You Haven't Seen The Best Of Me Yet

Hey Sweets.  Still here, I am.  Come sneak away with me and I'll give you a what's up tour this morning.

I woke up vewy vewy early this morning.  I wanted to get over to the cottage just after sunrise but before any of the construction crew got there.  It's still pretty rough around the edges but, if you're rweely, rweely quite so we don't wake the neighbors, I'll give you a mini tour.  I opened the top of the front door for you just because, I don't know if I had mentioned that it's a Dutch Door.  I love, love, love, Dutch Doors.  We get the sea breeze from the West so that fresh, salty air will be able to flow right through my whole house now {grin from ear to ear.}

The foyer is so light and bright with most of the paper off the windows now.  Isn't the transom above the door wonderful?  If you turn left in this foyer there are French Doors leading into my studio.  There is also a transom above those doors making for much natural light for my painting and creating!

Soon the windows will be sparkling clean with all the stickers and so forth removed.  This is the master bedroom guys.  I can't wait to make a cushion and some big, fluffy, down pillows for my window seat.  Isn't the ceiling beautiful?  It's painted in a high gloss white and will reflect all the colors around it.  So clean and simple looking.  Relaxing, just as a bedroom should be, and man do I need me some relaxing.

It's difficult to tell in this photo but, all the nursery yellow has been annihilated from my house.  It now hums melodious in a Dunn and Edwards, Birch.  It's just another of the 27,000,000 various shades of white one has to choose from but, you can see how prettily it stands out from the more white-white, on all the trim.  For those of you who remember, they first painted the main walls of the entry, great room and kitchen, nursery yellow.  Yep, you heard that correctly.  BIG, really, really BIG mistake.  There were tears, there was gnawing and gnashing and there may have been a little cursing.  Mostly just tears.  And tears work on painters almost every time.  They just kinda stand back with sprayer in hand, nursery yellow paint all over their little white scull caps and mouth guards. And look at you in dismay.  They look bewildered and frightened, kind of like a deer in the headlights, faced with a grown woman sobbing like an infant child.  Whaaa, whaaa, whaaaaaaaaa (hiccup) whaaa.  Then when you come back the next day, after your husband has made numerous phone calls and said unthinkable bad words just like magic, 'Birch' adorns the walls of your newly painted cottage and all is right with the world.  Painters are a species who forgive easily if you make them cookies.  I forgive easily if you don't make me live with nursery yellow.  Score: 1 - 1

My son Cooper is off living the idyllic life of a camp counselor in New Hampshire this summer.  Cooper wanted his room to have a grey tone to it.  I'm not sure why, he doesn't even live in his room most of the time now that he is a University student and lives away.  But, I've never been able to deny him anything, have you seen this face?   So, Cooper's new room color is called "Crystal Haze".  Looks kind of like the color of his Freshman dorm.  Just kidding Coop, the picture doesn't do it justice.  It's very groovy, you'll love it.

Every boy should spend at least one summer working as a camp counselor for nine, ten year old boys.  It helps them better understand what a mom and dad's job is like on a day to day basis.  A young man can have an ephinay of revelation and a new found appreciation for his mommy when he is away being "dad" to boys at camp.  "Oh dear God, I thank thee for divine retribution.  Amen."

 The island now has a slab of Calacatta honed marble.  It came from a quarry in Italy and was processed there as well.  I am imagining many happy hours of rolling out dough and cutting out Christmas stars and angels on this island.

This is our new granite.  It's called Verde Italia (also processed in Italy) and has what is called a satin finish.  If you haven't seen the satin finish yet, do try to get a peek.  It doesn't have the very shiny look you usually see granite finished in.  This is more subtle and understated with a blue, grey, green tint to the rock.  I think it's beauteous and I can't wait to clean it up and cook on it!  Someone should come hit me over the head with a bowling pin.  I've just stated publicly that I can't wait to bake and clean and cook.

In this photo you can see the finish on the granite a little better but, here also, is where dreams come true.  Yep.  A farmhouse sink.  I've always, always wanted a farmhouse sink.  Always is a long time and I'm old now so I should know.  You can fit any size pot or pan in this sink.  It looks awesome with sleek lines and rounded corners.

Its been around since 1897 so it has to be good, right?  I wish this sink would have lived in my kitchen when my babies were little.  I often bathed them in the kitchen sink.  There they got to be part of all the goings on in the kitchen (the heart of the home).  While I was on kitchen duty my babies splashed and made watery, bubbly messes everywhere.  I blissfully listened to their laughter and squeals and giggles while my babies got clean.  Now that I have this awesome, super sized sink do you think they'll let me give them a tubby in there?  Yeah?  Nope, I think not.  But,  it's never to late.   I have some grand babies and I sure know a dog or two that I can out run who may get to have the pleasure!  Ready, Set, Run.......

Can you guess what this is?  There's no prize, I don't know how to pull off that maneuver yet.  I've been too busy remodeling my cottage to accustom myself on how to do real giveaways and such on this blog.

Remember when your kids asked you, "What will you give me if I take out the trash?"  And your reply was, "The knowledge that you did a good thing for someone and did a good job doing it!"  Well, you get the picture.  So, again I ask you, what is the stuff pictured just above?

It's grout caulk color strips.  They are done laying tile in the rooms that are getting tile on the floor, so we picked all the grout colors last week. You get to choose from all these samples.  Yippee!  More choices! We chose to keep our tile set close together, with very small grout lines.  I think it's a cleaner look. Then we choose grout which wasn't too dark or too light.  Something that just faded into the colors of the tile.  We laid tile in the bathrooms, and the laundry room.  It's all covered up with paper to protect it from the rest of construction at the moment but, I've taken a peek and it looks great!

We have to go back outside now because the sun is coming up and the crew will be here to work soon.
Here's the new garage door.  It is primered and will soon have a coat of bright, white paint to match the trim of the house.  Oh!  And a splash of bronze hardware.

Someone, (thank you John),  even hung my mailbox back up on the house.  I think I've come full circle!  Unfortunately I think it will mostly be full of bills for a long time to come.  On a happier note, for those of you who guessed correctly what grout chalk was, come with me now.  Your virtual prize is a trip to Claire's on Cedros.  She is just about to open her restaurant and if we're quick we'll get the first chocolate croissants out of the oven!

Early morning at Claire's.  Everything is freshly baked every day with organic, whole food ingredients.  The staff here are the most gracious, happy people you'll ever meet.  They make dining here a little slice of Heaven.  I bring all my favorite friends here for treats.  They also serve the best breakfast or lunch in town.

You can eat inside or outside and if you eat out on the patio your pups are welcome!  MMM, that chocolate croissant is about to melt in my mouth, so we're off and I'll write more about the awesomeness that is Claire's another time because once definitely won't be enough.

I appreciate all of you sweet friends and family who are following along on this journey with me.  You've made the ride so much more fun!  Obviously the 13 day count down from my last post is alas, not going to be.  It's the start of the Race Track season in our neighboring Del Mar soon, so our rental will turn into a summer rental.  That's when they double the rent!  Therefore, our lease is up and we have to move out.  The cottage is almost done but not quite, So...we are going to be living the life of gypsies for another week or so until we can move into the cottage.  I hope.  I don't know.  I can't guess.  Nobody will tell me.  But as soon as I know, you'll know, K?  I'll keep the pics coming and someday soon it will look like a real cottage.  I hope that someday is sooner rather than later because I'm no good at being a gypsy.  I've got to have a nest.  Love you more than all the remodeling I am never, ever, going to do again!

Blessings,

Tia

P.S.  Thank you to my awesome and freakishly strong son-in-law, and my two oldest grandsons, Ty and Cael for lending us all their muscles and heart, moving the rest of our stuff into storage last weekend.  You guys are my heroes!