Master bath countertop

April 2012

The cabinet samples and tile samples went with me everywhere!  I looked at slab after slab of marble and granite for months, it seems.  I went all over Savannah and to South Carolina.  We even went to North Carolina on a business trip and went to a stone warehouse.  I immediately found my kitchen countertop at a huge stone warehouse about the size of 4 football fields when I found a gorgeous slab of stone that had no black going through it.  I had not realized that almost all granite has black veins, but my husband wanted granite in the kitchen and I was fine with that. (Kitchen photos later).  The marble I originally chose for the master bath was Daino Royale and I thought it was gorgeous.  At one point, many trips to my favorite stone place later, I walked past a slab and thought, "I hope that's not what I picked out for my bathroom", went back and looked, and it was, in fact.  I changed to Crema Marfil, which is beautiful, but eventually changed to the one above because it looked so much better with the floor and cabinets.  Turns out it is also botticino marble.  That concerned me because I thought it may be too much, but it all looks beautiful together.

Colors

Choosing paint colors was something I was dreading.  I have a hard time making decisions (just ask my builder).  However, my decorator told me she was "great with colors" and she was right!  When I saw the color wheel with about 2,000 colors, my heart sank.  She said not to worry because there were only a few "good" colors.  She knows I like things neutral and I told her I like blue, yellow, white, and beige, beige, beige!  Since my current house has been yellow for years, I was leaning towards not using yellow in the new house.  My decorator did talk me into painting the kitchen a bluish/gray shade called Icecap - she said I needed a little color!  It is so pretty and we all love it.  The majority of the house is Featherdown and the master, Sarah's, and Will's rooms are Bone White (which is actually creamy beige), but those two look alike.  For Elizabeth's bedroom and bathroom, we wanted a very pale blue that leans toward gray (so the bathroom marble would match) and ended up using Fanfare.  It was just what Elizabeth wanted and I love it, too.  The only thing that didn't work out was that we painted the great room Icecap and the fireplace looked like it clashed with the cabinets, and I didn't care for the foyer/dining room being beige and the great room blue, so we changed it later.  Great choices again!

Cabinets

We have been blessed to have my uncle do our cabinets.  He got us good prices on very nice cabinets and installed them ahead of schedule.  Did I mention he owns a cabinet shop?
The first photo is the master bathroom cabinets sitting in the master bedroom for the time being.
The middle is the kitchen (love the paint color!) and the bottom is Will's bathroom cabinet sitting in his bedroom.
Great choices here!

Girls' bathrooms

Top:  Sarah's shower
Bottom:  Elizabeth's shower
Both girls have bianca marble tiles in their shower.  In Sarah's, we used "bricks", as she requested.  In Elizabeth's, we used squares (as requested) with an accent piece to match.  These photos are before they were grouted but they sure do look pretty now.  The floors are also bianca marble and in 12" squares.  Turned out gorgeous!
We are all,
SEW blessed

Master shower

OK, here is the master shower for now (which turned out to be from February til May).  The tile supplier couldn't get the accent pieces (calacatta gold brick tiles) and it sat in limbo for a couple of months.  But I love the tile!  It is called botticino marble and we (again, the decorator) chose 8x12 bricks for the shower walls and 12" tiles for the bathroom floor.  Love it, love it, love it!  Keep on with those good decisions!  Definitely feeling,

SEW blessed

Will's shower

Will actually chose his shower "look".  He loved the travertine, as did I, and the supplier had it in stock.  It was actually less expensive than the original porcelain tile we had chosen but only came in 18" squares, so we cut them in half and his shower "bricks" are 9x18 with an inset of travertine 1" blocks.  The floor cost a bit more but matched the shower well and was also travertine but in 12" squares.  It is just beautiful.  Will also wanted a black countertop and stained wood cabinets so that's what he got!  (The only place in the house with dark cabinets and countertops).  The builder always puts in a "niche" of the same tile as the showers and I loved that.  Perfect for shampoo, soap, etc.  We decided to tile Will's shower to the ceiling (9') because he's a boy and a little messy, but the builder did the same crown molding as in the rest of the house.

The stairs and wainscoting

Thank you, Lord!  Wow, do I love the stairs!  They are going to be gorgeous (look for pictures of the finished product later).  I highly recommend doing the things you really want in the house even if they cost more.  My husband and I both loved the look of a rounded staircase along a rounded wall, and although it is harder to do, the result is well worth it.  My builder had his trim guys do the staircase on site instead of ordering it pre-manufactured, which saved us some money and made it truly custom to the house.  It was so cool seeing how they make the curved stair rail - they took several thin pieces of wood and glued them together, then put a vise on every other step and connected the rail to the step, then left it that way for a week or so.

The wainscoting is in the dining room and is so sharp-looking.  There were lots of decisions that went into this.  How many did we want, how far apart, should the smaller wall have one or two, etc., but we love the result.

Service yard

This is a photo of the "service yard", i.e., the thing on the side of the house that holds the air conditioning units.  Again, I wish I had studied the plans better.  This thing is huge!  It isn't that noticeable from the front of the house and it does have storage underneath (although it's exposed to the outdoors), but one half the size would have been perfectly fine.  All three units fit quite well on about 1/3 of the surface.

Columns

Still March - here are the columns.  OK, this is one of the choices I am not completely happy with, but my husband and B agree that they are just right.  I would have eliminated two columns inside as well as on the back porch.  Be careful to study the plans extensively if you build.  I see why people say you have to build 3 houses to get it right!  As soon as I saw the columns in the back of the house, I thought it was too many.  As it turns out, and you can see this if you know to look for it on the plans, there is a column directly in front of the kitchen window (looking from the island) and from the middle bedroom window.  This photo is right after everything was painted white.  We (my decorator, that is) chose the color "Super White" for all of the trim and it is beautiful.  The house is amazing and the Lord has truly allowed us to be,
SEW blessed

March 2012

It is time for the fireplace - my husband decided we would use actual Savannah grey bricks and went on a search.  He found 188 from one source and bought all of them, although the builder estimated that we would need a little over 200.  It ended up being enough and it looks so pretty.  Perfect for the house!  Another good choice - most are good but sometimes even with lots of thought and research, the choice isn't perfect.  I am always thrilled when I go to the house and see something new that I love!  Still feeling,

SEW blessed