Inspiration vs. Reality: Photo wall

While we're not totally there yet, our photo wall has been coming along.

Inspiration pic

Progress so far

For some reason, I was worried that our wall wasn't large enough for four shelves (not sure why because I measured it no less than eighteen times). Just a reminder for all the lovely ladies out there...sometimes its not best to go with your gut. Math really does work. The walls would be mangled if we adjusted them, so this is how they will stay.

To me, the larger frames on the lowest shelf looks better than the smaller ones on the top. If all frames were the size of those in the top row, there would probably be too much space between the shelves. But of course, larger frames means less pics...and what fun is that? Maybe once all rows have large frames, I can throw some of the smaller ones throughout.

Nevertheless, I love looking at it as I leave the house for work every morning (it's at the top of our stairs). I'd love to get thoughts or suggestions!

Inspriration vs Reality: home gym

When we started the home, we imagined two children's rooms, a guest room, and a play room for the kids. After two years, the children haven't materialized (we're still working on that) so we've effectively been living with four, yes four, guest rooms. Obviously that's not a great use of space (no disrespect to our guests of course), so earlier this year we decided to turn one room into a home gym.

When we first visited a shop to discuss home gym equipment, I received very perplexed looks when I expressed my desire to create a comfortable, yet slightly designed room. "It's a gym!" they would exclaim (Mr. Big in agreement of course). After much discussion, a brochure was produced that had an image of a serene home gym environment...to appease me of course. I don't think that they really thought that I was serious. Nevertheless, here's my inspiration photo:

It's taken a while to get the room sorted, but it's finally taken shape. (As an aside, putting gym equipment together is the most challenging, yet rewarding, puzzle...). I am seriously thinking about sending a photo back to the guys who ridiculed me at the shop as I'm pretty happy with what we created.



Actually, I now spend a lot of time in here, especially when Mr. Big goes on his basketball binges (defined as 3 games per evening...maybe just a wee bit much). A lot of bad Bravo TV gets watched via elliptical in this room. My body isn't really showing anything yet (holidays anyone?), but hopefully there will be good progress soon. Here's to hoping anyway!

Inspiration vs reality: driveway pavers

Throughout our build, I was set on taupe and grey pavers for our driveway. No questions, don't fight it, this was certain. Right. The day that we were scheduled to place our order, I came across this image on the Hanson Hardscape website.


The deep brick color surrounded by green grass was so fresh (to me at least). Gorgeous. With Mr. Big shaking his head in the background, I changed my mind completely and we changed our order completely. I secretly hoped that I wouldn't regret this impulse.

After living with the finished product for a year, we're both really pleased with the last minute change. We went with the Hanson Abbey Road pavers, which combines larger and smaller pavers. It provides an imperfect, but interesting pattern.


Our workers were cursing us throughout the project (talk about a puzzle...), but we ended up with a driveway that we really like. And thank goodness, the brick red color did exactly what we were hoping for.


So there you have it, another "inspiration vs. reality" summary. I've been slow to post them all, but they will begin making their way here once again. And if anyone out there is looking for pavers, we certainly wouldn't hesitate recommending Hanson.

Happy birthday - part I

Mr. Big's birthday has come and gone. We celebrated for about two weeks straight...first locally and then with a big trip to Las Vegas. It was loads of fun, but it came at a price. This household packed on a whopping 12 pounds in two weeks of indulgence! This is part I of a three post recap (covering exactly where those pounds came from).

For the local party, we celebrated with about 80 friends. Of course, yours truly couldn't just throw up a few "Happy Birthday" signs (which would have been more than Mr. Big expected). I was inspired by these votives, but couldn't come close to stomaching such a crazy price tag to create an ambience.


Instead, the lovely Martha Stewart helped create a similar feel with white paper bags, a bit of sand, and small candles. I got the bags ready and enlisted the help of four kids to help fill the sand. They methodically filled each bag with just the right amount of sand and carefully placed a candle in each one. It was a fun project, albeit completed about 15 minutes before the start of the party (in our typical style...)



We hung white Christmas lights and a few Cince de Mayo flower balls to keep the festive mood.


We even brought in a few extra tables for dining on the dock. Fortunately, the rain stayed away (despite pouring most of the day) and a mosquito couldn't be found anywhere. That's Mr. Big for you...lucky, lucky, lucky.


The margarita bar stayed busy, tequila was served in ice shot glasses, and Mexican food filled our stomachs. Unfortunately, I was having too much fun that I completely forgot to get the camera out during the party! Good lesson for next time...

Most people wandered home around 1am, but the pool table and cigars remained active until 3:30am...proving that we're not getting that old. By the end of the night, things were looking about this hazy. And yes, Mr. Big's party hat was out in full force.


Even poor little Jordan couldn't keep his eyes open at the end of the evening, even though he still needed to be the center of everyone's attention (of course).


It was a lovely evening and we were fortunate to share it with many fanstastic friends. Thanks to everyone who joined and celebrated the big guy with us!

Inspiration vs reality: Garage doors

Choosing garage doors actually were not as easy as I originally figured. We were keen for wood, but our builder warned that they would warp (and warp badly). We were excited about staining them dark, and he warned us about how often they would would fade. And boy, did I ever underestimate what the cost of a wood garage door would be.

At the end of the day, we went with an hybrid option through IDC Doors in Minneapolis that are actually an aluminum frame with a wood overlay. They are also hurricane rated, which sort of helps out in this area of the world. The hybrid should allow for reliability and looks. Here was the inspiration image:


We skipped on the grommets and windows to save $$. And here's the finished/installed product:


We're really happy with them. I won't scare you with the plethora of building materials that are behind them (it's a rather frightening sight). It will certainly be a happy day when these babies open to great our cars home...

Inspiration vs reality: chandeliers

One of the most exciting design opportunities in our house that I did not anticipate was the stairway. When I found the following images on the Bocci website, my heart raced.



But when I found out that it would cost us multiples of thousands of dollars, my heart appropriately sank. In an interesting twist of fate, another new home on the island had received a duplicate light in a vendor error. We viewed the alternate and it gave a similar effect to the light that had originally won us over. No, it isn't as dramatic, but it does provide a bit of fancy. With multiples of thousands of dollars left in our bank account, we now have this lovely donation (yes donation...) giving us lovely ambiance.


And just because I couldn't get the beautiful Bocci lights out of my mind, we now have three in our powder room. The mirror has a nice effect of multiplying the lights. Six for the price of three!


And while we are on the subject of lighting, I thought it might be useful to update the previous post regarding our entry way light. It has now been installed and draws many "oohs" and "aahs" from visitors. It's difficult to get a photo that really captures how much it offers, but here was the closest that I could get.


I was holding my breath about this light because I ordered it without Mr. Big being with me. I also didn't elaborate on it much because he typically doesn't go quite as modern as I do. One of the sweetest recent phone calls that I received was the day the light was installed. "Holy cow! I LOVE our cool new light". There was a deep exhalation on my part and we haven't looked back. Whew...

Inspiration vs. reality: master wardrobe

Mr. Big desperately wanted to order cabinets from a manufacturer from his home town. On the other hand, I desperately wanted to order cabinets from our designer. At the end of the day, there was a compromise...we split the order between the two manufacturers.

The final cabinets have arrived and they are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Our master wardrobe completely blew me away. First we have the inspiration image and then the real deal:


The handles went on after these photos and they make the wardrobe even better. We're chomping at the bit to get our clothes set up in there...soon come!

Inspiration vs Reality: Front door

A while back, we solicited feedback from our friends and family on which front door we should choose. We've tried to keep it "hush, hush" and the day has come to unveil the new door. They still have a bit more framing to finish it off, but you get the picture.

Once again, it is fun to look at the original inspiration versus the final product. Before doing so, it's again worth noting that I almost fell off my chair when I found out the cost of the door from the inspiration image. A front door costs how much? Ultimately, our door cost 50% less from another manufacturer with a little less detail.


We've obviously got the finishing details yet to come, but we are really happy with the choice. And thanks to all of our family that gave input. It pretty much gets us to the same result...at 50% of the price. Interestingly enough, our family tended to vote the same way. We felt that this was a sign and ultimately followed their lead. Thanks again to everyone who helped us out!

Inspriation vs Reality: Stone wall

The single largest inspiration image in our planning process has been this one with the large stone wall. We loved how it used the space and created a focal point in the great room.


We originally picked a stone in a similar color palette and anxiously awaited it's arrival. Unfortunately, we were ultimately told that it was not available any longer. We had to make a last minute decision and ended up choosing a darker stone. For ages the new stone sat on site and I worried (and worried and worried) that it was going to be way too dark. Well, it has now been installed.



The bottom of the wall will be completed once our audio-visual equipment is installed. In the meantime, Mr. Big is officially excited yet again....he loves the darker wall (to be honest, it is a bit more masculine than the lighter option). And the best of all (for me anyway) is that I completely concur with him. It is nice to have another significant fixture in the house other than the kitchen that is a bit darker.

In hindsight, I realize that it would likely be attractive whether in light or dark stone, so all of my worrying was for not. It's really nice to have a unique feature in the house. So as for the inspiration image, I'm really pleased that it was put to use.

Inspiration vs Reality: Railings

A few months ago when we found the perfect handrails, we inquired with the manufacturers...only to find that they would cost us more than our combined annual salaries when we first left school. Yes, I'll confirm that...combined. There was no way that we would be proceeding at that rate.

We met with a local metal worker and asked him if he could come up with anything close for a fraction of the price. It wasn't looking good for a while, but he ultimately came through for us. He was able to meet our budget and we liked the design so much that we used it for both our interior and exterior railings.

The first image was the design inspiration and those following are the actual railings.

The inspiration

The railing overlooking the great room

The stairway (keeping everyone a bit in suspense)

It's special that these were made locally. I've seen the metal worker twice at lunch since their installation and he is clearly excited by his work. We concur completely!