The Finishing Touches Around Our New Home!

    

"MOLDING!"

In my last post I shared our entry hall with you all, and I mentioned I would share the rest of the molding we did throughout our living area.

To say we are happy with the results is truly an understatement. My hubby did a lot of molding work in our last home so this addition makes it feel more like home to us. Who says a small space (53"x93") can't look grande? 

We had crown molding added to the entire living area. Talk about a quick transformation! Once it went up they had it caulked and painted in no time.

Here it is in the great room, we also adding molding around the opening of the niche. Originally I had planned a frame inside the inset, but opted to wait and see if it needed it once all the molding was done. 

I have a policy that I use for myself, "When in doubt don't," and I truly wasn't sure if it would need further attention so I am waiting.

Update: Now that I have lived with the finished project I have decided I DO want to add the frame on the back wall. I think it will give more dimension to the area.

 (before molding was added)

You can also see the opening into a little hallway on the left side of the TV niche. Since it is a part of the TV wall we are also addressing that area with a new hanging light fixture to give it a finished look.

 This fixture ties in my use of black, white and aged brass that I used in my other light fixtures in our home. Repeating elements makes for a nice visual flow.

One of the nice surprises that came out of this project was how he treated all the curved corners.

We have two corners that were treated this way, one in the kitchen and a smaller one in the great room at the edge of the fireplace wall. I love beautiful detailing and this really is pleasing to my eye.

 He also used the same treatment in my kitchen area on the curved corners. This is a picture before it was caulked and painted.

A nice finishing touch to that one corner, it almost looks like a column.

 The opening from the kitchen to the great room is about 12 ft. I wanted it to say a little more than the other door openings, but not too much as to shout out, "Look at me!!" It had to have a visual flow.

I took my cue from my Dutch cushion mirror over the fireplace. (note, again repeating elements)...

I have seen this design in historical homes, including the White House, but I did not know what it was called. I literally spent the most part of one whole day researching it.

I found out it was called shoulder architrave. Can you see the shoulders, and the recessed part in the middle where the neck would go.

Since my area was over 12 feet I did not want the recessed part. I just wanted it to go straight across. I found that this was called earred architrave.

Here is a picture of the treatment I wanted. I knew that proportions were important so I worked with my contractor to get the look I wanted. This was the first time he had done this treatment. He likes it so well he wants to do it again.

Here is a closeup of the molding before it was painted and caulked so you can see the details.

Here is a closeup of how it turned out. It looks exactly how I had envisioned it. Simple, classic, says a little bit but not too much!!

Now that we are done it is time to review the project and make some final tweaks.

In the entry hall I originally wanted a very small pencil size framework on the ceiling in black, but let my hubby and contractor talk me out of it. I used my, "When in doubt, Don't," or in this case "When in doubt, WAIT!"

I have waited and once I saw the lighting going up I knew I wanted it in the design. So we are going to try it out. Here is inspiration picture...

The molding here is a bit wider than I envision for my project.

The other area my hubby wanted to wait on, that was in my original plan was to use one more of the over head lights that I have in the entry a bit further into our home as you enter. I agreed to wait, but I KNEW I wanted it, and  that it would look great.

The other light will be placed on the other side of the doorway

After it was all said and done, he agreed and the new fixture has been ordered and it is on it's way.

Items left to do:

1. Black pencil trim on entry ceiling

2. Frame molding back wall of TV niche.

3. Hang scalloped fixture on other side of entry doorway.

4. Hang light fixture in little hall next to TV niche. 

Then we will be DONE and DONE

I promise to show you all the final details in another post once we are totally done with this go around!! You realize there will be more projects in our future, but this was the big one for this year!! Thanks for following along on our new journey!!

 

 

2017 Easter Table In Black and White

   

Every year I try to do something a little different for my Holiday tables. This years table was inspired by pictures I pinned throughout the year on my Pinterest board.

I am very happy with the simplicity and crispness of this years table..........

YES those are real eggs in the vase. This is not an original idea, but one I had pinned several years ago and this was the year I got to use it!

Each place setting has an egg with the name of who is sitting in this spot. Each egg is sitting on a napkin ring with numbers on them.

Each place setting has a napkin that is folded into a little sitting bunny with pussy willow stems.

Here they are all lined up waiting for their spot on the table. I smiled big time when I saw these little guys all lined up.

Each plate has an Easter greeting in the center of the plate.

Simple, crisp, and a little touch of whimsy, just the way I like it.

There are other flowers around the house as well as bunnies  that come out the week of Easter.

Of course I had to coordinate the jelly beans in my little bronze bunnies basket.

These roses will be placed on our large island with the cheese, meat and fruit plate, tomorrow.

This little guy is a very sweet Memory for me. My oldest son made this for me in 1982, he knew I loved bunnies. He comes out for a visit every Easter. Precious memories.

The bunny picture on the book has a black and white speckled bunny that looks just like one of our pets, Domino, The best bunny EVER!!! We all miss him and still talk about him.

 As we sit at this table together as a family we will all remember what we are celebrating.....

He is Risen!! 

I am wishing you all a blessed Easter Sunday with your family and friends. We will be with part of our family and will miss the one's that could not be here with us.

 

 

Entry Hall Reveal!

 

This last week has been a whirlwind of activity for us.

The entry hall is almost complete, a few finishing touches and it is done. I am beyond happy with the results and it has surpassed my expectations.

Before we ever moved into our new home the entry hall was one of the first areas I wanted to address. 

The  entry to your home is so important, it is the greeting your guest will see first so it should be welcoming, and an introduction to what they are about to see and experience in your home.

It is always hard to leave your vision in someone else's hands, but I truly found a wonderful contractor that listened and understood the look I wanted. 

This is how our entry started out.....

 It is a small space measuring 53 X 93in. Luckily we have a little window in the door so we get some light otherwise it would be like a dark closet and this girl has to have light. If I don't have natural light I will provide the area with artificial light.

Here is the space as the carpenter is doing his thing!!

I knew exactly what I wanted so we taped out the design for the contractor to see. Proportions were and ARE so important and I knew I had to get this right.....

We have 10ft ceilings and the plan was to panel the entire wall from floor to ceiling. 

Every single wall has a paneled treatment. My poor husband hung that picture 4 different times until we had it right. Remember proportions have to be right.

You can see in this picture that the panels are starting to go up. With each step I became more and more excited.

All the doorways were wrapped and cased. The rounded edging that is used in this home is perfectly lovely, but this girl loves molding, and the finished look it gives to a room.

With every piece of molding that was applied my vision became a reality........

Even the smallest slice of wall was addressed. I wasn't sure this would look right since it is so small and I am all about proportions, however my contractor reassured me it would look good and by this time I trusted his judgement. Now this is one of my favorite parts!!

This is the opening that leads into the hallway for the guest room. It is kind of like it's own little wing.

This picture shows our ceiling. Now this is where the design plan changed drastically. 

Originally I wanted a tongue and groove ceiling with a very small pencil thin black trim next to the crown on the ceiling side. 

However, I literally woke up one morning and realized that the paneled walls had a much more formal look and the grooved ceiling was too casual so I opted out for a framed ceiling like we had in our previous home. 

You will notice no black trim either. I let the contractor and my hubby talk me out of it. They did not quite see my vision on this point, however that is going to change in the very near future.

Now it is all painted and dry so the electrician can come in and install the lighting. 

This is where I get nervous. Seriously like dentist chair nervous. You see he was going to cut two holes for sconces and one in the middle for a receptacle to plug in the portrait lighting.

I literally go out of the room when they do this. I keep telling myself it is all fixable if something happens, but it still makes me a nervous wreck.

The hole drilling and the wiring were all very successful and we now have light!!!

There will be some adjustments made on the lighting, such as the portrait lighting is way to bright so we have to get different wattage for that and the sconces need white shades, but I am also going to try black shades on them as well.

There is going to be a slab mirror installed behind the oil painting to further open up the space.  You can see in this picture the sconce shades are a soft cream, which I like the contrast very much. However with the overhead lighting I chose I need white or black.

I was so excited when the over head light fixture went up. I have had this on my radar for 3-4 years now so this was kind of a dream come true. I love it's crispness with the black trim and  the soft curves in the scallops.

Can you see now why I want to add a small pencil size black trim on the ceiling!? I can totally see it now that the picture is almost complete. 

I think in this picture you can see why I also need to change out the sconce shades to white or black, I am also going to try white with black trim as well.

Here are some pictures I took this over cast rainy morning.  I love the soft glow in the room now. To say I am pleased is truly an understatement.

We also did crown molding throughout the living area and wrapped all door openings and the TV niche. I will show you that later. It totally enhanced the look of our home and we are both pleased as we can be.

Still a few more details to add, but for now I am just going to enjoy walking into my entry hall that is all aglow!!