Tile, counters and paint in the new house!

Hello hello! I'm excited to share the latest house updates with you! These are brand-spanking-new photos, just taken this morning. Let me tell you...the drywall/paint process was literally like watching paint dry. It felt like it took for.ev.er. For about two months it seemed like not a whole lot was happening, even though we knew plenty was getting done.

But the past couple of weeks we've had a TON of progress! Something new happens every day and it's something we can SEE. That's always fun. ;) 

The paint was finished this week and I went with Agreeable Gray from Sherwin Williams in the whole house. I loved it SO much in my winning Design Dash room and was planning to paint our old family room and kitchen in it as well. It is a lovely neutral color. 

This is my office and it doesn't look like much -- but it's going to be awesome when I'm done with it. I have big plans in this space!:

The best part? This room is done other than flooring and outlets. I'm taking a light from our last house to put in here. 

I don't think I've share our bathroom yet? Lots of progress in here! We were at the house yesterday evening and went in this morning to see all of this tile!:

That tile is ceramic but looks like marble. Love it. It's going in the mud/laundry as well. Most days we stop by in the morning and then at night, and it's been fun to see so much get done every day. These crews work their butts off! 

It's funny because some of the areas I'm most excited about in this house are the smallest -- our storage/coat closet in the mud room, the pantry, and this shower in our master. I've shaved my legs balancing like a (not-so-graceful) flamingo for more than 13 years. I can't even imagine having this much space in a shower!! 

Another spot we're really happy with is the covered porch:

We have been day dreaming of future evenings out here for months. I LOVE the detail on the ceiling! We didn't even notice it was finished till we looked at these pictures. So much has been done lately, it's almost hard to keep track. It will get painted white (I think it's white anyway, I need to check on that).  

The cement was poured last week -- funny how exciting a driveway is when you're waiting on your house to be finished! :) 

The kitchen doesn't look too different from last time, but the granite was installed!:

The island will be butcher block and I'm not sure when that will be in. Can't wait to see that! Some of the trim was wrong (the island end piece and some crown) so we're still waiting on that. The hardware is supposed to be installed soon and that's another one I'm excited to see! (As you can tell, there isn't much I'm NOT excited about!)

I've always wanted to add a barn door to our house, but our old home didn't have a good spot. I've been eyeing this wall for months:

The wall to the right is really long and I'm already stumped at what to do with it. I think the door will give it some interest. (It will need to clear the switches obviously.) I'm thinking of building something with a slightly more modern look instead of the traditional barn door. 

I didn't go with black interior doors for two reasons. The costs were adding up and it was a project I knew I could do myself at some point. And like our last house, I want to live in this one before I make big decor decisions. I know they would look fantastic, but I don't know yet if this house calls for it -- we'll just have to see!

The railings are in and the spindles are painted -- they wait till the end to install those and the steps: 

As much as I am dying to see it all in, I appreciate that they do that. Too much traffic up and down these for the next few weeks and we don't want them damaged. The treads have been stained and look  BEAUTIFUL! The stained steps were one thing I knew I wanted in this forever house -- our wood steps and white risers are one of my favorite parts of our old one. 😊

And finally, the room that is already our favorite...the family room: 

I have big plans in here and so far they do NOT include built ins! Can you believe it? I may change my mind -- I have an idea of what I want to do but that may not be what we end up with. That's the fun part of a new house! Who knows what will happen? :) 

You can see all of the finishes we picked for the house in this post. Next up is flooring -- I keep saying when the hardwoods go in it will be so close to done! The next big thing after that is lighting. It feels like we're getting close...I'm so excited I can barely stand it! I would LOVE to decorate this house for Halloween...we're crossing our fingers that will happen. 🎃

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Help us decide on a refrigerator!

Well hello! It felt like things were happening at the new house at a slower pace for awhile, and now it's picking up again. We're crossing our fingers we'll be in the house next month. 👊💃👏

There are a couple things that aren't included with the build -- a water softener (which is a must in our area) and a refrigerator. The other appliances are included with the home price, but the fridge is one we need to get on soon. 

In our last house we had a couple different refrigerators. Neither I would highly recommend. The first pooped out on us and we ended up having to do an insurance claim because the ice melted and ruined our old floors. Fun times. 

Our second was pretty but it was finicky about things. I believe it was a Kenmore:

And if I remember right Kenmore is actually LG, and our appliance guy didn't service that brand for some reason. So we always had to search for someone that would. By the way, go here to see how I kept that one so clean (easiest cleaning ever, I promise).

This time we're going with all KitchenAid. We bought a slide in range in that brand a couple years back and I LOVED it: 

Not only was it pretty, but it worked great and was SUPER easy to clean. 

I've never had all matching appliances in my life. A first at nearly 42 years old! So I'm kind of excited about that and we plan on purchasing a fridge in that same brand. 

Here's the thing -- normally our builder does a little build out behind the refrigerators in their homes so the buyer doesn't have to pay extra for counter depth. Love that -- but unfortunately our plan didn't allow for it. 

The counter depth design is a little more shallow so it doesn't stick way out into the area in front of it. They are awesome because they fit nicely into the spot, but are usually more expensive. 

So this is my dilemma -- we won't finance this so I don't want to spend more than we really need to right now. I found this one at Lowe's the other day and put it on my Instagram stories because my boy and I were in awe of how beautiful it was: 

Well, OK. The outside isn't anything special but just wait till you see inside. It's gorgeous. Yes, I just said a refrigerator is gorgeous: 

See?? It even has soft close drawers. INSIDE the fridge. I mean, come on. 

And of course many of you wrote to me telling me you had it and loved it and told me to go for it. ;)

Thing is, the handles are more of an industrial look that I don't think will jive with our kitchen. And I've had this wild hair about perhaps not having the water and ice on the door. I kind of like the simple look of this one: 

There's a water dispenser inside and the ice comes out into a tray in the freezer. So here's my question for you all -- anyone have a fridge without the water and ice dispenser on the front? Do you love it or hate it? If you specifically have this design I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I've read that it's kind of a pain to get water because you have to use two hands. I can see that being an annoyance. And we would miss crushed ice, not gonna lie. But this baby is nearly HALF the price of the other ones so I'm considering it. I would like not having to clean up after the water on the front all the time. And the ice on our old fridge would get iced together so we'd have to reach in there all the time to get it unstuck. This one would have a much bigger bin for ice as well, so we'd have much more on hand when we had people over.

I'd love to know if any of you have any experience with it! Any other brands or refrigerators you have and love? I'm open to other options if they are well priced and come highly recommended. I'm not budging on this design though -- I love the French door with freezer on the bottom. :)

Let me know your thoughts! You guys always have good info to share. I'll be back with a house update later this week!

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Urban Farmgirl 2017

This year, it was fun to go to Urban Farmgirl 2017 as The Collective lhe! It’s one of those shows I really enjoy doing (when we have good weather), the grounds are so beautiful, and everyone is so happy to be there. People travel from pretty far away to come.

We luckily has GORGEOUS weather this year. It was a treat just to be outside, considering May brought spring showers, and we ended up standing in an inch of mud and rain. I managed to grab a few pictures when it slowed a bit. I may have also grabbed a pumpkin spice cupcake with cream cheese frosting, and an ear of corn with cheese on it…..

Everything, as usual, was so cute! I think we are going to have to steal this idea for the shop. I love the idea of having it out front for display.

I need to find a bigger picture of this cute set up. They had this amazing vintage camper all decked out on the inside!

Pumpkins in hay are always a really cute idea. I’ve already picked up a few from the grocery store. Last week, nothing, this week, boom! Pumpkinpalooza.

Our spot was near the road, next to a cute white house. A few people said they had a hard time finding us, but for the most part, it was a beautiful location. To see more of the show, you can check out the Facebook live I did while I was there.

I just feel so blessed, we had such an amazing weather weekend!! Hubby came out and helped me, while Autumn managed a busy day at the shop.

Next week, we have a Moms on Main event coming up! Grab a friend, we have some really awesome giveaways, and you can check out our amazing, little town.

It runs all day, so even if you work, you can stop by after!

Click here for more details about Moms on Main.

 

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Sixteen years

Every year on September 11th I pay tribute in my own small way by sharing some photos I've taken at the museums and memorials over the years. I have added to them with time as we travel to the city and see more.

As many of you know, New York City is one of my favorite places on Earth. I knew the second we arrived there for my first trip 16 years ago that I would love it. That trip was less than two weeks before September 11, 2001:


Look hard behind me -- this is the only picture I have of the towers and they look like ghosts in that photo. It still gets to me when I see this.

When we visit the city we make time to visit Ground Zero nearly every time. The first time we went back was four months after the devastation -- everything was still so raw at that point. It has made my heart swell to see the beautiful monuments that have been raised in that spot. In my opinion, they are so well done and pay beautiful tribute to those we lost throughout the country that day.

These first photos are from the Ground Zero Museum and tell the story of that day. This location is separate from the new museum – it used to be closer to Ground Zero but it looks like it’s moved to 14th street. If you visit the city I highly recommend visiting both.

I let the photos do the talking (forgive the quality, all were taken with a phone over the years):

 

 

The new 9/11 Museum is one they've been working on for years. It looks so small from the outside, and you think it will only take an hour or so get through. Plan accordingly because this museum literally goes deep into the Earth and you can spend hours in there. 

It is truly one of the most well done museums I've ever visited, especially considering the content. The beginning is a tour of the footings and walls of the towers (this wall below was one of the towers). Don't miss the room in the middle in this part of the museum -- it holds photos of each of the victims as well as video about each one. There are no cameras allowed in this space -- it is most definitely a memorial. There is a separate room at the end of the main part of the museum and it can be easy to miss -- but it holds most of the photos, artifacts and videos. It may not be suitable for younger kids but our nine-year-old did fine. (There are parts of this room we steered him away from.) There are no cameras allowed in that room as well. 

If you go give yourself plenty of time and be prepared for the heaviness in your heart that you will feel as you walk through and when you leave. It is overwhelming and unavoidable. I think every person that visits New York City should visit at least once. 

This artwork signifies the color of the beautiful blue sky on that morning. There are 2,983 squares -- one for each person lost on September 11th and at the 1993 bombing. 

God bless all those we lost on that day and their families. God Bless America. 

(Freedom Tower)

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This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than www.thriftydecorchick.com or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.

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