bath.
(Photo taken June 16, 2013)

Our general contractor is building some "open" storage
where the wall/roof slants, as well as some
shelved storage around the chimney.
(Photo taken June 16, 2013)

And while I'm showing photos from the upstairs, I'll show you what we've done with two of the bedrooms closets.  Two of the three bedrooms' closets have a slanted "wall" due to the roof.  So to make things easier to access we've add an extra access door to one of the bedroom closets.

New/additional closet door accessible from the hallway
(Photo taken May 23, 2013)

See how long this closet is!  LP is standing in the doorway of the bedroom
connected to the walk-in closet.  With slanted walls/roof, it would have been hard
to get all the way down the other end of the closet.
(Photo taken May 23, 2013)

And we're adding sliding doors to the other slanted wall/roof closet.

You can see the new sliding door area.
The old doorway will be covered up/drywall installed.
(Photo taken May 23, 2013)

Besides all of these updates, we've also:

• Removed all the carpet,
• Had outlets installed on every wall in every room (those of you who live in old homes know how big of a deal this is - older homes usually only have one outlet for each room and it is usually oddly placed and is outdated by only have two prong openings and not three),
• Been stripping wood panels and windows that were painted, which we are now having stained back to their "original" condition,
• And have removed a lot of tree seedlings from around the property (but I'm afraid there are hundreds of seedlings that still need to be cleaned up!).

In the coming weeks things we're looking forward to seeing:

• Electrical work finishing up,
• New windows being installed,
• Additional kitchen cupboards being installed,
• Both bathrooms becoming functioning,
• Central air/heat being installed,
• And to be able to start painting the rooms (all of which will have a primer of white painted to start with).

As you can see, a lot of progress has happen but at the same time we've got a lot of work to go before we plan on moving in at the end of July.  We still need to think through paint colors for all the rooms in the house, as well as flooring for the bedrooms.  Do you have some favorite paint colors for Living Rooms, Kitchens, Bathrooms, Bedroom, etc?  And/or do you think we should leave hard woods in the upstairs bedrooms or carpet the bedrooms?