Sorry for my delay in posting…There was the Labor Day weekend (less childcare coverage + mom out of town), and then a CRAZY heat wave which made for very cranky kiddos (and understandably so). As a result, last week was a bit of a wash…but here I am! And, although this will be just a quick, short post, I wanted to fill you in a little more about the bro’s project…

Sadly I probably won’t share all the exciting stories about the crazy past owner. Sad face. I know. The reason? Well, the previous owner (like I said) is bat shit crazy, and honestly, I’m afraid that in revealing the actual stories that happened, he might somehow find this little slice on the internet, and, well, that wouldn’t result in a very great future. I know you must think that I’M CRAZY for thinking that, but in all honesty my brother actually advised that I not ever write about this project because the previous owner is so insane and Adam didn’t want there to be any negative ramifications from him. Yes, those worries are very ridiculous – you don’t have to spend any time convincing me of that. But this is also a man that stole millions of dollars from investors, took a chainsaw to the back of the door of our property, threatened my dad and Chris and barricaded himself inside. Needless to say, I don’t put anything past him.

Anyways, I did want to share with you guys some of the revisions that have happened in terms of the design.

We picked a contractor, and because his bid came in below what we anticipated, I decided to revise a couple of choices. When I manage projects for my brother, he gives me a lot of freedom. That makes me nervous. Adam basically says: here is your budget, go do the project and tell me when you’re done. Both crazy exciting (I get to design allllll how I want 🙂 yipee!) but with no feedback along the way I’m also a person that gets REALLY nervous. It’s nerve wracking getting so much freedom –> what will Adam think about it? Will he like it? Will he make as much money as he wants/needs? Will I make a huge mistake and cost him a ton of money? And in a way working for my brother makes me more nervous because if he fires me, I still have to see him at Christmas. I’m also a more nervous person who likes to make sure I’m pleasing my boss and doing a good job, whereas Adam has confidence in me and a ton of other things going on in his work life, so he’d rather just have me manage everything and not have to check in with him along the way.

Basically, that’s just a long winded way of saying that because the contractor came in lower than the end budget my brother gave me, I made a couple switches. And here they are (switches are in blue)

Here’s the first to compare it to

Here’s a summary of the changes (and also, please excuse how fucking cluttered the mood boards look, but I was trying to fit a TON of images into this smallish space):

1. I switched up the paint colors. And at least on my monitor they are WAY darker than they are on the paint chips. The original bedroom color went up on the walls and I just didn’t like it. And the previous contractor didn’t do a great job painting, so the new contractor offered to repaint all the spaces, and I took him up on it. So the new colors are Jeff Lewis colors (OMG I got his paint deck and holy shit I loved allllll the colors). The lightest color Dusk will be the bathroom color, the middle Gravel will be the common spaces, and the darkest color Gray Geese will be the bedroom color. I wanted to go even darker for the bedroom, but just because I like dark colors for the bedroom, doesn’t mean everyone will. And this unit is about appeal because it will be rented out to someone.

2. New bedroom lights. I just felt the original was too much. Too sparkly, too much. So I searched around for an affordable, modernish light. And I love this one, it’s call the Olivia 4 light pendant.

3. New nook light. Again. Not thrilled with the original. And with the more geometric bedroom light, I wanted the nook light to have at least a kind of similar flavor. It’s called the Canarm Vanessa 4 light chandelier.

10. Floor tile. Again, because the bid was lower than I budgeted in my mind, that freed up a little “extra” money to have the new contractor demo the existing bathroom floor and put down a new one. I thought about doing a patterned tile and really wanted to, but I can’t find one at a brick and mortar that I love at a price that fits the budget. We’re hoping to get started on the bathroom in the next couple of days, so he really needs the job materials on site, so ordering online and hoping that things aren’t broken really isn’t a legitimate option. I’ve been toying with the idea of black tile floors in a bathroom for some time, and because things are so light and airy otherwise in the unit, I thought this splash of dark drama would be fun.

11. Again, a little more room in the budget, so a console sink it is! I found this American Standard Retrospect Console and it fits the budget, but I’m not entirely in love with it still. I’m going to a bath showroom I love later this week and will see if there’s something else they have that would fit the bill. So this is still a maybe choice. But I gotta make the pick soon!

17. New lights for the hallway. There is a really long hallway when you open the door into the unit and the ceilings are really tall (10+ feet). Right now there are recessed lights wired in place, but I asked the new contractor if he might be able to switch them out for hanging lights. It’s just a nice way to dress up the otherwise long and boring hall. It’s called the Tiva 1 Light pendant.

18. Shelving for the bathroom. This will go above the toilet in the bathroom for extra storage. I totally spaced on this before. It’s the Mercer Triple Glass shelf.

19. FLOORS! The existing floors in the space I thought might just be fucked up hardwoods that we could try to refinish, but they’re actually fucked up sub floor, so no refinishing. Instead I opted to do engineered hardwood. Full hardwood would be over budget, but engineered is still hardwood (just a thinner layer so it can’t be refinished as many times), at a more affordable price. I’m not sure about what color/finish I’ll go with yet, but I’m thinking something like this in the mid-range/slightly darker look.

I’m meeting the contractor at Home Depot on Wednesday to order cabinets for the kitchen and go over alllllll the measurements so we can start ordering the shit out of materials. Chris and I will most likely take a bunch of crap over there on Thursday when they’re getting started on things. We’ll still need to pick out trim and a new door or two, but for the most part the picks (I think) are finally relatively set. See how I still leave room there for more revisions? Ah! This unit is just so exciting to me because we got it at such a bare bones state and there really is a lot of potential. There really is a soft spot in my heart for this unit. I hope it turns out great!