Day 107 - Tile Floors are in - but my deadline passed

So I didnt make it in 3 months...we have a 4 week delay thanks to the brick and now an on again off again week's delay due to my tile, interior doors and cabinet deliveries. I will need another 3-4 weeks before we can move back upstairs which will put me at 130-140 days about 5 weeks over schedule.  As for my budget - well better not to discuss that as - like every one of my clients - we have fallen prey to the "upcharges".  You start opening and tearing down walls and you start to want MORE and MORE>  it is like a serious drug addiction. With every piece of plaster and wood that came down I wanted MORE to follow!!  I can't make this house "new enough"!!  In my next life it is for sure ALL modern - new new and new!!

 Currently I am fixated on the fact that when we move upstairs to our ENTIRELY new space, the downstairs will feel that much older. Urgh and the money is running out....I am still trying to squeeze out a few wall changes and HOPEFULLY the bathroom gut and redo on the first floor.  The kitchen, well, let's just say if I dontt win the lottery (even 5th or 6th place) in the next 3 weeks, will have to remain the way it is and we will make due with what we have!!

This week, I introduced another person into our remodel mix - Marianno - a young hip interior designer who I am working with on another project. I needed some professional feedback that I am not off my rocker and the decision we have made thus far are okay, doable and re-sellable.  He LOVED it all and came back with some great ideas on how to tweak things and make them that much better.  I cant tell you how relieved I feel....We will work on colors next week, but he and I are sooo on the same page with furniture, rugs, everything!!  My new BFF :) 

My coolio tile guy started this week - he is a total "dude" and a really good friend of HGTV's Vern Yip who built all of the furniture in Vern's NYC urban oasis apartment showcased on HGTV this year - Matt Guston. He did Vern's tile at his house here in Atlanta so I got him to install mine and it looks bad a_s!!  Check it out.....     
The master bath floor - geometric Nova Blue (dark gray) Limestone....it has fossils in it!!

      See the brown fossils!  They are all over - LOVING it....

 Viola's tile that she picked out. Hard to tell but it looks like a gray/beige stone...neutral but sleek....

She loves it and so do I!!

My interior trim guy started today to hang all of the new doors - very modern flush front doors - pics to follow tomorrow.  He will be here all week doing all of the interior trim and doors.  Next week unfortunately we will have a break unless Tilo and I can come to agreement on exterior colors and get the house painted!  Maybe my cabinets will come in too!!  Week after next it is the rest of the tile (Matt - coolio dude has some other gigs to squeeze in for HGTV so I am on the back burner!!).  Then it is interior paint, final installs and the floors...I see the light....

Stay tuned....K

2 weeks til now...

My gas was on empty the last few weeks so we headed off to Cancun for a break. Tilo was in Germany, so Viola, my mom adn I headed off to the beach.  You have to allow yourself some "away time" during a renovation. Just time it so that there is either no work going on or just sheet rock.  Some discipline that does not require ONE SECOND of oversight.  There aren't many of those - sheet rock, hardwood flr install, adn ...well that is all I would trust to the actual sub!! 

It was a happy 3 day break from reality..sleeping next to the ocean sounds, drinking margaritas and have no cell service..heaven....

Over the last 2 weeks we did make some head way - had a set back but corrected it and moved forward.  Ruben came in to set the final posts of the extension and realized that the granite column was placed incorrectly!! YES incorrectly!  I nearly died.  So I got the contractor out there, showed him the plans and showed him how his product did NOT work with the plan.  He agreed so they tore up one half of the granite column, extended it back and redid it.. 
The bigger fatter column!

 Cant even tell that it got bigger but it will make a design difference.

 The happy masons - they LOVE me :)  They call me the crazy lady and steer clear when I am coming.  But you know, it is MY house and I AM the client with the money! 

 This is what I had left over.  MAKE SURE you have the masons leave you the rest of your stone and/or brick.  You have paid for it in your price so it is yours.  You can use it in the garden, whatever.  i will make some more granite garden walls when we save up some cash after this depletion!!

And this is my driveway now!!!  Finally we can park here, well until the pod arrives next week for storage while we do the rest of the finishes!

And the FINAL Exterior PRODUCT...with cedar post and all!!

We also got all of the sheet rock in and have a true home-y feel upstairs..one unfortunate thing is we realized that our old walls were AMAZING at keeping the sound out.  we actually had 2 layers of concrete walls with insulation. Now we have regular sheet rock (1/2" less thickness than the old walls) and fiberglass insulation. it is a bit disappointing but we had to get the plaster off - we could blend plaster with sheetrock and have it look good.  I will post some soundproofing suggestions that we have learned about in this process..we didn't do the research early enough but maybe you can benefit from what we discovered!

Regardless, the walls look great....The master bathroom

 The stairwell and landing area...

 The master closet.....

And we also got our hardwood floors installed!  They turned out beautiful.  we will stain them at the end  - trying to decide on colors now - light or dark, what do you think?

They delivered and laid them out all in one day....

And then the final install..true floors..

We are now deciding on tile configuration and interior trim ideas.  Both will get started next week!  I will post tile pictures tomorrow - need some input!!

Day 85 - the walk of fame....

After a 3 day quick get a way We are back adn feel rejuvenated!!  Sometimes in the midst of the chaos you have to just get away.  I left Saturday afternoon after buying the guys pizza and beer and came back to sheer beauty!  It was wonderful....they hav ebeen busy laying the new walkway and doing 2 new sets of stairs....I nce again hand picked my brick but look at the difference between how the stairs were finished the how the porch was done...HUGE difference.  Guess I will be buying lots of bushes to surround my porch!  Sh_t happens...
Enjoy the pics..more to come today!

Everything will be done today including setting the final cedar posts on the right side column and the trim on the porch ceiling.  I can paint next week...if ONLY we could select our colors!  Urgh!!