Sicinski Kids!: Quote of the week...

I know I told at least 5 people this week and I quote,

"This house is consuming my life!"

Let me walk you through a week in the life of Adrienne - the contact for all design items in the Sicinski house. (Let me preface with the fact that Matt has spent just as much time dealing with the finacial aspects of the house - loan, bids, budget, etc.)

Two Friday's ago - Met Crystal (the hardware girl) at Kiva to finalize the door knobs, drawer pulls, hooks, towel rings, etc. I'd made these selections over a year ago, but needed to review/tweak and finalize. Then I fought rush hour traffic through the Galleria to get to the bank to pay the interest payment. And last but not least, I swung by the tile place to confirm the name of my fireplace sample. Later in the weekend - emailed Crystal a few more items which we forgot to discuss and emailed Frank (the floor/tile guy) the name of the tile.

Last Saturday - Met Lambert (the builder) at the house and spent 2 hours walking the house and discussing the progress/to-do list/changes/fixes/viewed 3 variations of the main paint color and ended up agreeing on the original hue/etc. Also discussed the room paint colors with Emicio (the painter) and promised I would come back and mark each wall noting my selection. Keep in mind I have also noted these selections on a spreadsheet which Emicio already has. However, I don't mind doing this because it ensures everyone is on the same page or should I say wall. I always leave these meetings a little worked up and anxious because I analyze and worry about everything. "Can they fix that tile mistake?" "Will they be able to patch that hole?" "Ahhhhh!"

This week - Sunday - Back to the house to "mark" each wall with our paint color selections. Then onto the neighborhood park with Reese, Lane and Daddy. That night, I emailed Frank noting the tile mistakes that needed correction.

Monday - Fielded phone calls and emails from Lambert, Frank and guys who needed me to sign checks. Met both Jerry (the landscaper) and Rohit (the fabricator/granite guy) at my office to sign checks for their work. We typically sign checks on Friday, but these two didn't make the check run. Then over lunch, I met Crystal at the house to "walk it" and ensure the hardware count was correct.

Tuesday - Slushed through the mud walkway (glad I have those rain boots) to meet Frank and his team at the house to review the punch list on the wood floors and tile. They are all very kind and agreed to fix everything that wasn't quite right. See Frank and I discussed the layout a few weeks back. Then he reviewed it with Joann (the tile coordinator). She works with the installers to ensure it's done right. Well a few things got lost in the translation between me and Frank and Frank and Joann, but we got back on track. They assured me that I would be called for all major items like the fireplace and master bath. There is too much detail involved, so they can't assume anything.

Wednesday - Got an email from Frank, "Fireplace tile has arrived, can you meet at 12:45 to discuss?" So back to the house to review the tile layout. This is very important you see - to ensure the tile cuts and main pieces are laid in the most appealing way. The details take the time!

Thursday - Fielded emails from Lambert noting the progress of this and that. "Need to order lights soon", he wrote. Immediately, I called Don (the light guy) and asked that he walk the house today, so I could meet him tomorrow to review selections. Replied to Lambert and asked if we could postpone our Friday meeting until Saturday because it was going to be 28 degrees on Friday morning...not really wanting to hang out at the house and freeze any more than I have to.

Friday - Met Kimberly in the lobby of my office (an Allegro architect and coordinator of the administrative stuff) to sign the weekly checks. After getting a much needed hair do, I met Don and Gloria (the light experts) at Heights Lights to review and finalize the selections.

Saturday - Met JoAnn (the interior designer who has helped me along the way to make all of our selections) at the house to discuss and select window treatments (i.e. woven wood blinds and shutters) and discuss light placement, mirror sizes, etc.

So, you see why I said, "This house is consuming my life!" I know it will all be worth it, but I wanted to remind myself by documenting it here that it took A LOT of time, work and worry to get there.

Here's the progress...Still hoping for an end of March move in!!!

The view when you walk in the front door ~ Dining Room. The wall paint is called Naval and is a beautiful navy blue shade.

This is the chandelier that will hand in the Dining Room.

The powder room is a nice shade of sage green called Silvermist.

The study is a fine gray blue called Krypton. These pictures are dark because little light is coming in as the windows are still covered on the outside and the inside has trim paint on it. I can't wait to see everything in the natural light.

The main wall color is a neat taupe which is in the hallways, living, kitchen, mud, game room and guest room/bath is called Analytical Gray. The fireplace tile looks so great - they got the cuts just right! It still needs grout, but it has been too cold to grout.

The kitchen island is painted black called Caviar. Black paint is tricky for some reason - it tends to turn out brown or blue if you are not careful. Now Caviar looked black as black can be on the swatch and the samples Emicio showed me, but in certain light is actually ebony or a very dark chocolate. I actually love it!

This piece of marble will go on the island (which Rohit and I selected 2 weeks back) and is called Callacutta Oro. It was hard to come by! I had seen it 2 years ago and knew it was what I wanted (it is white with gray veining), but I couldn't buy it yet because we had not begun building. So the plan was to find and buy it once the house was framed. Well that was October, right before Lane was born. I tried and tried for 3 months to locate a piece, but nobody had any. Everyone kept saying, we'll get some next month. The shipment finally arrived and I went during lunch to view it the day it was unloaded from the crate. Seriously - do you feel my stress?

View from the front door when not looking at the Dining Room. Next on the agenda is to select the wood floor stain. That will drive the stain for the wood doors and stair newels/handrail.

Reese's room is Silvermist - the sage green. It is a very neutral color. She loves it! Yay!

And Lane's room is the same shade as the study - Krypton. Their bathroom is also this color. I figured I can do a lot with blue (add green, pink, anything).

Reese and Lane's bathroom shower/tub. It's subway tile with an eye level border where the tile is placed soldier style (vertical) with black and white glass tiles on top and bottom. This was one of the tile mistakes that had to be corrected (the black and white tiles didn't line up right the first time).

This is the guest bath floor. White octagon with black dot. Very traditional which I love. Lane and Reese have the same floor but theirs is all white.