Thanks for helping me decide the color for the walls in the upstairs space!
As you might remember, the choices were…
Beach…
And Slate.
There were advantages to both colors, but ultimately we decided to go with the majority, which voted for…
Beach! Congratulations, Beach! How do you feel about your win? Speech, Beach. Speech!
(Sorry. I’m weird.)
Now, for those of you who were in the Slate camp (and I have to say, I was in the Slate camp), don’t fret: We’ll be using it in the girls’ bathroom and as an accent here and there.
And now, it is at this time that I will refrain from posting a photo of some the Beach color applied to a small section of the wall, because as it turns out, I didn’t take a photo of it the other day even though I was convinced I did. But I should be able to show you the walls in the next week or so!
We are using this product on the walls, and it is amazing. I don’t know how to describe it except to say it’s a very fine, but still nicely textured, plaster. The color is in the plaster itself, so painting will never, ever, ever, ever (emphasis on ever) be needed, and instead of the smooth, uniform color of regular paint, it has gorgeous dimension and—most importantly—looks like it’s been there forever, which gives it a little bit of a timeless quality. The product comes in heavier textures for folks who are looking for a more dramatic wall finish/effect, and you can combine two colors and use different troweling techniques to achieve different looks. We’re going for the pared down “Classic” finish, though, just to keep it simple.
OOPS
I also wanted to show you an oops moment. This is the kind of thing that happens when you, your husband, and your mother-in-law plan a space rather than consult with an architect. But it’s character-building! That’s what I tell myself.
This is a photo from a couple of months ago showing a wall in the middle of our office. The bathrooms are on the other side, and this open space will hold a long farm-style “conference” table and separate the ranch office area from my office area. All good, all fine, all harmonious.
Or not.
What we realized we forgot was that the deli kitchen is directly below that space, and a deli/commercial kitchen has to have substantial ventilation…
And “ventilation” translates to “huge duct work”—something we totally neglected to factor into the upstairs office plan.
So we had to extend the wall about 16 inches out (the wooden frame you see is just there temporarily; fortunately, the wall didn’t have to come out that far!)
It was either that or flip the kitchen, which would mean the duct work would have to go in front of the opposite brick wall, which we knew we didn’t want to do.
Anyway, that was the Building-related excitement of a few weeks ago. And it’s all fine now; we covered it all with sheetrock and you can hardly tell anything’s different. All that weeping and wailing, it turns out, wasn’t necessary!
Just kidding. I haven’t cried about The Building yet.
And by golly, I ain’t gonna.
REMAINING WINDOWS
And finally, all the windows on the outside of the building are now finished and the coverings should be off by Thursday! I’ll definitely post photos. We can’t wait, as I think it will be an outward and visible sign that we’re making progress.
We need a little reminder from time to time.
Will update again later this week!