Looking for unique railing?

Check out this charmer in one of Daryl Wilson's portfolio (as featured on Desire to Inspire).

I can positively guarantee that this would never make it through inspection down here. Maybe it would work for a remodel? Any takers? :)

Windows

Who can't resist a beautiful collection of windows...especially when they are letting in sunshine during the winter.

Photographed by Mark Williams

Photo by Pierre-Jean Verger

Designed by Joseph Dirand Architecture

Restaurant De Kas in the Netherlands

From Emmas Designblogg

From the March/April edition of Inside Out

Designed by Peter Pennoyer Architects

Looking for paint colors?

How I wish that this series of articles on HouseBeautiful.com was available when we were choosing paint colors. There are articles on the most popular colors, how to choose colors that are right for your space, what colors complement skin tones, how to maintain your painted walls, colors that men like (or they think men like), pretty much everything you can imagine.

If that description doesn't send you to the article, this amazing sun room should. Well done, I hear a round of applause coming...the painted wood floors seal the deal.


I don't know if this is the color used in the space above, but it certainly stood out to me. It's Farrow and Ball Card Room Green 79.


This would be beautiful with Benjamin Moore's White Dove baseboards as it has a very subtle grey undertone.

Okay time for me to stop...we won't be painting anytime soon. At least we hope not.... :)

Now this is a backsplash

Grace from Design*Sponge featured these gorgeous wall tiles by Edgewater Design in Vancouver.


Stunning!

Window covering solution?

This really should be part of our "Building for Dummies" series as we were appropriately forewarned to consider our window coverings during our design stage (and obviously did not heed the advice). I wanted big open windows without any coverings. The final product is absolutely beautiful and exactly what I had imagined.


As you can imagine, there have been a few practical challenges with my decision:

1. How do you change (or shower, or do anything else remotely private) in the evening without window treatments?
2. Most window treatments end up covering the window frame. Our window frames were specifically chosen to match the decor of the house (and we love them). We're not entirely sold on covering them up.
   
3. For the treatments that I did like, being the sleek in-the-window-frame option, they don't work with our windows that tilt-and-turn in (as opposed to casement windows that open out). Duh!
   

I was really pleased when I ran across Apartment Therapy's feature of Trey Russell's apartment in Laguna Beach. His window treatments would work very well for us, although I might just try a slightly more tailored version.

Photos via Allen J Sheiben of the Los Angeles Times

I like that they are flush with the ceiling, still show the window frame, and are fairly simple. In fact, one of the upholsterers here on the island may be able to assist us with something along these lines.

Mr. Big is all for this option. Actually, after having to squat everytime he gets dressed for the last 11 months, he would probably be for any option. Ah, another delimna down...

I guess you could call this a test drive

After Hurricane Ivan stormed through our little island as a Cat 5 storm, we sought out the manufacturers of the best windows that withstood the storm (I was so impressed to find that hurricane windows work...even in big storms). We wanted the "mack daddy".

Pretty much out of the blue, we are faced with a Cat 2 storm, Hurricane Paloma, projected to be a direct hit in 10 hours. So how will our windows hold up? Their moment to shine is upon them...and we're eager to take them for a little test drive.


This hurricane will hit us this evening. And unfortunately, it's moving a bit slow at 8 mph, so it will probably be with us for a little while. I have to admit that I prefer daylight hurricanes (as if you could order your choice off a menu?). There's just something that makes the whole experience a bit more intense at night...the winds shrill louder and the unknown is a bit more "unknown".

Anyway, our home is going to be facing it's first real test. Too bad we won't be able to see all the action....

We've gone overboard

The wine barrel craze has officially gone to far. Not for the floors please...and definitely not for $35 per square foot.

Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong if you like.

Exterior color

The base paint of the house was originally going to be a medium to dark brown, but we were talked into a bright white Mediterranean look. Unfortunately, rather that bright white, we found ourselves with a creamy color that blended right into our trims. About six weeks ago, we changed back to the original color. So yes, part of the delay with the exterior of the house is due to us. Nevertheless, we have started to see hints of the color going up on the house...and it's looking good so far.

Color above the windows and on the "chimney"

The trim is almost complete. The front stairwell, in particular is exceeding our expectations. It makes the wait completely worth it. We're eager to see the house finally complete but the little tidbits sure are exciting.


The tall windows still make me smile! :)

Adding a bit of color

When it came to choosing paint colors, we decided to keep it simple. The entire house was to start out with either white (White Dove by Benjamin Moore) or khaki (Tapestry Beige by Benjamin Moore). Most of the house will start out white until we live in it for a while. But there were just a few spots where the khaki color was turning a bit bland.

For example, one of the downstairs rooms just didn't look as refreshing as I had always imagined it.


The silver sage from Restoration Hardware was always in the back of my mind, but it was turned just a hint too mint green. I ended up with an option that was a lot darker. It's a blue/gray combo...and I love it. The room now has a nice cool feel to it.


Similarly, we had started with the taupe color in the guest bathroom downstairs. It looked very nice, but lacked a bit of pizazz that I was looking for...at least for when we are moving in.


We ended up one shade lighter than the above room and it certainly makes the tiles stand out. The countertop will be a gray/brown concrete. Once coupled with the mirror and sconces, this color should catch the attention of our guests.


The not surprising part about all of this is that I have already changed my mind on these colors within two weeks of them being on the wall. Great. What am I going to be like in the first year living in the house? I suppose I'm fortunate that paint is one of the most economic ways to decorate...and let's hope that my current pace slows down. :)

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!

Wood floors and wall tiles

Excitement galore! A quick sneak away from the office this afternoon put a huge smile on my face. Our wood floors are almost complete.

The color is perfect...dark but still warm. They work really well with the windows and exterior doors. Now we get to look forward to the doors and window sills being stained the same color. I know, I know, I'm getting ahead of myself once again...

Dusty but beautiful wood floors

It was equally as exciting to see that the wall tiling in our master shower is close to complete. A little rumor made it to me that one of Mr. Big's buddies walked into the master bath this weekend and quickly proclaimed it to be a spa. Perfect! If a guy gets it, we've done something right! :)

Close up of the floor and wall tile (how crazy is the optical distortion on this image?)

A little eye relief

The cobalt blue countertop for the jack-and-jill bathroom was also in progress. In a few days, the entire wall should be covered in wall tiles. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this bathroom once it's finalized.


The grout for all of the wall tiles should be completed by the end of the week. That's the plan anyway...

There is currently a lot of activity at the house. Our move-in date isn't too far away. It's a bit hit or miss on whether we'll be making that date. We've given up our current condo, but finding a friends place to crash wouldn't be too difficult. The real challenge is that we have family arriving to stay in the house very, very soon. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Casesarstone countertops

Our kitchen and mudroom countertops have been a bit of a trouble spot for us. We found a gorgeous limestone that manufacturers warned us about time and time again. Apparently it was just too porous and would be very difficult to maintain. We went back to the drawing board and considered granite, concrete, and pretty much any surface under the sun.

Our designer had suggested that we look at a product called Caesarstone, which is a manufactured quartz product. For those that have already raised their nose at a surface that is less than 100% natural (it's only 93% natural...), feel free to move onto the next post. For those that are interested, let me tell you that this product is FAB!

Caesarstone is more heat, scratch and stain resistant than granite. But more importantly to me, they have lots of options that are fairly uniform in color. Because we have floor and wall tiles with lots of movement in them, I was looking for something exactly along these lines. While I pined over concrete, this will give Mr. Big the comfort of countertops that won't require loads of maintenance.

We decided on the Desert Limestone color for our kitchen and the Concrete color for the mudroom. They look gorgeous with our door, tile, and floor samples. I positively cannot wait to see them once installed! With our dark cabinets, the kitchen should roughly look like this:


For the mudroom, we decided to go with the Concrete color to add a bit of contrast to our light cabinets and wall tiles. Once again, it looks fab together. (This color also looked great in the kitchen, but the lighter color seemed to brighten everything up).


Boy, am I ever excited that we've made a decision...and hopefully such a good one!

Cool

Yes, it certainly is cool. As in, air conditioned cool! We were pleased to get into a refreshing house yesterday. With the bevy of activity that is taking place, the workers must appreciate it as well.

Take a look at the size of these air conditioning units...holy smokes! For those that aren't aware, Mr. Big is 6'5", which gives some perspective on how big these puppies are. We went with units with very high energy efficiency ratings and hopefully will end up saving some $ in the future. Either that or we're complete suckers.


So here's a run down of where we are at:

• Base boards are currently being installed
• Barn door has been hung (it's b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l)
  
• Ceiling painting should be starting imminently
• Wood floors should be installed on Monday
• Appliances should be installed in the next two weeks
  
• Light fixtures have been ordered
• Outdoor kitchen appliances have been ordered
  

There is obviously quite a bit more taking place, but this is about all that pops to mind at the moment. Happy Halloween everyone!

Look what arrived today

It was pretty exciting to find our first floor doors being installed today. This was a fairly particular purchase for Mr. Big and I'm very excited for him to see them tomorrow. These 8 ft solid wood beauties were made by Sun Door in Kansas, of all places. We'll get them stained dark a bit later on in the process, but for now, it's nice to finally see them.

The second floor installation will be slightly behind because they have to wait for the wood floors to arrive. And our front door is finally on site, but boarded up for safety.


And some of you may recall that we had some last minute decisions that about door hinges (as posted about here), everything appears to have worked out fine. I'm sure you were all real worried... ;)

Exterior color fun

Well, this is fun for us anyway..! There haven't been many photos of the exterior of the house recently, mainly because not much has changed. Our builder has requested our exterior colors, but we've been struggling a bit. I always imagined a stronger base color with lighter trims. Originally, we were thinking very dark, but ultimately have come to admire a light neutral similar to the following.


Our designer was in town this week and he suggested a true Mediterranean palette, being mainly white. This was an image that our architect originally sent through for inspiration which essentially flips the color palette with a light base and slightly warmer trims.


The latter would certainly require a lot of vegetation, but we were hoping for this anyway. Here is an exterior image (prior to the various indecisive paint swatches that now covered the front walls).


After looking at everything in one place (see this blog is useful for something), we seem to be leaning one way. For fun, we would love to see if others would lean the same way!

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Searching for "the one"...

Maybe a bit pink? Too bright? Too dark? These were the questions that we posed to each other this weekend as we took our first step into paint selections. Wow, is this ever a process?!? . Who would have ever imagined that four different shades of the same color could look so different...from each other and from our expectations. And oops, I just dropped a big glob on the floor...


In my mind, I had fantasized that dark neutral baseboards would pop against light neutral walls and a rustic floor. Not surprisingly, it didn't turn out quite as fabulously as I had imagined. :) And the wall colors turned a hint too beige, a hint too grey, or a bit too transparent. At the end of the day, we had a fun first step putting colors up on the walls. The colors were checked in the morning light, in the evening light, in different rooms...and we still didn't have a clear winner. Maybe next weekend we'll find "the one"...

Crossed telephone lines

It's not a good sign when you arrive on site to hear the jackhammer fighting against your newly-laid stone stairway. Yikes. All of a sudden flashes of 7th grade summer camp start flying across your vision. Somewhere between being asked how the stairs should be finished and the actual men laying the stone, our telephone message was transcribed. Fortunately for us, our builder had it fixed immediately. A bit of extra dust and a few grumpy workers later and the stairs look great. Hats off to our builder for getting us to the right spot.

Besides that little bit of excitement, we were pleased this weekend to find that the first floor guest shower is beginning to take shape. This shower enclosure will be covered in a subtle mosaic tile which has just arrived on site. Boy, oh boy, is it ever tempting to sneak a peek into the materials.


All sorts of goodies should start making their way out into the open over the upcoming weeks...exciting! And just to make sure that the telephone wires remain in tact, our designer has paid a visit to check on things first hand. Ah the comfort of the independent eye...

Garage doors

Does anyone out there have a source for affordable wood garage doors? A few weeks ago we were told that our garage doors had been ordered from a good source that our builder had. At the time it sounded a bit odd because we had no input on what they would look like, what materials would be used, etc. As it turns out, they were never ordered and we are back at square one. Worse off, this economic source is no longer an option. Darn.

A bit of internet searching today led us to the following two favorites for wood doors.

Summit Door

Carriage House Door Company

The arches mimic other architectural elements on the house. But most importantly, they just look nice to us. We hope to get something ordered this week so there's a bit of scurrying taking place at the moment....hopefully we can find a source soon!

Oh lovely floors...

...we wondered how you would look in a larger space...we were excited about your variations...we anticipated your pattern...and you have delivered completely. Oh lovely floors...

Doorknobs and hinges

Honestly, how sad is that title...doorknobs and hinges? It's when you are writing about things like this that you realize that you probably need to get out of the house. But the fact of the matter is that our builder frantically needed to confirm them for our interior door selection this week.

Well, since we really liked the door levers on our exterior doors, that seemed like a logical starting point. Nothing turned up in a quick look through popular internet hardware sites. We went to the exterior door manufacturer requesting their source, but haven't heard back from them. A little deeper internet searching finally landed us at the right spot. So our interior lovelies will be the same after all. Pretty happy about that.


Then we needed to confirm the color of the hinges. The problem here is that you have to choose from bronze, light oil rubbed bronze, dark oil rubbed bronze, distressed bronze, antique bronze and about 10 other bronzes...that all look pretty much to be identical colors on a computer screen. Hmm. We ultimately took a shot in the dark and went with "light oil rubbed bronze". If anyone ever notices that our hinges and levers don't match, there are probably larger problems that need to be addressed. :)

Before I leave you all this morning, just thought one more photo of our nice new windows might be in order. Oh, so pretty. See ya!