Sunday, November 3, 2013

We've Got Walls!

 I just picked Jose up from the airport, (November 2nd) We went to check out this weeks progress in light of the torrential rains we've had. We are sooooooo excited!  We've got some walls! It's beginning to look like a house!  We've has soooooo much bad weather.  In between torrential rain storms we've been able to get forms, then walls!  One more upper foundation pour to go.  Woohoo!  But there's a 30% chance or greater of rain Mon, Tues, and Wed. next week:(
 Future home of guest rooms, family room, two bathrooms and the hobby/workout room
 Happy, Happy, Happy!

 Future Kitchenette, Closet and Stairway
 
 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

WE GOT CONCRETE!!!!!

Finally, after weeks and weeks of waiting...the concrete truck arrived today and poured stage one of our foundation!!!!  Jose and I met at our rental and went out to the land together.  We couldn't believe it!  It was such a great feeling!
Before The Pour
After the Pour


 Happy Campers!

 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Designer Meeting...Interior Selection Photos...The Fun Stuff!

While we are STILL waiting on concrete (apparently there's a shortage in Texas, unless you are building a highway for the state), we met with the designer to make interior selections.  I've been collecting hundreds of photos on Pinterest and Houzz for a year and a half.  I thought we would spend hours just trying to make a decision on the floors.  It's amazing what you can accomplish when you are working with someone who does this for a living and you have a pretty good idea as to your style and vision.  It also helps that my husband and I are on the same the page.  I really wanted us to get as much done as possible before school started and I was pleasantly surprised!  So here goes...
 
The 20x20 tile underneath the other stuff is the tile that we will have on the main floor in all of the common living spaces (kitchen, family room, foyer, study, laundry, hallways, dining, pantries, powder room.  We are going to have a pinwheel pattern with very little visible grout.  The small multicolor 4x4 piece is the St. Cecilia Light granite that will be in our kitchen.   The dark wood sample is the color of our kitchen cabinets.  The trio of tumbled travertine to the left will be the back splash in the kitchen.  We are using only the 2x4 brick in a brick pattern.
 
This is our master bath pallet.  The floor will be a pinwheel pattern (like the main floor) which mixes the 20 by 20 tile with a 13x13.  I realized in the photos it looks similar to our main floor tile but in reality it has dark chocolate accent colors, which go very well with our cabinet color, onyx.  The walk in shower which is 9x5 will tiled with the same as the floor tile using only the 13x13 tiles.  The shower floor will be one of the two pebble patterns.  We loooove the multicolor stones the most, but she didn't have the pricing for these for our sq. footage.  So just in case they come back with a CRAZY price, we picked a tumbled travertine back up.  Our tile selection didn't have a 2x2 option so we decided to go a little out of the box.  The stones was Jose's idea and I absolutely Looooooooove it.  We haven't selected our counter top yet for the vanity.  We found a couple of honed marbles that we really like but haven't finalized that yet.  We plan to do that this week. 
 
This is our hardwood floor which will be in the master, master hallway and closets leading to the bath.  These are 5inch hickory planks.  This is much darker than this photo is showing.  Looooooove the floor.  It only took about 10 minutes to make this choice.  We held our breaths waiting to be told it was way out of our budget only to find out it wasn't!  Talk about thrilled!
This is the slate tile and tumbled marble counter top for one of the downstairs guest baths.  The slate will be on the floor and the shower surround around the tub.
This is the slate tile and tumbled marble counter top for the other downstairs guest bath.  This is what the slate will look like when it's laid on the floor and the wall surround around the tub/shower.
 
This is the slate for the covered patio upstairs.
This is the carpet for all the guest bedrooms downstairs as well as the family room, craft room and stair case leading downstairs.  Eventually, when the carpet is probably 5 years old, we plan to replace it with either tile or stained concrete.  We just decided that for the time being, we would put carpet because it wasn't an upgrade an it's not our primary living space.  We still have to build a pool, dock and buy a boat.  I can live with the carpet for a while.
These are the paint colors we are using throughout the house.  The lighter color to the right is our trim color and the two shades of beige/taupe will be used in different rooms throughout the house.  Jose was pretty surprised that I wanted such neutral colors but we have a ton of very colorful and eclectic art pieces, furniture and accessories, which stand out on a neutral background.  He actually picked the paint colors and I loved them.
 
Master bath shower fixtures by Moen in oil rubbed bronze.  We have two shower heads and we wanted one to be the detachable hose so it would make washing the dog(s) that we don't have yet much easier. 
Bathroom sink faucets in all bathrooms, also Moen, oil rubbed bronze, Brantford collection.
Kitchen sink faucet, also Moen Brantford collection but in stainless steel.  I went back and forth between the oil rubbed bronze in here but because all of the appliances are stainless steel and the light fixture above the sink is black wrought iron, we decided to go stainless here.  I had a very similar faucet in the Katy house and loooooooved it. 
 
We've also already purchased all of our kitchen appliances (Kenmore Elite appliances from Sears).  I'll post pix soon.  So that's what we've decided on so far.  Let me know what y'all think! (but only if it's good.  Just Kidding:)  


 
 

Friday, June 28, 2013

Cabinet Meeting Today!!!

Benedettini Cabinets
We had our first design appointment today with Scott at Benedettini Cabinets in Rosenberg, TX. I was really nervous and anxious before the meeting today. Jose and I have pretty different tastes in decorating and design. He loves symmetry, clean lines, every thing matching whereas I'm very eclectic, no symmetry and nothing matches but everything goes well together. Scott was incredible at guiding us to a mutually agreeable design regarding the doors and stain in every room in the house where they will be building cabinets. He had excellent suggestions regarding some the kitchen cabinets. We tweaked the some of the design without adding extra expense. He also had a great ideas for the living room built-in. We brought home for stain samples for different areas of the house, to sleep on and take with us to our big design appointment where we will pick out flooring, graninte, fixtures etc.

As soon as we have the final cabinet designs and we've finalized finishes I will post pictures. We did agree on a wood and a door for all of our cabinets, Alder Wood with the Baldwin Door and a Roman Edge. We are going to go with the knotty Alder wood in the guest baths to have a more rustic look. The stains we have picked out are chestnut, midnight or onyx for the kitchen and family room. Whichever doesn't make the cut in those rooms will probably show up in the guest baths downstairs.

With sooooo many choices and soooooo much to decide I would have thought we were going to be there all day. It only took 3 hours. Scott was excellant at keeping me focused and in questioning to help us choose our favorite styles. We went in knowing only two things, we wanted something classic and timeless, not very ornate. We found a mutually agreeable solution and we're both happy! So far...terribly impressed with Benedettini Cabinets.
 
 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Family Photos at High Cotton

Daddy...checkin' out the progress from his last trip to the land the day they delivered the big pile of dirt and Jose explaining the bottom floor plan to Camille.  They are standing in what will be our Master Suite.
 

Emma, checkin' out what will be her room when she visits.
Mom and Dad...enjoying the view from the top floor while Jose gives Camille the lowdown.
My Family...The East Clan

May and June Progress

So...two months later and still no foundation.  We opted to do our own subcontracting for the culvert, which had to be completed and inspected before we could get a concrete truck on the back of the property.  Hindsight, it wasn't worth it.  Dealing with rain, Harris County permitting and unreliable workers  to get to a good one, cost us about two months.  Fortunately it's in, it passed and we are finally to pour the foundation.  However, apparently concrete pourers are in high demand and we just have to get in line and wait.  In the mean time...I got to show off the property to my sister, Camille.  It was her first trip to Crosby and Lake Houston.  Also...we have an appointement with the cabinet maker on Friday to pick out all of our cabinets:)

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Progress!

Jose went out to the land today and it looks like we are just about ready to start pouring the daylight basement foundation!!!  FINALLY!   We really need a few days without rain.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Finally the foundation appears to be in the making.  The forms for the daylight basement are in place so we could see the footprint of the foundation today on the bottom floor.  We went out to take pictures this evening and for the first time in a long time we could see a light at the end of the tunnel.   A year ago, we expected to be moving into our new house in April...as you can see we're a tad behind schedule. The weather hasn't been very cooperative in the last three weeks.  The foundation has to go in in three stages and could take another month before its ready for framing. 
 
 

Jose is pretty excite about the forms.  This is the daylight basement floor which is our guest space.  Your looking at what will be the stairway/kitchenette going up to the main floor. 

Monday, March 25, 2013


 
Daylight basement is awaiting footers...they say they are coming this week.  I was talking to some of my friends at school today and they were under the impression that there were codes against building a basement in Texas.  They had no idea what I was talking about when I told them we were building a daylight basement.  I know this is outside the norm here.  Our builders are being very thorough with the engineering.  It's taking a lot of time but I appreciate their attention to detail.  


The big ol' expensive pile of dirt is moving to a new home!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

FINALLY!!!! I have a status update!

Jose met with the engineers and our builders at the land on Monday, we made final adjustments to the floorplans tonight and it looks like the dirt will be moving next week!  Yeehaw!  The new estimated completion date if the weather and Harris County permitting cooperate will be some time in August.  So that probably really means...September/October:(  Which also means, we probably WON'T be in the new house when my Alabama family and friends arrive for the big Bryant Bowl (AKA the Alabama/Texas A&M game) Sept. 14th.  Bummer!