The whole thing feels very surreal. This was the house on Saturday, February 15th.
Last night, the gas lantern was on, and our shutters had been installed! I will have to take more in the daylight - the house is really starting to look finished - but I can't resist posting this. The beds are planted with Oakleaf Hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia), and Japanese boxwood. I also planted two Camellia japonicas, both "Debutante." I can't wait to get more camellias. I just love them and they come in so many forms.
They planted 4 of the "Snowflake" variety of the Oakleaf hydrangea. Let me know if you want one in, say, 2 years, because they get pretty huge. Case in point:
They don't look like the hydrangeas everyone thinks of (those are "mopheads" or "lacecaps") but these are supposed to be easier to care for and I was afraid the spot they are in wouldn't get enough sun for a mophead to be able to bloom well.
For fun, this is a close up of a flower from the camellia variety we planted:
But, I love these two and will plant them eventually:
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| Pink Perfection |
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| Magnoliaeflora |
Inside the house, we are hanging light fixtures (two thanks to my wonderful dad!) and the floors have been stained. The plumbers are slower (the master bathtub still isn't in, and they don't seem to like the idea of installing the second kitchen sink!) but everyone else is finishing up.
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| The foyer |
This chandelier is in our dining room. It has purple crystals in it, which reminded Kevin and me of our visit to Bavaria. One of our favorite visits was to Schleissheim palace. Because we visited in winter, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, and they had just gotten their stunning chandeliers back from restoration. I asked why they had purple crystals and the docent explained that they originally weren't purple - prior to modern glass techniques, the crystals were rather impure, and UV exposure caused them to take on a purple tint.
When we saw this chandelier - a vintage glass and crystal piece taken from a French Loire valley home - and it had purple crystals, we had to have it. My love of France + reminder of our first anniversary trip = a must have piece.
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| Close up of the detail |
The living room wall. The second photo is the better color representation. (That's Brent in the photo!)
Our backsplash is in, though not yet grouted
Love the faucet we chose (though it is admittedly filthy right now!)
One of the two chandeliers my dad hung for us! This was a birthday gift from my parents that my mom, Lina and I found at the antique fair at Marburger Farms in Round Top, Texas. I highly recommend the show. It's twice a year and I can't wait until the April show! It is Italian iron and putting it up was rather difficult. We rigged it (you can probably see it tied) at the height we thought we'd need it to be over a table, but the electricians decided to "help" yesterday and cut it off. Luckily they cut it at the lower height, but I still found it amusing, mostly because I'm sure they didn't realize it was purposeful and were muttering about it.
Our bathroom, with the shower glass!
The upstairs is coming together as well:
The builder, Southland Homes, has asked to take professional photos of the house before and after we move in. We've warned them that the "after" photos probably won't be able to be taken for a year! We don't exactly have a bunch of furniture, and much of what we do have needs some work thanks to Ping and Pong.
Delilah when I was in law school. Darcy is the black blob behind her. Not much has changed.
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| I appear adorable, but am pretty much an unmitigated disaster. Oh, and I hate everyone except my human-mom, though lately I pretend to prefer Kevin just to crush Laura's heart. Cue my Disney Maleficent laugh. Yes, I definitely have one. |
