"Orange" You Glad We're Keeping Our Kitchen Floor?

Well, we met with our PM, a second Ryan PM, two reps from the flooring company and an Armstrong flooring rep at the house Friday afternoon to take a look at the kitchen floor. Whew!

I'll be honest -- it was a tough meeting.

Basically imagine 5 professional construction/management men telling you you're crazy and that your floor is, in fact, exact production quality and that there is nothing wrong with it and that it matches the sample you were provided with perfectly. Then imagine you try to stand firm and explain that the sample you were provided showed NONE of the orange/peach undertones and certainly didn't contain entire sections of orangey squares, only to be told that it "depends on the light" in the room, or whether there are "shadows," or that once you "install your window treatments and put a table in your morning room" (which we are NOT planning to do as the morning room will be a sort of downstairs play area for a bit, thankyouverymuch), then you'll see a true reflection of the floor and the "tones you have a problem with" will be reduced.

Blah, blah, blah.

I don't see almost completely orange squares here. Do you?

Our PM asked me what solution we were after, so I mentioned what was the first of two options: credit us back the additional $1,200 we paid to upgrade to a floor we are not happy with (which he immediately interjected that apparently the floor must not bother us that much if we're willing to live with it and we were just after a financial adjustment -- wha??!), THEN I proceeded to mention the other option (that I only mentioned second because I thought the first option would be the easiest on THEM) would be to replace the floor. The team of guys, one of which at one point mentioned how they all met together BEFORE the meeting with us to ensure they were all on the same page (gee. thanks.), begrudgingly mentioned that, although it is NOT standard protocol and would be a  ONE-TIME thing, then something or other mumbled about a first-born child, agreed to let us select a new vinyl flooring in the same pricing level. Our PM was sure to speak up that, although our closing isn't scheduled until March 19th, he has several additional deadlines prior to that day that we're not aware of, basically confirming that yes, this is a HUGE inconvenience to ALL of those involved.

((sigh))

After the meeting was over, hubs and I headed over to the flooring company to scope out the available options. I was already pretty sure that there wasn't going to be anything that would jump out at me as "The One." When we went through this process back in December, I distinctly remember complete dissatisfaction at the poor choices and lack of variety we had to choose from. So, after dragging two kids out in the pouring rain and fumbling through the samples, I decided it was NOT worth it to me to change the flooring simply because the only options we could change to were completely hideous. Seriously. They were all dark, or really small 8x8 squares, or PINK (yes, pink), or otherwise just not even close to what we want. For the record, it really SUCKS having your hands tied and only being able to choose from samples that NVR allows the flooring company to show us, rather than the BILLIONS of actual flooring options available in the world today. Totally sucks.

I guess the team of guys should be pretty happy that we're not making more work for them or causing delays. I still hate the fact that my kitchen floor has OBVIOUS sections of mostly-orange squares that we paid additional money for, but we did all we could do, and honestly, we plan to rip the floor up in a year or two to put in actual tile anyway (we had originally planned to keep the vinyl for about 5 or so years since we ended up paying for the upgrade).

Oh, well. Honestly this is a pretty minor thing. At the end of the day, the Ryan team did the right thing by allowing us to select a new floor, but I still do NOT care for how it was handled or how we were treated during that meeting.

On a happier note, check out the latest pic of the house now that the landscaping and sod is complete. So pretty!

Just Some Stuff

So Chase had his Synagis injections yesterday (to protect him from severe complications should he get RSV... again) and he did AMAZING! For the first time EVER, he stuck his little hand out and ASKED for the pulse ox! Obviously he didn't "ask" for the pulse ox, but put his hand out and motioned for it. It was insane! He also stood on the "big boy" scale for his weight AND height -- without crying or complaining! He let them do the cool forehead temp thingy and within seconds we were on our way to the exam room to wait for the shots. I've never seen him cooperate like that at a medical appointment -- EVER! Yay, Chase!

Here's hoping he keeps that mojo for today. We're heading to Charleston for a follow-up appointment with the ENT who put his tubes in last year. It's just a standard 6-month follow-up and I'm not expecting anything weird. I've had him at the pediatrician's office like 3 times over the past 3-4 weeks for a horrid cough, so his ears have been checked several times recently and both tubes are (supposedly) still in place. It's crazy to spend about 8 hours in the car for what will hopefully be a one hour appointment, but we trust the folks at MUSC and are happy to spend a day to ensure the best care for our Rock Star! :)

We're starting to get things together for our big move next month. I packed up about 1/4 of the house about a month ago, but haven't made much headway since. I've been spending a lot of time (other than being sick for the past 2 weeks) doing a lot of online shopping for some of the essentials we'll need in the new house. Hubs found a great deal on a sweet new belt-drive garage door, which he'll have the pleasure of installing after we move in. I've spent 13,402,109 hours researching BLINDS for the house, and am beyond ecstatic to report that I am *this close* to finally placing my order for privacy blinds for all 18 windows in the new house from blindschalet.com. They have a Buy 3 Get 1 Free deal (no limit!) AND 30% off every order AND free shipping, so that is a win-win-win in my book! Of course I've also spent waaaaaay too much time on the kitchen backsplash, but as you know I think I'm finally pretty set on my selection for that (FINALLY). We also need to pick out some new fans for the great room, master bedroom, study and loft, some mini-pendant lights for over the kitchen island, drawer pulls for the kitchen and bathrooms and a few other incidentals.

The house should essentially be completed this week. Can you even believe that?! We stopped by last night and all of the flooring is in. I don't think there's much left to do except some touch-ups here and there. I took a few pics, but I'll warn you they are pretty bad because it was pretty late/dark last night.

Our master bedroom:

The upstairs landing/hallway (I was standing in the loft):

The master bathroom:

Finally... carpeted stairs! That makes climbing upstairs much easier on this little guy (who apparently loves sneaking into my photos):

A pic of the kitchen. The microwave and dishwasher are installed. I assume the range (woot!) and refrigerator will be in later this week. Oh, and we have a meeting at the house on Friday with our PM and the flooring rep from Armstrong to discuss our orange floor. Cross your fingers for us, but I'm not holding my breath that they'll do anything to make it right. :(

The great room. Honestly, it's not this yellow in real life:

Here's the entryway along with the living room/dining room:

A close-up of the hardwood floor at the entry:

I told you the pics were awful, right? Regardless, the house is beautiful and we absolutely love it! It's so hard to believe it's essentially DONE! The landscaping guys will be out today and tomorrow to fully sod the front/side/back yard and do a little landscaping number along the house, as well as plant a little tree in the front. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished and we don't have a red clay/dirt yard anymore! Haha!

Guess that's it for now!

Backsplash

Have you ever selected a backsplash for your kitchen? I haven't. At least not until now, that is. I wouldn't have ever guessed it would be so terribly difficult to make what one would think would be a pretty straightforward decision! But I feel like the entire look/feel of the kitchen will be based solely on the backsplash I choose, and that is a LOT of pressure!

For example, I can't pick out the mini-pendant lights that we'll put over the kitchen island until AFTER the backsplash is selected. If I were to go with a white backsplash as I had originally thought I would, then my pendants would need to be white. However, if I go with a cream/beige color (as I'm currently leaning towards), then my pendant lights would need to match. I never thought so much would be riding on the simple decision of selecting our kitchen backsplash.

So the past several weeks I've been mulling over what I think I want. As far as material, I had initially thought of stainless steel to give the kitchen the "commercial/industrial" look I wanted. But then the thought of a stainless backsplash competing with all of the stainless appliances seemed waaaaaay to overwhelming, and I didn't want the backsplash competing with the appliances. I want the backsplash to be muted/quiet -- NOT a focal point -- so the appliances and dark cabinets have a sort of "pop" (if that makes sense). So once I decided against a stainless steel backsplash, the only other option I wanted to consider was glass.

Don't get me wrong -- I looked into other materials, but nothing seemed as simple, easy to care for and beautiful as glass. I've been ordering samples from online retailers and visiting every local tile store I could find, but still was unable to find "The One" I wanted for my kitchen. Until yesterday...

I went into another local tile store and met a super sweet young lady who was very knowledgable and very interested in helping me find exactly what I was looking for. When she first suggested these new, HUGE porcelain tiles, I wasn't at all on board. I had been thinking of something larger than a typical 3x6 subway tile -- perhaps 4x12 or 6x12 -- but the 8x24 tile she busted out was not at all something I thought I'd want. Until I thought about it more and tried to imagine what it would look like.

Here are some pics from the company's website that shows these ginormous 8x24 tiles used as a kitchen backsplash. They are beautiful!

These first ones are (I think) the exact color mine would be. Only I'm pretty sure with the space I have between my cabinets and counter, I'd only have room for 2 rows of tiles, not 3:

Here's another example using different colors of tiles. I love the simplicity, clean lines and soft reflection (similar to glass):

One more pic -- if you imagine the 3 rows of darker tiles on the top are actually cabinets, then you'd have a pretty decent example of what it'd look like in my kitchen:

So the color of this pic is totally off (I blame bad lighting and my iPhone 4 camera... can't wait to upgrade to a 4S!), but here's a sample of our granite with one of the actual porcelain tiles. I promise the color matches very nicely, and gives a warm tone without being too gold-y:

So I'm curious what you guys think! I love the larger tiles because it means less grout lines, which means less "busy-ness" -- which is exactly what I'm after. I can't even tell you what a relief it is to finally be this close to making a decision on the backsplash! YAY!!!!!!

Drumroll, Please...

Our granite went in earlier today and I could hardly wait to check it out! I held my breath as I walked into the kitchen, but thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't color correct any of these images, so what you see is what I saw. There was some natural light coming from the morning room windows, and the recessed lighting was on overhead.

Here's the wall that will eventually have the refrigerator and stove:

The entire kitchen (along with the rogue dishwasher off to the side, waiting to be installed):

Another angle:

Obviously not a pic of granite, but I was super excited to see our GE Cafe' microwave was installed. You should see it in real life... it's kinda high, but we were totally expecting that. I find it slightly comical, but definitely something we'll get used to rather quickly I'm sure. ;)

Here's a pic of the granite on the gourmet island. No scary "vein" running throughout, and no visible seams. Win-Win!

Here's the area near the sink/bar. It's crazy how busy the granite countertops are compared to the laminate counters we're used to in our current home. I'm sure this'll be a quick adjustment, too. :)

A close-up of my granite, Santa Cecilia.

Overall I was very pleased with the look of the kitchen now that the cabinets and granite (and some appliances) are installed. It's definitely coming along and I think I like it! The only thing I was a little disappointed by was that the granite guy installed the 4-inch backsplash that we specifically requested NOT be installed (since we're planning on a glass tile backsplash instead). It's no biggie -- they can remove it and patch the walls. I haven't mentioned too much about the drama with the kitchen floor or the drama with the alarm company charging us for work that wasn't completed, but let's just say we've added the backsplash miscommunication to the list of issues that we're currently working through. Thankfully we haven't hit any major roadblocks along this journey (so far). I don't mind working through these kinds of things.

So, what do YOU think? Did I make the right choice? I think so... And ultimately I guess it doesn't matter 'cause there's no going back now! Haha! ;)

Sickness and Flooring

I dragged my sick, tired self stopped by the house yesterday with the kiddos to check on the progress since it's been FIVE WHOLE DAYS since I've been by there. We had a busy weekend, and I've been sick since Sunday. No fun.

So let me back up to yesterday morning. I started off with a quick trip to the grocery store with Chase, during which he coughed (a horrible sounding cough -- enough so that our cashier asked if he had asthma) the entire time. This then prompted a last-minute sick visit for Chase at his pediatrician to puh-leaze get to the bottom of his obnoxious, irritating cough. The poor kid! It's been awful all. day. long. and of course even worse at night.

Doc's prognosis?

Probably just allergies.

Gee. Thanks.

Chase just finished up 10 days of Amoxicillin but he went ahead an prescribed another round of antibiotics, this time some Augmentin, just to be sure we're getting rid of anything that might need to be rid of. But we'll be trying some Zyrtec (allergies) for a day or two to see if that helps; if not, on to Round 2 of antibiotics!

Anywho, after the morning grocery store run, followed by the trip to Chase's pediatrician, we were off to get LO from school, then to stop by the house to check progress, then off to an impromptu doctor's appointment (with two kids past due for naps, I might add) for mommy's sore throat and obnoxious cough.

Almost two hours, a blood draw, a throat swab, a steroid shot, a declined chest x-ray and a strep throat diagnosis later, we were FINALLY on our way home with late afternoon NAPS (prescribed by mommy) for ALL THREE of us.

It was a glorious nap. And about 7 hours later, that steroid shot started to kick in and I finally started to feel some relief late last night. Joy!

Now to revisit the stop by the house to check progress. I was stoked to see all of our doorknobs were installed--including the front door--which worried me that we would soon be locked out and impromptu trips wouldn't be possible. But hubs checked with our PM and the house is only locked at night, although we can get a key if needed. Yay!

So nice, shiny, nickel doorknobs everywhere -- woot! Also, the resilient/vinyl flooring was installed in the kitchen, pantry, morning room, powder room and mudroom downstairs. It was mostly covered with cardboard to keep it protected, but I was able to get a shot of it.

After looking over these pics with hubs and comparing them to the actual flooring we selected for the kitchen, I'm not so sure it's what we ordered and/or were expecting. Here's a pic of our selection from the Armstrong flooring website. See?

Not sure it's just the lighting. Seems the floor they installed has a LOT more orange-y/peach-y tones in it than what I was expecting. Of course we'll get to the bottom of this, but my biggest fear is that the flooring IS right and it just happens to look THAT different than the sample we selected it from. See how unorange-y/unpeach-y it looked in the flooring showroom?

Weird. The one I thought we selected was a very soft beige-y/creamy/off-white-ish tone and I really liked it. ((sigh))

Moving on... The master bathroom was completely tiled! This includes the garden tub, shower with bench and flooring.

There will be a glass wall separating the shower from the tub, and another glass wall in front with the door to the shower. Can't wait to see it all together!

Guess that's the latest update for now. Thanks for following along with us on this exciting journey. It's fun for me to share our progress with you guys and I hope it's not been too boring for you!

I'll keep you posted about the kitchen flooring, of course... ;)