Homestead Update – Stone + Flooring + Cabinet Delivery

Building a house is madness. It seems like some parts are gaining the upper hand sooooo long, and weeks pass and the visual change is incremental. And then some things happen very quickly and all in a row, and then everything seems totally different and very, very REAL. The last two months have definitely been the last. The stone walls have been bricked up, the floors have been put in and the cabinets have been delivered one by one, and the house now really feels like a home. It’s pretty wild stuff.

I’d love to say that all the exciting things I’m about to share have made the summer wonderful, but the truth is, these have been by far the most stressful 3 months of my life. Mostly because our Portland house is still on the market, and living in a house while it’s being shown is incredibly difficult and time consuming (we have shedding dogs, so 2 hours of cleaning/gardening is required before each showing, plus 90 minutes for the screening itself, which adds up when you are self-employed and the time lost directly affects the hours you dedicate to your business). Additionally, we lack the funds we were supposed to get from selling the house, which has put us in a difficult financial situation. And then when you add infertility treatments + house building materials, it becomes a very tiring time. I hope one day I’ll look back on all of this and laugh at how crazy this summer has been, but for now the stress weighs like a stone in my chest and won’t go away until the house is sold. So if you have any good energy/prayers/vibes to spare, it would be extremely appreciated! I definitely need it lol.

So, now that I’ve had a little venting session, what happened to the farm? Well, let’s start with the brickwork first! There are two stone walls in the house, one inside the house on the wall between the living room and the kitchen which also extends into the entrance hall. And one on the outside of the house that wraps around a cozy corner. We went with a the warm and creamy El Dorado stone in the ‘white house’ for the interior and their Dark gray bluffstone on the exterior of the house for a dry stacked look. This was one of those things that I really struggled to imagine accurately in space, but then seeing it take shape in real life was absolutely engaging. First of all, I really like bricklaying, and it’s something I’d love to learn someday (just to create something fun like an outdoor pizza oven), so it was fascinating to look at it from a creative point of view. And secondly, I wasn’t prepared for how much texture and richness it added to the space. I feel like it harks back to the time when our ancestors lived in caves – there’s something about stone that is intrinsically grounding, calming and timeless. I’m so happy to have incorporated this into the build. And seeing how it turned out made me want to use a lot more of it in landscaping, like fences or gazebos that we will eventually have outside. If you are thinking about adding some stone to your interior or exterior in a remodel or project, I would highly recommend it. highly I recommend it.

The floor was also installed, hurray!!! We installed wood floors in most of the house, with the exception of the kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms. There is sooooo there’s a lot to dig into with hardwood floors (I learned so much, guys), so I’ll write a whole blog post about it when the house is finished. BUT I’ll leave you with a little peek at the bedroom + study flooring! We got it from Duchateau and I’m over the moon about it. For the kitchen, we chose this porcelain stoneware by Arto which looks like old-world Mediterranean cobblestone, with alternating square and rectangular tiles to create a softer, less rigid pattern. It looks so lovely in the kitchen space and I love how the warm tones add a cozy feel to the room. There was a snag, though, when we were sent the square tiles in the correct cream color, but the rectangular tiles were gray and it wasn’t detected until they were partially installed. But luckily the team got together and everything worked out and eventually the correct tiles were installed.

And finally the cabinets have arrived! I had never had furniture installed in a new house before, and you can imagine that a whole house of furniture took up a LOT of space in the house when they were delivered. It was so exciting to see them and be able to peek at the finishes in person. You see them in small swatch sizes (like a few inches by a few inches), but it’s nothing like seeing them in person in the actual house with the way the light hits them and everything. And then little by little they began to be installed in the rooms, and it was like Christmas morning walking into the kitchen and seeing all the furniture in their spaces. It really brought the whole room to life and was so exciting to see. We made a built-in wardrobe for the master bedroom, and the furniture for that also made the bedroom space much cozier. All the cabinet knobs and pull hardware will also be installed in the next few weeks and I can’t wait to see them with all the little finished pieces. We also had the Cosenza suspended ceilings installed, but I’ll go into more detail about those in another blog post. That’s all for today, my friend. Have a wonderful rest of the week and we’ll talk to you soon!!