We have a closing date! Hallelujah! I don’t like moving, but this move, I am pretty excited about! It also won’t be too bad. Most of our stuff is already packed and in storage. We just have the basics that we use day to day. Hiring movers were the best thing ever, last time we moved. I am so happy we are doing it again. They were so fast. The entire move,from one place to the next, only took 3 hours. It was the easiest move of my life. Since we finally have a moving date, the planning has begun. Closing in the middle of the week, allows us a few days to get some work done, before the movers come on a Saturday. I really want to tackle the entry and master bedroom.

For the entry, I have been trying to figure out what kind of wall treatment I want. We had board and batten in the townhouse. We have board and batten around the island and grotto kitchen window at the new house. I just don’t know if I want in the entry. Of course, I turned to Pinterest to get my mind rolling. I was down to shiplap, board and batten, or picture frame molding. All are so good and would look fine. However, shiplap just stole my heart! Here some pictures of our unfinished entry, so you can get an idea.

We are going to case the entry to the front room and have shiplap around the entire entry. EEKKKK! I get excited just thinking about it! We have this brushed nickel pendant in the entry. I usually don’t buy lighting from the builder. This one was such a good price, that I broke my rule. All the other lights (builder basic) in the house will be switched out for something cute. I just love this brushed nickel lantern. I might even spray paint it gold….I can’t decide. Gold is pulling on my heart strings lately. I think the shiplap will compliment this pendant so well. My dilemma is where to stop. I know…..why stop the shiplap? We don’t have time to shiplap and paint the whole house before movers. Haha. But seriously, my entry is a bit tricky. There are the entry and front room. Then another wall across from the stairs. This wall isn’t technically part of the entry, I guess. I don’t know if I should leave it blank for now……or keep the shiplap coming all the way onto that wall. Then that brings another problem. ( see the above pictures of our unfinished house) If I continue the shiplap to the next wall (past the entry), it connects to the wall that runs down to the basement. Will it be weird to not shiplap that upper small section, connecting that wall to the basement stairwell? I think it might be odd to just do the wall and not the one connected to it. If I do all of the walls (including the basement stairwell wall) that is a lot of work to get done before movers. So I am still debating. I found these photos on Pinterest. The first one has a similar pendant with shiplap (and board and batten). Just to give you an idea. What do you think?

On top of the entry, we want to get the ceiling in the master bedroom done before movers. That will be another post next week. I can’t wait to show you what I am thinking. Let the projects begin…(at least the pre- planning, anyway).

Pendant lights. Do you have any? Of course, you probably do. We actually have two over our island in the new house. First, I had to decide which direction I wanted them to face. That was tricky. A lot of people have them going front to back of the house in our floorplan. For some reason, I just didn’t like the way it looked ( I chose side to side of the house). We only have 9-foot ceilings on the main floor. There are can lights everywhere in the kitchen and living room. I decided to not do a chandelier in the dining room. I felt like it would clog up space too much. The kitchen, dining, and living room are all together in one open space. It just felt more open to have cans over the dining room table. So my only spot ( in this area) to showcase pendants will be the island.

The island is not huge but will seat 6. There is enough space to put two small pendants. The question is…what pendants? I have it narrowed down to a few. There will be a pendant in my entry by the front door. There will also be a matching pendant in the stairwell going upstairs. It’s brushed nickel (see the pic below). I chose this light for those two areas because the builder had such a good price on them at the design center. So my island pendants need to coordinate with these two other pendants.

I found this Progress Lighting Fresnel pendant at Lowe’s and really like the look. It is a little modern and industrial. I feel like it would fit in well the stainless steel appliances and sink.  I think this one is my top place contender right now.

There is also this simple glass one ( Allen Roth Valleymede mini pendant). I like that it is not obtrusive. It will be light and airy, making the space continue in an open flow. I worry that it will just been in with everything though. I want to add a bit of character with this lighting. These may be to boring.

Then there is this little guy (Allen Roth Brushed Nickel Pendant with glass shade). Also clear and airy. This one is just a little bit bigger and has some more character and shape. I like it a lot, except for the cord. I wish it had a brushed nickel metal pole to cover the cord. I probably could find something similar with a hard metal cover, if I shopped around more.

Finally, there is the Progress Lighting Archie pendant. I actually am thinking about getting the coordinating vanity lights for the bathrooms. I just don’t know if it goes in a kitchen. I wish the glass was clear and not so busy. What do you think? Do you have any favorites? I guess I will have to wait a bit longer and see how they look once the space is finished. Only a couple more months until the new house is complete. 🙂

*Last four photos of pendant lights from Lowes.com.

There are so many options for garage doors. That is, of course, unless you build with a not so custom builder. In that case, you go to a design center and get to choose from like six options. That would be me. I chose my garage door style ( white, duh!) and then there were hardware options….

I’m calling my house the craftsman modern farmhouse. I know it’s a lot going on but I think it will come together fine. It has a little bit craftsman and a little bit modern farmhouse. The outside is all hardy board and shaker shingles in “pure white” by Sherwin Williams. The garage doors will have windows at the top and the same style as the photo below. Now in this photo, there is what they call carriage door hardware. That’s where I can’t decide. To carriage or not carriage? At first, I was all for the hardware because it will break up the white. Now, I’m not so sure. Is this carriage style hardware going out of style? Does it look to busy? Do I want a clean simple look? These are the questions running through my head.

We were driving though a neighborhood and came to a house that I yelled, “Stop, turn around and drive slow.” It was a glorious white house that was just my style. Of courseI did that slow drive by stocker look. You know, where I take a million pictures as we slowly drive by.  It had hardy board, shaker shingles, AND it was all white. We will have the same windows on our garage but the door style is a little different. I don’t love the outdoor garage lights. Who cares when your house looks that dreamy? They did a version of the carriage style hardware by only doing the middle handles.

This photo I found on Pinterest from Southern Hospitality Rhonda is also kind of dreamy. I love the garage lights and plan on doing something similar. The all white looks really good here with no garage hardware too. You see my problem? I guess that means I can’t go wrong. So what do you think? Black carriage style garage door hardware or not? You can always add the hardware later. However, once you put it on and make holes, it’s hard to take it off and fix.