Getting down to the wire.

Another move tomorrow! But this time it's into our own home! So exciting! But boy, do the guys have a lot to do today!

Here's some of the last-minute things they were doing over the weekend.

Finishing off the new stairway (they're restoring it to original but the banister had to be raised to get it to code).

Tiling.

Keith and I figuring out the tile border for the upstairs bathrooms.

Peekaboo.

SO pleased with the tile. (This is one of the examples of how awesome Keith is: I had asked for the border to be three tiles out from the wall, with black tiles every second tile. When they were about to lay it that way, he called to say, now that it's going in, it looks like four tiles out from the wall might be better because of wall overlap, etc. Not only was he spot-on, but he didn't just "do what the client asked," but, rather, knew what look I wanted and when the actual work was happening thought how the look was best achieved.)

Katie's pretty pink.

Oooh! Light switches going in! Making it seem real. A lot of them even work!

Kitchen sink's in!

Floor tile in upstairs!

The floor reveal in the dining room! We had no idea this detail was there!

Fir in the dining room, white oak in the living room.

Michelle's feet.

Fridge in place (girls excited: water and ice in door! Mom excited: a luxury fridge instead of the ancient, apartment-sized one we lived with the last 12 years!)

Toilet in d/s bath! Plumber I'd never seen before was putting this in, and looked up at me as I passed and said "where'd ya get this toilet from?!" Um, it's German I think, I said. "It's strange; complicated" he said. Oh dear. Well, at least it's cute, and, surprise! Stylewise, it matches the sink!

Honey (Michelle), Ogie (Jody), Baby Noah and the Little One came to visit! It felt like a real endorsement to have them so enthusiastic and positive about all our choices!  Huge step in making it feel like home.

After house tour, street antics ensued.

And a fun dinner out at family-friendly Famoso.

Instead of colouring sheets and crayons, they give the kids balls of pizza dough to play with. Great idea! They loved it!

Noah mesmerized by sports on the TV.

Cleo apparently has a loose tooth, even though she's barely got her baby teeth in!

Ice-cream fueled hilarity.

Fun times!

Colours.

Choosing paint colours is intense, especially when you have to choose for 10 rooms at once, rooms that you're not actually living in. You hem and haw for weeks, and then suddenly one morning, Keith calls and says, "have you got those paint colours, then?" and you just have to decide.

We started with the backsplash tile; hand-poured glass by Stone and Pewter Accents called "Agate" in a "silk" finish. Here's a link, in case you're interested in the process (better pictures that this too). This photo doesn't do it justice: it's a beautiful mix of transparent and opaque glass in natural blues and greens. It has the sea colours I was looking for, but soft and subtle.

A few weeks back, I met with a colour consultant, Amber Welton, and she gasped when I showed her the tile, and just said "yes. It's beautiful. That's your first choice, and it's gorgeous. Don't even show me any more." (I had a pile of samples.) It's informed all our subsequent colour choices.

I love over-dyed carpets! Found this blue one over-dyed with green on a really good sale at East India Carpets! How perfect is that?

Then began the obsessing over paint colours.



We gathered many paint chips... Luckily, the girls thought it was jolly good fun!

Does anybody want a bunch of almost-full sample cans of paint, some of them the half litre size, mostly in the blue/green/teal range?

We tested a bunch ...

....and took them over to the house to see how they'd look under various lights. 

 And here are some of the choices:

Farrow and Ball Green Blue. 

My friend Jo Sommervill (Hi Jo, if you're reading this!) introduced me to F&B paints years ago, and they really are unique paints, and particularly well suited, I think, to the kind of plaster walls we have. Expensive, but in the grand scheme of things, paint is pretty cheap anyway, so definitely worth it, I'd say. 

The two main colours for the hallways and main rooms on the ground floor are in these soft turqoisey colours. It was hard to find a balance between having some colour and not being too intense, toned down without being dull. F&B hits it right on the money, IMHO. 

Colours are never accurate on the computer, but you get the idea. 

F&B Teresa's Green (just a lighter version of Green Blue). Both colours look lighter in real life.

Ah, love it! Called "Morning Walk" by Benjamin Moore. Something a little brighter for the kitchen. Brings out the green in the backsplash tile and contrasts with the blue. Really reminds me of the green in our old kitchen, which is the first thing Michelle said when she saw it last night!

F&B Cooking Apple Green for the guest bedroom upstairs (though we had the colour copied in a more utilitarian brand).

An off-white, the name of which I can't recall, for the wainscotting and trim downstairs [edit: it's "Timid White" by Ben Moore]. I wanted it to be a neutral, soft, creamy off-white. Not too white as there's going to be a lot of it! I agonized over this white, so fingers crossed!

Katie wanted pink. It's a really pretty, soft pink, aptly named "Ballerina Pink" by BM.

Fifi wanted blue; this is Harbour Haze by BM. These rooms are actually done already. Will post pics tomorrow.

I wanted to find a ceiling colour that would glow! And this definitely does it! It's quite amazing. Has a bit of a greenish undertone, which perfectly creates the "ethereal" look I had in mind but wasn't sure how to achieve! So pleased!

It's Cloud Nine by BM. Darker than the ever-popular Cloud White, which the colour consultant recommended and which we are using for trim in the bedrooms.

Random pictures.

Thinking about colours made me think about this Still Life with Fruit at Jane and Lorraine's place, which was just begging to be photographed. And what a beautiful backdrop that wall colour makes!



And that made me think about the baked apples they made that night. Delicious and photogenic. You see why we didn't want to move out of this neighbourhood?

tile

It's amazing to watch this space -- which used to be a little scullery off the kitchen -- become a bathroom! The tile is amazing! 

Black tiles on the floor (large format, same as kitchen), "antique white" small subway tiles on the walls, and penny rounds on shower floor and in feature (behind shower hardware) and inset.

The tiling guys, like all the subcontractors, are amazing. Smart, exacting, dedicated to their craft. They got the level out for every single row of this floor-to-ceiling subway tile!

The penny rounds in the shower basin (mix of gloss and matte, quite lovely).

One of the things Keith called us about the other day (or was that just yesterday?) was the grout. They were going to use a different brand than we'd originally chosen, and would I come over to pick a colour? There were several light greys and off-whites to choose from, but none were quite like the original Mapei "Frost." Keith said, no problem, we'll find the Mapei Frost (he went out himself and bought it)...and it looks perfect! 

At the risk of sounding like an advertising cliché, the thing about Keith is that he does not compromise. With every little detail, he has made sure we get what we want. And we are so happy with everything!

The stairs are coming along beautifully.

This is an earlier stage, but even then they were starting to look great!

Amazing detail in the hardwood at the bottom of the stairs! Couldn't see it before!

The treads have also come up beautifully.

We couldn't find a stock handrail we liked, and custom would've been expensive, so the inimitable Keith devised this plan: a stock piece customized to match the original (and now the height is to code).

I think it's teak? They and the newel posts will remain unpainted.

New rails, which will be painted.

These stairs are going to be a lot of fun!