Pieces of a giant house puzzle

I alluded to all of the action going on in the house and here it is! I am, for the first time, feeling as if we are getting closer and closer to actually owning a habitable structure. Well, no, there are still no toilets installed, or running water, but hey - the chandelier looks nice!

We were able to have someone come in and finish up the floors for us and they look spectacular. Money well spent, for sure. We had just decided that we weren't entirely happy with our progress and we needed faster results. When you can only work on things here and there, after work and on weekends, a project like the floors can take weeks. We don't have weeks to wait.

I was also able to take a day off of work, more for my sanity and peace of mind, to get a few things finished around the house. I had reached a point where, for days I had gone to the house to check on progress and was not seeing anything happen. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. So I painted the living room. The trim, baseboards, ceilings, walls, bookshelves, etc. All in one day. It took 14 hours. But. it. is. Finished.

Your first glimpse at a semi before/after picture!

I also pulled a move from Nicole Curtis on DIY network's Rehab Addict. We have all of this amazing original brass hardware on everything, the only problem is that it is covered in yuck and paint. I soaked a batch of hinges and knobs in the crockpot on medium heat with a few tablespoons of laundry detergent all day. By the time I got home, I really just had to knock them around a bit and the paint just slid right off. Genius. The only problem with this is that now James wants to do ALL of the hardware the same way. I'll be cooking a lot of doorknobs for dinner.

The bathroom floors are finally down, and being grouted today. After our catastrophic tile job... and the resulting RE-TILE job... they are looking amazing. I love the little marble hexagons. When the light hits them they glitter like a big expensive sequin floor. My brand new tub is going to look great on them!

James and I spent some time after work last night digging the thinset out from between the tiles. We had decided to go with white grout after a great debate and we did not want the dark thinset to show through. You really learn a lot about someone when you are sprawled across the bathroom floor, digging desperately at tiny little cracks between tiny little tiles for hours. And, honestly, this was probably the most time we have been able to spend, just the two of us together, for the past few months. Ah, memories in the making, right? We keep telling ourselves that.

Another thing my mom and I were able to cross off the list was the dining room. Sort of. We set a goal last weekend to have the dining room completely finished. Finished, to us, meant being able to hang the old brass chandelier I had spray painted. It took a solid hour and a half of holding the cold, heavy chandelier over my head, but it is finally up! Our little ceiling medallion looks great, if I do say so myself. I was able to step back and *almost* had an HGTV moment... the angle when you walk into the room, past the chandelier and into the kitchen... is perfect. The cabinets and the lighting, the floors, the wall color... everything is coming together so well. I was shocked. We may actually finish this thing! That was, at least, until James asked, "So how do you feel about crown molding?"

Not yet "finished"... but close!