Happy times

I continued to bring car loads of stuff over to the new house today.  While I worked on organizing cabinets and closets (way boring) our electrician worked on this beauty (super exciting)…

We also got our first delivery to the new house.  Preston and I tag teamed waiting at the house for 5 hours (no thank you Williams Sonoma) to get these French bistro chairs for the morning room.  Amour.  

There was a silver lining to the delivery guys being two hours late.  We ate our first meal in our new home.  Preston and Madelyn picked up Rustic Eatery (a Geeting family favorite) on the way home from art class.  We sat around the kitchen island eating our rice bowls and the special moment will forever be ingrained in my memory.  And so it begins, filling this house with happy times.   

We are in business baby...

We got our keys (finally!!!!!!) bright and early this morning.  They teased us all day yesterday with the possibility, which was torture.  I had my car filled with stuff ready to bring to the new house.  In the afternoon the sales guys finally said I could put my stuff in the garage.  So I did.  Then I put it all in the house.  A rule breaker I am not but it felt good to be a little rebellious. Today while I schlepped from one house to the next with an overflowing car, the crown molding guys were busy themselves.  They worked on the upstairs rooms so I focused my time in the kitchen.  I totally unpacked and organized our pantry.  Boom!  

I was able to display our first housewarming gift, this cute sign that my sweet friend and trainer made for our pantry.  "Great bodies are made in the kitchen," one of many great quotes from the lovely Adelynn Spiecker.  

Final walk-through

Friday morning Preston and I had our final walk-through.  Our inspector was awesome, he was very thorough and explained every inch of our house.  We have some pretty cool features in home efficiency.  I was amazed at the things our house could do.  So now the real fun begins, adding all the details to the basic construction.  On the schedule this week, crown molding and the electrician comes to install all the lighting.

My clean, sparkly kitchen.  

The last visit

Today was the last "visit" to the house.  Tomorrow it will not be just a visit.  Tomorrow it will be ours. As promised, they had all hands on deck today and got through most of the work that needed to be done with the exception a few minor things that will be finished first thing tomorrow morning.  Hayden and I visited the house one last time.  He is my little sidekick, as our good friends and family know.  He goes everywhere with me so visiting the house has been our afternoon ritual for months.  As we walked through the garage door, holding hands, I started to tear up at what I saw.  They had removed all of the protective paper covering the floors and the countertops and most of the house had been cleaned to perfection.  It was my first glimpse of the house with all the pieces together and it was exactly as I had imagined it in my head a million times.  I know I won't be able to sleep tonight because I will be so excited for that final walk through tomorrow.  There was a cleaning crew working tirelessly while we walked through today, so I only got a few shots…

That entryway.  LOVE.  Just needs a little blingy bling up top.  Crystal flushmounts coming next week.  

Hayden's bathroom is all ready to get covered in tooth paste, hair gel, and pee.  Ugh.  

Bathroom selfie

Hayden and I took a bathroom selfie today.  That means we got our vanity mirrors put up!  You can see in the back they were in the middle of installing our bathtub.  We also got some faucets put in and shower doors.  I spoke to the project manager this afternoon just to confirm our walk through in two days because there are a lot of loose ends to tie up around this place.   He assured me it would not only be completed but also clean as a whistle.  Man, I sure hope he is right!  

From a construction site to a home

I'm still feeling under the weather but coming to the house this afternoon lifted my spirits up completely!  The carpet is all installed and somehow that was the magic step that made it go from a construction site to a home. We all felt it.  They also installed our shutters and toilets today. The to-do list is down to just a few things.  I'm so excited I can't sleep at night.  No wonder I can't kick this cold.  Friday, please get here quickly!!!  

Obsessed with our new entryway

Please excuse the well loved running shoes but I was too excited about the finished product in our entryway to care.   It turned it exactly as I hoped!  

They have covered all of our flooring to protect it as they do the finishing touches this week so unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures.  We carefully peeled off the covering of this little piece of our entryway because I just had to see it.  This Friday is our final walk through and I will be able to take pictures of each room completed.  Well, completed as far as our builder is concerned.  We have 8 incredible contractors waiting in the wings for us to get our keys so they can start on things like crown molding, painting, built-ins, closets, etc.  Exciting times!  Now, back to packing…

The marble entryway is being laid down as I type...

Those empty squares just need the herringbone tiles to be added

We are getting so close!  All of the bathrooms and the laundry room have their flooring, they just need the grout to seal the deal.  We got our refrigerator installed, along with our oven and microwave.  The front yard landscaping is hours from being completed too.  There are just so many workers around it's hard for me to take good pictures. As far as I know we are still on schedule for an Oct. 30th final walk through.  Come on guys, you can do this!!!!

Let the packing begin

I woke up this morning with a nasty cold so all my plans for today got postponed.  I figured if I was going to be stuck at home feeling icky I might as well get my booty out of bed and feel icky while being productive.   So I put on some comfy clothes, lit a candle, and started the lengthy process of packing up our house.  There may have been some Christmas music involved too.  If the stores can put out their Christmas stuff in full force then I certainly should be allowed to listen to my Charlie Brown Christmas play list.  In October.  While it's 85 out.  It was a bittersweet feeling as I started emptying drawers and cabinets.  I didn't expect those moments of sorrow, but they crept in.  I guess when you have nothing but amazing memories in a home that you've lived in for 9 years it is difficult to move on.  Even if the next chapter is an exciting one.    

Au revoir my pretty china.  See ya in a few weeks!  

New exterior look in the works

They started on our landscaping on this beautiful fall day.  We also got the green light to submit our request to have the exterior painted in a new color.  Hallelujah!  Now to decide on what colors we want.  Hmm.  

One of our last Saturday visits

The kitchen is all ready for it's appliances to be delivered on Monday.  

Hayden brought his bike today to test out the driveway

They put up our back fence yesterday so we climbed to the top of our hillside and were pleasantly surprised that we have a little bit of a ledge at the top of our property.  Just enough space for a little bench or a few chairs.  It's occurring to me now that I never took a picture of the awesome view up there of the whole valley.  But this is the view of our backyard from up top.  If it were up to Hayden, the pool's slide would start up here.  Not gonna happen.  

T minus 2 weeks

We are two weeks away from our getting our keys.  EEEEEEK!  Every time I walk in the house it feels more like home, especially now with the flooring complete downstairs. 

The wine room has it's shiny new flooring

 They completed the laundry room tiling and installed the countertop today.  For someone who detests laundry, I'm loving this room so far.  Who knows, maybe it will get me to step up my laundry game.     

Lots of progress on the hardwood installation.  All that's left is the wine room so I'm hoping they wrap it all up tomorrow.  Here's the morning room with the planks on a diagonal, a decision I was a little unsure about but I think it turned out nicely.  

And the tiling is complete in the powder room

Crisis diverted

I may have been accused in the past of being a little crazy for visiting the house every single day.  Pfft.  I can't tell you how many little mistakes I've caught by being there daily and it is much easier to fix things straight away rather than days later.  Today was the biggest example of that.  When I walked in the guys were continuing to lay the wood flooring down.  Good.  Just as I showed up they were gluing down pieces in our entryway.  Very bad.  I quickly stopped them since the entryway is supposed to be marble.  After a few colorful words in Spanish (by the workers of course, I don't know any in Spanish) they began ripping up the pieces they had just laid.  Phew.  Crisis diverted.  Meanwhile, there were so many workers and so many things being done that I was in the way in just about every room I walked in.  I can't wait to post pictures this weekend of all the progress. For now,  here are two…

Our beverage center in the master got it's pretty countertop.  All that is missing now is the fridge for all the water champagne.  

The secondary bathrooms got their countertops too.  

The master shower is complete and I am in LOVE

Wood floors in the Great Room

Love that contrast of the dark wood and the white kitchen

Field trip for the marble slab. Again.

I took a fun field trip today to tell the guys which parts of the marble slab to use for our bathroom countertops.  The warehouse was conveniently located just a block away from my dad's office so I got a sushi lunch on Papa while I was there.  Score! When I got back in town I headed straight to the house (naturally).  Lots of progress today…

They plotted out where to lay the wood planks downstairs

Madelyn's shower, all finished

The laundry room got it's white subway tile 

#ilovewhitekitchens

The kids and I escaped to the beach yesterday with Aunt Barbara.  On our way out to Malibu we took a detour to the marble yard to pick out our marble slab for the master bathroom countertops.  Again.  The one I picked out last week mysteriously disappeared.  Hmmm.  I hate it when I misplace a 20' x 20' 600 pound item.  The beach was so glorious that we didn't make it home in time for me to see what the guys had accomplished.  This afternoon my mom and I went over and we carefully unveiled the paper covering the kitchen island to see the countertop.  Gah, I love it so much.  They got a lot of work done on the backsplash too and it's looking fabulous.  My sparkly white kitchen is starting to come together.  

Happy dancin' all day long...

I got this email today that caused the immediate busting out of my happy dance… quite to Madelyn's dismay.  

October 30th, that's just three weeks away and my sister's birthday so it's a great day to get a house!  God willing we will get our keys that afternoon and the moving process can commence.  

When I look at what's left on the to-do list I wonder how they are going to get it all done in three weeks.  Then again, they got all this accomplished today…

Hayden's shower.  Thumbs up, he likes it!  

 Driveway is paved.  This got another thumbs up from my skateboarding, bike riding, pogo sticking, razor riding, always wants to be outside son.  

Guest bath got it's pretty grout, making it all sparkly.  

We also got our kitchen countertops installed and our kitchen sink.  I'll post those pics this weekend because I'm going to have to carefully remove the protective paper they placed on top.  All that I could see today was the edge of the countertops.  Pure torture.  But I could at least see enough to confirm that they did my square ogee edging.  So that was super.  

The guys were also there this afternoon beginning to install the intercoms and security system.  Really looking forward to a much more civilized way of announcing to my family that meals are ready.  Rather than what I do now, which is scream at the top of my lungs.  

We have a walkway up to our front door!  When we stopped in today the guys were almost done with the tiling in Hayden's shower and I would have taken a photo but the installer who was working on it was showing major crack so I decided against it.  You're welcome.

Guest bathroom

The kids and I stopped by the house after seeing Hotel Transylvania 2.  They are on fall break all week.  Hooray!  Love having them home with me.  The guys at the house were busy today, they started and completed the guest bathroom's shower.  I'm so happy with how it turned out, with the white beveled subway tiles and the mosaic banding detail.  On the schedule tomorrow, Hayden's shower.

Visited the house after an early morning Starbucks run

After hitting up the drive thru Starbucks we sat in our car while it drizzled outside and admired our house.  Well, admired most of our house.  Cough, brown shutters, cough.  

Happy Friday, indeed!

I met the stone guy at the house this morning to approve the layout of the other 3 showers.  He's got all hands on deck at our house as they bust out all of the work that needs to be done over the next week or two.  Once we get our driveway laid they will install our countertops, hopefully that happens Wednesday.  Things are really moving quickly now!  Almost time to start packing.

Our master shower, 1 wall down!  

I am so happy with the way this wall came out, can't wait to see it all completed.  

The layout for our guest shower.  LOVE that beveled tile.  

A skip to my step

Today I found myself with an extra skip to my step.  It could have been because my Madelyn rocked her first spelling bee right before my eyes.  It could have been because today is the last day of September and I am soooo excited for October.  Or, it could have been because today we turned a new corner in the progress of our house being built.  Today they started installing the marble in our master shower.  Translation, our house is about to take on it's own personality, completely separate from the others.  It is no longer a cookie-cutter house.  My style is starting to come through and I could not be happier.  Therefore, an extra skip to my step.  Could have also been the pumpkin spice latte.  But we'll never know.

I had to approve the layout of the marble going in our shower before they began installation.  It was so exciting to see my design spread out on the floor.  After a few tweaks, we had it just right and they were ready to start placing these beautiful marble pieces into our shower.  

A little inspiration from Mr. Nightingale

I had this sign made for our new gym.  I love this quote so much, it definitely inspires me to get my booty in gear on days I'm feeling tired and lazy.

They made some good progress at the house today.  They installed all of the toilet paper rods.  Slow clap.  We also got our medicine cabinets installed, towel rods, and all of the interior door handles too.   They are continuing to grade our driveway as well to prep for laying the cement.  I will be so overjoyed to have a driveway.  I have ruined more pairs of shoes than I'd care to count and have had to up my car washes practically ten fold.  Black cars and dust are not good friends.

All that's missing in the powder room is the actual toilet.  

CANNON BALL!!!!!!

We had our first design meeting today with our landscape architect.  Lots of fun things in the works for our new backyard.  It's still 100 degrees here, guess southern California hasn't gotten the memo that it's fall.  With those high temps we are having lots of pool envy and can't wait to be able to cool off in our own backyard.  

Thank goodness for open windows

When you show up in the evening to look at your house and they've installed the locks, you hoist your son right into that open window and voila… you're in!  Note to self, always leave a window open from now on.

Crazy amounts of progress again today, in addition to the exterior door handles and locks (no thank you for that progress).  They installed all of the bathroom and closet light fixtures, put up all of the exterior light fixtures, attached our street number to the facade of the house, and got a really good start on installing the roof tiles.  It's days like these I think they might actually finish on schedule.  

Field Trip

I took a field trip today to lovely North Hollywood to pick out our marble slab for the master bathroom.  I just love Calcutta gold marble and I can't wait to see this beauty all laid out in our bathroom.

Things are really progressing at the house.  Today they installed all of the outlet covers, light switches, smoke detectors, and can lights.  Hayden was so excited at the possibility of being able to charge his devices now while we are visiting the house.  Only one little detail in his way, there is no actual electricity running through those outlets just yet. 

Winter Dusk

The first thing I purchased for the new house was a painting of the Chrysler Building.  It was a Christmas present for Preston last year.  We both LOVE Manhattan and some of our best memories are of our times spent together in the big apple.  Our most favorite building that makes up that gorgeous skyline is the Chrysler Building.  It's just so sparkly, I could stare at it all night.  I thought it would be a great statement piece for the new office.  So today I got out the painting and sat in some good natural light and choose a paint color for the office that would compliment the painting.  Dunn Edward's "Winter Dusk" it is.  Quite fitting since I think Manhattan is most magical in the winter and the Chrysler building most stunning at dusk.  

Meanwhile, at the house today, they finished up all of the interior painting and installed ventilation grills.  Ventilation grills aren't exactly something to get excited about but it's one more thing to cross of the list so that's pretty darn exciting for me!   

Marble pieces have arrived

Today I went to the design center to approve all of our marble that just arrived.  It was so exciting to see our actual marble pieces laid out.  Not samples, but OUR pieces.  They all looked gorgeous, of course, so I signed off my approval and said a quick prayer as I left that they will begin work on our showers and backsplashes next week.

Here is  some of the marble that will grace our powder room walls.  

Progress...

Lots of progress today when we visited the house…

They started laying the brick on the facade of the house

They poured the concrete for our driveway entrance and our sidewalk

 We have our exterior shutters ready to be installed.  Think they'd notice if I painted them white?  

They painted the pantry and all of the closet rods and shelves in the house

I'd say it was a very productive day!  Keep up the good work guys, this gal doesn't have much patience left for this house to be completed.