Deck Days #3 Plus...And Dining Room Furniture (finally)!

Here are some more photos of the deck in progress.  We're right now about 98% done - there are two railings on the stair platform that have yet to be installed (waiting on them to be delivered).  I can't wait until it's completely done.  Although today is a crummy weather day with rain forecasted all day long, so it's not like we'd even get to enjoy it.  Still, we're so close!  As for the patio, the contractors were supposed to come out today to measure for annd stake out the patio.  With this rain I'm pretty sure they won't be out here today.

Pics of the deck:

Very muddy in these pics (it's clean now).  It was so weird to have the bars off the door and be able to actually walk out of it!

Some backyard visitors!

Last Friday we also got our dining room furniture - finally!!  Took about 12 weeks total (so much for 8-10), but we're really happy with it.  I was nervous, I'll admit, since we "built" it ourselves at the Amish builder's store and I had no idea that it would all work together.  But it's great!  Solidly built.  My only complaint (other than I have nothing but wine glasses to put in the hutch) is that I think should have ordered the 48" top instead of the 42" top.  I really wanted a 44", but the builder didn't make that size. But, the 42" will work just fine.  It doesn't take up as much space in the room, so it's easier to get around the table when people are sitting there.  Can't wait for Thanksgiving - we're planning on having my side of the family over.  It'll be a true test of the set!

The dining room before:

The dining room with furniture!

Hutch, with the table in process.

Double pedestal base - I love this.  So chunky.

Love these chairs - we loved the X-back, and the upholstery is very simple (to go with anything).

Hopefully we'll have more progress on the backyard soon, before it gets too cold!

Further Progress - Deck Day #2

Just some pics!  The husband said one of the workers mentioned they may be able to finish tomorrow.  Yay!  Now to find some furniture...

Finally working on the outside!

So, after being here for about 7 months and spending the entire summer either inside the house or in the driveway (totes cool), we are finally getting some work done on the outside!

Just a reminder: in our area, RH doesn't do any landscaping or deck-building, so we have to handle that all on our own.

The husband took it upon himself to handle all the meetings and interviews with the several landscaping companies we talked to.  Thank God, I know I couldn't do all that.  But, he made some very good choices, and we finally decided on a deck company and a separate landscaping company to handle the lawn, softscapes, and patio.

The deck is first.  After signing (and paying the deposit) a few weeks ago, we were given a start date of September 12th.  Perfect!  Just enough time to get approval from the HOA.  Why did I do this, when it's possible that some of our neighbors did not?  Because I am a rule-follower, terrified that we would get into serious trouble if we didn't get approval first.  And, I am a glutton for punishment.  Luckily, the deck company already had the permit, so the HOA approval went through quickly, and in less than a full day.  Yay!  Great news, too, since the deck company moved up our start date to today!  Double yay!!

So, they've started the process, and I'm excited!  I know some of you bloggers are totally handy and did this yourselves (and I do envy you your awesome sense of satisfaction and pride in your own handmade product), but I knew there was no way I was going to be comfortable with the husband building a deck about 1.5 stories above the ground.  Power tools and ladders?  Nope, no thanks.  I don't need to live in the ER.  (ha ha, sorta.)  

The deck is going to be 14' x 20' and extend from the morning room door to the end of the house behind our family room.  We chose not to have it go around the morning room because we are planning on extending the patio in front of there, and didn't want to lose any natural light through those basement windows there.  We're going with Trex in Vintage Lantern, and with a black aluminum metal railing.  I'm hoping it'll look great - it was a difficult decision between the dark, thinner railings and the traditional white railings.  We knew the white ones would match the exterior trim perfectly, but we kinda wanted the darker railings to "disappear" when looking out the windows at the deck.  I love the view of the wooded area behind us so much that I didn't want to lose any of it.  We will lose some view, I know, but we are keeping the entire view from the morning room (another reason why we didn't continue the deck around it).

And now, the pictures!  There's only a few, but I'll try to keep you all updated as we go along this week.  The pics may be a bit grainy - lovely phone pics as usual.  The patio is to come later (hopefully early October), and of course I'll give a blow-by-blow account of that as well.

An update...and some (mostly) finished rooms!

Wow, it has been forever since my last post.  During my absence, we've had our driveway poured and our final grade done.  The exterior painting was completed (except for our front door - would like to have that repainted but who knows if that'll actually happen now), so that pretty much completes everything that needed to be done by RH before June 30th.

On the inside, we have finished the media room (for now, until we get a new tv in the not-too-distant future, hopefully in time for the World Cup) and the two spare bedrooms.  Our master and the living room are almost completely done.  My craft room and the first floor office are still ridiculous messes that I'm trying not to think about.  Still nothing on the walls, either!  Oh yeah, and no dining room set yet.  We went down to Amish country a few weekends ago and ordered one - now begins the long 8-10 week wait for it to arrive.  This is high stress, too, since we "built" it ourselves from pieces all around the store (that's what they tell you to do, but sometimes it's hard for me to imagine it all together), and we totally changed some stuff to the china hutch.  Please oh please let it turn out great.

We have someone coming out this week from a local landscaping company to give us a quote for putting in a lawn, landscaping/flower beds, a patio, and a deck.  I can only imagine what that number will come back as!  We may do things in stages, but we've had such nice weather recently that I seriously want a patio and deck, like, yesterday.  I know there will be other summers, but I'm all about instant gratification.  Besides, I feel really exposed sitting in lawnchairs in the driveway.

Anyway, on to some photos.  I'll have to take some more pics of the media room and living room and post those soon.  Mostly, these pics will be of the bedrooms since those are the rooms that are essentially done, save for some wall and dresser decor items.  Still pretty "hung up" on hanging pictures - honestly don't know what my problem is!  And as far as curtains go, yeah, still stuck on that too.  But, now we have blinds in the bedrooms, so that helps a lot (takes the pressure off!).

Master sitting area

Master sitting area
(ignore the litterbox - I think we're gonna buy one of those tables to hide it in.)

Master bed
(I like tall mattresses, but I had no idea we would lose so much of the headboard!  Oh well.)

Awesome tree-branch lamp - from Wayfair.com
(Every time I see this, I say "I love lamp" in my head ala Brick from Anchorman.)

First spare bedroom (Next to the master)

This was our old bedroom set.

Nevermind the boxes - they may stay there forever.

Second spare bedroom - all new furniture and mattress from Value City.
It was a steal and looks great!





Louis Phillipe style - love it!

Our new blinds - decorative trim at the top

Hard to photograph with light streaming in, but you kinda get the idea.

Some Furniture Photos

Keep in mind, this is a work in progress.  I had no idea how much effort went into moving into a new home.  We were in our old home for 7 years, so we had really "settled in."  This place, however, I feel like I may never have as "homey" as the old one.  I know that's not the case, it's just that I was so used to our old house having everything just so that it's tough for me to get used to having a clean slate/bunch of new stuff here.  There's so much furniture and other stuff to buy!

I know, I should be excited, and I kinda am.  But when it comes to the curtains...I'm terrified.  At the old house I changed out the hardware and curtains in the family room, and changed the valances in the kitchen.  That was easy - the holes and hardware were already there to guide me.  The bedrooms all had white wooden (or faux wood) blinds, and I took down the curtains one year while I was painting and never replaced them.  They were all the same drab shade of green anyway so no big loss.  We still had the blinds.  But here, at this house I have no idea how to do what I want. Do I go with 84" curtains, knowing that they won't be a full 6" above the windows if I do that?  Do I go with 95" curtains, and hang the rods super-high, making our already tall 9' ceilings feel even taller and possibly drawing attention away from the crown molding we wanted? 

Oh. My. God.  I have no idea what to do. 

The only room in the entire house with any type of window treatment is the mudroom/laundry room, simply because I had a valance from an old house/apartment and I could easily buy a tension rod to fit.  Otherwise, I'm paralyzed.  It's even worse now that the neighbors are all moved in.  One of their side bedroom windows and the window on their stairs (it's a Venice with the garage on the left) look directly into our master sitting room area.  It was fine when there was no one there, just workers, since I never needed to worry about the weekends or after hours.  But now I seriously need something there, lest I continue dressing in the closet.  I think I may call J.C. Penney.  Apparently, they will give you a free in-home estimate and design consultation.  I think I know what I want to do, it's just the little details like how long of curtains I should buy and how I should hang the hardware that I'm stressing about.  And, it's really only for some of the windows - all of the windows along the back of the house (save for the single window in the back of the master and the smallest bedroom/craft room) will be going bare for the foreseeable future.  There are a good number of trees back there, and a good distance too, between our house and the neighbors', so I'm less concerned about someone seeing in.

Anyway, anyone's thoughts about curtain placement and hanging height would be appreciated.  It's starting to make me sick.

Here's some pics of some of the rooms that have furniture.  Once again, they're all a little rough - not one room is completely done.  And our new bedroom furniture is nowhere in sight yet, so that's another room that needs some serious help (no pics here of that - it's just our old mattress and box springs on its frame with two old nightstands next to it.  Nothing to write home about yet).




The Living Room
(still looking for tables and lamps - night pic from the day we got it)

  

The furniture is by Best (Made in the USA) and the rug is from Lowe's.
(day pics from the weekend)





Couch - apparently it's called black although it looks grey to me.
The cats have already left their mark with cat hair and snags.  *sigh*




Another view - I'm so happy with it all and the rug is soooo soft!



This chair is totally cute but completely uncomfortable...



...for humans.

 

The Hall Bath - I am in love with this shower curtain.
(The husband swears there's a devil in the branches.  It's possible, I've seen a running horse and a deer head)



The Morning Room
(thinking about a rug from Macy's, but we need to order it)



Panorama of the Media Room (and another Kitty!)





This TV will soon be upgraded and we still have to clean up the wires and stuff
(and then I think this TV will end up in the bedroom, but I'm not sure).




Ahh, the Family Room.
We need some bigger furniture!





Entertainment center in the Family Room
(what's hilarious is that this practically filled up the wall it was on in our old house...now it seems small!)

We still have no dining room furniture (soon, I hope, soon).  You can see from the above pics that I have a box of artwork/pictures in the family room, but nothing on the actual walls.  Once again, I'm paralyzed.  I'm afraid to put holes in the walls!!  I do have one thing on the wall, though - 

It's an "S" initial my sister made for us.  I need to trim the ribbons a bit, but it looks great!  Matches our colors perfectly.  And it's hanging by a Command hook, so still no holes!

Hopefully we'll have more furniture and pics soon.  I look forward to everyone else's decor pics too!!