Sunday, March 12, 2017

March House Update #1



Ready for picture overload? We have had SO much happen over  the last few weeks that it might be best to just show you in pictures so here we go!


Countertops go in on Tuesday of this week. We had a super tight budget yet we really wanted granite countertops. So, we were extremely fortunate when we stumbled across this white/grey/black color! It is as close to my "dream white" as we could get, and we can't wait to see what it looks like with the rest of the kitchen!



Finding a farmhouse sink was NOT as easy as I thought it would be. Thanks to the internet, lots of research and Wayfair, we were able to find an apron front, fireclay sink that looks amazing in the kitchen!! You can find the exact sink here


The count down to peeling off the protective plastic for our cabinets is ON!








Before our wallpaper attempt......


This gorgeous wallpaper was worth every penny!!! We bought it through Anthropologie



I can't even! The light shining through the window hits the wall just right!
After our wallpaper attempt.....

I am on the hunt for a big, chunky, oval-shaped, bronze mirror! 








The shower heads and tub faucets are going in soon as soon as the plumbing gets finished. 











The stair treads have been stained and installed along with the iron posts and railings. The fireplace was grouted this week as well. Eventually, we will do the same subway tile and black grout for the kitchen backsplash. 



The first night that the electric was hooked up was so fun! We may have run all over the house(for real...we ran we were so excited) and turned off and on the lights. 


And since we always try to end with one of our sunset pictures that we are so in awe of...here is the latest! The sunsets from our cove have been on POINT the last few weeks! We are ready for Spring. 



Wednesday, February 1, 2017

January House Update

Things have been moving quickly at Cooper's Cottage the last few weeks. I wish that we had paused for a moment to take better pictures, but I am excited to share some of the progress that has occurred! 


We are so excited about our kitchen. Our kitchen, dining room, and living room are all one open-concept space. We are thrilled that adding the cabinets does not close off the space, and we can't wait for appliances to go in and for counter tops to be added.  



We are obsessed with the hardwood floors. We went with floors that had a ton of character. It is going to be fun keeping them clean! :)



They started working on doors and trim as well. They will be painted white to match the trim soon. 





This is our master shower and David's project. The shower will have two wall shower heads and a rain down shower head. We will add grout as soon as we can decide on a color! 



The sunrises and sunsets are just gorgeous out at the house. I can't wait to watch them from our porch one day! 

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Spray Foam Insulation


When building (and reading about building) a house, there seem to be two main things that are always listed as the two most important parts of the building process---windows and insulation. After a lot of research, we decided to go with a method called "flash and batt" for our insulation in our Cooper Cottage. Flash and batt insulation is where they go through the house and spray closed cell foam everywhere that you would normally put insulation. Then, they cover the spray foam with a layer of conventional R13/19/23 batt.  

I discovered that spray foam is still a controversial topic. I ran across a lot different opinions when researching it on the Internet and taking to builders.  Because of the mixed reviews, I really did my homework on this one.  Everyone honestly had different feelings about it, both for and against.  Builders and home owners either seem to love it or hate it. Here are some pros and cons that we would like to share with those also curious about the spray foam process:


*Saves you money on your energy bills
*Spray foam is strong and will make your house stronger
*Does not allow water and moisture infiltration
*Helps reduce dust and pollen infliltration


  
*Spray foam MUST be installed properly. 
*Some have reported that air leaks have caused wood to rot
*More expensive



The installers sprayed a cardboard box before the walls to set their spray gun and once dry, I could jump up and down on this box and it would not budge.  Multiple YouTube videos also show how much force it takes to pull boards apart when sprayed with closed cell foam.  This foam has made our house extremely strong. With our house built on a hill, we get a lot of wind. We have stood in the house during heavy wind and can barely hear it thanks to the spray foam. 

This is our master bath, and you can see how it covered around the water pipes.
In the upstairs bedroom, you may be able to notice that there is part of the roof line that will be  part of the ceiling in the bedrooms. In these areas, we used open cell foam in order to get the most insulation possible against that black metal roof!



If it was a wood area, I had them spray it.  This was to help with any small holes that may have been left from the framing stage. 
Here you can see them putting in the "batt" part after the spray foam, they used different levels of R-value insulation depending on where it was going in the house. 

Here is the open cell foam I mentioned earlier.  


At the end of the day, we are really happy with how it turned out!

-David