Red Door | Myrtle House

For those of you who know me, you know that really the only colors I use for decorating in my own house are blues and grays, with the occasional bold black. Sure I can range from a green-blue to a beige-gray, but that is about as crazy as I get. Brian almost always lets me make all of the design choices. I did major in interior design, so it makes sense. Usually he goes along with whatever I select, unless I suggest something crazy like "let's add black trim to the cabinets" (true story). He is good about reigning me in when I venture into that crazy design land we all ultimately visit after too many late nights working combined with breathing in paint fumes. ;)

Throughout this extensive and long Myrtle House renovation, the only suggestion (and hinting request) has been for a red door. Hm. Red. That and orange are probably my least favorite colors in the world. However, this poor man has been in this mess of a house, carrying out flooring covered in mouse droppings. The least I could do is agree to his choice of door color. Here is the house in it's current condition, as well as the best photo I have of the original door. Do you think our little Myrtle House can pull off the red?

I am not going to lie, red is tricky. It can't be too orange, or too purple. I want what I am calling "an aged cherry" color. I foresee many red color samples in our future... Until then, here are the inspiration photos I am drawn to.

Renee Finberg

This Old House

Sophia's Decor

NJ.com

My current favorite color is Cardinal by Sherwin Williams (possibly discontinued?) - not too burgundy, not too orange, and not too dark. Vibrant, without hurting your eyes. Plus, since the Cardinal is the official bird for North Carolina, I feel like it is meant to be. Any red suggestions? Do any of you pick out paint colors based on their name like I do? I get that from my mom. :)

December Goals

2014 is rapidly coming to a close. In all honesty, I am not sad to see this year wrap up. It has been stressful, expensive, and tiring. Living in this weird sort of limbo has been difficult, but Brian and I have learned so much, and even my younger brother pointed out (hey, Jared!) that if we can make it through this, we should be able to make it through most things. :) Here is how we did for November:

• Start electrical @ Myrtle - Done! He just needs to install the light fixtures after walls and ceilings have been painted
• Run in the OBX half with my sister and Brian (his first!) - Done! Not our best time, but pleased we finished running. Trying to figure out the next one to sign up for...
• Meet my niece! - Yes. Such a cutie. :)
• Celebrate my Grandfather's 90th birthday - Yep!
• Master a homemade Southern mac and cheese recipe (any suggestions?) - Not really, but the version I made wasn't terrible
• Complete Christmas shopping - Pretty much!

We have purposefully slowed down for December. For a stretch there between October and November, we had traveled five out of six weekends, so December has been a nice break. The house is getting so close for our contractor to hand it back to us, and we are itching to get this beast livable, but until then, here is our agenda for the rest of the year. :)

• Settle the bathroom flooring saga (stone, ceramic, vinyl???)
• Have original windows repaired by construction team (hooray!)
• Find a mason to repair the fallen chimney (proving harder than you would think...)
• Finish spec sheet for each room to determine remaining finishes costs
• Find two more lights for closets at the Restore (and paint)

I hope your December is relaxing as well during this festive month!

Surprised by how festive our little rental looks!

Rare quality time when all three sisters are in the same place!

So refreshing to see new fixtures going into Myrtle!

A quick trip to my favorite place, Atlantic Beach, NC

Systems | Myrtle House

A quick unexpected trip to the Western part of the state allowed us a chance to swing by the Myrtle House and see how the plumbing and electrical are coming along. While the house still looks far from done, it is amazing how much progress has been made when you think about it. After these two systems are finalized, the only things left are insulation, drywall, window repairs, and masonry. Well, those things and making it livable with a kitchen, floors, and bathroom fixtures. ;)

Below is the switch that controls the exterior lights and living room fixtures.

HVAC, plumbing, and new joists/subfloor. I never thought construction would look so pretty.

Soon to be half bath off of the living room.

Stacked laundry room!

Master bath. Not too keen on the plumber's tub choice, so we are switching it out.

Kind of jealous of the guest bath. It has a very spacious layout.

Office/guest room bathroom progress.

Faux Marble Floors | Design

While the plumber and the electrician do their thang at the Myrtle House, Brian and I are staying put, saving up money, and plotting the next steps. After the major systems are finished, and insulation/drywall go up, the most important next project is getting at least one bathroom in working order. By working order, I mean having a toilet and possibly a tub. :) First thing to do in the bathroom is lay down flooring. If you know me, or have followed along on Pinterest or the blog, you may have picked up on the fact that I have a bit of a marble obsession. See the problem is, where the Myrtle House is located, marble floors just are not justified. It is too nice of a material for the area, and we would never see that money back. Plus, the Myrtle House will at some point be a rental property, and the idea of people slipping on the floor (hello lawsuit) or staining and chipping my beautiful marble floors makes my skin crawl.

I have been doing a lot of research on flooring and came across this product at Lowes. It is a vinyl peel and stick tile that is also groutable.

No, it is not real marble and will never come close to it. However, if you want the look of marble at a fraction of the cost (this is $1.08 a square foot), this could be a great alternative. My dream Hex Marble floor is $9.97 a square foot so we are talking about nearly 1/10th of the cost of real marble. When you have 3.5 bathrooms and a laundry room to floor, these are big savings.

I was skeptical at first. I am one of those people that don't like fakes - I would rather save up for the real thing. But after seeing how lovely Roeshel's bathroom from DIY Show Off turned out using this vinyl tile, I was convinced.

DIY SHOWOFF

I think the key that makes this tile superior to other peel and stick varieties is that it is groutable. So unless you touch it, it is hard to tell it is not real tile. Another thing I really like is how close the pattern resembles real marble. Some faux marbles look nothing like the real thing, but in the photo below, you can see how much the floor resembles the real marble vanity top.

DIY SHOW OFF

Even though I LOVE real marble, it will be a decent amount more to put in, and it will take a lot longer to install. Since we are already over budget and timeline, I think on this one, I will go for the fake. At DIY Show Off, Roeshel does an amazing tutorial on installation if you are interested (this is the one we plan on following). If you are looking for more information on vinyl flooring, I found this article helpful as well.

What do you think? Too fake or passable?

Electrical Plan | Myrtle House

We are making some progress on the Myrtle House! Plumbing is underway (I hear there is a giant ditch in our driveway right now - sorry neighbors), and next up is the electrical. It is exciting and daunting to have all new wiring going into the house. On one hand it gives us free reign to put outlets, light fixtures, and cables exactly where we want them. On the other hand, I am terrified I am going to forget something important. Hopefully, it will be smooth sailing. :)

This is probably really boring to most of you (my apologies) but I am so excited to finally be to this stage!