Saturday, June 28, 2008

The stairs are looking great, but...

The stairs were looking great when we got to the house, but there was a guy working on staining them and we couldn't go upstairs! I really wanted to see the master bathroom and the sewing studio, where I think they may have installed the cabinets already. I gave the carpenters the pulls/knobs for the sewing studio cabinets, but it will be Tuesday before anyone can go upstairs.

Here are a couple of photos of the stairs -- please excuse the white spots; I think I need to clean my camera lens. The first shot is from the first floor headed up to the second floor - I think the risers are going to be painted white...

This is a shot from the first floor heading down to the basement...
The bathroom tiler is obviously still working, as his equipment is still at the house. He is off the job until Tuesday though, as he is also unable to go up and down the stairs to get to the bathroom to work. It is sad to see the equipment sitting there idle...
The carpenters were busy building the shelves in the great room and we were able to verify with them what the layouts of the shelves should look like in all of the closets and built-in bookcases. The builder had forgotten that some of the shelves in the great room were supposed to be 16" deep (the painters had painted over the notes he had written on the wall!), so they had a bunch of extra 12" stained boards that will now be used in DH's study for his bookshelves. The original plan had been to paint the shelves in his study, so the error was really in our favor - DH is happy!

I think that some other work has been done on the upper floors. The box that used to have the kids' bathroom vanity in it is now empty, and I assume it has been installed on the 3rd floor.

I don't think I've ever given any info on what will go in the large arched area in the great room. The doors to the left lead into DH's study, the doors on the right will be matching stained French doors with closed storage and shelves behind the doors, and the arched area will be bookshelves. There will be a valance above the doors all around the room which will have lighting inside. Behind the valance in the arched area is where the screen for the projector will hide.

Above the shelves and valance in the arched area will be something like this (this photo was taken at Stephens City UMC in Stephens City, VA where our DD is a paid soprano in the choir)...
On the wall opposite the large arched area in the great room, there will be flat panels of wood which will mirror what is going on in the arched alcove area (this is a bit hard to describe - you may have to wait for photos!), but there won't be any bookshelves on this wall. There is a niche on this wall where the projector will hide.

We met with another landscaper and will hopefully get an estimate from them soon. We also met one of our older neighbors, who was over checking out our house. She was out walking her dog. She said she usually stops by on Sunday to see how the house is coming, but decided to come a day early this week. :-D

DH and the builder both got their questions answered and 2 weeks from now, most of the unfinished items in the house should be done. We are the next project on the list for the septic guy and the week after the July 4th weekend will bring back the plumber and electrician and a bunch of other workers to finish up their jobs.

Waiting to see...

DH and I are headed to the house today to see what progress has been made. We are meeting with a landscaper at 11 and with the builder at noon. We have 3 1/2 weeks until the movers are scheduled to move us out of this house. I'm beginning to doubt that we will have a finished house to move into on that day. The builder told DH that all his guys would be working out there today.

It also seems that there is a bit of a problem with the granite for the kitchen. The KD's receptionist called to say that the granite slabs changed coloration (or something - DH was the one that spoke to her about it) so that they didn't match up where the seams are located. That means that they had to wait until yesterday for new slabs to arrive, which means they won't be installing them in our house on Tuesday like they said they would.

I really DO think they can finish in 3 1/2 weeks and now that the builder's guys are all able to be there everyday I think we'll see a lot of progress in a short amount of time.

Tune in later today...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

A little bit here, a little bit there...

Well, at least the bathroom will be done soon - oh, wait...we don't have a septic tank yet...or a toilet...or installed cabinets and countertop...or light fixtures. Nevermind...

The stonework in the master bathroom is certainly coming along well though. The air tub is stoned with the oro cappuccino on the sides and the latte travertine on top. There will be a stone chair rail along the top edge of the tub (as well as on the shower) that is similar to the color of the oro cappuccino. And the shower walls have been started also - the tiler decided that the small stones (the very top row in this photo) need to be 3 rows instead of 2 rows. He also thought it would look better to stagger the rows so the center row is 1/2 stone off from the row above and below. It will give the small stones more presence in the shower if he uses 3 rows instead of 2. Then he'll use 2 rows instead of 1 up above, toward the top of the shower (also staggered). We picked out a latte-colored epoxy grout that will blend in with the oro cappuccino stones and will be slightly darker than the latte travertine stones.
The tiler and his assistant were the only people working there today. DH found out from the builder that they are closing on another house on Friday of this week, so all the builder's guys are at that house finishing up. We are the next house to finish so (hopefully) that means that they will all descend upon our house next week.

If you have been reading my blog for the past couple of weeks, you may remember that the kitchen granite was supposed to be installed yesterday. I'm not exactly clear on why it wasn't, but I think it is going to be installed next Tuesday. Stay tuned...

Saturday, June 21, 2008

It seems it's either feast or famine...

DH and I stopped at a landscape supply place this afternoon and looked at pavers for the patio. I think we decided which ones to get. We at least have a better idea of what direction we want to go with the patio.

We then headed out to the house to see what's been done and meet with the bathroom tile guy. He told us that there had been 20 or more trucks there on Thursday and the house was crawling with workmen, but that yesterday there were only a couple of guys around. We need a few more days of feasting and a few less days of famine if the house is going to get done on time!

The carpenters have been working on the stairs. They are enclosing the support 2x4's in stained oak to match the stairs. They did a really nice job with this one, and I think it may be the only one they got done.
I couldn't resist opening the boxes containing my sewing studio cabinets. They are Kraftmaid maple cabinets with chestnut stain and slab doors. Very pretty...
The tile guy is going to use this type of (very random) pattern in the shower. The stone is oro cappuccino from Mexico. He is cutting and polishing every single stone in the master bathroom floor and shower. He bought the 16x16 stones and is cutting them to the right sizes, then polishing all the edges. It certainly will be a one-of-a-kind floor and shower when he is done.
I had a call from the KD yesterday who was sounding panicked that the contrast between the shower and the floor wasn't enough and he wanted us to add some tile with more color. He really wanted our tile guy to talk us into using this stone, which is not the right color at all for our bathroom. Most of the stone in the floor, and the cabinets (maple with a spice stain), are all in the orange family and this stone is very pink/red.
We saw these small stones sitting on the bedroom floor and really liked them with the stones that are on the floor and those we'll use in the shower. These are also from Mexico, like the oro cappuccino stones. We'll use a 2 row section of them near the middle of the shower and a single row of them closer to the top of the shower.
The center medallion is coming along. The interior is a basketweave pattern (not herringbone like I thought it was going to be)...
I'm getting anxious to see some of the unfinished projects get done. I think the granite is going to be installed in the kitchen on Monday and that will go a long way in making things look complete. There is still no sign of the septic system yet...

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Progress at the house, and another birdbrain!

DS and I headed out to the house after I spoke with the bathroom floor tile guy. He said that there were "tons of people" working out at the house today and it made me curious to see what had been accomplished.

My sewing studio cabinets have been delivered, but were scattered about the house instead of being upstairs where they need to be. These two tall cabinets which will house fabric were in the entryway.
Most of the rest of the sewing studio cabinets were in the family room...
The painters have been hard at work staining (and leaving a horrid smell in the house from it!). These are the bannisters for the stairs...
These are the mullions that go between the double-pane glass of the patio doors in the family room...
The patio doors were also stained...
Here are the newel posts for the stairs...
And these are some of the spindles for the stairs...
The master bathroom floor is looking awesome!
The keystones for the medallion in the center of the floor are cut and placed. I think the tile guy said he is doing a herringbone pattern in the center, but don't hold me to that.
My sewing studio closet doors have been installed...
and all the attic and garage access doors are in place...
I was very pleased with all the work that has been done over the past couple of days. I hope it continues at this pace!

Around here, the shelves are looking very bare...
and the amount of stuff that has been boxed up for the move is increasing...
The cabinets are looking empty...
and the boxes are stacking up higher and higher...
So, if you happen to remember back a couple of months to the post about the robin that kept banging into our dining room window, you might also be interested in this. Yesterday and today there has been a bird (not the robin) flying against the French doors off our deck over and over again, and then flying to the kitchen window and hopping along the ledge, pecking at the glass as he goes. I don't know what his problem is, but he is driving me batty with the tapping!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Bamboo and baseboards and banisters...(oh, my!)

My sewing studio floor is finally in! DH and I were out at the house last Friday to OK the wood stains with the painter, and the floor installer had just put the first row of bamboo in the sewing studio, so all weekend I've been anxious to see it finished (this is the closet floor). I love it!
The tile installer has been working on the floor in our master bathroom. He is doing the Versailles pattern, which at first glance looks fairly random.
It looks like the carpenters have been cutting all the baseboards to size, but they haven't started installing them yet. They had hung a few more of the doors since we were there on Friday.
I'm assuming these orange marks indicate where the stair banister will be. It seemed obvious to me where it should go, but better too much communication than not enough, I guess.
Packing up of this house continues...

Friday, June 13, 2008

Inching along...

Boy, things sure seem to be going slowly now -- maybe it's because we have a deadline for getting out of our current house and into this one and things just SEEM to be going slowly.
The roof area over the front door is finished. This is the area that was still leaking and hopefully having the siding and roof done in this area will eliminate the leaks. The basement seemed to have some very wet areas also and we hope they won't be a problem.
The vent has been put up in the peak of the roof...
We had a call from the KD's tile guy who will be installing the stone/tile in our master bathroom and he wanted us to stop by the house and look at the travertine and other stones that he is thinking about using on the bathroom floor, shower and wall trim. This is the latte travertine that we think we want on the floor. The orange veins look great with the stain on the maple cabinets and hopefully will also look good with the granite on the counters. (I'm not sure how accurate the colors are in the photos we took of the granite, so it's a bit hard to tell what might look good with it.)
He also thought this macchiato stone would look nice with the color of the walls. I'm not convinced that I like this stone. I like it OK in the small pieces, but I don't like the chair rail at all and I'm not certain about the larger sample piece. He's going to go ahead and get started with the latte travertine on the floor and then we'll figure out what we want in the shower and for wall trim.
We really liked the center stone below. I don't know what kind it is. The stone on the left would look good as a coordinating stone once it is sealed. Unsealed, it is a bit too white.
I've started packing up things in this house so we'll be ready to move in 6 weeks - it doesn't seem possible that it is coming up that soon! The movers dropped off 25 small boxes and 45 larger boxes. I used up about 7 of them just emptying the dining room china closet (with a few towels from the linen closet mixed in as padding)! Anyone have any boxes lying around that they don't need?

Monday, June 9, 2008

Kitchen templated and fun finds...

I spent about 5 hours at the house today while the granite guys templated for the kitchen counters. I was there about 8am, but I guess it was closer to 9:30am before they found the place. They worked for 3.5 hours and then took photos of the different entries into the house so the people installing the granite will be prepared for getting the counters into the house in 2 weeks. They will have to come back after the master bathroom cabinets are installed to template for the counters in the bathroom. It certainly was a hot day to be hanging out at a house with no A/C installed yet, but I got a lot of reading done!

So, I found some interesting items online a few days ago that I decided were fun enough to share with all of you. I'm not even sure now what I was searching for that I ran across these, but I thought they were great! I was probably hanging out online when I was laid up on the couch with my injured back.

I think this is a great bench! I used to collect cow things, so that may explain the theme of my fun finds!Isn't this a fun table? I somehow don't think DH will go for it... how about in front of the fireplace between 2 chairs??
I thought this lady would look great out near our driveway so people could see her as they drive up...or, we could move her around the property and have her in different locations in the woods...I think she's awesome! If we had her, DH wouldn't have to install a flag pole! :-D

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Lots left to do, but moving in the right direction...

The metal copper-colored roof has been installed over the front door. It isn't completely finished, but this photo gives a good idea of what it will be like. We noticed the materials had been delivered about a week ago, so we were anxious to see what it would look like.
The kitchen is ready to be templated for the granite counter. The fabricator is coming out on Monday to template the granite. The beverage center is now installed correctly and the doors on the cabinets that will have glass in them are now on. The electrician has been busy putting the pot (can) lights in the ceiling and every now and then you can see a switchplate that has been put on.
I just figured out that the doors on the angled cupboards actually open! I thought these 2 areas on each side of the island were empty space, but I was wrong. I'm not exactly sure what I'll put in there... All the kitchen drawers (and master bathroom drawers) will be full extension - they will open all the way so you can easily access things in the back of the drawers. For us, that also means the drawers are all soft-close because our cabinet company doesn't sell one option without the other.
When we lived in North Carolina, we had some doors that could swing in either direction and if you pushed them slightly past 90 degrees, they would stay open. We asked for those hinges in the new house on the kitchen pantry door, on the double door between the family room and great room, and on the door between the hall by the stairs and the entryway. When we went out to the house today we were surprised to see these HUGE commercial swinging door hinges. The doors swing in both directions, but they don't stay open when pushed past 90 degrees.
We met with our KD's tile guy today. He will be doing the stone and tile work in our master bathroom. He was looking at the kitchen before he left and pointed out that we might have an issue with the granite counters/outlets/window moldings on the window walls. The countertops are 1.25" high and are supposed to continue up the wall for a 2" backsplash. With the outlets located like they are, there isn't any room for the 2" tall granite backsplash. He suggested several different solutions. We're not exactly sure what we will do there yet, but we're glad that he pointed out the issue to us.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

More cabinets!

DD and I stopped by the house today to see what further progress has been made on the kitchen. Most of the cabinets are in place and the installer was working on the details. The island looks awesome! It narrows on the right end and is not a rectangular island.
The beverage area upper cabinets just didn't look quite right to me. I finally figured out that the center cabinet was supposed to be hung higher than the adjacent cabinets, so that the 5 cabinets alternate high and low. The installer only had the floor plan and no 3D drawing, so there wasn't any way for him to know how they were supposed to be hung. The two outer cabinets and the center cabinet will have non-transparent glass in the doors.
Here is the cooktop area with the eating bar adjacent to the family room. It's the section I forgot to photograph the other day. The installer found our notes about changing the hinges on some of the doors and those were all fixed when we were out there today.
This pullout spice rack is in the beverage area. I'm not sure what I'll use it for, as my plan is to store baking spices in the island and cooking spices near the cooktop. This pullout was added as a last minute change by the KD when the length of the beverage area wasn't exactly to spec. They needed a small filler and decided to put this pullout there.
These are the cabinets to the left of the cooktop - a 3 drawer stack on the right end of the run, a trash pullout next to that, a double trash pullout (for recycling), and then the sink cabinet...
We also got a peek at the master bathroom cabinets. They are the same style as the kitchen cabinets, but in maple and with a different stain. This isn't a great photo as we had to tip the cabinet backwards in order to snap the photo.