Wedding Place Cards 6 Apr 2018 7:42 AM (7 years ago)

Loving these!!

Preparing For The Wedding - DIY Projects 5 Apr 2018 12:12 PM (7 years ago)

This is a frame that will be used in our photo booth

Close up of the flowers on the frame

Outdoor signs to direct incoming guests

This is the sign post that will be planted out by the road so no one misses our drive

This is the seating chart

Preparing for the Wedding - Madison's Dress 23 Mar 2018 7:41 AM (7 years ago)

Preparing for the Wedding - Flowers! 23 Mar 2018 7:39 AM (7 years ago)

Tons of Hydrangeas

Peach Hypericum

Baby Blue Eucalptus

Polar Star White Roses

Peach Roses

First Lady Roses

Veronica

English Ivy Variagated

English Ivy - green

Staging the Library Shelves 16 Nov 2017 8:36 AM (7 years ago)

This is seriously fun!

I am trying to not only house the books, but also keep it pleasing to the eye and make it personal for both Mike and I. The hard part is that I have a TON of stuff and Mike has very little - but we are working on that!

The flags are from each of our Fathers funerals as they both served in the military. We plan to put the flags in wooden boxes and then I want to make shadow boxes with each ones medals.

Although neither Mike or I are hunters, these antlers - purchased at Magnolia Gardens Auction House in Hockley TX. made an interesting 3-D effect.

I had to make one shelf with my sidesaddle collection of antique stirrups and some other gifts people have blessed me with!

Library Doors 16 Nov 2017 8:14 AM (7 years ago)

.... long awaited and greatly anticipated!

They still need to be stained.

We Will Call This the Blooper Reel! 25 Oct 2017 8:58 AM (7 years ago)

A collection of "OPPS" pics and explanations from the construction of the house!

First off - those very very long beams were 2x4's and thankfully one of my daughters friends noticed it and said they needed to be changed to 2x6's. This is a load bearing wall!!

This set of french was installed backwards resulting in a huge water leak during hurricane Harvey

The water leaked down into our kitchen and ruined the newly installed dry wall ceiling

The trim guys put the double oven insert so low - I would have had to lay down on my belly to see if something was done in the bottom oven. This had to be redone.

The kitchen cabinet hardware was sent with screws that were too short.

The microwave hutch still does not work properly. When opened it lays on top of the microwave instead of in the brackets that should keep it flush with the top.

The workers kept opening my crank out windows and leaving them open in the rain. They broke 2 of the sets of openers and left one window open. I was unable to close it until the window guy came out to disassemble the crank.

Opps - someone hit a glass panel in our breezeway door and did not admit to it.

Still dealing with this Opps. This tub had a drain that runs beneath it - there for raising the height of the tub by over 4 inches. The beautiful marble has to be demoed and we have to build up the platform to support the tub and then marble and tile it again.

This slipper tub was hooked up and when I went to clean it out - found a huge leak coming from the brass fixtures. Water leaked downstairs and collected in the laundry room light that now no longer works.

A few more:

The kitchen flooring was installed and was twice as thick as regular tile - so the dishwasher and the refrigerator did not fit.

The orig AC company I originally worked with did not install any vents for any of the bathrooms or the kitchen so my kitchen vent hood is really a very expensive light and there is no way to install vents in the laundry room, mud room bathroom or the exercise room bath.

The brand new freezer that has never been used but been in storage for over 2 years became home to a field mouse - who chewed through some of the wires. Repair man coming this Friday to work on that issue!

Closets 23 Oct 2017 6:33 PM (7 years ago)

Mine

In the back of my closet is my sewing room!

...and his!

Love Our Tile Guys!! 23 Oct 2017 5:10 PM (7 years ago)

Today they tiled behind the dog wash tub and did the stove back splash which included setting a HEAVY fire back plate!!

Running Water! 23 Oct 2017 5:05 PM (7 years ago)

We have it!

Library Doors! 23 Oct 2017 12:54 PM (7 years ago)

Squeeeeellll! Here they are - hope they get them framed so we can have them installed soon!

Wood Floors are IN!! 23 Oct 2017 8:23 AM (7 years ago)

This is the flooring we chose to go on the upstairs landing, down the hallways and into the bedrooms.

We chose to stay with the mahogany stain in the library. I will find a beautiful antique rug for this room to diversify the color without compromising the look of the room.

This is the master bedroom. We chose a honey colored wood for this room to keep it light and cool looking.

Even Though Our House is Not Move in Ready....... 20 Oct 2017 10:05 AM (7 years ago)

Mike and I moved in a few pieces anyway!!

Both of these pictures are of pieces we found at our favorite furniture store - Magnolia Gardens Auction House. This huge piece was a originally custom made entry table and I cannot tell you how big it is. The top is mosaic marble and is heavy heavy heavy! It worked out so perfectly for our butcher block table!!

Here is our dining room table and we are so thrilled to have it before Thanksgiving!!

I Love This!! 17 Oct 2017 8:09 AM (7 years ago)

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to see this fixture up and lit!! It is a late 1800's oil lamp converted to electric that I found in California.

YAY!!!

...And More Gets Done! 13 Oct 2017 5:38 AM (7 years ago)

Here is an updated pic of the kitchen .

Door and drawer hardware is being installed and the glass is in the decorative door as well as the glass shelves

We had the oven raised, so now instead of having a large tray cabinet - there will be a bottom drawer and a top narrow cabinet where I can put baking sheets. I cannot tell you how happy I am we made this change!

This is one of the sink faucets in the master bathroom. It has sentimental value because this is the same faucet my parents had in their bathroom.

This is Mike's closet. I put a mirror above the seat which I wish now I had done something like this in my closet.

I loved working with a company called Milstead glass. They were so professional! This is the exercise room where you can see one wall is completely mirrored. Lily needs to get on the tread mill!

Here is one of the upstairs bathrooms. I am so glad that one of my neighbors happened to stop by when they were about to bring this tup up the stairs. It is cast iron and weighs a LOT. Butch helped them to carry it up without doing damage to the stairs! God Bless You Butch!!! I have a beautiful piece of beveled glass that will be placed over the window to give it a more antique feel.

We are really excited and things seem to be moving along but there is still quite a bit to do before we are really done and ready to move in. The plumbing still needs to be run from the well to the house. The wood floors and carpet need to be installed. The painters need to come back to finish touch ups. A band of decorative tile needs to be put on above the tile in the above bathroom. Door knobs, drawer pulls and clothes rods need to be installed. The master tub will hopefully go in today. The electrician needs to hook up the hot water heaters and finish installing 4 bathroom lights as well as get the kitchen antique hanging fixture working. I am sure there is more -

We got a bid for a sprinkler system .. it was high but the company has great reviews and was recommended to us. We also need to get a final grade on the front lawn and then start bringing in good garden soil for the beds as well as get some kind of grass growing because come April 2018, it has to be wedding ready!!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall... 11 Oct 2017 2:59 PM (7 years ago)

.. well - here are a few of them: This is the mud room bath

This is the upstairs bath that will have a slipper tub

.and here are the kitchen cabinet doors. They are putting in the glass panels.

Inching Right Along 9 Oct 2017 12:57 PM (7 years ago)

The plumbers started today and this afternoon I went down to take a peek. They have installed 1 toilet, 1 sink faucet, several toilet rings in the floor for others and they were working on the kitchen sink and dish washer! This is the mudroom bathroom.

Mike and I spent all weekend working so hard on the house doing what is called a final clean. That is a bit misleading as it is not really the 'final clean', it is just the big clean where you take all the tape of the window panes, get rid of all the dry wall silt and make endless trips to the dumpster with garbage! Mike is so thrilled with the library...me too!

Another part of what we did was put in all these shelves. We can move them later if we need to have more or less room to accommodate books and such.

I just had to post this - but in all honesty, this picture does not come close to doing it justice. This is the chandelier in the dining room. It looks spectacular lit up - especially in the evening.

I can't wait to get our dining room table set up beneath it!

High's and Lows 29 Sep 2017 5:45 AM (7 years ago)

Throughout this project we have gone through a series of highs and lows. It is so much fun to reach a place you have only dreamed about - a few examples of that would be when the framing started to go up and you could see the outline of the house, when the sheet rock went in and all that open space all of a sudden became individual rooms and just recently when the light fixtures were installed.

Sadly yesterday was a low day for me. For one - Mike is out of town at a training conference. On top of that the guy came to spec out the install for the appliances and he found LOTS of problems. The flooring we chose is thicker than regular tile - so it essentially raised the level and shortened the measurements of the openings for both the dish washer and the refrigerator. The refrigerator opening is too low on one side by 1/4 of an inch, while the dishwasher missed the mark by 3/4 of an inch. We also are missing a piece to secure the washer on one side of the interior of the cabinet. The vent hood opening was cut to the actual size of the hood, so it is way too big AND there does not seem to be an actual vent pipe going into the attic. Wow - where do you go with that???

The oven is a whole different issue. First off - the electrical connection was installed way too low, so that has to be raised and I have come to the realization that I have to have something changed in the kitchen that will be quite costly - or it will drive me nuts. The double oven opening is so low, it feels like it is at my feet. We purchased ovens with side opening doors and one reason was because it is so much easier on our backs, but having the units so low defeats that purpose.....and now I am not sure what to do. Changing it will cost a LOT of money and I am so angry at myself for not seeing this until late in the process. When I did notice it - I thought I could make it work, but as time goes on - I just do not like it ......

WHAT SHOULD I DO??? Can you see how low the oven opening is?

Lights On!! 27 Sep 2017 7:28 PM (7 years ago)

Not only are more light fixtures being installed - but the electricity is on in parts of the house!!! SQUEEEEELLLL!!

This is the library and one of my favorite fixture finds!

This is the entry hanging fixture. It is huge - but just the right size for this.

This is a circa 1880's oil converted to electricity fixture I found in California. The glass globes and inserts are not in it yet.

These are 3 matching heavy brass lights in the butlers pantry.

OPPPPPS... someone broke a glass panel in the door off the car port and did not tell me...sigh

More Tile Work! 26 Sep 2017 5:17 PM (7 years ago)

I can not wait to run my first bath in this tub!!! The actual tub is not in the hole yet!

I am so thrilled with the tile work. This picture does not do it justice.

Although I know it will be hot in the summer - we chose black slate for the large and Juliet balconies.

The dry wall guys came and finished this window and the tile guys grouted this bathroom. They still have to trim out this with a mother of pearl tile and then the slipper tub will be installed...I already feel badly for the gentlemen who have to lug that thing up the stairs.

Let There Be Light!! 26 Sep 2017 4:56 PM (7 years ago)

The light fixtures are being installed! Here is what is up so far:

There are actually 3 of these pendant lights over the eating bar. If you look closely you can see where the dry wall was repaired today on the ceiling.

This is the partially assembled dining room chandelier....and Mike!

There are 3 wall sconces going up the stairs.

4 outside lanterns like these in the courtyard

..and 2 lanterns like this on the upstairs porch.

Stove Top, Sewing Room and Other Misc Pics 22 Sep 2017 3:05 PM (7 years ago)

So the granite guys cut the hole for the stove top and placed it in. It is hard to see and not hooked up - but cool none the less!

This is my sewing room

This is the new french door.

This little window above where the slipper tub will go still needs to be finished out.

Here you can see the unfinished window as well as the tile in this upstairs bathroom.

Antique Renovation 22 Sep 2017 2:47 PM (7 years ago)

We purchased this antique dresser from my favorite auction house - Magnolia Gardens. It came with the marble top. I had the guys who did our granite counter tops cut the proper size hole for the sink and the faucets. It is not seated down all the way in the photograph because I still need to do some work on the interior bracing, but I am so pleased!!

Just wait until you see it finished and with the drawers back in! This is going in the formal powder room.

Media Room Door Pulls 21 Sep 2017 11:39 AM (7 years ago)

They came in and I love them!!

God's Hand is on This Project 21 Sep 2017 11:33 AM (7 years ago)

Long but amazing story!! Those who know me know I have been working to build a house for about 5 years. Why did it take so long - for one I do not believe in debt. Anyway - I worked hard to incorporate things that have special meaning to me - One of those silly things are these solid brass egg shaped door knobs. My Mom and Dad had them in their house and I just loved the way they felt in my hand. They are NOT cheap.. so for years I have been collecting them off of Ebay and other sources. The passage knobs were not too hard to find, but the ones with locks were. Years it took me to collect enough for all the exterior doors on this house - 2 upstairs and 5 down and deadbolts to match and they came from ALL over the US. Well I took them all in to have them keyed so that 1 key would open all of the locks. The locksmith was opening some that were 'used' and had been removed from homes and he was opening the original packaging on others that had never been used. EVERY single one was keyed IDENTICALLY. We just stood there and stared at each other until finally I broke the silence by saying, Do you believe in God? He said yes. I said, do you believe in Jesus and he responded by saying "There is not One without the Other." I smiled and said I could stand here all day and give testimony to all the miracles I have experienced involving this house, and here is yet another one!

Equus Villa Farm View RSS