#23 Art Room

angie schwab July 16, 2018

This room is magical! The views are some of the best in the house with five windows offering West and North views. There have been so many originals created in this room already - even from our visiting guest artists!

some design tips that make this room super functional:

Tip #1

The proximity to our living space makes it a go-to spot for our daughter. If this room was hidden in the basement or near our bedrooms, we're confident it wouldn't get the same daily use.

Sliding doors separates the living room and art room

Tip #2

Drawers are the most efficient way to store most of the art supplies. You don't have to open a door and then pull something off a shelf. Just by pulling the drawer open, the items come to you for easy access.

Tip #3

Offer inspiration! We loaded the shelves with activity and art books that can be used for inspiration. We love to bring our ipad in to use pinterst too!

Some of our favorite art room books!

Tip #4

Store things in clear containers. Keep supplies as visible as possible. Use these glass jars and plastic candy jars to keep supplies organized and contained but also visible.

Some of our favorite art supplies!

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Great storage containers!

Plastic Candy Jar

Glass Jar with Metal Lid

IKEA Jars

Ball Mason Jars

Tip #5

Having a sink in the art room has already saved us from making endless trips to the kitchen. It's nice to keep the kitchen sink paint-free too! Add a large roll of paper towels and you're good to go. Clean up is easy-peasy!

Tip #6

Add comfortable seating. The casters make moving around easy. The warm fuzzy fabric is oh so comfy. And our daughter loves a swivel chair! We added this inexpensive rug to protect the wood floors from the casters (and from paint spills!)

Tip #7

Add open shelves. Now that you have original artwork - it needs to be on display! The open shelves also offers space for work in progress or things that need to dry. Our shelves are looking a little more cluttered than we'd like but we'll put that on a our future project list.

We dedicated a lot of square footage and dollars to this room and we're so happy with the results. August loves this room and so do we! This morning we talked about what the next projects is going to be. She's thinking of making a gnome or Minon out of model magic. So much fun!

For more art room ideas, check out our Pintrest folder.

And of course don't forget to add in some original artwork! (Posted earlier on Facebook)

Follow our art room board

I started a Pintrest board for the art room, make sure to visit it and get inspired!

Moving Day!

angie schwab May 31, 2018

Whew... moving is hard work! We're getting more settled as the days go by and LOVING our new digs!

Construction is behind schedule so the contractors worked hard to get us a temporary occupancy permit. We sold our previous home and we needed to move! There is still some interior work to be done and lots of exterior work to be done. We appreciate not having to move to a temporary home though.

Here's a gallery of pictures taken by Liz Schaefer just as we're starting to move our things in.

A special thank you to all of our heavy lifters and packers - you guys rocked!

We can't wait to share more pictures of our home after each room is completed. Our daughter settled right into the art room. It has one of the best views in the home!

Recessed Fan Light

angie schwab May 24, 2018

Have you heard of recessed fan lights? They're pretty cool! We've added one to our tiled master bathroom shower to help reduce mold and mildew problems.

Hidden Shower Drain

angie schwab May 24, 2018

We have installed a hidden Kerdi line drain in our master shower. Check it out! #homeintheheartlandblog #hrcarpets

Main Bathroom Wallpaper

angie schwab May 9, 2018

#21 Master Bathroom Tiles

angie schwab May 2, 2018

DUAL TILE LOOKS

The grout you pick can be almost as important as the tile you select. Look below at how different this marble tile looks with a dark grey grout verses a bright white grout.

Angie shows the different looks applied in the video below.

MORE BATHROOM DETAILS

The edges of the tile require special finishing. That finished edge can be achieved with metals, accent tiles, or bullnose. Bullnose is using the same tile but having one of the edges rounded and finished. You can see that detail in the photos below.

In addition to the edges, the transition between the white ceramic tile and the marble hexagon tile was addressed with this interesting molding. This change in dimension adds interest like a chair rail would in a decorative wood treatment on your wall.

A recessed shelf will store the shampoo, soap, etc without taking any additional room in the shower. Using the space between the studs is an efficient use of space. Just remember, these need to be on inside walls.

The masons are doing their thing and it is beautiful! We wanted a style that felt a bit aged and old. The stones are mostly warm gold tones with some grey mixed in. The way this stone frames the circle window is magical.

See those white beams? They will be cedar next time you see them. A bit of a miscommunication but the builder is on it. Our intention is to have the columns match the garage doors. It will be a bit more maintenance for us, but it will be worth it to get the warmth of the stained wood in the mix.

The painter is working hard to get the nail holes filled and a crisp white edge on the crown molding. His attention to detail is like no other. We appreciate it so much!

#20 Exterior Details

angie schwab April 18, 2018

We're getting down to adding the final details to the exterior. One of the many decisions we need to make yet involves the flower boxes planned for under the windows. Should the color be black or brown?

My designer instincts are leaning me towards repeating the brown from the garage doors in order to create balance. We are considering black as well because of the continuity it would have with the shutters. The brown can be brought in with a fence or landscape. We had some images made of the options to confirm.

And the winner is...

After looking things over, we decided to stick with the brown. We really like how the brown adds warmth to the white and black. It also adds a touch of rustic which we like very much. we can't wait to see that pink wall by the front door turn to stone in the next week or two.

Are you following us on Instagram?

If you're on Instagram, make sure you follow along on our journey! We're making some serious progress on the house and posting lots of new photos!

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#19 Recessed Lighting

angie schwab April 10, 2018

Recessed cans that aren’t recessed? Confusing statement? Yes, it is!

One of our goals in the basement was to have as unobstructed of a ceiling line as possible. Giving us the full range of our walls. It worked out extremely well because the heat runs and returns could all fit between the joist space with no extra soffit needed. Whew!

Angie meticulously mapped out the perfect location for all of lighting downstairs, careful to space out each can appropriately to give optimal coverage for their glowing magnificence. We planned for 8 in the living room spaced out symmetrically, 6 in the playroom, 4 in the workout room. It was going to be perfect.

And then… the electrical walk through. Almost everything upstairs went according to plan and then we walked to the basement. Our faithful electrician dashed our dreams and resurrected them all at once. “You know that you can’t use cans in basically any of the spots that you want to put lights because of the HVAC, right? However, you can use these newer fixtures that are available.” Do tell.

Buy on Amazon

After some explanation from the electrician, we were able to find these little beauties.

They can go anywhere a fixture goes!
They only hang down ¾” off the ceiling and gave us the ability to put our “not recessed” cans wherever we wanted to!
Let their LED light shine!

We even bought enough of them to use in the storage area in the unfinished part of the basement because we liked them so much.

Buy on Amazon

We ended up using this product for the “true” recessed can lights upstairs.

They fit into the can itself
Remain flush at the surface with a trim kit to cover the opening

However, the other style also has a retrofit kit included so you can use it in your existing can lights.

We love the way they look and we're looking forward to the longevity of these fixtures. Let them shine for 35 years plus!

#18 Building a House: Frequently Asked Questions

angie schwab March 21, 2018

Thank you SO much for your interest in our project. Whether you're interested in having a custom home built, considering a remodel, or have a decorating project, we REALLY hope you find the blog helpful. We've been asked some excellent questions over the past five months. We thought we'd share a few of those with everyone.

1. When are you moving in?

This is a question that makes us both laugh because you'd think we could answer at this point, but the truth is we're not sure yet. Our builder has given us a completion date for the house (early May) but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re moving in then. We need to coordinate the sale of our current home. We do know it's getting closer and we're getting excited! Construction began in October so the actual building of our home will take approximately 6 1/2 months.

2. There are so many decisions to make, how did you decide to do what you did?

Our education and experience helps - no doubt! But, there's more to the building process than interior design and flooring. Over the past 15 years, we have been careful listeners and observers and we've used that to cultivate our own list of wants and needs. That includes listening to our clients as well as the professionals we work with. We also utilize resources online (houzz, Pinterest, blogs, etc) and use images to inspire our own ideas. We also love a good home and garden TV show. We've actually learned a lot from This Old House and it's good family entertainment. We love walking into the house during construction and saying, "Wow, that is so cool!" when we we get to see some of our ideas finally put in place.

3. With all of the work that you have done in preparation, has everything been seamless?

No. We make regular (daily) trips to the house to check on progress and make sure that all of the details are being done to our specifications. There have definitely been some “slap the forehead” moments and definitely some “tear up and re-do’s” but we are very happy with the outcome in those situations and the way that they have been handled by the people we are working with. If you want seamless, a custom house is not for you!

4. Do you enjoy going over to check on progress?

Yes!!! Most definitely. However, building a home is like having another job that you aren’t getting paid for. With all the planning, site visits, decisions, electrical walk through, HVAC walk through, cabinets, countertops, flooring (Ha Ha), lumber, doors, windows, on and on and on…….. You have to commit yourself to some late nights and full weekends. Even 2 professionals like us can suffer some burnout (not to mention the poor kiddo, thank goodness for some well-placed tech-time #Ithinkweregoingtobeoverondatathismonthagain).

5. How do you deal with ...(insert whatever you want)?

Knowing that not every decision you make in prep is going to work the way you want it to and being able to move past that is paramount to making the home building experience a good one.

Every contractor that works in our home has an opinion on how things should be done. We always listen because his/her experience can definitely lead us in the right direction; however, we also need to trust our instincts. We spent a lot of time thinking through the decisions we're making so we recognize the value in that too.

Thanks again for your interest. If you have any other questions you'd like answered, be sure to send them our way and we'll be sure to answer them in another post!

#17 Tile Progress

angie schwab March 14, 2018

For the past two weeks, the finish carpenter, painter, and flooring installers have been hard at work adding the interior finishes we've selected. It is really satisfying to see the finishes installed. The flooring is near and dear to our hearts so we'd love to share some information about the installation products and techniques.

Even if reading about tile installation technique is not your jam, we hope to convey the layered and detailed nature of tile installation. These installers are true professionals and we're so proud of their work!

To keep our toes warm in the bathroom, we're installing the Schluter Ditra Heat for both bathroom floors. Here is a picture of the Ditra Heat Mat installation. The orange mat has to be mortared down to the 3/4" subfloor using a polymer modified mortar.

Making sure to get good adherence is important so the installers roll it with 100lb roller and then go along the edges with a grout float to make sure it is securely in the mortar.

One of the cool things about the Schluter Ditra Heat system is that the resistance wire (aka: heat source) clips right into the mat. Even cooler is that the spacing is set by the mat making it easy peasy to space properly. Three rows apart just like the picture. The cable gets tested before and after installation to make sure that it is still in top shape and wasn't damaged during the installation process.

Because we weren't immediately installing the tile, the installers back buttered the entire floor with mortar to protect the cable and make it easier to snap lines for the actual tile installation. This is the blank canvas for the installer to plan out the tile pattern.

This picture shows a very important tool our tile installers use. Believe it or not, tile is not flat and is not always square either. These orange wedges and clips are a tile leveling system by Raimondi Industries. This system helps make installations as perfect as possible by maintaining spacing between tiles and bending the tiles to make the floor as flat as possible. Extremely cool technology that has been developed to accommodate installations with plank and large format tiles.

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After the mortar dries, the wedges are broken off which breaks the clip at the bottom of the tile and leaves a perfect line for grouting.

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This is the wall tile we selected for around the tub. It is called Artigiano from Dal Tile. It's an extremely beautiful tile that can be used on walls. Notice the jagged edge giving the appearance of a handmade fire kilned tile. The tile surface is not flat which adds some additional interest.

Before installation the installer met with us to discuss the tile spacing. He pointed out that because of the irregularity, you can stack these tiles on top of each other.

The tile installer also pointed out that the bullnose (piece on the end with a rounded edge) could line up with two rows of tile if stacked on top of each other. We like things to line up whenever possible. We very much appreciated his input!

Notice on the walls behind our installer is more orange product from Schluter. That product is Kerdi and it is designed to water proof the wall so that no water ever penetrates the tub surround. We are using it in our custom shower as well. The Kerdi system by Schluter provides niches like the one on the right wall to hold shampoo and soap. It also offers benches and other products that you would want in water proof in a custom shower.

Oh my, do we LOVE this tile! Even surrounded by the in-progress mess - it shines bright! Go to our Shop Our House page to learn more about the products we're using in this bathroom and check back to see more progress.