February 1, 2008
The island was set today. Check out the sea of cardboard in the backyard. Chris and I are doing our own construction clean-up to save on the budget and also to ensure that as much of the materials will be recycled as possible. We break down every box and take it to our metro waste center. We collect packing peanuts and give them to our local UPS store. Zero-waste construction is impossible, but we’re giving it our best shot.

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February 3, 2008
I am whooped. I’m five days beyond my due date, our remodel is moving along at a good pace, but it’s still achingly slow. We’ve moved twice and face our third move in about 3 weeks. To where? We have yet to figure that out. Every time I leave the house, Kevin follows me to the car, half ready to catch me if I slip on the ice.

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February 5, 2008
A sense of calm washes over all of us with the birth of our little prince, William Owen. He’s 9 pounds, 3 ounces of pure bliss. Outside, it snows 10 inches.

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February 7, 2008
Chris, Owen, and I leave the hospital and make a beeline to the house. Kevin has questions that only I can answer. I’ll do anything to keep things moving. I miss my nest!

February 11, 2008
Cambria installers came today to template the counters. We chose Cambria (www.cambriausa.com), a natural quartz surface for the kitchen, pantry, and dining room. I have several decisions to make: Undermount the kitchen sink or drop-in? Depth of counters…2, 3 or 4 cm? Edge profile? Color? We choose Sussex, a warm brown with subtle mottling for all three of the rooms to tie the spaces together and make our smallish collection of rooms feel cohesive. A hunky 3 cm counter is substantial and will be the right proportion for the long runs of cabinetry. A super simple profile shows off the counters in this kitchen. I want to undermount the sink, because it’s so easy to clean and you don’t get any of that yucky stuff trapped around the rim like you do with a drop-in. These counters are maintenance free and non-porous, making them a safe choice for food prep. Tip: If you love granite, but don’t love the flecking, check out Cambria’s Desert collection of colors. They’re muted and really come off more as a solid color.

February 23, 2008
Moving day…again. Owen is almost 3 weeks old. We pack up the rental house and move back to our friend’s townhouse. Move No. 3.

February 28, 2008
The painters have primed and sprayed everything. You can really start to see the color palette coming together: warm browns, creamy neutrals, and a bit of warm honey in the mudroom. Tip: We knew we wanted white ceilings, so we tinted all the primer Sherwin-Williams (www.sherwin-williams.com) #8002 (Glass of Milk). Now the painters don’t have to go back and spray the ceilings and we save a few bucks in paint. Three of the kitchen walls and the pantry are Rope # 8021, One accent wall is Warm Stone #7032. The mudroom is Sahara # 8149, which is a happy surprise. That little room gets a lot of light so the paint color is warm, but a little brighter than the paint chip. The dining room is #7569 Stucco. All the paint is Sherwin-Williams’ Duration, which is a low-VOC, low-odor coating. The consistency of the paint is thick and creamy and one coat covers beautifully. It’s more expensive per gallon, but when you figure that it covers in one coat, you actually need a lot less paint with this product. It’s a good choice for us because it stands up to high traffic plus it wipes clean with water. Perfect for a house full of little kids with sticky fingers.

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