HARDWOOD FLOORS - PHASE I

Yesterday when I stopped to check out the paint there was a young man named Alex at the house.  He explained that he was responsible for the hardwood floor preparation.  His goal was to have his portion done by the end of the day and he delivered.  He must be one working machine because we have hardwood floors throughout the first floor and second floor with the exception of the bathrooms and Keith's office.  Thanks Alex!

The landing at the top of the gorgeous red staircase

Ta Da!

The painters finished their work yesterday so my first stop this morning was the house to see their work.  The colors are stunning, vivid and a little crazy so for the faint of heart, you might not appreciate the photos.  But I'm totally digging the finished look.  In fact, once we get in and get settled, I think a few more colors will be in order.

Let's start with the living room accent wall called Nightfall

And now the master bedroom with the walls Wisteria and the accent wall and ceiling Evening Sky.

And the grand finale - the Diva red staircase

I LOVE PAINT

It should be no surprise to anyone reading this that I love paint.  I love choosing paint colors, I how paint transforms a room and I love doing the actual painting.  I give the credit for this love of painting to my dad who has had his own painting business for well over 40 years and has been painting for close to 60 years.  He had me painting when I was a little girl and I worked for him for several years.

So, it's no surprise that I'm super pumped that our painting began yesterday.  I don't have any pictures of the paint yet because I didn't want to disturb the crew but I should be able to share some pics tomorrow.

I wanted to paint the house myself but Keith overruled this desire since time is of the essence and it would have taken me a couple of weeks to do the job and the crew will knock it out in 3 or 4 days.  The crew is fabulous led by Roberto Belmontes of Belmontes Painting.  So, if you're in the Denver area and in need of painters, these are your guys!

APPLIANCES AND MASTER BATH

Our appliances arrived today and are sitting in the garage until John and his crew can install them.  We are so excited to see how the kitchen will look once the appliances are in and the hardware is installed.  We need to select our hardware tonight and we have it narrowed down to five options.

Today the master bath countertop was installed.  In all honesty, it's my least favorite decision of all that we've made.  It's okay but it's not the knock your socks off feeling that accompanied seeing the red countertops for the first time.  I love the countertops; I just don't love how they look with the cabinets.  But if that's the most disappointing aspect of this whole project, I don't feel like I have anything to complain about.

The master vessel sinks were also taken out of their boxes and placed on top of the countertops.  They are stunning and I can't wait for them to be installed.  I think they and the accompanying hardware are going to bring it all together.

A close-up of the oval vessel sinks

Two close-up pics of the countertop

A shot of the cabinets and vanity

You can see that the sink and faucets will come out of the mirror.

RED, RED, RED!

Red makes me happy.  People have always said that red is my color.  Red is Keith's color too since he's a Kappa.  So the red countertop choice was an easy one for us.  Well, at least it was easy in terms of us being drawn to the Strawberry Hill Crushed Quartz Countertop.  But then we started really thinking it through.  We shared our concept with some people.  Most people thought we were crazy and that it would be too much.  But for folks that know me, I listen to my gut rather than rational thoughts and, for the most part, my gut hasn't failed me.  But Keith is a thinker.  In fact, he's the most rational contemplative thinker I know.  And when it came down to it, his thought process told him that I spend more time in the kitchen than any other room.  I LOVE to entertain and he trusted my decorating taste.  Together, we came up with one kick-ass kitchen!

Isn't is grand?

A close-up view of the prep sink in the island

A close-up view of the sink which is right under a window looking out to our backyard

A different view of the sink

This is the view from the front door.  Notice the stain colors of the floor.  We're going with the light, natural option so it doesn't get too dark in the house and because light doesn't show dust.

And as if the counter tops weren't enough excitement for one day, our master cabinets were installed as was the laundry room tile.

The vanity that I wanted so so much because it takes forever for me to blow dry my fro into something manageable.  Now I can sit for 45 minutes versus stand.

Imagine the laundry room with diva red walls.  Yep - red, red, red!

IT'S GETTING EMOTIONAL, FOLKS

I stopped at the house today on my way to work as I wanted to check out the kitchen cabinet installation because, frankly, I didn't believe that they would complete the installation in one day.  Well, I was wrong and it looks so gorgeous that it brought tears to my eyes.  The stress of making all the selections over the past few months has been difficult to describe so when I saw our kitchen nearing completion I just couldn't hold back the emotion.  I wonder what will happen when the red counter tops are installed.  That just might put me over the top.

The island which will have a prep sink on the right.  Notice the wonderful sunlight beaming in.

This is the wall facing south where the refrigerator, stove and hood will go.  The doorway to the left of the fridge goes to the garage and to the left of the garage door is a new patio door leading to our magnificent back yard.

This cabinet under the window is where the kitchen sink will be placed and to the right of the window is the patio door so the window and patio door face east which will be wonderful in the morning.  The space where there is no cabinet is for the dishwasher and the cabinet to the left of the sink cabinet pulls out for built-in garbage and recycling bins.

And here is a closer shot of the stove wall so you can see that the upper cabinets will have glass in the doors.

And as if that weren't enough for one day, they also started tiling the main floor bath.  Today's stop at the house was about as good as it gets in the remodel world.

SNOW DAY

Today work was cancelled because of a snow day.  I'm thrilled but shocked as there's about 2-3 inches of snow on the ground and, because it's been so warm, the roads and sidewalks are clear.  I'll take a snow day whenever it's offered, especially today because it allowed me to text John to determine how many of his crew were working on the cabinet install today.  I thought it would be nice to surprise them with lunch so I did just that.  Fat Jacks subs all around for the crew and they were thrilled.

According to Scott, one of the crew members, it will only take them one day to install so when I stop by the house in the morning on my way to work, the cabinets should be all done.

The cabinet on the far right is facing the south and just above it is a large window facing our back yard.  The kitchen sink will fit inside this cabinet.

This cabinet is just to the left of our pantry.  The door is slightly crooked but they assured me that would be remedied.  Bag is evidence of Fat Jacks.