Things I am loving Thursday and house updates!

Good morning...hope everyone is well. We have had so much rain lately, it poured like crazy yesterday and the howling wind made me realize summer is long gone.  Another week going by, all so fast! I cannot believe we are nearly at the end of October. Two months until December......until Christmas? Oh boy.....better buckle up, chaotic endless days are in my future. I must admit it has my head spinning just a little, makes me weak at the knees to think about the growing pressure of moving in, settling, unpacking, preparing for Thanksgiving and then Christmas shopping (this always makes my heart start beating a wee bit faster), as much as I absolutely love Christmas and the magic that is this holiday, I tend to work myself into a frenzy every year. Deep breaths, deep breaths.This week over at the house, things continue to buzz right along. I think I will be saying this for quite awhile, but most of my time and energies are spent over at the house. At this stage of the game, I am often there more than once a day, but its all good. And fingers crossed yours truly will be moving in mid November, our goal as of right now! Today's post is really all about "house biz", haven't had a lot of time to look into much else but I am NOT complaining one bit!

Before I begin, has anyone heard from or spoken to Angela and Renee from Under Spanish Moss? They are so sweet and haven't posted in over a month they stopped by here practically daily and I haven't heard from them, then I emailed to see if everything was OK, and haven't heard back! I hope all is fine, and they are just super busy or were on a wonderful extended vacation, but if you have spoken to them, please let us know. 

First before I begin, here are the results of this weeks Which would you choose? I was happy to see my two personal faves were in 1st and 2nd place!! Though to me, they were all pretty incredible and I don't think there was a slouch in the bunch! Here are the top five with a record number of  over 140 people commenting! Thank you all for participating. You spoke, I heard and here are the results....
1st place with 47 votes

2nd place with 43 votes

3rd place with 41 votes

4th place with 21 votes

5th place with 19 votes

Thank you all for participating, I love seeing what all you stylish design divas are loving!

HOUSE UPDATES. Unlike last weeks anti climatic updates (to me at least) this week is a lot more exciting. FINALLY the limestone has arrived for front and they are laying the groundwork to put in the front entrance, I think by next week I will have some great progress to show you. Front door also gets put in today! The butlers pantry had the backsplash put in, I actually had left over from one of the bathrooms, subways so decided to be practical and smart and used that, I really like the way it came out, very timeless and classic. Upstairs floors are done and came out beautiful, we went with a rich medium brown with  no red. Family room staining is just about done...love love love the color! I was going to get pictures tonight but at 6pm they were still working so I couldn't get pictures of it almost finished but the ones below are "in progress"pics! Carpeting getting put in next week and my stove and remaining appliances being delivered on Monday. Painting continues, and overall we are as you can see, making lots of good steady progress!

Kitchen getting ready for ceiling treatment

Family room 1st round of stain and stipping

Just had to peel back the paper and take a peek at my floor....so tired of the paper and cardboard!

The little cabinet between kitchen and butlers, completed with backsplash subways

Window mullions in process of getting painted/glazed

Finish for ceiling in kitchen, to be done by next week

A NEW WALLPAPER FOR BACK POWDER ROOM. I was at the D&D building this week and had so much fun. The three showrooms I spent the most time in and found what I loved was Schumacher, Zoffany and Ralph Lauren. If you are looking for great  wallpaper I think Zoffany and  Schumacher are hard to beat and for traditional, timeless classic kind of fabrics to me, Ralph  still reigns king. I was very very happy to have found a gorgeous wallpaper for the back powder room and I am not looking anymore. I fell in love with it, its the perfect blend of being crisp and fresh but still traditional. Its a done deal!  I found a second similar feeling wallpaper with the slightest hint of metallic gold which I am also determined to use somewhere!

 And this is the other that I love, has a hint of gold in the flowers, maybe guest bathroom....

And finally the paper for our guest powder room, went back to one of the originals, it works so well with the honey onyx, its a no brainer. Why overthink this?

Wow I just realized these pictures are REALLY bad, sorry!! But you get the idea, right?

NEW TOPIARIES AND ACCESSORIES FOR MY FUTURE KITCHEN ISLAND. Without giving too much away (still very early on) I am working on a potential future business and have been "experimenting" with different trades people to help me realize a few ideas I have. So far things are looking really good but I am not one to talk too much about things until they are really definitely without a doubt happening. I also know the importance of timing and though I am doing my 'homework' I cannot spread myself too thin, so am concentrating fully on finishing the house and moving.   As things become more definite you can be sure I will share any details with you, but for now this is a pair of topiaries I designed, they are VERY tall about 3 and a half feet, and really pretty!~ Also how do you like the French tray? What do you think? Feedback is important!

HOT OFF THE PRESSES.....the long awaited doors were installed in butlers pantry late today, its an official LOVE for me! ( It was dark and pouring outside so pardon the fair quality in the pictures and they are really dusty but you get the idea)! Hardware comes next week:)

So that's about it for me this week!! Would love to know if there is anything you are loving or want to share!! Always love hearing about something new and exciting. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all a wonderful day!