A Solid Foundation (Days 1 and 2)

The start of a project is always so dramatic compared to the finishing touches later in the process. This giant one is no exception. 

The day started off with a lot of spray paint and some panic on my part that "it's so small" followed by "it's using up so much of the yard" (which is, therefore, probably the right footprint for this addition):

(Excuse the screen outline--I was trying to take the photo without being too noticeable to avoid being creepy.)

By the end of yesterday (day 1), we had what one of my children referred to as A MOAT!

A team of at least 8 people dug this trench and the footer holes, both of which are about 3-feet deep, by hand all day yesterday, which is pretty incredible. They had to take out a couple of small trees too. Busy day! They disconnected our downspouts and cut the underground connections too. A lot of work for day 1.

Today made less progress but looked equally grueling. Our trenches got rebar pieces and the crew manually carried in a ton (possibly literally) of concrete and cinderblock:

We also got a porta-potty delivery, which I think you probably do not need a picture of.

Next is...wait--just until tomorrow thank goodness--for what is apparently the first inspection. The crew covered everything up in a rather dramatic GIGANTIC tarp to keep it all dry and called it quits early.

While the crew is doing manual labor, D and I continue to work on aesthetics. Your comments were so helpful on deciding house color that I think we'll opt to match the gray (paired with the charcoal roof), though we're probably going to opt for a darker gray on the parged concrete base. We've also been hard at work on interior decor. We have started to look at wallpaper...

I was raised in a time when wallpaper was discolored tiny flowers that you couldn't wait to remove from the wall, but really wanted to explore some of the bolder designs that are now available, and we have found so many that we like. Since we haven't decided on paint/accent colors yet, picking a wallpaper seems like a good next step to deciding what complimenting colors to use for paint. Here are a few of the patterns we're considering for the wall behind our bed:

Floral Dreams

Ginko Toss

Gatsby Damask

Sprigs

Cabaret

Since it's hard to see the pattern on the wall, here's a close up. Do I really want a wallpaper called "cabaret" in the bedroom? Probably not in theory. But we are leaning towards painting the walls a bold color and are seriously considering deep greenish blue, so this would certainly make a great accent for it:

Clearly I have a blue thing going, even though I didn't start out with that goal in mind (though most of our house is painted in blues, greens, and grays, so this isn't surprising). I'm drawn to paper that has a metallic or textured feel, probably because that helps distinguish it from just a painted mural, but in the end, only one of these is actually metallic. So I might opt for these or I might just keep looking. It does seem like finding just one will be the bigger problem.

(Bathroom wallpaper inspiration coming in a future post.)

Feel free to share your thoughts on any of these or on wallpaper in general. Your opinions have all been really helpful!