FINALLY, an update!

Life has just been a ball of crazy lately, and although I am really disappointed in myself for not updating sooner, I am also pulling a billion cards, including: pregnancy, going on maternity leave, living between the house and the apartment, and the craziness of life in general.
Since my last post, there have been quite a few updates.  Most importantly, Joern and I spent our first night in the house last Friday.  We intended on it being a "sleepover," and well, it is so darn warm and cuddly in here, we have stayed every night since last Friday.  No, we haven't officially moved in, there is still a ton of stuff in our apartment, and its kind of weird, because I feel like we're cheating on the apartment, but it is so nice here!  Of course, the pregnancy hormones aren't helping, and every time we run back to the apartment to pick up something, I leave in tears, because I am sure going to miss that little place.  But, I'll leave all that for a tribute post.  For now, I'll focus on the good stuff:  the house!
I think that its easier just to go room by room, instead of doing anything chronological, so I'll start :)
Kitchen:

Dining Area:

Living Room:

The tables are actually our end tables, and serving as our temporary coffee table.  The chair is only in the corner because it was in the way.  But, I kind of like the chair in the corner when its just us.

Master Bedroom:

For the record, I normally always iron our bedding, but it just wasn't in the cards last weekend.  This week's bedding will be ironed, and I'll post a new picture.

The second picture is of the exterior blinds- love!

Master bath:

Joern painted the ceiling in the shower and installed the lights.  Then, the plumbers came and installed the rain showerheads.  We just need the shower door, but I have to say, I adore our over-the-top shower!

And yes, we need to buy something for storing our toiletries!

Erbse's room:

Tee Hee, two showers threw up in Erbse's room.  We are desperate for the furniture to arrive.  Its currently in the UK awaiting customs clearence.  Fingers crossed its here in the next week or so!

Staircase:

The lights for the stairs have been installed.

And much to my horrified surprise, and Joern's delight:

Oh my dear lord, they change colors!  I don't have any clue of who okayed these, and when, but this was NOT my decision!

Cellar, well, actually the whole house:

It seems like a slightly dumb picture, and its hard to know what you're looking for here, but the central vac is installed and useable!

The house is about 90% liveable.  It is really difficult living without countertops, working water in the kitchen, or a working stove, which made for a rather sad Thanksgiving this year.  But really, we're getting there.  We can sleep comfortably, the heat is working better than we ever expected, and we have one semi-private bathroom.  I'm looking forward to the first week of December, when we are expecting our interior doors, and next week when the rest of our exterior blinds are installed, and I can use the toilet in the powder room (hooray! no more running up to the master bath 20 times a day when I have to go to the bathroom!)

FINALLY, an update!

The reason why I have posted so little this month is because nothing has really happened this month.  I can't believe that on May 9, the plumbers were working on the vaccuum.  The electricians finished up with the rough work last week Monday, pretty much completing the roughing in portion of the construction. 
Here are a few things that also happened during the past few weeks:

The plumbers connecting the fireplace on 10 May.

                                       By 11 May, the plumbing for the fireplace was completed.

And, the wires for the recessed and pendant lights appeared!

By the 11th of May, all the plumbing was completed, and most of the electrical. 

 Of course, this was two and a half weeks ago though.  We are now waiting for the plaster guys (Gipser,) to come in on Monday to start covering up the walls. All of the walls will now be covered with plaster, leaving us with a mostly smooth surface.  Last week, we did see a guy come by from the builder. He spent two days pouring concrete into major holes in the floors, like the holes where pipes were installed.  Slowly, but surely, the house is starting to close up more and more, and slowly become home.

                                     The filled in hole in the floor between the guest room and powder room.

Our circuit breaker box is pre-wired!

All of the wires are labeled for connecting to circuit breakers.



As I said, hopefully Monday will bring with it plaster guys.  I remember in our neighbor's house, there was a huge transformation once the plaster work was complete.  With smooth, evenly colored walls, the house really became a lot more "homey." 

Today, we had an appointment with the bath showroom again.  To our chagrin, we almost missed it, but fortunately, our account representative called us and reminded us that we had an appointment three hours prior.  So, we ran over, to say "hi," and to pick our granite for the vanity countertops.  The decision was mostly easy, but required a little thought.   The choice in the children's bath was pretty easy, Imperial White granite.  This seemed to be the lightest color without any golds, pinks, browns or rust colors in it.  The children's bath is going to be very "beach cottagey," and imperial what seemed to be the most logical pick.  When it came to deciding on the master bath, we narrowed down the choices to Kashmir White granite or Mocca  Creme limestone.  I have loved Kashmir White for quite a long time, but I worred about the rust-colored spots, the problem is that since it is stone, you have no control over the actual slab you receive.  I was just worried that we would end up with a very rusty piece of granite, and did not want that in our bathroom.  The limestone was much softer looking, just a very soft beige with some darker veins running through.  We asked about the care of the limestone versus the granite.  Our sales representative explained that limestone is softer, and will need to be sealed every two to three months, but sealing is pretty much like cleaning, you need to rub in a sealant.  Because the limestone and Kashmire White turned out both to be the same price as was listed on the offer, we decided for the Mocca Creme limestone.  I think if we were going to end up with a limestone countertop anywhere in the house, the master bath would be the best choice.

Mocca Creme limestone (left,) Imperial White granite (right)

The appointment went pretty quickly.  I am pretty satisfied with our choices, there weren't really that many options that fit the requirements for both bathrooms.

Well, that is about all from the house for now.  We are busy working on planning out our Richtfest, which is rapidly approaching on 11 June.  We are currently deciding which burgers to purchase :)

Revisiting the bath showroom- AGAIN

Last week's visit was a successful to a point, but our dedicated salesperson wasn't there.  We made an appointment for today.
It turned out to be a very successful appointment, although we were there for three hours!
Our biggest problem was the price.  We needed to reduce the price of the fixtures, but I didn't want to change the look too much.  Problem is that most things here are either very modern or very cheap looking.  When we picked out fixtures on our last visit, we went with very classical, yet ridiculously expensive faucets.  Oy!
I was glad to have Joern today, not that I am not glad to have him everyday, but I was glad for his personality today.  He explained that the fixtures were just too expensive, that we wanted alternatives.  It took a long time, but we were able to come up with quite a few alternatives that satisfy us both.
Master Bath-
     Bathtub- not a price reduction, but we needed to change the size.  We found a large corner tub that fits
     perfectly.  We also found a much less expensive alternative to the faucet offered originally.

     Toilet- we decided that for the time-being, we don't need a Villeroy and Boch Hommage wall-hanging
     toilet.  We saved about 400 Euro by going with a builder-basic.  And, its pretty well hidden in our 
     bathroom.  If it is really disturbing, we can change it out later.
     Faucets- here is where we saved, big time!  Joern explained that the faucets were too expensive,
     and that we were considering purchasing all the faucets in America.  All of a sudden, our salesperson
     whipped out a catalog from Zuchetti, an Italian company.  He went on to explain that it is an Italian
     product and not German, but come on.  We don't need a Mercedes faucet.  I want something that looks
     good and runs.  Furthermore, after speaking with Fabio, one of Joern's close friends, who happens to
     be a plumber, he told us that this is indeed a very good brand.

    
     Shower- originally, we planned a very elegant shower with a rain showerhead.  After careful
     consideration, we decided that rain showerheads look quite similar, and by changing out
     the brand, going with chrome, and changing the mixer, we could save a lot.  Joern then asked about
     putting in four body sprays.  In the end, our shower will resemble the following picture.

Image from Improvementdirect.com

      

Kid's bath-
     Toilet- we decided to stick with the originally planned toilet.
     Faucet- changed to the same Zuchetti as in the master bath.
     Shower- changed to Zuchetti, similar to the one I liked originally, but looks very nice and much cheaper.

    
Guest bath-
      Toilet- kept the original, but added PurAir technology.  Its only about 200 Euro more, and for a guest
      toilet, PurAir keeps from embarassing situations.  Plus, it is right off the kitchen, so you don't want
      an embarassingly stinky sitation right off the kitchen.

     Sink- we kept the same pedestal sink we originally planned



image from Villeroy-boch.de

          Faucet- back to Zuchetti, this time a flatter faucet.

Image from Faucetgallery.com

       

Downstairs utility room/ bath-
      Toilet- builder basic, again, I can always change out in the future. 
      Faucet- we'll buy it in America, because you can't get a 3 hole faucet here for under 200 Euro.  This
      faucet will be a Home Depot special, we'll buy 2 or 3 50 Euro, Glaicer Bay faucets, and change out
     as needed. 

Kitchen-
     Sink- we're considering a Villeroy & Boch apron-front sink.  Good because it has two pre-drilled holes.
     Faucet- I really may have to buy these faucets at home.  I'm looking at a Delta Touch 2O faucet for the
     island, where we'll prep food, and just a normal pull-down spray faucet for the dish sink. 
 I have
     a few more months to research my options, but it really isn't looking like I will buy something here.

Well, there you have it.  We have to negotiate now with the plumber, to get him to reduce some more of the prices.  I'm interested to see how much farther down we can go with the price.

I think I've found a solution!

In trying to make the best of my being unable to do a lot of activity, I scoured the net this morning in search of a solution to our Master Bath Finish Mixing Conundrum:

The Pottery Barn Sussex Sconce!

Surprisingly, the price is pretty good, and all of the accessories I scored at the PB outlet over the summer were also PB Sussex!  I need to order a second towel ring and a towel bar anyway, so I'll just add these beauties onto the order.  Then we're good to go!  I researched a lot about mixing finishes yesterday.  Turns out that in the States during the housing boom, finishes in bathrooms were frequently mixed as builders  rushed to finish homes and would  just throw "whatever" into bathrooms to meet deadlines.  Now that the housing boom is long past, designers and homeowners have come to appreciate an eclectic mix of finishes in bathrooms.   For us, it makes for a simple solution.  We'll have all the accessories and light fixtures in Oil Rubbed Bronze, and we'll have the fauctes, sprays, and the drawer pulls in either chrome or brushed nickel.  I will go to a bath showroom later with my ORB towel ring and a piece from the dark wood vanity to look at finishes for faucets.  But I have to say, I feel a strong sense of relief that we've gotten so far already.  The plumber will also feel a strong sense of relief that he doesn't have to search for a solution!  Hooray!

Color inspiration

Well, it looks like I've found our colors for our master bedroom/bathroom.
I got these towels from Restoration Hardware at Christmas. I love how plush they are and can't wait to use them!

So, it looks like our fabrics will be the same as everyone robin's egg and chocolate combination. I secretly love this combination, and think it will look wonderful in a beige bathroom. Now, I need to start figuring out bedroom wall color.
Thank goodness there is some time!