We have mirrors! And shelves!

It's been a long time coming, but we now have mirrors in our master bathroom! We had to special order the one for over my sink/vanity area, but it finally arrived. DH made frames for them to match the frames on the cabinet doors...

Here is DH's mirror - we'll have to put some artwork up on the blank wall...
DH also built me 2 more shelves in the utility closet across from the powder room. He installed 2 outlets so I can plug in phone/GPS chargers and my sweeper vac.
I managed to get a lot of my house decorating done. The goal was to get it done in time for the church women's dinner party that I hosted last night. I had everything done except for the tree, and it (for us) is still a tad too early to get the tree. I think we'll probably get the tree this weekend. Here is the fireplace with my new wreath over the mantel...
I hung greens around the border of the great room on the valance. I had to get up and down off the ladder every loop in order to move the ladder - it was a good thigh workout! In order to get the swags even, I laid out each section on the floor next to a tape measure and connected a wire ornament hanger to the greens every 3 feet. Then I just had to make sure the bottom of the swag hit the bottom of the valance and there was no need to measure where to hang each hook.
The Santa/Reindeer quilt and nativity are in the entryway...
Underneath the table I put all kinds of stuffed animals and toys, most of them belonging to our kids over the years (and some that even belong to DH and I when we were little).
The stairs were adorned with lights and more greenery...
We set up the tables for my dinner party on Sunday night and I set them and decorated them on Monday. I was expecting 15 guests (plus me) for the third year in a row. There must be something about the number 16 and our women's dinner - they are not the same exact women every year either. Interesting...
Here are the Santa napkins on the table settings - no one wanted to use the napkins for fear of ruining them!
And other place setting...
So, some of the next projects on the list are to find tiles for the backsplash of the beverage area, and to find floor tile for the floor at the bottom of the basement stairs (that we can see when we look down over the stair railing). Here is the beverage area that we want to tile...
I'm thinking I'd like to bring in some of the red color from the adjoining family room. Here is one with very narrow tiles (1/4") in shades of red...
This one has several colors in it which would pull in the colors of the cabinets, counter, and the red from the other room. It seems a little dark to me though, so I'm just not sure. I also have samples of smaller red squares in colors similar to the above tile. Maybe we can combine this tile with some of the red squares, or something...
And in the continuing saga of our hunter...He has never returned - his blind is still down in back of the house, collapsed from the wind. It's very strange...

Hmmmm...

Well, tonight the granite looked a lot like it did when I left the house earlier this afternoon, except a whole lot cleaner and attached to the cabinets. For some reason, the backsplash didn't get done. We have a call in to the KD to see if he knows what is going on with it. The granite certainly is shiny though!
Here is the beverage area...
And the island...
And the cooktop/eating bar area...
DD's window seat is now covered in stained wood...

These are the closet shelves in DS's room - they are a bit odd in their arrangement...
The sink has been installed in my sewing studio...
We now have a furnace and a water heater in the basement...
And the doors have been installed at the bottom of the stairs in the basement...
Things are moving along. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the hardwood floors are supposed to be sanded and sealed and driveway poured. Thursday and Friday the kitchen cabinet guy and the master bathroom tiler should be back to finish up and the following Monday the carpets are supposed to be installed. I don't know the schedule for the rest of the subs - plumber, electrician, etc. but the end is in sight!

Countdown to moving day: 18 days and counting!

Recess is over!

DS and I stopped by the house just before 1pm today and all the guys were on their lunch break. The break ended quickly after they saw that we were there. :-D I really feel sorry for them working out there in this steamy, hot weather. We weren't in the house more than a couple of minutes before the sweat formed on my forehead.

The stairs are just about done. They were working on the very last small section closest to the attic level, so the stairs should be finished today. It's not nearly as scary to look down through the center of the stairs to the basement when the banisters are on, as it was without any railings. I'll try to remember to take another photo of the open area of the stairs from the attic level to the basement the next time we're out there. I couldn't get up past the stair guys to the 3rd floor so I don't know if anything has been done up there, or not.
The carpenters have been working on the closet shelves. This is the sewing studio closet. It didn't look like they had done any more work on the great room shelves.
The KD's cabinet installer was there working on the master bathroom cabinets (he backed up just as I was snapping the photo, but you get the idea). The granite fabricators will be templating for the master bathroom granite on Friday, while they are out to install the granite in the kitchen.

The plumbers were there today also, getting ready to install sinks, toilets, and faucets in all the bathrooms, and the sink in the sewing studio. He asked me a couple of questions and in the process we figured out that there must have been 2 Blanco kitchen sinks and 2 Blanco kitchen prep sinks ordered for the house. The plumber had one of each sink and I told him that the granite guys had taken one of each sink back to the shop the day they were at the house to template for the kitchen granite. I'm wondering if our builder noticed they were missing and re-ordered them, perhaps thinking they had been stolen. I'll let the builder, plumber, and granite people figure it all out!

The builder said that the hardwood floors in the family room, great room, and office should be sanded and stained early next week. After that is done, the electrician can come back and install fans and light fixtures.

DH thought it might be prudent to change our move date, given how much still has to be done on the house. Our original move date was 7-23 and he moved it back to 7-29, which is just before we close on this house, so there isn't any leeway left now. I called and changed the delivery date of the washer and dryer so we won't have to be out at the house on the 28th waiting for them to arrive. It will be good to have another 6 days to pack, but I'm anxious to get moved into the house.

Countdown to move date: 21 days and counting (again!).

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