Set Back!

Fortunately, Michelle discovered that the sink base for the kitchen sink was 36" for her 38" sink. I say fortunately because she discovered it before the granite had been cut. After a few phone calls, the cabinet company will have a new base for us in a week, then the granite guy can come back and make a new template and then cut the stone. Everyone is really trying to make a decent recovery, but this will likely cost us 2 weeks, meaning we will not be able to move into the house until mid to late January, barring any more unforeseen events.

The exterior doors were painted this week, except for the main entry door that hasn't been installed yet. Yes, that is snow on the ground, but it won't last the day.





The deck railings were also installed. The iron guy really did a nice job with the Arts & Crafts medallions we asked him to fabricate for us. Again, my meager photographic skills don't do the railings justice. They are powder coated so they will keep their color and "never" rust.







Now that the heat in on in the house, Michelle's tub was installed along with the fixtures. You might be able to see that there is water in it to see if it will hold water. For all I know, there is a tub inspection required by the county. The tile guy finished the showers, except for grouting them.









Finally, the elevator was installed except for the doors. Therefore, they had to leave it locked between floors so it can't be used until the doors are in place. This is the underneath, then showing the top of the car and above the car.







I guess that is it for this week.

Site grading

We are getting down to the wire on outdoors work. You may have noticed in previous exterior pictures that the site was quite rough looking. That has now been remedied. The excavator came back to dig the hole for the propane tank and cleaned up the lot while he was here. He also spread gravel around the house so that when the canalies ran, the water wouldn't splash mud up onto the stucco, unfortunately, he didn't do this on the west side of the house.









The boiler installation was completed and as soon as we get the inspection (everything has to be "inspected"-a revenue source for the county) for the propane hook up, we will be able to have heat in the house.



Finally, the elevator was delivered and installation will begin Monday.

Cabinets

The cabinets were installed this week. The wood is quarter sawn white oak with a slight glaze, again, my pictures don't provide true color rendition. The drawer slides are the kind that will softly close the drawer when you attempt to slam it closed and will pull it closed for the last 2 inches. The manufacturer of the slides is Blum if anyone cares. The granite people will come to do the templates Tuesday and in about 3 weeks, if all goes well, we should have counter tops. The pulls are "antique brass" done in an Arts and Crafts motif which is the theme we have running through out the house. It seems to work well with the Southwest sytle, at least, that is what the fashionistas have told me.

The north and west walls.





The east wall.



The south wall.









Here are the master bath cabinets. All the cabinets in the house are the same. The tile guy set the tub in place, but it isn't permanently affixed yet. He has also started working in the showers.







This is the guest bath.



Finally, here is the boiler that will heat the house once it is installed. We could have used it this week because the night time temperature was in the teens and twenties Wednesday through Saturday. We can only hope that someone knew enough to shut off the water and drain the system back.

Floor Tile Complete

The floor tiling is complete including the grout. It doesn't look much different from last week.





Here is a shot of the pedestal for the washer and dryer.



The heating contractor has started putting in the necessary plumbing fixtures for the boiler. This is a good thing because it is supposed to get well below freezing later this week.

Tile & Stucco

The tile guy got started Thursday and made quite a bit of progress. It will take him the rest of this coming week to finish the floors. Then he will need to do the showers, tub surround and kitchen decorative work. Here are a few shots of the progress. Again, the colors seem muted, but they are really very nice; some might say "smashing".




Notice the straight lines for the tile in the below picture. This is a good thing, because if they weren't straight, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. :^)





We were really surprised to see the stucco guys at the house this morning. We knew that they were on the schedule, but they were at work at 8am. They started on the north side of the house and had that done by about 10am. We went back about 4:30pm and they were still working and had finished the east side. They indicated that they will finish the house tomorrow. I think the color of the stucco is fairly close to reality. I guess the difference is outdoor light versus indoor light. Here they are just finishing the north wall.







They also put the "booties" (another technical term) on the vegas.







It is really nice to see the project coming together. Gail and Michelle have done a wonderful job of shopping (not a surprise!) for supplies and coordinating colors (also not a surprise).

Finally, here is another picture of our "view". This was taken in the afternoon whereas the previous have been taken in the morning.



Til next week...

Painting

This week the painters got started. You may be able to tell that the vegas got stained.



Here are the doors all stained and ready to be installed.



The company that makes the doors also does closets so here are a couple shots of the master closet.





Here is the cubbies in the wine cellar. These haven't been painted yet.



A couple pictures of the painted walls upstairs-the paint is called coral clay.







I had a request for view pictures and it really hasn't changed. The trees are some sort of pine so stay green all year.



These are a cabinet sample with the granite counter sample with the paint and another with the floor tile. This really doesn't do justice to the colors of course.





More next week.