For me, the most exciting part of the building process was the kitchen installation. It was thrilling to see all my ideas and planning come to life. Giddy is more like it. Today, I thought I'd walk you through some of the planning decisions I made for the kitchen and talk about the process.

When I was designing the studio bathroom, I wanted to create a few interesting elements for the space. Originally, I was going to use an old dresser for the vanity but it just never felt right. I couldn't find the perfect size dresser, one with clean lines and not too much fuss. So after The Man and I had many lengthy conversations about our options...we decided that making a concrete vanity would be the best fit for my antique marble basin....

You may recall me mentioning here, that I bought an antique camel wagon wheel that had been made into a mirror. It's not every day you run across one, so of course, I snapped it up. It's enormous. Over 5 feet across. To get it home, it was strapped to the roof rack of my Mini Cooper while the edges hung off over the sides. Imagine that zipping down the freeway in traffic!

You may recall me mentioning here, that I bought an antique camel wagon wheel that had been made into a mirror. It's not every day you run across one, so of course, I snapped it up. It's enormous. Over 5 feet across. To get it home, it was strapped to the roof rack of my Mini Cooper while the edges hung off over the sides. Imagine that zipping down the freeway in traffic!

One of the reclaimed design elements of Grove House we have in the works, is the use of salvaged scaffolding planks. They'll be used for shelving in the kitchen pantry, library and a few other rooms and projects. The Man went with me to help select the boards. He's got the muscles to load them, and the patience to check each board for straightness.

We're having the boards wire brushed to remove most of the debris, then a coat of clear, matte sealer will be applied. In the photo below you can see the difference it makes.

Well, there has been so much happening with Grove House. Keeping up with the day to day details of construction has proven to be challenging, exciting, frustrating, rewarding, and a little bit exhausting. Here's a recap of what we've accomplished thus far. The framing took much longer than expected, and we are happy to have moved on from that phase...