Let's Stay Home | Updates & Lighting

Hello and Happy Thursday!
It's Let's Stay Home time!
Today I am sharing some updates that have been going on at our house, as well as looking for some lighting feedback from you all.

If you are new around here, check out the posts below to catch up on our whole home renovation/new build process first.
You will be amazed by the before pictures!

Let The Remodeling Begin

Update #1

X's Bedroom

X's Bathroom

Laundry/Mudroom

Pantry

Update #2

Master Bedroom

Fall Decor

Master Closet & Bathroom

Exterior

Mini Update #3

Family & Dining Room

Kitchen

Mini Update #4

Let's Stay Home - Renovation Update #5
Let's Stay Home - Spring Decor Finds
Let's Stay Home - Outdoor Living
Let's Stay Home - Mini Update #6
Let's Stay Home - Insta Home Inspiration


Now on with the updates!

Both upstairs bathrooms have been tiled and grouted!!
I think the floor in X's bathroom is my favorite!
It is hard to tell in the pictures, but we went with a medium gray grout for the white subway tiles in both bathrooms.

Glass also still needs to be put in each shower/bath space.
And don't mind the fact that everything is super dusty right now ;)

Now that the tile work is done(for now)...
Our builder is working from the second floor and moving his way down, so I'm impatiently waiting for my pantry door to be hung ;)

All bedroom and bathroom doors have been hung and trim is now being put up as well :)
Everything will get nails filled in and a final coat of paint as well.
I am so glad we went with the wall color for all the trim pieces.

Loved seeing the windows in our closet with trim on them as well!

(Completely forgot to turn the lights on when I took these pictures, and to brighten them. #bloggerfail)

And here is the current state of the outside of the house.

That existing space will get tackled with new siding, shingles, etc. once the inside is all done.

Now onto my lighting question for you all.
Here are the lights we purchased to go above our kitchen island and dining table area.
We will have two of these larger lights (5 bulbs) above our dining table space.

And then three of this 2 bulb version will be above our kitchen island.

We have been storing these lights for a long time. lol!

Looking for lights is not fun at all to me.

Possibly, because I don't like about 95% of what is out there.

So based on those lights above, I need to find complimentary lighting for our sconces and our foyer light.

Here is a very beginner mock up of the lighting styles I am leaning towards.

Our foyer light isn't 100% in the line of sight with the wooden lights in the kitchen and dining room.

Also, those lights look much darker in person - more black than bronze on the metal pieces, and slightly darker wood.

Just the sconces will be near both lights.

We want an antler chandelier in the foyer, but I have yet to find one I love.

Thoughts?

That is all for today friends!

Link up your home decor, DIY, new build, etc. posts below.

And don't forget to give me your lighting feedback in the comments below :)

Have a great day!

XOXO ~ Vanessa

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Our Home Renovation | Let The Remodeling Begin!

It has been a process my friends!

We moved into my husband's childhood home 3 1/2 years ago.

My in-laws "built" this home in 1976.

Another thing to add...they built this home without any thought of having a child.

Mic came along unexpectedly 😉 2 years later.

Fast forward to late 2015 when we moved in...things weren't much different than they were when they built the home in 1976.

Obviously, most things in the house were usable...just out of date.

The big kicker was that the home was heated primarily from a wood burning stove located in the family room.

There were electric baseboards in most the rooms, but they didn't all work.

Heating a home with wood every winter when you work outside of the home isn't the easiest thing to do.

Thankfully, my in-laws helped out quite a bit and would throw some wood on the fire during the day so we wouldn't arrive home to an ice cold house.

But that only works for so long.

The biggest change we are making to the house is adding a furnace and central air.

Yeah, it didn't have AC either :/

Since that is pretty extensive we opted to move out of the house during the whole remodeling/rebuilding process.

A process that due to being stuck in permit departments for WAY TOO LONG had us painfully waiting to get started.

But we have started!!!

Today I am going to share some before pictures of the house.

They aren't the best considering we knew that most of the walls and such would be knocked down.

So things aren't clean, kept up, etc. since we aren't living there.

Entry/Foyer

The opening leads into our current family room, and the door on the right leads down to the basement.

The double doors lead into the dining room/sitting room.

Hallway from the garage entry door looking at the basement door.

Behind the blue doors in the laundry room is the laundry shoot from the upstairs.

A pipe burst during the extreme cold temps and caused the ceiling damage in this room.

The first floor bathroom.

We didn't use this shower at all.

The dining room/sitting room that leads up to the kitchen and family room.

I was a day late when I took pictures, so this was the kitchen after all the cabinets and such had been removed.

Don't mind all the junk in the picture below.
This is the family room.

From the family room/kitchen area there are steps that take you upstairs to this "room".

This was an extra TV/playroom for X.

We stored most of X's toys in the little room shown below.

The doors had already been removed from this room and the stairs.

This is an extra room that we used as Mic's office space.

This was Mic's childhood bedroom turned X's room.

The closet was added to the room once Mic was born 😉

This is the master/main bathroom for all of us :/
This was never an issue for Mic and his parents since they were all on different schedules.
Since our family gets ready at the same time each morning it didn't work very well for us.
Thankfully, we are able to add another full bathroom upstairs just for X/guests :)

From the bathroom, you can enter the master bedroom.

The door leads out to the small balcony above the garage.

The hallway entrance for the master bedroom and the built-in dressers.

The sitting room within the master that leads to the master closet.

 And there it is!

And here is what it looked like just a couple of weeks ago...

Pretty much everything but the family room/fireplace space is being rebuilt.
I mentioned it above, but again the main reason for this is because we are adding a furnace and central air, so duct work has to be run through the entire house!

That's all for today!
I'll post updates as we see changes :)

Thanks for following along!

XOXO ~ Vanessa

Short, Sweet & A Little Q&A

Happy Friday!

This week has been super low key!

X and I both had have colds so we are taking it pretty easy.

However, we do have another busy weekend ahead of us, so rest has been our best friend this week!

As always, I am linking up with Erika, Narci & Andrea for...

On Monday I caught you up on the highs and lows of our weekend :)
Favorite - seeing all these little guys having fun together
Not so favorite - knowing it is one of the last times they will all play with Colton since he moves in a couple weeks to Georgia :(

Wednesday was all about how I (try to) take care of myself!
All I can say is that I am a work in progress ;)

I can't go a week without at least one favorite from Instagram!

I thankfully have a couple of ladies who fall into this category in my life!

You know who are ;)

I celebrated a super low key Valentine's Day with my little guy since Mic had to work.

We had spaghetti and I had some homemade chocolate covered strawberries for dessert :)

In other news, we are getting close to starting the big Home Remodel at our house.
I am scared, excited, terrified, over the moon, etc.
I need to think about packing, where we are going to live, etc.
But who can think about those kind of things when you are looking at pictures of kitchen sinks and such! lol!
#amirightoramiright

I want to know your thoughts on some items that I can't decide on right now.

Take ranges/ovens for example...

How many burners is ideal?

What are your thoughts on duel fuel ovens?

What about double ovens? Or even steam ovens?

Or warming drawers?

Do electric ovens really cook/bake more evenly than gas?

From my baking experience, gas has ALWAYS cooked/baked more evenly for me.

But in all the reviews I have read, and store clerks I have spoke with they say electric cooks more evenly.

What?

Anyone else feel this way?

Next item....farmhouse sinks.

I know I want a farmhouse apron style sink in stainless steel.

I would prefer a double basin.

Do you like double or single?

Why do all the stainless steel sinks seem to have a curved front?

Does anyone know where I can find a extra deep sink?

Next....dishwashers.

Is a top of the line dishwasher with all the bells and whistles worth it?

How many of you have two dishwashers in your kitchen?

Do I need a prep sink?

What about a pot filler by my oven?

This is all new to me!

Any suggestions, tips, etc. you may have for me on a major home remodel would be greatly appreciated :)

Especially areas you think are worth spending the money and where to save!

Back to reality for this weekend though!

We have another basketball game on the docket for our little guy tonight,

and then I am hosting a wine tasting party at my house on Saturday evening.

So that means lots of cleaning, cooking, etc. during the day tomorrow :/

Wish me luck!

What are your plans for this weekend?

****UPDATE****

Calling all local ladies!

On Tuesday, February 20, experience a love story that must come out at an advance screening of LOVE, SIMON! Get two free tickets to the screening at 7:00pm at Cinemark Strongsville. #LoveSimon http://www.gofobo.com/DEARMOMSLOVESIMON

*Please note that seating is first come, first served and not guaranteed so please arrive early. Available while supplies last.