House update.

It's a busy time at the new house.

The exterior {siding, rock, fascia, and soffit} guys are all here.  The exterior was scheduled to be done by the end of July but since we are still in the thick of it we are now having to push back our landscaping guy.

{by the way - that is not the color the house will be - the wood came pre-primed}

When Gregg and I decided to be the general contractors of our house {instead of hiring a GC} we were most nervous about getting the house up and out of the ground.  We knew once we got past drywall then we were dealing with familiar territory - that is a big part of what I do as an Interior Designer - help people with finish selections {it's not just all about pretty pillows and hanging pictures}!

Now that we are starting to deal with installation of interior selections I feel a lot less nervous.

And,

to start it all off ...

... I am deep in deliberation over paint colors.  I think I might have to many options!  I want to go with a gray - but gray ALWAYS pulls either purple, green or beige.  So the big decision is which way do I want to go??  Also - although I love the gray trend, I think it is going to go "out" quickly so I have decided to keep my gray more neutral then a typical 'gray'.  That being said, I also don't want our house to feel like you are walking into a rain cloud - I definitely want a warm gray.  Oh man, so many criteria!

The main level is almost all wood floors - we have them stacked like this in the master bedroom acclimating.  They are a 9 1/2" European white oak.  I know, I know, I can't believe I am doing oak {even though it is making a huge comeback right now}.  I grew up in your typical 1980's white walled house with warm stained oak base, case and doors and I always despised it - telling my mom I would NEVER do oak in my own house! Ha!

Years later I saw a beautiful office done in oak {with your typical oak grain} but stained really, really dark and I fell in love with it.  I am considering doing some of the secondary bathrooms the same way.

But, my decision to do this wood floor was actually pretty simple once I saw it in person.  When we first started to "picture" this house we pictured white case, base and doors with really dark wood floors.  The reality is that keeping dark wood floors clean or even looking clean} is a nightmare {especially with a family}!  We are definitely making decisions based on form and function in this house.

Earlier this year we acquired samples of dark wood floors from all the brands we were considering {different species of wood/ different stain colors and technics}.  We "tested" them out at home by dropping knifes, heavy objects, flour, water, etc... on them.  I even took a hammer to them.  We decided on the brand we wanted and were going to run with it - until I saw the same brand floor in a showroom but it was the "lighter finish" the European white oak.  I was starting to have some hesitations about doing such a dark floor and when I saw the lighter floor we {mostly I - Gregg was really easy going with whatever} fell in love with it.  We immediately re-"pictured" what we were picturing for our house and decided on the oak {added bonus was that it is a hardwood versus a softwood}.

We got back from Bear Lake to see these tile floors going in - yahoo!

This is looking toward the garage - powder bath and laundry room are on the left, mud room is on the right.

I am not doing any natural stone {except my counter tops - and the real rock on the exterior and fireplace} in this house.  I am more then ready to try the ceramic and porcelain tile trend!  I am not a fan of cleaning slate or travertine.  The slate in our other home never felt clean to me and the travertine was way to porous {Gregg has been cursing the travertine in our master bathroom at our other house for years}.  

The tile pictured above is dark gray porcelain that is a 'through body porcelain' - meaning the entire tile is porcelain and colored.

Side note:  I will share a very strong personal design opinion of mine {which was formulated while studying interior design in college}.  Don't try to make something look like something it is not!  The perfect example is tile.  Don't try to make a ceramic tile look like a travertine or slate -or- don't try to make plastic laminate look like a granite.  

If you are going to use a ceramic tile, chose one that looks like a ceramic tile - NOT one that is trying to look like travertine or slate or anything else.  

Take that for what it is worth, and I don't judge if you disagree!  

I don't think the picture above does this porcelain tile justice - it is beautiful - and its not trying to look like a slate - it looks like tile!

The sky was amazing the other night - and the house is starting to look like a house!