So, what color should we paint it?

Opinion poll:  What color should we paint the outside?

Here are the two color schemes that we like best.
The gray one is the number one for both of us...but the roof is not-quite-red.
See...the shingles are a little terra cotta...

So everyone - pick which you like best...or suggest a different scheme.
We have to decide in the next few weeks.

Yes, I am aware that our house isn't as fancy as the sample color home pictures below...
but we're looking at color here - not architectural features.

Interior wall colors

So far, we painted guest room, master bedroom, Lucas' room, hall, both bathrooms, entry & stair way and the office. 9 out of the 14 rooms that need painted.  That doesn't count trim - I'll do all the trim in a painting-mini-series.  Here are a few of the colors...I've had mixed reviews by texting pictures, but my reviewers were kind in person ("Oh, I like it now that I see it in person"). 

Jim's Office - inspiration room & actual color.  Repeat this is the INSPIRATION room, not what we actually have accomplished.

 





Guest room or "Mama's Room' inspiration rooms & actual paint color.

 

Guest room inspiration room a

Guest room inspiration room b

  

 Lucas' room - 3 walls are tan & one is red.  He painted it himself!

I went back & put on a 2nd coat!

 

He painted it himself!  (I went back & put a 2nd coat on)









Master bedroom.  It's much deeper than this - literally the color of rootbeer.  Jiim & I love the color - gives a 'den' feel to the bedroom...but we've gotten mixed reviews on it.  I LOVE that one of it's complementary colors is Indecision.



Done by Halloween? Maybe...

We got GREAT news yesterday from our contractor - he thinks the exterior wood work will be done by end of September & the painting by end of October! 
It is fantastic news...except - now we have to get the inside done by then and our other house packed up, too.  I need to start collecting packing/moving boxes. 

If you're a blog-reader in Little Rock - drop any moving-type boxes that you have by 4222 B Street or 1403 Center - then run by EJ's & we'll buy you a beverage!  I guess if you're not from the LR area & you bring boxes we'll buy you two! Smile

Outside they've started scraping the whole house - the fishscale shingles were in fantastic condition & they've only had to replace a couple dozen or so. 

With the rain yesterday we were able to pick where the gutters needed to go.

They are making the most impressive progress on the turret.  

Here are a couple pictures.

Parts & pieces of the turrett in the living room floor

Also a pic of our turret finial we picked out (that's the pointy metal thing on the top of our castle).



Inside...



Drywallers started on the ceilings.  They are scraping & texturing several rooms & covering or replacing several more...basically all the ceilings except the wooden ones in 3 rooms.  They started in the kitchen last week - the walls & ceilings in there look great.  Pictures of the before & after on the kitchen are below, too.  BIG differnce. 

Next step in the kitchen is to get the cabinets, counter tops, flooring, lighting, bar...etc.  Not much to do there - ha!  I'll post the kitchen plan soon - it's 1940's to the rest of the houses' 1920's, but you'll all get used to it.

thanks for looking...



The kitchen BEFORE

Kitchen with walls & ceilings fixed - ready for cabinets

 

Lots of projects going - maybe we'll finish a couple sometime?

Everything is rolling along.  We have dozens of projects going - I guess I need to focus on getting a couple finalized.  I think prefer seeing what it 'might' look like - all the potential without any second guessing or out-right failure - rather than the finished product (I'm sure that's a trait/flaw on a personality chart...and yes, I make a list to plan the lists I'm going to make).  

So, outside they are about done with the wall boards - I put a couple pictures below of the back of the house.  The before is the one with the creepy vines growing up where it looks abandoned - the after is the one with all the fresh boards & scraped paint (smile).

The turret is next.  They'll take it and try to save as much as possible.  That should make for some interesting pictures.

All the boards that they didn't replace have to be scraped.  Pretty sure they haven't been scraped since the early 70's so it's lots of work.  Some how, the construction crew managed to bring in some 85-90 degree weather for this project - down from the 110 degree days we'd been having. 

Inside - we have to wait 48 hours before we can walk on the new tile (if you know me or I'm sure you've gathered from the blog already that waiting & patience isn't my best feature...I'm not sure I'm going to make it a FULL 48 hours).  Anyway, once we can go in the bathrooms - we'll finally finish two rooms & post pictures.  

The tile is literally so cool that every evening when I'm done working I stand a stare a few minutes at the bathrooms before I leave for the day.

Also, we've started painting in the office, entry, stairs, hall and three bedrooms.  See what I mean about picking a project & finishing?  I do have a really good excuse though - we wanted to make sure we like these paint colors before we commit.

 

Many boards replaced, the rest scraped

Scraping paint off those old fishscales

Bold (paint) Choices...The Entry Way

The entry way (affectionately known as the the 'foy-yea') is the 1st to get paint.

I did hard work on the bathrooms to get ready for tile & my reward was to get started on the entry way & stair wall color.  Below is our 1st coat of paint.  Again, I'm taking the chance to show you the inspiration room that I'm trying to achieve.  I think we're pretty close on color.  We've started looking for old picture frames & have tons of family photos.  it will be all 'Hogwarts Stairs' style with portraits from 1800s through today.

I've only painted up to the picture rail so far, but we made the dicision to take the color the the ceiling yesterday.  There's no light fixture in there yet - it'll be one that we pull from our Cottage on B Street.  And, yes, that is a Michelob Ultra in every single photo.

They are starting the kitchen walls & ceiling today.  Then the bathroom floor tile on Friday.  So by the weekend I'll have some KILLER progress to post.

There's also tons of exterior work done - I'll get that posted shortly.  Its all been wall board replacement/repair so far...but they brought in the most beautiful, milled trim work for the exterior yesterday - Mississippi Cyprus.  It goes up starting today & then the turret will be taken apart.  So excited!

cm





View of fireplace & into dining room ^& office



View up staircase





The Inspiration Room



Bathroom Progress

Getting the bathrooms ready for tile is going well.  The tile arrives today - sometime between 11 am & 3 pm (evidently they are the Comcast of delivery companies). 

Both bathrooms are painted - walls & trim (so is my hair). 

Downstairs bathroom is ready for tile, upstairs is ready except for a piece of trim

(you can see it below).  Had to order the trim - found it at http://www.vintagewoodworks.com/.

Here's the before & the 'ready for tile' photos - below that is the 'inspiration room' that I was shooting for.  I was hesitant to post the inspiration rooms - thinking that maybe I'd just be proving everyone that I didn't quite achieve it...but it's the 'idea' or 'feel' of the room we are going for, so judge gently. 

For the upstairs bathroom, we found a pedestal sink with a great-wide top for the family to pile things on since that'll be the main one we get ready in.  Downstairs I had picked a pedestal sink with a narrow edge/lip for the purpose of not being able to pile stuff there.  Then tested it out...and, of course, the pluming is too far out to fit the sink we bought.  But luckily the sink in our current house (B Street) will fit the downstairs bath, so I'll be able to just trade them out.  There's some saying about it being better to be lucky than to kick a gift horse - some combination of that applies here.

This afternoon will be a busy one - tile arriving; guy coming to give estimate to install tile; guy coming to give kitchen estimate and driving to Fort Smith to the Cattlemen's Convention by dinner time. 

The 'inspiration' room 



Interior Priority 1 - Bathrooms

This weekend we found AND ORDERED the tile that we're using for the bathrooms!  1920's Pin wheel black & white upstairs & Cobalt Octagon & white downstairs (the blue was a big stretch for me...I was going black & white on both).  Now that it's on the way...I better get the bathrooms ready. 
It's a good thing, too...I was doing roaming projects randomly - this will give me focus (to some extent).
http://www.luxetile.com/

 Both bathrooms had a 'hole' in the wall where the sink would go.  Oddly enough, there's a reason for both holes - upstairs, the sink was in the closet (I know, right?) and there was a junky old 80's shower where the sink shoudl be - hence the hole.  Below are pictures of the before & after - used the vintage/original wall boards harvested from the old shower walls. 

Woo-hoo!  We have a functioning toilet AND sink in the house now. 

Now we jsut have to paint the walls, paint the trim & finish out the trim...then the tile can go down! 

The downstairs had a hole for two reasons...one...there used to be a door between the kitchen & the bathroom.  Which is odd - but I think it used to be a pantry rather than a bathroom (that would make sense, so we're going with that as the answer) and there was a ratty old sink-vanity.  I tore out the vanity, kept the cute little cabinets, repaired the wall (again, with vintage wall boards harvested from the shower) and in stalled a 2nd pedestal sink.  The next picture is of some of the spackling...DAP Dry Dex Dry-Time Indicator Spackling - http://www.dap.com/product_details.aspx?product_id=217

I'm officially endorsing this stuff!  It is GREAT.  Goes one easy - very idiot resistent!

Thanks for looking,
cm

Exterior work - week one

They are making great progress on the outside - week one done.
Replaced several boards on all sides; removed the storm windows; assessed the turret & have a plan.

Our contractor for the exterior work is Charles Marratt at CM Construction.
http://www.cmconstructioninc.net/

Exterior work got started today!

The turret is a priority on reapir because we can't get the ceilings fixed until the turret is fixed (leaking...there's a big hole in it).  BUT, it's been 111 degrees the last couple days - so construction started on the back of the house ground level.  There's some shade there.  Up on the turret is just too hot, but the temperature is supposed to get down to just 99 or so by next week so we'll be able to get started on it soon.

I'm SO VERY excited about the exterior work getting started...especially after I had just a rough day on the interior work.