Powder Bath Overhaul

Our powder bathroom renovation was all accounts a labor of love! Went in with the mindset we would easily complete this space in a matter of a few months and in reality it took 6! I forgot to take a picture of the initial update… splash of paint, mirror upgrade and some wall decor to warm up the space. The original 1/2 bath was stark white, so it was a needed mini makeover until we decided what direction we wanted to go. Though not an immediate ‘aha,’ we soon realized there was a septic-like odor emanating from the bathroom 😬 . After some investigating and finally opening up our wall, a cracked pipe was found to be the culprit… it had been sliced directly in two – my guess, during the initial 2005 buildout. We considered ourselves lucky that both pieces of pipe aligned enough that it never caused a leak (zero damage found)!

Personal Touches

It was nice to stew for a while and get a feel for how we wanted to make our home our own (always ongoing), a welcomed departure from finalizing choices within a small window of time. We have larger project updates planned but knowing this is our forever home has allowed us to slow our pace and enjoy the space. Installing drapes added drama and warmth to our living and dining areas. For our main bedroom and guest room we went with a cozy european countryside vibe. I’m still questioning whether I should take the dining room drapes to the ceiling…it looks a bit like a shower curtain situation at the moment. As far as our living room, it could definitely use some warmth. I am planning to put a few faux beams in as well as going for a larger sofa in brown velvet, with a chaise. The left wall of windows will have a few long sconces between them.

When renovation ideas and budget don’t align, mini-makeovers can still make an impact. Painting the builder grade cabinets in the baths made for a more inviting space. I replaced the glued on beveled mirrors for ones with a bit more personality.

Future plans for these baths include new countertops, tiled backsplash, updated sinks and terracotta floors…

Laundry/Mud Room

Driftwood Casa

It has been just over a year since we established roots in Driftwood, TX, and due time to start blogging all the things I love about raising our little family here. Switching gears to a slower pace has been a welcome change and we can’t get enough of the beautiful hill country views surrounding our home, affectionately called ‘the bluebonnet house’.

As much as we loved our Castlewood home, Houston didn’t feel like home anymore…to be honest, it never really did. Work kept us there for years and when we finally started having deeper conversations about where we wished we could uproot and replant, we realized we wanted to be raising our daughter elsewhere. For some reason it took building to come to that conclusion 😅 .

I casually started searching HAR for the perfect house or plot of land and when I stumbled across this home in Driftwood, I knew this was the home for us. Robert felt the same, it gave us all the warm fuzzies. We planned a quick trip to see it in person, to make sure our eyes weren’t deceiving us (as pictures can sometimes do) . Everything looked just as shown and we knew this was where we were supposed to be.

It’s crazy how quickly things came together after that early December showing. We put our home on the market a week later and it sold the week after that!! We just had to wait for our home to close and squared away the move for early Spring 2024.

We closed a week before move in, which meant a quick turn around for a new floor install. The house was wall to wall tile and craving the warmth of wood floors. We knew we wanted a light oak and the installers did a beautiful job. I sometimes wish I had gone with the same flooring we had at Castlewood – higher janka rating and more of a golden oak – but happy overall. I plan to further warm up the space with thick cozy drapes and vibrant pops of color throughout the house.

The amount of scorpions this disturbed!! We now keep a uv flashlight and have managed to remain sting free!

Castlewood

Video Tour

I promised a video tour to come and I hope the suspense didn’t kill anyone. We officially moved in January of this year, though our house remained somewhat of a construction zone through August. For those who have built or inhabited a home amidst a major renovation, you are likely familiar with the continuous barrage of subcontractors in and out of your space at all hours and seemingly no end in sight. My patience wore thin…with a few completely peeled moments 🤯.

Long term gain, so worth it. We are wholly at ease in our space and took time to fill it with pieces we love. Post covid shipping delays also helped make for savvy decisions.

Some items left to purchase…

My only wish would be to have “Holmes on Homes” come and give a stamp of approval that all is well in-and-around our house walls. We did have an extensive inspection done outside of our builder’s rep and I recommend this to anyone post build or reno. It certainly helped us sleep a little better after the many hiccups of this building process.

Our first Christmas in this house has been full of wonderful memories and we look forward to many more. Happy Holidays and a blessed 2023 around the corner! Cheers 🥂

The Final Countdown

Happy New Year! Yes, this blog does still exist 😅. It has been an arduous journey but I can finally say, with confidence, we have less than a month until our move in date. For those who were not aware, our house sat dormant for a lengthy period after framing. So. Many. Delays. Covid mounted typical setbacks and there were many occurrences where scheduled dates for installs fell through. I took an extended break from posting updates until I could provide enough visually to warrant a post. With an unexpected (recent) change in superintendent, we have seen major components completed at an astoundingly speedy rate. Being past a number of proposed deadlines has also helped move us up in priority.

These pics lend a peak to our nearing finish line. I’ll leave some intrigue for the final reveal.

Ensuite Bath & Closet…

Common Areas…

Kitchen, Dining, Living …

Shifting my focus toward furnishings has welcomed a whole new set of delays. I ordered our sofa back in September but due to a foam shortage it won’t arrive until May. A dining table ordered back on October is behind due to shipping delays and same goes for a few other specifics. Continuing to cultivate the virtue of patience!

Video reveal in my next update. Stay tuned!

We’ve Been Framed

House framed, that is. It’s gratifying see our home taking shape and I look forward to more definition of space as walls go up. My favorite landing spot thus far is the entryway, it gives an unobstructed view to the backyard. Because of this we updated plans for the back patio, omitting railing for wide steps across the length of the deck. This will allow full reaching views of the backyard and marry the inside with the out.

The front angle below looks into the dining room. Stairs here are temporary and will be placed at center (see doorway). Ellie’s room is upstairs to the left, with a boxed out window. I envision her sitting across the window seat reading her books 📚 ❤️ .

Since my last post we have had to pick a new bathroom countertop… our original quartzite piece was just shy of the length needed. I happened to find a gorgeous quartzite piece that gives us a few inches to spare. We also decided to forgo an accent tile behind the range (still using the tile for the bar area). The pot filler will lend plenty for the eye and I will likely display some cutting boards. It will be nice to have the freedom to switch decor there from time to time.

This bath design is all things sweet. It’s fun to have a space where I can play with a pop of pink. While mainly Ellie’s bath, this will also host guests when staying in the bedroom adjacent. I’ll leave the downstairs powder room to something more vogue.

Blushing Guest Bath

This pretty penny tile will go on the long wall of the shower as opposed to on the wall, to serve double enjoyment when viewing in the mirror.

We thought for a while on door or no door, for this bath. We are going with a typical tub/shower combo for Ellie’s sake and ultimately opted for a shower door. Pastel pink penny tile (pic above for reference) will surrounding the shower walls.

The floating vanities in all the baths will remain a natural wood stain, as opposed to painting them. I love the contrast of natural wood to metal and stone.

This labeled polished nickel faucet will add some shine and a simple hexagon floor tile will finish out the space.

En-Suite

Hope everyone enjoyed a nice Holiday. We kept it low key with fam and a few friends and will likely be in bed before the ball drops into 2021 (Ellie permitting). Hopeful as everyone else to see whole faces in the year to come. A big positive on the books, we break ground on January 10th!! We hear the process tends to move along at a quicker pace once the build begins. I am looking forward to seeing it through! There are a number of design choices still to be made, with the latest being the en-suite bath.

Gunmetal hardware is an option I recently became aware of and I am excited to use it for our sink faucets. I think it ties in nicely with our countertops. We chose a matte porcelain tile for flooring that fits into a soft greige category; I’d call it cashmere toast.

Going natural with this pebble floor and soothing wall tile for the shower, along with a deep soaker tub to round out a relaxing spa bath.

I am on the hunt for a sconce to go between the vanity mirrors, as well as a small chandē to hang above the tub. Came across Foundry Lighting via social media and am loving their fixtures (sconce). The glass beads on this chandelier remind me of bubbles, a touch to coincide with the spa like space.

Eye Catching Appliances

While I am still contemplating the tile that will go above our cooktop and bar, I am happy to report we have chosen our appliances. We are going with the – gorgeous – Café line by GE.

I fell in love with this line after seeing it at a wholesale distributor. The handles give the appliances super sleek appeal and you have the option to buy a different hardware kit to suit your taste. If I were remodeling a kitchen in a mid-century or designing for a scandinavian style home, I would definitely go with the white; maybe in a future cabin on a river/lake, dreamy! Once I realized the stainless appliance handles could be switched out for brass I opted to go that route for our kitchen. The combination is striking, like a distinguished tuxedo; I may feel obligated to start cooking in an evening gown.

A feature I love about the fridge is that it is fully backlit with LED lighting. You can also customize storage space, which I find most important in the freezer section so it doesn’t become a bottomless pit of frostbitten frozen goods. We chose the standard, full depth option. If you are building or remodeling a space, I always recommend going full depth. You’ll get more storage capacity and it’s less expensive!

If you are interested in this appliance line and live in the Houston area, I recommend heading over to Metro Wholesale in SW houston. Everything is laid out to envision in your space and Adam was personable and helpful in my decision process.

Kitchen Color Palette

I have long admired Statuario Maximus Quartz – Caesarstone – and considered it in the kitchen of our previous home remodel, though we ultimately went with Nuvo (also Caesarstone) as its starkness worked in our mid-century home. We are going with a 3cm Maximus slab and opting for a honed finish. There is a bit more maintenance required in honed quartz but will be worth achieving the natural look and feel we want and will diffuse light nicely, an issue (for us) with polished quartz.

Wanting to stray from the typical white or grey, I opted for a beautiful greige for our kitchen cabinets in “Anew Gray.” This color will create a perfect balance between the large matte-white subway tile backsplash and avoids too much white, considering the walls of our home will be (SW) pearly white. For a pop of color, our bar and inlay above stove will be outfitted with this gorgeous fireclay glazed tile. I’m in love with the clover color and the puzzle piece design. I will likely go with a lighter grout color so the shape stand out.

Bar Accent Tile Shape…

Welcome Baby Ellie + 3D Home Renderings

Since my last post we welcomed baby Ellie into the world! Born October 2^nd, 2020 @ 7:17 pm, just one day after our 9^th wedding anniversary. The weeks leading up to delivery had me feeling entirely overstuffed and super fatigued, making for a dormant blog.  Ellie is 3 weeks old now and we our settling into a routine and new normal…and I have been itching to post an update.

I previously mentioned 3D renderings and I’m thrilled to reveal them here. I love the way they turned out. The addition of the flower box made a big difference to the facade/curb appeal…funny how something so small can do that. We also went with a light garage door to match the oak front door and left the black glass panels (to the left) for contrast. Our original inspiration photo (in 2nd blog post) had an all glass door and although beautiful, this gives us more security and privacy. I also love how the natural wood elements soften up the home.

3D Renderings

This week we finalized our electrical and cabinetry design throughout. Both elements were fun to precisely pinpoint layout for functionality. We used the old mac paint app to put cabinet design together and the blueprints to figure out where we wanted sockets, lights and dimmers…dimmers everywhere for the win…well almost. I love dimmers.

*In lieu of bathroom cabinets at the vanities, a must for me is that they contain drawers only and either be floating or have legs. Drawers allow me to organize so much easier and nothing gets lost as it would in the back of a lower cabinet. The vanities being off the ground make cleaning easier and allow a more spacious feel; not sure if we will go with round or rectangle vanity mirrors.

Patiently waiting to break ground as permits are in process of being approved; there is a bit of lag time on that. My cautious optimism has kept me from being too bummed, realizing we likely won’t be in our new home until March at the earliest. I cannot wait to move into our new place as a family of four…counting our fur babe, Crouton, of course.

Next step we will choose flooring and plumbing (sinks, faucets, etc)!

Demo Day

I have been excitedly awaiting this day for some time!

Seeing a clean slate on our site offers a greater mental visual of what is to come and provides us with a sense of forward progress. Ellie will be here in a month’s time and I am hoping we stay in perpetual motion going forth, to completion. Would love to be in our home by Christmas, though I am realistic in my optimism.

Our neighbors on our left were out surveying the aftermath of the demo, giving us the opportunity to meet. They are a super nice family (yay) and sounds like the homeowner to our right is as well.

*We have opted for a 3D rendering of the home and I look forward to sharing that when complete. Be back soon!

Ellie’s Room

Vote in the poll below which wallpaper mural you prefer. You can right click each image to enlarge view in a new tab.

Large windows, soft warm tones and a wall mural will make for a fun and comfortable space as Ellie grows. Going with a map to instill some geography knowledge early on … seemingly oft looked over round these parts (;

Final Plans In!

Last week’s meeting was highly productive with design plans both inside and out finalized and we are feeling confident moving into phase 2. Our architect was able to provide a smart and open layout within our target square footage, while wholly accommodating our design wishes and needs. For reference, our requirements were a 3 bed 2.5 bath home enclosed in a 2200 sq ft, 1.5 story plan. Below is a peek at our floorplan and outer facade.

Our Design in Relation to Inspiration…

The patio at left will have a wrought iron fence for less disturbance. We decided to go with a rustic pine door to bring in a natural element and more texture, while adding the one window panel on the left for cohesion and light filtering. We will go with a pine single wide garage door to further tie-in the wood element. Reminder: we have to build 4 ft above foundation to meet deed requirements based on flood zoning.

Initial Design Ideas

A peek at some of our design ideas before we meet the team next week

We went a different direction with this home, considering all blueprints and design choices made prior were reliant on a mid-century design. This home and its interior will reflect a combination of styles we have come to fall in love with over the years. Another deciding factor was lot size; we are unable to incorporate a wide mid-century ranch on the more narrow front lot we are working with.

Our Facade Inspiration

Interior …

Update: We nixed the dog washing station in favor of counter space, as we opted for a top load washer. Our shower will be ample size for Crouton’s spa days…

Starter Home Reno

Rewind to when my husband and I bought our first home. It was a mid-century ranch style and perfectly suited our needs as first time buyers. The home had previous updates and we added our own stamps along the way, including taking the kitchen to the studs. We kept the mid-century lines while creating a more open flow with smart upgrades and fell further in love with our space. However, we continued to long for walkability and inner loop options our Meyerland home didn’t offer. We sold the home this past November – after 10 good years – and rented an apartment near our preferred neighborhood of Braeswood Place, to mull over our next move….to build or to buy and renovate? January 2020 came in with a bang upon receiving a positive pregnancy test (sooo long awaited)! As you can imagine, this propelled us into a high gear of house hunting. Each time we found a mid-century we liked, the foundation was a major problem.. thanks to a flood prone houston area, a clay consistency for dirt and older homes being on slab. We fretted building knowing baby would arrive first but a property popped up at a price and lot size we couldn’t refuse, so we made our purchase!