Progress at the river house

The painter and contractor are slowly but surely chipping away at the update list for our river getaway, Cliff House. This week I was thrilled to have the granite installed. It's got more movement than I originally thought I wanted, but I'm really digging it. The painters will soon move to the kitchen walls and cabinetry, which should lighten it all up in more neutral tones so the granite really pops.

 

My latest reno idea is adding timber to the kitchen arch that matches the ceiling beams as an attractive yet relatively inexpensive way to hide the dated orange talavera tiles and shoddy gray cement job. It's like that series of children's books with if/then events by author Laura Numeroff. If you paint the walls, then the counters need to be changed. If you put down granite counters, then the cabinets need to be painted. If the cabinets are painted, then the arch looks totally out of place and has to be addressed. And the cabinet pulls need to be replaced. It could go on and on!

The electrician was there mid-week to install some new ceiling fans and light fixtures for me. It's amazing how little things like that can make such a difference in the look and feel of a room.

 

 

I enjoyed some shopping for the river house decor this week, too. Doesn't every house in Texas need some sort of cowhide rug? The one I bought will go in the dining room. While snooping through a few local antique shops, I found a lovely old clock from the late 1800s that will be a great addition to a smaller wall space on the landing adjacent to the Jim Bowie and bluebonnet oil paintings I'm having reframed.

I've learned tricks about how to pull a house together from my decorator I've used the last 20 years, but I still look to her for guidance. New cabinet pulls, for example. They're everywhere and run the gamut from $2 for the small, factory made ones, to upwards of $150 for the larger handmade ones. Same with paint color. Just because I like something doesn't mean it's going to work with all of the other things in the space. And so she and I will be meeting on Wednesday to make selects for new hutch and sideboard pulls, as well as paint for a couple custom built-in furniture pieces.