Choosing tile and a first look at the exterior paint color (at the end)

After a long dry spell with no pictures, we travelled up north on Tuesday (after voting of course) to see the house. When we arrived at the house the large mudroom patio and it's retaining walls were finished, all of the siding was up, exterior doors were in and the painters were prepping to start the exterior painting. During our days up there I spent my time looking at tile while Alex and John got to romp in the forest. There was some sticker shock after seeing the initial tally but we found alternatives for some things and kept my favorites. I'm pretty happy about it right now though I haven't seen a full recalculation yet. I hope to have gotten the total much closer to the budget allowance so I can afford to have flooring in the bonus space.

I'm really excited about using some blue Pewabic firehouse sale tiles I'm been saving for years in the foyer mixed in with slate. They are a gorgeous collection of glaze test tiles and samples in various sizes, finishes and shades of blue. I bought them around four years ago with the hope that I'd find a way to use them. As John can tell you, I take them out to look at every six months just wishing for the perfect place to put them. Now finally they will have a home! My other favorites were some green marble accent tile I'm using in the master bathroom and the Meredith Art Tiles I plan to use on the fireplace and kitchen back splash.

Now were home and they will hopefully have the rest of the exterior painting done (weather permitting) and drywall will be installed inside. Here are pictures from this trip:

The driveway is in!The front walk The front door
More exterior doors in place, this is the patio off the master bathroomOur first look at the siding and exterior doors on
the south east side of the house, this door is to John's office.
The west side retaining wall is finished
The patio off the mudroom on the top of the retaining walls,
it has a fantastic view!
Around the corner where the mudroom patio ends,
I think this would be a perfect spot for a brick bread oven.
Since we couldn't return the windows we changed in the kitchen we added them to
the pool room. The hallway behind them is so much nicer now with natural light.
The window is in place on the breakfast nook side of the pool room.

Just before we left, we got to see the paint color up. I love how cheery it is!
I think it'll look wonderful with all the white trim.