Oooooh! Love the bathroom stone!

I'll start with the master bathroom photos tonight, as it was the room that made me go "Wow!" when I saw it. The room was blocked off, as the grout had been put on the floor and it needed to dry. The shower and tub are not yet grouted and there are a couple of pieces of chair rail missing from the top edge of the tub, and the floor of the shower is not done yet. The floor has been "enhanced" and the colors are just amazing (the photos don't really do it justice)!

Most of the support 2x4's have been encased in the stained wood now and the banisters are being added.
We have 2 choices for the top of the newell posts and need to decide which one to use. There is a square one...
and a raised center one...I'm going to add a poll to the right side of the page so you can all vote on which one we should use.

The top of the bookshelf area in the great room has been built out so that the design can be added to it. I can't wait to see how it looks. The pieces were cut and ready to go up, so it shouldn't be long before they finish it. The office shelves are now complete, as are the shelves behind the French doors in the great room.
The pulls and knobs have been put on my sewing studio cabinets. These are Modernist pulls and knobs. One knob was missing on my desk drawer and there was a note that said there were no threads inside the last knob. We brought it home with us and I will go to Sears and try to get a replacement.

The kids' vanity is in place and the medicine cabinet is up. We are trying to decide whether the medicine cabinet is supposed to be recessed. It is finished on all sides, so it doesn't seem like it should recess, but it also looks a tad funny to be sticking out.
The granite backsplash didn't fair well in the installation - the back piece is broken in two...
Here is a shot taken in the basement, looking toward the stairs. It occurred to me that we need to do something with the floor in this area, as you can see this floor all the way from the attic when you look over the banister (well, if there actually was a banister). I'm not sure what to do with it - carpet? tile? paint it? area rug? I guess it isn't something we need to decide right away, as DH can put in whatever we decide to put there. (It's nice to have a handy DH!)
The support brackets for shelves are in the pantry (and also in DH's office closet). This section is for the cans and small boxes, so the shelves don't need to be very far apart.
The new date for the kitchen granite installation is Friday, July 11th. I don't think I'll hold my breath this time. :-D

We stopped on the way home and ordered our washer and dryer to be delivered on July 28th.

Countdown to move day: 20 days!

Remember to answer the poll on the newell post choices! :-D

Wow! Progress!

The carpenters sure have accomplished a lot since we were out at the house on Saturday! They have been busy little beavers...

The staining of the stairs is done and they are covered with cardboard, so we were able to go upstairs today...
which was good, because I was able to see my sewing studio cabinets. These are Kraftmaid maple slab cabinets with chestnut stain. I used Belanger Milano laminate for the counters. There will be a sink in the counter on the far left side. The pulls and knobs, the top molding, and toe kicks still need to be put on...
In the great room, the built-in bookshelves are coming right along and the valance for the lights has been put up...
These are the cabinets that are behind the French doors in the photo above. There will be solid doors on the lower part of the cabinet to hide all our junk...
Here is the window wall of the great room...
And the wall opposite the window wall...
There will be a whole bunch of puck lights installed behind this valance - some shining up, and some shining down...
The shelves in DH's office are almost done...
although the wall was quite banged up during installation of the shelves...
The shower is almost done, except for the floor and angled sections at the top. The templating for the glass doors was to be done tomorrow, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen...
The basket weave medallian in the center of the floor is done now...
DH spoke with the KD today. The replacement kitchen granite slabs have not arrived at the fabricator's yet, so installation is delayed again.

On the way home from the house, I quickly made up a list of the things that still need to be done at the house. I thought about posting it here, but it's very long and a bit depressing, so I don't think I will. :-D

I made a list the other day of our furniture to try to figure out where it will go in the new house, which pieces we will let DD take to furnish her apartment at college this Fall, and which furniture we will give to the rummage sale at church. I think I've figured out where most of it will go. I took some measurements tonight to see if the pieces would fit where I thought they would. The only issues seem to be in DD's room, as she has some tall furniture that won't fit on the side walls where the ceiling slopes down. She is limited as to where she can put the tall bookcase and she may need to lower the mirror on her dresser a couple of inches so it will fit under the sloped ceiling, but otherwise I think we're good.

Twenty-two days and counting 'til moving day...

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.

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...

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!