ParkView: The final week

We are in the final week over at ParkView! I know I may have said that last week, but we had a few little hiccups with scheduling and as anyone who renovates knows, it really is a domino effect. So one thing bumped another, which bumped another and now we are pushing to the finish line. I am listing the house for sale this Saturday so things HAVE to be done. 

I only brought my camera along a handful of times but here is some progress that happened last week.

Our island counter is in place and looking beautiful!!

 

You may remember it from a string of photos as we progressed, a la this shot from January. It started as a cast off piece of rubbish we found in the basement. All along various trades have offered to throw it in my garbage bin for me but I've held on tight to it. It had paint, drywall and lord knows what else crusted to it even before I got my hands on it. But with some sanding and expert trimming by my finisher it is PERFECT.

To add some character once it was sanded I bought some Boos Block board cream from William Sonoma. 

 

I am a big Boos Block lover. My own board was actually never treated before either but I'm going to give it a go here at home too after seeing how pretty the island turned out.

The left is after only a few minutes and the right is still untreated.

 

I rubbed it all in by hand then let it sit for a couple days to really absorb and moisturize this old block.

(I'll give you a sneak peek at the end of this post).

 

Another spot that is like night and day is the mud room. I can hardly remember it looking so shabby as this, but here is how it looked not all that long ago:

And all painted up it looks like this!

 

I love how the cubby and step turned out!

 

From the doorway looking in. 

 

Also painted up and pretty are the new railings. My painters are miracle workers, taking the time to do more prep than painting so they could spray all my trim, doors and railings instead of brushing. As someone with a little experience in that area I know how much more time that takes, but it is well worth the effort. 

 

The plumbers also popped by last week! 

 

I`ll give you the run down on all the details in my final reveal, but these Price Pfister faucets are definitely a detail that was not a usual `holly`purchase, but they tie in well. 

 

And while it may be a grainy-camera phone photo, I just had to share my waxed butcher block counter and painted island! I did the grey paint myself as one of my own little projects. I thought it would be cool to have the white wood doors/drawers and then grey deco panels, or in this case a custom surround. 

As you are reading this my carpet is going in and my electricians are installing all the decorative lighting. I am hoping to pop by once more before the final unveiling, but I know this week will be crazy so all I can promise is that I will see you when I see you!!

Have a great day.

Parkview, again!

It is only the second day of the week, but I cannot tell you how much got accomplished already over at ParkView. Not getting accomplished is the gigantic pile of laundry at my own house.

My amazing finisher was finishing up and leaving yesterday, meanwhile the painters were caulking all the trim and doing their final coats of paint, and the plumbers were making some last minute changes work. There was easily twelve people at work there all day which is funny now that I look at the pictures because I didn't get a single photobomb.

All this progress is from Monday morning, and I will share again tomorrow what it looked like on Tuesday morning (today) because even by mid afternoon it was a huge transformation.

The windows and doors throughout are now finished with their trim work. I am so happy with the final look, the header style was a bit of a chance on my end because it had a hard (no round edges) and modern profile, but used in this style it seems to feel right at home. It was my way of adding a modern twist to traditional without being too off the wall.

The railings went in over the weekend and are being painted as we speak. If you look through parkview photos closely you will notice I did not use rounded or curved details in the house, so I went with a straight spindle and post.

 

My island was also getting finished yesterday! We used Ikea cabinets for the island, then he built out the exterior for me instead of doing deco panels. I am going to paint it a contrasting color to the cabinets for some pizzazz. Item number 34575 on my to do list for the week.

 

This has been my little pet project: turning a previously raised closet into a functional mud room. My finisher was the brains behind the whole thing and even came up with the genius idea of adding a step so little kids can get up on the bench easier, and then a little cubby to slide shoes into! Should be painted today and then I can finish is up.

 

It is a far cry from the damaged tile and wood walls it started with.

 

Now I just need these lights installed so I can photograph it in good light for you!

 

When I have the time, and before I share all the final photos I will track down the layout schematics so you can see how bizarre the layout was, and while we have made it WAYYY more functional, there are still a bunch of twists and turns and long hall ways. 

 

At the end of one of those hallways is our new laundry room! Lots of cabinets and room to tackle laundry piles like the one waiting for me upstairs...

I'll be back tomorrow to show you more, but until then happy TUESDAY!!

Friday

It's Friday!! Today I am not just celebrating the end of the week. It is so much more here.

 

It is the fact that it FINALLY feels like Spring might be upon us, the fact that Parkview only has a week left until it goes on the market (let's hope it is ready!!!), the fact that we are over the last bout of flu, and the fact that we had another week with our little buddy: Mungkee.

I mentioned it briefly on Instagram yesterday, but we nearly lost our boy this week. Things didn't look good, and the fact that he is older (10) and was dealing with a handful of health issues for the last few week, some of them still unclear, sure had me feeling hopeless and unable to see how long he could continue. Our vet tried a couple new things and he seems to be responding now so I am hopeful that it will sort itself out. But even if not, we had the joy of another week of cuddles and love from the sweetest dog ever (sorry if you also think you have a sweet dog, but I assure you this boy is pure gold!).

It is a good day in my world.

And I hope it will be a great one in yours.

ParkView via my phone

Hi you!

Life is hectic right now, I am really really eager to get back to my regular blogging schedule! But for now, my days are full nursing Mungkee and Wren back to health (both are STILL sick!), and running around like a crazy lady with ParkView. I haven't had time to bring my camera over there since last week, but I am excited to keep you updated.

Last week I hit all the stone suppliers to pick out counter materials. The options are endless, but I will give you a little hint about what I chose: it is honed again, but not a material I have used before.

This is what I was up to this weekend. I was a little impatient to wait for the finisher to arrive so I unpacked and set up the vanities where I wanted them. Then I realized that I needed the plumbers before I could make any more progress... 

I love the mixing of wood and stone texture in here. It has a really relaxing, zen feel, but once all my chrome fixtures and sconces are up it will have a little hit of bling.

The counters are being templated and installed this week so the kitchen wall cabinetry is all in place.

The crown and kick plates are still waiting to go in, but I am already in love with the layout.

I had ANOTHER Ikea delivery late last week for all my mudroom, laundry room and kitchen island cabinets which now take over the room. I am so thankful they deliver here because I cannot even imagine moving this all by myself and getting it into my SUV.

A tiny step forward for this kitchen, a huge leap for Parkview!

Have a great Tuesday!

ParkView Bathroom update

I'll start with my good news: Mungkee came through his little procedure all right. We don't know for sure if this will help him in the long run, but so far he seems to be a little bit closer to the old Mungkee we love. 

My bad news is that the flu has taken Wren down AGAIN! Seriously, this kid has had the flu,  a cold and now another bout of the flu. I am hoping this one is short lived and the last time we see a sick bug in our house this year.

As promised, here is a little look-sie at the bathroom progress I promised. I am also excited with how our trim is looking!! My finisher is amazing and a pro with the saw. 

 

Our show glass manufacturer did all his measurements yesterday and we should have some walls and a door in the next few days.

I also did some damage yesterday and bought all the vanities, sconces and lighting for the bathrooms.

Sean was pretty surprised with the direction I took, but I know it will be the perfect fit. I went with double floating vanities for the master and a single for the other bath. Most of the time floating vanities are used in very modern settings, but once in a while you see one in a more traditional bathroom and I think it looks stunning.

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via HGTV

As soon as they are installed I will show you ASAP!!

ParkView Update (overdue!)

Hi Guys!! Hope you have been enjoying Spring this week. Did I mention they cancelled it here?? Really, we've had snow and grossly freezing temperatures. Yuck. 

I said I was going to show you my ParkView update last week, but guess what? This little guy isn't doing so hot.

 

As I type this he is having some minor surgery, which I am hoping helps him feel better because he hasn't been himself for the last little bit. It was last week that I noticed he wasn't eating and just seemed to be weak and unable to walk properly so we took him in and ran a variety of tests and diagnostics all day last Thursday. So I'm crossing my fingers he we will back to my lovable, spunky Mungkee soon.

Besides Doggy Drama, I've had roofing drama and tiler drama. Which has left very little energy for blogging...

I'm not going to go into details because it just doesn't seem professional, but Mama had to be a boss and had to say "You're fired" a few times in the last few weeks. It cost me some time, but I know I made the right decision.

I will bring my camera to the house tomorrow morning and show you some more dramatic changes, since all of these were shot over a week ago already!

Some of my tile choices.

 

Here is our family room off the kitchen with all the new wood in!

 

And also in the den/office. We have all our tile and wood in now, so just carpet remains to be done upstairs which will happen at the very end.

 

Needs to be wiped down again, but here is my grey tile in the mud room.

 

My most exciting progress has been the bathrooms, which are my idea of heaven!

 

 

I did extra wide subway tile in both showers, with a mosaic glass/marble band like I did in Lexington. I only needed 9 sheets to do both showers and just had them cut into thirds.

 

The grout wasn't done yet in this shot, but it is very true to the final product as we did a grey grout for lots of contrast. 

 

This walk in shower is going to be my favorite thing in the house once the glass is installed! 

I promise to let you know how my baby is doing tomorrow, and show you some more fun shots at ParkView.

And hey, Torri, can you send me the ParkView blueprints????? THANKS!

Bliss and Tell Winner!

So, I have had a couple crazy days and my ParkView update isn't going to happen till later today (sorry!), but I didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer to hear who won our fabulous Bliss and Tell Giveaway!

MichelleM, random.org says you are our winner!! Congratulations. Unfortunately your profile doesn't have an email address attached so I can't reach out to you. If I don't hear from MichelleM in 1 week I will redraw for a new winner.

THANKS AGAIN BLISS AND TELL!!!!

Foyer light FINALLY hung

 

This was one of those projects that just seemed like a MAJOR pain to tackle. Not because it was a hard job (we've rewired dozens upon dozens of lights over the years) but simply because it required locating a virtually skyscraper height ladder to get it done. So while I've embarassingly had this light for 2 years now (you can see the first mention of it here) it was only recently hung. However the crazy high ladder still needs to be returned. We suck at this project, hey?

And by recently hung I mean back in January, which you will see by the glimpses of Wren's party decor. As you can tell, I'm a little behind on keeping up with things.

Here was our Foyer pre-new lighting. Unfortunately even my afters are pre-new door. But I am hoping that will be a Summer switch-out. The frosted glass half panels HAVE TO GO!

The chrome plays up nicely with all the chrome in the kitchen as well, and I think it was a good, safe bet for us. Nothing surprising or ground breaking, but a necessary switcheroo.

 

So if you've been dutifully waiting to see this for 2 years, THANK YOU for your patience. 

And if I owe you your ladder, I promise you won't have to wait 2 years to get it back.

AND if you've been patiently waiting to see an update on ParkView, pop by tomorrow! I have some fun stuff to share.

Toodles~