The Lichte's New Farmhouse.... Week 45, 46, 47

This SHOULD be the most fun part of the whole process - but I am slacking BIG TIME with blogging here towards the end. I think just because we are so busy with things around the house every night - as opposed to our typical Saturday clean up day that we've been having for the past 10 months.

But I will catch everything up through this past week (Week 45, 46, 47) It's now Tuesday afternoon. yesterday they did the last coat of Poly on the floors so that is drying today. Tomorrow I clean then move in Thursday. Our goal is to be sleeping there by Friday night.

Back to the past three weeks and everything that has been going on. I have to be honest, in these past 3 weeks I may have had about 18 different mini breakdowns. My poor farmer, my poor general contractor, they've both been at the other end of those at times. But my house is what it is thanks to them - I just hope they know that!!

My Laundry Room. Check out that beautiful brass bridge faucet. I ended up getting that at Signature Hardware.

Right down the hall from the laundry room is this bathroom. That vanity, that toile wallpaper, that library paneling - it turned out exactly how I had pictured.

 

A close up of that vanity...

The kitchen sink faucet got installed.

Some appliances...

My foyer light.... I waited and waited and waited for this thing to go on Sale at Pottery Barn - It finally did!

My farmers office.

 

This office door turned out perfect. And if I know my farmer, his office will always be a mess so this door will always be closed.

Master Bath Vanities... I didn't have these custom made - I purchased them at Home Depot.

Master bath shower is still not done. It does look beautiful but it sure has taken a long time. Good things come to those who wait, right? 

 

This is the master closet. Entirely too perfect for my wardrobe that is very simple - but I'll take it.

Well that's all that I have for the past three weeks. In good news I have a ton of recipes that I am just dying to cook up and share from my new kitchen. I have some pretty good organization tips that I have been trying with the new house that I plan to share as well.

Our house building journey is coming to a close soon. It's gone on for quite a while and the past month or so has been a little bit more stressful than fun. I know that anyone who has built a home can relate to me on that, but luckily for me I will never have to move again. I will live in this house for the rest of my years. And it's a pretty great house to spend that time in.

I'll save next week for all of the sentiments that I have towards my very hardworking husband who is just beginning to make all of my dreams come true. the sacrifice that he has made for years and years to be able to build me this home does not ever go unnoticed by me. His bank account may have been bigger before I came along - but I like to think that his life is more filled with love. I tell myself that and I tell him that daily. I think maybe he is starting to believe it.

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The Lichte's New Farmhouse.... Week 42, 43 and 44

(I wrote this whole post Monday and Tuesday and just noticed yesterday that it was all gone - so bear with me)

WOW - It's been a whirlwind. Things have been busy and my farmer is FINALLY back in the field this morning. That makes me happy, that makes him happy and that will make our bank account happy (beans don't make any money in the bags.)



I haven't posted in two weeks - paint is hard to photograph. So I saved it all for this one post. I did post my paint colors a few weeks ago (see them here) but I should mention that my main color, Benjamin Moore 'Revere Pewter" was a bust. I nearly didn't sleep one whole night because I knew I didn't like the color but I was trying to talk myself into it. Ahhh.... that was silly. One quick call to my sister in law to run to her house and look at her walls, followed by one quick call to my painter asking him to...gulp... repaint. It all worked out and what used to be "Revere Pewter" is now "Barren Plain". It's much lighter much more muted. (say that 5 times fast) 

Things are really picking up. Yesterday I picked out the final color for the wood floors. They are being sanded and stained this week. A few weeks (maybe months) ago I gave an update on our wood floors. We have White Oak wood floors laid. They are a grade 1 which just makes them a little bit more uniform. Not quite so much grain. After they sand the floors and before they stain them they will mop them with water. It's called water popping. That brings all of the grain to the surface and really holds the color. We chose just a regular "Red Oak" color of stain. its a great deep rich color but has a hint of reds to it. Although it's not quite this "orangey" this is the color.

This is part of the sanding process of our wood floors.




Last weekend my mom and I wallpapered our downstairs 1/2 bath. And when I say my mom and I, I clearly mean my mom... I was a great paper holder and scissors getter though. I remember as I kid staying up late to help her wallpaper a room. I wasn't much help, I was probably more in the way, but I remember those late night - just staring at her work dreaming that someday I would be doing the same thing in my very own home.
AND. Fast-forward 25 years later I have my own home, but my mom is still doing my projects. I need to learn these things so someday I can do them for my own daughter.

The toile wallpaper just pairs so well with the library paneling.

It looks to be dark in this photo but is actually a very bright room.



 It was fun to do together but after upholstering two of my wingback chairs and wallpapering 2 bathrooms I owe her something very special. Thanks, mom.

This is my table and chairs. I restrained the top a darker color and had my painter paint the legs and chairs black (they were originally white).



Then my two wing back chairs will be on the ends of my table in my kitchen ear in area. My mom is almost done with them - they look great. I think the black buffalo check will give my kitchen a less 'formal" feel and make it a little more "rustic".  

After the interior painting was finished everything that has been taped up for over a month was uncovered. I must admit - that was a fun day. Seeing all of my countertops and sinks and my staircase.

 

This is a very blurry picture and I am not sure why. BUT I love these scones and remember my farmers' grandmothers sink that we has restored and it's now in our laundry room. I have been worried about this room for some reason. Just worried about how everything is going to end up tying together. But my mother in law told me it's too pretty to do laundry in - so I must have done something right.



This island is really just the center of our whole house. I see lots of pancakes on Saturday mornings, some spilled juice and eventually something will scratch it or stains it.  I'll chug coffee sitting at this island being exhausted from staying up all night with a baby and it will see really early mornings with my farmer during planting and harvest. I will laugh at this island and shed my fair share of tears. I'll drink wine with my sister-in-law and give babies a bath or two in that sink. I'll be up late worried about a teenager that isn't home yet and have late night dinners with my farmer. Refrigerators will do out, dishwashers will too, paint colors might change over time and even that wallpaper I love will someday be replaced but this island will forever remain in this spot in this kitchen in this house and on this farm.



Light fixtures are EXPENSIVE but say so much about a space. I really tried to buy everything little by little and room by room so it wasn't as much all at once. I had originally purchased big chrome bell type pendants for my island. I loved them - I really did but as soon as I saw that creamy linen shade I knew that I needed that for above my table. So the industrial style pedants and the soft creamy shade were NOT going to go well together. I took them back and found these great small glass pendants from Pottery barn (and majorly on sale)...

This is the light at then entry of the garage in our little mudroom area. Super cheap - maybe $40.00 from Lowes and it's just perfect for this space.

 

They finished the tile in our upstairs bathroom and our kitchen backsplash. We used the same white subway tile. Our grout will be white (it's not yet grouted in this photo). We have a regular bathtub but chose to have it tiled instead a tub insert. I think it makes a small space a little more spacious.

 

 

For our kitchen we had just a simple white subway tile but in the area behind our stove I had them do this pattern. It's the same marble basket weave that is in our master bath.

 

 

 

 

Another blurry photo- not sure what is going on but this is our front door. I love all of the natural light that it lets in.

 

 

We hired a local mason to do our fireplace for us. I knew I wanted regular red brick but I wanted it to appear as if it's been there for 50 years. It honestly turned out better than I imagined. it's perfect and mom mother in law said it looks like the fireplace in her house when she was a kid. Those are the things that I love to hear.

 

 

 

Well I think that's it. This week they have been staining the floors and I am in full force packing mode. I hope you all have a great day.

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Farmhouse Paint Colors and Wallpaper

I have been eating, breathing, sleeping, all things this house for at least a good solid year. Most things I have known what I want before I even have to pick them out. I hear that's been a contractors dream. Until they get wind that I write about them every week in a blog. I have even been deemed the Taylor Swift of house building. Actually - that's a lie. No one has ever called me that- I call myself that. Enough embarrassing admissions of my love of Taylor Swift (Country Taylor Swift - NOT "Shake it off" Taylor Swift) - let's get back to paint colors.

I am not good with lots of color. Part of me would love everything white and off white - actually most of me would love white and off whites... BUT we have lots of big beautiful trim and to really show that off I think you need a little bit of color. Key word... little...

I'll go ahead and warn you that ALL of these colors are not what they appear. I almost didn't even post these paint colors because the sample that I downloaded from the internet is not how it looks on my walls. But... here goes.

All of our cabinets and trim are painted (enameled) Benjamin Moore "White Dove." It's such a great color with the right amount of cream to it.  Plus it's what my sister in law has and let's face it - anything that she has in her house I love. Thanks Mel....

The majority of the house (entry, living room, hallway, back mudroom, garage, laundry, up the stairs, upstairs playroom) will be Benjamin Moore "Revere Pewter."
Again... it's not near as dark as it's appearing.

 

 

My Farmers office will be Benjamin Moore "Briarwood"... I was looking for a great deep rich color - something very masculine and this color did it for me. It's a good grey/brown with a hint of greenish. (Not John Deere Green as originally requested...)

 

 

The kitchen is Benjamin Moore "Glass Slipper"... A real pale pale icy blue.  Not too many walls in my kitchen - most of it is open. It will mainly be where the table area is.



 

 

I have said all along that if I could afford to wallpaper my whole house that I think I would. Now that may be a stretch but I do love wallpaper. My half bath will be wallpapered this white and light gray Animal Toile. The lower half of the walls are the white library paneling and this will wallpaper will be the top. One of my favorite rooms... I can't have a favorite - I love them all. Check out those big cows (bulls) I am a sucker for all things cow. 

 

 

 

 

Our master bedroom is Benjamin Moore "Phillipsburg Blue" DEFINITELY not as deep as it's shown in the sample... It was tough for me to do this dark, but we have three really big windows that line one wall so lots of natural light and big white trim. I think it will go with our cream upholstered bed great.

Another reason that I decided to go so bold in the master bedroom was that our master bathroom is.... wait for it..... White. Dove white trim and Dove white walls. Our two vanities are a dark walnut/cherry color and the mirrors as well so I think it will be a nice balance.

Benjamin Moore "White Dove"

I desperately wanted to paint the bedroom with the built in bookcases a soft pinkish color, but I refrained. I ended up doing BOTH bedrooms in Benjamin Moore "Colony Green". It's a much softer green than the way that it looks below.

 

The upstairs (future kiddos) bathroom will be both painted and wallpapered. Remember it's a Jack and Jill styled bathroom so it has two vanity sections that are separated my a middle section with a shared tub and toilet. The two vanity section will be painted this Benjamin Moore "Billowy Down"

 

 

And the middle section with the tub and the toilet will be this absolutely adorable Thibaut "Resort Frogs"... It's even cuter in person - I promise. And parts of the frogs and the butterflies actually have texture on them. It almost appears as if it's painted on the wallpaper. Very charming.

 

Our outside columns will be painted a bright white (to match the siding) but both front and back porch ceilings will be Sherwin Williams "Sleepy Blue."

 

Well - I think that about covers it for paint and wallpaper. All but one color was chosen from the  Benjamin Moore color schemes but our paint will be Sherwin Williams. They will just match every sample that I have. I know I didn't post a weekly update this week. I plan to combine it with next week since I think maybe our painting will done.

We are getting closer...

I will end with an adorable picture from one of our last Taylor Swift concert because they are cuter than any house photo. And yes I made those tutus and NO I didn't wear one :)

 

 

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The Lichte's New Farmhouse..... Week 40 and Week 41

 

I am very very behind.... Which seems to be the theme for our construction. JUST KIDDING! I am the worlds least patient person (according to my farmer) so throw that in with building a new home and it's not a great combination.

 

I didn't post Week 40 because we had a birthday party for our nephew (pictures later in the post) and well there wasn't really that much to show. Just paint primer... and I can't even try to make that interesting.

 

But the good news is it all looks very very good. Caulking and priming and enamel is very boring to me when I just want to be living there but what it ends up doing to your trim and the way that it looks is very much worth it. I need to remind myself of that when I become impatient. Good things come to those who wait!

 

Take a look at Week 40 and Week 41... Because they are the same - from the outside at least. 

 

 



We did get our appliances in... We purchased them back in October from Best Buy. 

 

 

With all of the priming and caulking they have to remove every drawer and door from the house. It's a process I tell ya. 

Primed white laundry room cabinets.

Primed Library paneling in the 1/2 bath.

The kitchen island

The stained kitchen island....

Primed living room built ins.

Primed library paneling going up the steps.

The front door also got stained BUT quickly covered up for the priming process. Maybe I'll show you that next week.

 

 

Last week we got all of our countertops set. Kitchen and Laundry room are a River White granite and upstairs bathroom vanities are an SF Real granite.  We purchased master bath vanities and the half bath vanity from stores (Pottery Barn and Home Depot) those are both Cararra Marble.

 

We got all of our stone from Bracco Stone in Kansas City. Very very nice people to work with and great prices as well. SO if you are looking for some countertops give them a call. I failed to get a picture of the upstairs 1/2 bath vanity tops. They are very similar to the kitchen and I did get photos of those.

 

We did a small Ogee on the kitchen island and a half bullnose everywhere else for the edging. All four corners of the island flair out like in this photo below.

 

 

 
This is of course was taken prior to the island being stained. I'm a little backwards on this post.

 

 

I think I have been most excited about this old sink. We had it redone and sandblasted a bit. If you recall from my earlier post this is from the house of my farmers grandparents. It's very very special to us all and I am glad that we have been able to put it to good use. I bet I give babies a bath someday in this sink. Hopefully kids and grandkids. 

 

AND... Some of my favorite birthday party shots..

The birthday boy... My farmers little buddy and my little boyfriend. I can't wait to tease him in 10 years that he was in love with his Aunt :)

WELL that is all for Week 40 and Week 41. I am drinking coffee and picking out my colors now SO I will do a post about what colors (and wallpaper) I have picked out.

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