Hello All,
With the ending of my oldest's kindergarten year, finishing up a couple of big client projects I cannot wait to show you, and baseball baseball baseball, it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Consider this post a little catch-up before we move on.
Of course, this update would not be complete without explaining this situation
I posted on Instagram a few weeks ago.
The Car...
Yup, this happened to us. Our porte cochere ceiling collapsed on our car, and the car has been in the hospital ever since. We thought it was totaled, but lo and behold, it has been saved, after getting a new...basically front half.
Why did it fall? We have no idea. And neither does the insurance. Which is why they won't pay for it, but at least the car is covered.
I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but that ceiling up there was about two and a half inch thick concrete and plaster. It weighs a ton, and yes, it is a bummer this happened, but more than anything, we are so so thankful no one was in the porte cochere when it fell. Our kids play in there all the time, so we will take a broken car and some mess any day over hurt little people. Or worse.
We have had several people out here to look at it and give us bids, and we hear the same thing over and over. "This is built so beautifully, they just don't make them like this anymore".
I think we will probably leave the knob and tube wiring, although I know people have differing opinions on this. Some electricians say, "Take it out, it will burn your house down!", while others say, "It's great! Leave it alone, it will last forever, and has less problems than today's wiring". So there you go...
We have since had the entire porte cochere ceiling removed (about half of it fell - around 450 sf), and the weight was about 8,000 pounds. TWO TONS!! Can you believe that? The plan is not to replace the ceiling with that material (obviously), but put something up there like we have on our front porch ceiling, which is that narrow beadboard. We also want to insulate before we put a new ceiling up, since there are two rooms above this area.
I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on the phone with the insurance company, and talking to contractors and people with expertise in this area, so it has definitely been a pain. Although if you think about it, that ceiling is nearly a hundred years old, and when I am 100, I'm sure I will be falling in some places, too.
The Bathroom...
It is so close I can taste it, but it is still not done. Month six. It always seems like a few nit picky details end up dragging projects out forever. And that is exactly what is happening here. Tomorrow's post has some updates, plus a change of plans.
Years ago, I fell in love with the Sara Chandelier from Canopy Designs.
That beautiful blue color has stuck in my mind for years; in fact, one of my clients has this chandelier in her house, and it looks amazing. Although I explored other options, and even DIY-ing a fixture, we ended up leaving room in our budget for a pair of the Sara pendants since I believed they would add so much to the room. Even with my discount, they were pricey, and after waiting what felt like forever (these are handblown in the US), two boxes showed up on my doorstep from New York.
There was one small problem though...that "beautiful blue color" looked more blue-green than I had imagined.
Thanks so much for the great comments on my DIY 
photo courtesy of 
However, the fabric had been discontinued, so luckily, 
Now...