Hodgepodge mess of pictures

3:59 PM

So... keeping things real... here's where we're at right now.

Ya, boxes and just stuff everywhere... if you can see through it all, you will noticed its painted! #hooraysmallvictories

The one clean room in the condo so far?  The future laundry room.
Oh! ah! So fresh and so clean!

But if you turn around, you see this:
What we CAN take away from all this is yes, paint, AND doors!  Did you see those suckers? All nicely painted crisp white and acting fancy.

If we leave the master and head out to the living area, you can see the paint color a little better.
I know it looks a little dark right now, and honestly, that's my fault.  It will lighten up a LOT when everything is off the floor and a white mantle is put around the fireplace.  

I went with the color Functional Grey for the walls and Elephant Ear for an accent color on the brick wall and fireplace.  Both Sherwin Williams colors.

Of course, AFTER I picked the colors, I decided to purchase a color wheel (ummm AMAZING! Where has this thing been all my life?!) but it told me I could have stayed in the same color family and done a shad or two lighter and kept the brick wall the same Elephant Ear color to differentiate more as a "accent" wall.  Right now, these colors are only one shade different from each other and wish I would have done something more drastic.

Oh well, you learn, right?!

And its not like it looks bad!
Chris even pulled back some of the floor so you can see how the color would look against the new flooring.
And this is probably the best way to see the difference in wall color, plus see it with the floors.
Luckily enough, while I was there, our new range arrived!
Yippie!

Lowe's was having a super awesome 4th of July sale a few weeks back (one of the best times of the year to buy appliances in case you were wondering) and this brand new beauty only set us back $400, which isn't terrible.
Trust me, it will look a lot better when its installed and OUT of the box.

Lets see here, more around the condo.... here's a good looking closet:
And a shot of the front door...
If you're looking at the crown and see those wood corner pieces, yes we still have to paint those.

The kitchen is looking awesome...
We are installing the base cabinets first so the countertop guy can come in and measure and start working on fabrication (which typically takes a week).
Hooray cabinets!
And here's a parting awkward shot that I'll probably get yelled at for later... 
So other than seeing the paint through the boxes, tools, and half assembled base cabinets, not a ton to show just yet.

The good news is that on Friday I will share with you our choice for countertop!  Chris and I have different ideas but we're going together to make a plan.  Cant wait to show you all our options!

Bathroom update!

9:07 PM

Now I don't know if you remember, but we kinda went back on forth on making this a walk-in shower or keeping it a tub.  We decided to stick with tub (especially since there are "bath people" out there AND heaven forbid you have to wash a small child).  But we couldn't decide what to do on the wall and surround.

I have been riding the subway tile craze lately and figured for a 1-bed/1-bath this maybe the place to give it a try.

I went to Floor and Decor to price out my options.

First was this awesome beveled subway tile.

And at $0.29 a piece... thats not bad.  They are 3x6 pieces so you need 8pcs to make a square foot.  8pc x $0.29 is $2.32 a sq ft!  Good price!

Next was just a classic white subway
I actually liked how they laid these vertically but felt a bit plain.  However, they were priced at $0.19 a piece (aka. $1.52 a sq ft... $0.80 cheaper than the beveled... ... ... I told you we really count our pennies)

I thought I could jazz them up a bit and tried out a herringbone pattern that might be fun.
It was when I was playing with tiles on the floor that the manager came over and kindly asked if I needed any help.  Although I told her I thought I was good, she informed me she had a couple of open boxes of the plain subway they were looking to get rid of and would sell them to me at $0.10 a piece (only $0.80 a square foot!  Now a whole $1.52 cheaper than the other ones).

Sold.
Then, a hiccup in my plan... Although, after getting the go-ahead from Chris on the subway tile, I was was given the no-go on the herringbone pattern.  Since we are hiring some help for some of the more technically stuff (i.e. tile work), they told us it would be an additional $300 to lay them in that pattern due to more cuts and work. Pretty much, its like adding $7.50 a sq ft... waaa-waaa... sorry.

Again, when every penny counts, you sometimes don't always get what you want.  However, I did compromise and settle for at least laying the tile vertically with a dark grey grout.  At least to give it "something".

After the tile was dropped off at the condo, and a day before the tile guy was set to show up, I saw the subway next to the tile floors for the bathroom... and it just rubbed me the wrong way.
I ADORE these floors and loved how they looked in condo #1, but with doing a stark white subway and putting in a floor with light grey and absolutely no white, it just didn't sit right with me.

So after batting my eyelashes to my dear husband and saying that it would quite possibly RUIN the ENTIRE project if we put those floors in, I was allowed to race back to Floor and Decor to find a more suitable option.

After pricing myself out of a couple options (no, I'm paying $15 a sq ft no matter how pretty it is... this is still a flip), I found this little beauty.
VERY similar to the other one I like, still has good texture lines and under $2.99 a sq ft, it was great.  Plus it looked great with the white subway.
See what I mean by there needing to be a little ACTUAL white in the floor as well?

It even looked good next to the vertical subway tile display.

AND, also very important, it would look good when it transitioned into the floor for the rest of the house.
sorry, blurry pic... blame the child hand you see and the other kid I'm probably holding)

When T-day finally came ("Tile day"), I was psyched.  And the results looked amazing.
This is after they JUST put it up so its still a bit messy... and sorry about the lighting.  Since we still have to paint and everything at this point, lighting isn't up yet and we are just working by work lamps.

Here's a bit better
And no, the tub isn't an off-white. It DOES match, just not according to my camera.

And one more for the flooring.
EEEE!!!! So fun! I love the dark grey grout and really think it makes it pop!

Again, sorry I know its hard to tell from these pictures, but hopefully I'll be able to take better ones tomorrow since everything has finally been painted (AHHH!)

We also went ahead and picked out a vanity.
Its actually from Drew and Jonathan Scott's new line (you know, "the property brothers"... basically the living example of what I want my children to grow up and become) and it was on super sale since they just launched... only $399!  Not too bad!

I seriously cannot wait to swing by the condo later today and see how everything is turning out!... Cabinets were delivered Saturday and will probably spend a good amount of time assembling them today and tomorrow so we can have the countertop people come out and measure and start fabricating.

Seriously you guys! Still so much to do but I feel it coming together!

I'll update you all on Wednesday with paint pictures... prepare to have your minds blown :-)

Samm

New Floors!

9:39 AM

So why we were galavanting around California in the 65-degree weather, Chris's brother, dad, and our buddy Blake were hard at work at condo #2 putting in the flooring!

We first had to level out the floor by the door...


Uneven floors, especially right when you walk in, typically don't sell too well.

Since the floors we bought this time don't have the padding attached, we had to lay down a vapor barrier and underlayment.

The guys, busy, blurry, and hard at work...

And for those of you that wanna know why we keep our buddy Blake around, edging like this is why:

Yes people, cuts like that are near impossible... the dude is a genius... and yes ladies, he's single.

But back to the flooring... not bad right?! Sorry,  about these incredibly blurry pictures, dear God.  Yikes... from now on I'll make sure to be the one taking pictures... because, wow...

And don't judge the floors next to the yellow brick wall... we're painting it.

Oh and that brick fireplace too...

Sadly enough, we had to cover up most of the flooring to keep it safe and pretty while we continue with the rest of our updates.

But it's looking good in the kitchen!

I still can't get over how different the place looks with walls...
And how much better it will look once it's painted!!!... which actually happens today!  We still have to let it dry and what-not so pictures probably won't be up Friday, but hopefully by the beginning of next week!

We actually had a tile guy come in today and do the bathroom so THAT will be my update for Friday... it looks AMAZING! Can't wait to share! Until then!
-Samm

MIA: our little vaca

12:30 PM

Hey all!  Sorry for the MIA but we were on a much needed vacation last week to visit my grandparents and cousins in California!

After filming the show, working no-stop to get condo #1 finished, well underway with condo #2, and more down the pipeline, we really needed a recharge and a break from the 100-degree Texas days.

Boys did well on the flight out (not so much on the way back but hey, we'll focus on the positive.)
A big reason for the vacation timing was that two of my cousins just had babies (one in April and one in June) AND our other cousin, his wife, and son were in town from NYC.

For the first time, we were able to get a picture of cousins (some of us... there are 14 of us just on my dad's side), our kids (6 out of the 7 at least) and our grandparents who started it all.
Brooks is the oldest and he's not even 3.  Its fun to see so many of us in the next stage of our lives and hope to raise our babies as close "cousins" especially since Brooks and Collins don't have any "true" cousins yet.  Cousins of cousins?  3rd cousins? I dunno... its all family.

At least I was there to keep things real.
I wear my "black sheep of the family" badge with pride.

We stayed with my grandparents for two days and the boys had a blast at the park by their house.
We then took the 1:45 hour trip down the coast from the Bay Area to Carmel, passing some fun stops along the way.

Artichoke capital of the world? You betcha.
Carmel was absolutely gorgeous and never broke 70-degrees the entire time.
Most of our days were spent at the beach.
We pretty much had to drag Brooks home by the end of the day he loved it so much.
Collins was a bit apprehensive at first, but nothing like the thrill of danger to get you moving.
We also went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a day and it had my jaw hanging open nearly the entire time.
Collins road shotgun in the back of the ergo and was actually happy as a clam (sea pun).
Brooks and I even got to pet a stingray... which honestly may have been the highlight of my his trip.
I'm not sure who enjoyed the aquarium the most, but I could go back 100x over.  Just amazing.

But other than that, it really just was a lot of relaxing, letting the kids stay up late watching movies, and sleeping in as much as we could.
Renovations on the condo were still underway while we were gone and I'll give you a full update on Wednesday.  So much to share!  Its crazy how fast things are going!

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer and are getting some rest and relaxation of your own!
-Samm

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