Still Framing....

Still hard at work framing and they made a lot of progress over Christmas week!

View standing on top of the garage.

Another view from on top of the garage.

Inside the garage.

On top of the garage.

View from the great room.

Stairs to space above garage.

My bathtub has a box now!

Garage

In the Great Room

Framing Madness!

Finally made it out to the lot to check out the framing progress.  Wow, these are some hard workers and they are moving quickly!  So exciting to see our home start to take shape!

Carter standing in her room!

On the back porch!

In the living room!

In the kitchen!

They eventually plan to build a box around this, but it's still exposed for the time being.  So pretty!

Bathing Al Fresco!

Since the master tub weighs so much we had to bring it in before the walls go up!  I think it's a tad bit chilly for al fresco bathing this time of year.

Come August.....I'll be singin' a different tune! :) 

Lumber Drop!

We had some delays due to weather and Thanksgiving which is of course to be expected!

We're back on track now!  The septic tanks have been put in, we've trimmed up the trees to make room for the roof and the lumber has been dropped!

Let the framing begin!

Houston, We Have A Slab.

I'm sure the workers weren't thrilled about pumping over the trees, but they did an amazing job!  The slab is officially poured and they will be coming out to wreck the forms over the next couple days!  Then after about a week of letting the slab cure, the framers will get started!  So excited to see everything start to take shape vertically!

 

Cheerleaders on the sidelines!    

An Unexpected Find!

We went to Round Top, TX for a colleague's engagement party and decided to pop in a couple of the antique shops!  I've never been outside of market days, so wasn't sure what to expect.  We ended up finding a beautiful 18th century oak door from France that we are going to use as Carter's bathroom door and put on barn rails!

We sure didn't expect to pull up to the party with a door in the back of the car!  Unexpected finds are the best; especially when they are a good deal!

Foundation Prep!

These are definitely some hard workers and they are making some great progress!  We should be ready to pour the foundation on Thursday!  Exciting times and we are definitely learning a lot throughout the process!!!

Belgium.....Beer, Chocolate and Tiles!

Unfortunately, we weren't having much luck in Burgundy finding some tiles to use in the kitchen backsplash, so we decided that we would try and continue our search once we got back to the states via the internet.  We decided to make a quick trip to Belgium before heading to Paris and flying home.  I must say the Belgian countryside is absolutely beautiful this time of year and we stumbled across some amazing little towns!

We had plenty of delicious Belgian beer, waffles and chocolate and had completely forgotten about finding tiles.  In Leuven we came across a small antique shop and as soon as we walked in the door there was an old box of tiles sitting on the floor!  We looked around the shop and he had some great items and a ton more tiles.  Mainly Delft style, which is beautiful, but we were really drawn to the old box of tiles at the front.  We picked through them and found the ones we liked and they even threw in a couple for free!  I can't wait to see them behind our range!  I've done quite a bit of research on them and they date back to 1781 and came from the town of Liege in Belgium.  Ironically, we were trying to find tiles from Burgundy to go behind our stove from Burgundy and we ended up with tiles from Liege which was largely destroyed buy Burgundy in 1468.  Burgundy range + Tiles from Liege = International Peace!

Les "Pianos Gastronomes"

Since we love to cook so much, we decided that we wanted a French range in the house.  Not only are they beautiful, but they are amazing pianos.  French chefs refer to their cooking ranges as "pianos".  So, we set out to research all the different ranges.  The one that most people are familiar with is likely Le Cornue.  While we loved the french version of the Le Cornue, we weren't crazy about the U.S. version for various reasons that we won't rant about!  We discovered another french range named LaCanche.  We're pretty much sold on it, but to seal the deal, decided to take a trip to LaCanche, France and tour the factory....plus we're always looking for an excuse to go to Europe!

The Burgundy region of France is absolutely beautiful and Blandine at LaCanche couldn't have been more friendly.  She gave us a wonderful tour of the showroom and factory, color samples to take home, and an apron to cook our first meal on our very one LaCanche!  She also recommended an amazing place for lunch in the next town!  She followed up with us later that day to recommend some great parks to take Carter to and also gave us the name of another LaCanche owner in the area who has been very helpful in finding us some tiles from the region!  We want to find some tiles from the area to use in the backsplash behind the range.

We will keep you posted as we order our very own "piano gastronomes" and it's journey from La Canche, France to our home!  Please visit their website to learn more about this amazing piano made entirely by hand!

http://www.frenchranges.com
http://www.lacanche.com/index_en.php

Breaking Ground!

We officially broke ground today!!!  We've been delayed quite a bit due to rain, but the skies have finally cleared and allowed work to progress.  Unfortunately it happens to be the same day that we are hopping on a plane to France, but I was able to get our builder to send me some pics!  You're probably wondering what all the fences are for?!?!?  Well....they are to protect the trees throughout the build!  Since we went through all the trouble to design around them, we definitely don't want to kill them in the build process!

Our Windows Have Arrived!

I drove to Round Top today to pick up the windows we bought from Carlos in Belgium!  The Belgian antique exporter that transported them to Texas told me which market to meet him at to pick them up.  This just happens to be one of 2 market weeks that take place in Round Top every year, so it is absolutely madness!  I asked him how I would find him at the market because there are a ton of different booths.....he said, just ask for Bart!  Really?!?!?  Well, that's what I did!  I was wondering around from booth to booth asking for Bart and sure enough, he is well known, and everyone pointed me in the right direction!  He is such a great guy and I was tempted to buy a few other things from his booth.  But....I made myself focus and stay on track!

The window frames came from an orangery on the grounds of a ruined castle in Belgium right on the French border.  They are cast iron and weigh about 250 lbs each!  I purchased 6 of them and we'll add new glass to them once they are installed.

Bart found 2 guys to help load them in my truck and as they were loading them, I made the comment that I had been looking for them forever and they are so beautiful!  One of the guys said to me....."well, I guess I have absolutely no design sense, because I would never pay money for these.  Someone would have to pay me to take them!"  Hilarious!!!  I guess beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder!  I can't wait to see them installed in the house!

Aside from this, we are making slow progress.  They broke ground, but due to quite a bit of rain and other jobs, they haven't been able to complete the grading of the lot.  Must have patience.......

A New Future Behind Old Doors!

We found a front door that we fell in love with a few months ago.  It is a beautiful 18th century oak door from France.  We had to have a door jamb made and we just got notice today that it is complete and being shipped this Friday!!!

We purchased it from Eclectic Architecturals  http://texasea.com 

After we decided to purchase the door, they contacted us and said that it originally came with a transom that someone else was supposed to purchase, but it fell through.  They offered it to us to purchase and of course I'm having a VERY hard time separating the transom from the door it was originally intended to be with.  The original side lites don't exist, and our entry is not big enough to accommodate it as is and add new side lites.  Decisions, decisions.....

Do we cut it down or find use for it elsewhere?!?!  We decided not to cut it down as it likely won't be seen much over the front door anyway.  We are going to incase it in the framing between the kitchen and great room.  This way we get to see it all the time!!!  It is being delivered with the door this Friday!