House Update: Lighting, Toilets, Floors, AC, Security, etc.

If my home visits were named like episodes of Friends, this one would be called The One Where I Almost Didn't Notice Anything Changed.

And Chandler would be all, "could she be any more oblivious?"

But seriously, it's a good thing we got something as obvious as toilets because otherwise, I might have missed it all.

When I first walk into the house, I noticed that the ground was covered in cardboard, but I didn't think anything of it. Why it didn't signal to me that things may have changed, I don't know, but it didn't.

Through the foyer. Alright nothing new there. In the dining room, the attic stairs still rest on the floor. Moving on. In the kitchen, the microwave is in, but I knew that from a late night visit too dark to take pictures.

And then in the pantry something clicked.

Excuse the pitiful iPhone photos, I forgot the real camera.

Maybe I should say a light bulb flicked on. "Well that's an odd place to install the first light fixture. I wonder if there are more." Suddenly, this is how the kitchen looks to me:

As I continue to retrace my steps, I see something new peaking out of the half bath:

 "Oh look a toilet." I'm ashamed to admit I noticed the plumbing on the wall for the future pedestal sink before I noticed that it wasn't concrete surrounding the toilet. Dumbo right here.

Side bar: our toilet has the stupidest, plastic flusher I've ever seen. Don't know why I find it so aggravating, but I do.

Once I got past the sink's plumbing and the stupid flusher, I decided to get a better look at this flooring.

These floors are installed 100% of the way through our lower level and are actually not wood or even laminate, but a vinyl plank. The first picture is a more accurate representation of the color, but I wanted y'all to see the wood detailing only visible with the sun shining on it.

Being super pet friendly was a high priority (yes, you may always bring your dog to our house, we'll provide the lint rollers) and this was the best bet. It doesn't hurt that this is very inexpensive compared to hardwoods (about 1/5 the cost). I figure if one day we want something more "authentic," like I will in my dream home, we can always replace the vinyl plank with hardwoods later.

Once I got over how much I love the floors, I remembered I was looking for light fixtures.

Yes, I walked right by the foyer light without noticing. How I overlooked the dining room light is beyond me. Stevie Wonder would have seen that thing.

We also have lights installed in our stair well (there's a matching one on the other side). I also just realized I haven't shared pictures of our railing, so this will be a double whammy for you.

Plus the laundry room and the loft.

Pretty spiffy for a laundry room.

At some point, the light in the loft will be replaced with a ceiling fan. I don't know whether that point will be when they realized we paid for a ceiling fan prewire or at a later date.

The guest bath looks like it is done, save the faucet and mirror.

Since we're sharing bathroom pics, here's the nearly completed master bath:

Are all these changes getting you a little hot and bothered? Well cool down, because we now have AC.

And some weeds, apparently.

I think my favorite part of this whole experience is when I recapped with the hubby later on. Since he didn't ask what was new, I decided to surprise him and he didn't even notice most of the things that I almost didn't notice. Looks like I'm not the only Rached who's a little slow today.

Finally, I know I share a lot on this blog, but that doesn't mean I want to give everything away, namely my material possessions. To prevent this, Pat and I had a fantastic security system put in. It comes complete with motion detectors and alarms out the who-ha. It will be monitored.

So don't steal from us.