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...

So bummed!

DS and I headed out to the house this afternoon so that I could see the master bathroom granite before I leave town tomorrow. Just as we arrived, 2 workmen were getting into their truck to leave. One of them said that they had just put another coat of sealer on the hardwood floors and stairs and they had it taped off as a reminder not to walk on them. It took a few minutes for his words to sink in, and to realize that I wasn't going to be able to get up the stairs to the master bathroom to see the granite. Aaargh!!!

The floors did look lovely though, and were very obviously still wet from the sealer that had been applied...

I couldn't go in the great room because of the wet floors, but I did sneak a photo of some of the puck lights that were installed up under/behind the valance that circles the room. It looks like the lights are up, but not wired in yet.
The rough grading is still looking very rough and was a bit smelly. I also saw some of the flies that I was warned about yesterday.
The columns look nice now that they have been painted to match the house and trim colors...
The granite backsplash in the kitchen was not installed today - I don't know when it is scheduled to go in. The granite fabricators were trying to get it ready in time to install it today when they did the master bath, but that obviously didn't work out.

So, DD and I are off to NC tomorrow afternoon for the wedding (well, actually we are only going as far as Beckley, WV because we can't leave until about 4:30 - we'll go the rest of the way on Saturday morning). I told DH that I was going to leave him the camera so he can email me photos of the master bathroom with the granite counters installed!

Items completed as of today are marked in green...

septic tank - I think this is done, although their equipment was still there
gas lines - still need to be connected by the gas company
furnace
A/C
painting
kitchen - granite, finish-work, vent fan, pulls, granite backsplash, appliances
plumbing
electrical - lights/fans, valance lights (almost done)
gutters
brick/stone/pillars
driveway - concrete, gravel (part of the driveway had gravel on it, but not all)
grading - rough, topsoil
sewing studio - knobs/pulls, upper crown moulding on cabinets
master bath - grout, finish shower, cabinets, glass doors, baseboard stone, granite
stained woodwork on great room walls
closet shelves/rods
pantry shelves
stain front door
paint garage doors, install gaskets
grab bars on guest tub
shower curtain rods in 2 bathrooms
stairs
fix vanity granite backsplash in kids' bathroom, recess medicine cabinet?
top for windowseat
doors on bookcase shelves in great room (doors are on site and stained, but not installed)
doorknobs
carpet (going in on Monday)
fireplace granite surround

Countdown to move day: 5 days and counting!

Showers and nieces and vents! Oh, my!

I drove out to the house this afternoon with my MIL, a friend, and DH's 2 nieces from TX who are visiting their grandmother, so they could all see the house. The shower door had just been installed in the master bathroom...

DH and I just noticed that the door is hinged on the left instead of the right. The water controls are behind the half-wall on the left, so the door should have been hinged on the other side to make access to the controls easier.
Here is a photo of DH's nieces, taken from the basement, looking up at them on the attic level...
That view up the stairs isn't nearly as interesting as looking down to the basement from the attic level...
We also noticed (now that the doors are on) that the master bathroom toilet room (or should I call it a water closet?) door is opening into the main section of the bathroom, instead of opening into the toilet area. Having the door open out blocks the light switches just inside the bathroom.
I spoke with the builder. He said that there should be someone there tomorrow to start moving some dirt around. He also said the flies will arrive, as they will be spreading mushroom manure, or something similar that will attract the flies (and it won't smell nearly as nice as it does today!!).

The kitchen guy was working on the in-ceiling vent when we arrived. He said he didn't have the vent cover yet, so he couldn't finish it.

The septic guys are not done yet. It looks like they've run most of the pipe from the tanks to the leech field, but they are still working on something.

I'm heading out to the house in the morning so that I can meet the cable guy. Of course I have a 3.5 hour window of time that he could arrive, so I'll have to find a book to read. I wish I could take some of my sewing things out with me to start organizing the sewing studio while I wait for him...

Items completed as of today are marked in green...

septic tank - almost done - probably 1 more day of work
gas lines - still need to be connected by the gas company
furnace
A/C
painting
kitchen - granite, finish-work, vent fan, pulls, granite backsplash, appliances
plumbing
electrical - lights/fans, valance lights (probably going in Wednesday or Thursday)
gutters
brick/stone/pillars
driveway - concrete, gravel
grading - rough, topsoil
sewing studio - knobs/pulls, upper crown moulding on cabinets
master bath - grout, finish shower, cabinets, glass doors, baseboard stone, granite
stained woodwork on great room walls
closet shelves/rods
pantry shelves
stain front door
paint garage doors, install gaskets
grab bars on guest tub
shower curtain rods in 2 bathrooms
stairs
fix vanity granite backsplash in kids' bathroom, recess medicine cabinet?
top for windowseat
doors on bookcase shelves in great room
doorknobs
carpet (going in on Monday)
fireplace granite surround

Countdown to move day: 7 days and counting!

The septic man cometh!!

Hallelujah! The septic system is going in! We were excited to see the septic man's equipment at the house tonight.
He has been busy digging trenches and holes for the tanks.
The front door has been stained and sealed and the columns have been started. The column bases will have stone on them.
The refrigerator was in the garage (I'm hoping that isn't a sign of it not fitting), but all the other appliances were in place in the kitchen.

The beverage area is almost finished. The glass is in the doors and the ice maker, beverage refrigerator and oven are in place. The faucet has also been installed. I'm not sure why the faucets went in before the granite backsplash - it seems like it will be trickier to install the granite with the faucets in place. The cabinet pulls have also been added.
Here is the main oven, installed under the cooktop...
And the dishwasher is in place...
The main faucet is in...
And it is VERY close to the window trim...we are going to wait until the granite backsplash is installed and then maybe we'll have the window trim cut back a little bit.

The woodwork in the great room has been sealed. It looks much better without all the white dust all over it.
The master bathroom tiler worked today and finished the floor in the shower, the seat in the shower, and the stone baseboard. He will be back tomorrow to grout everything. This is the stone baseboard...
So, thank you to those who voted on the newell post topper. We decided to go with the square topper.
The fireplace mantel has been stained to match the cherry cabinets in the kitchen.

Items completed as of today are marked in green...(I added a couple of items that I had forgotten about.)

septic tank
gas lines - still need to be connected
furnace
A/C
painting
kitchen - granite, finish work, vent fan, pulls, granite backsplash, appliances
plumbing
electrical - lights/fans, valance lights
gutters
brick/stone/pillars
driveway - concrete, gravel
grading - rough, topsoil
sewing studio - knobs/pulls, upper crown moulding on cabinets
master bath - grout, finish shower, cabinets, glass doors, baseboard stone, granite
stained woodwork on great room walls
closet shelves/rods
pantry shelves
stain front door
paint garage doors, install gaskets
grab bars on guest tub
shower curtain rods in 2 bathrooms
stairs
fix vanity granite backsplash in kids' bathroom, recess medicine cabinet?
top for windowseat
doors on bookcase shelves in great room
doorknobs
carpet
fireplace granite surround

So, it turns out that the kitchen granite backsplash has not been templated. The granite fabricators will be there tomorrow to template for them. The carpet is going in on Monday, the master bathroom shower doors will be installed on Tuesday, and the granite in the master bathroom and (hopefully) the kitchen granite backsplash will be installed on Thursday.

Countdown to move day: 12 days and counting!

Granite!! (etc.)

The house was hopping today! The carpenters were finishing up the great room woodwork, working on closets, and putting the molding around the oval windows in the kids' bathroom. The painters were working on the second and third floors. The electrician had been there and most of the fans/lights were hung. One of the carpenters said that the great room fan wasn't working and would have to be replaced. The granite templaters arrived and templated for the granite in the master bathroom.

I was in my car heading down our road to run some errands when I spotted what I assumed was the truck with my kitchen granite turning onto our road, so I turned around and headed back to the house. It was indeed my granite, and the driveway had not yet been poured so they had no problem getting to the house to unload the truck. Here is the very first piece of granite (verde butterfly) that they put in place...

They ran into a couple of snags along the way. The overhang on the penisula hit the trim around the French door. The trim hadn't yet been installed a few weeks ago when the granite was templated. The sink had several cracks in it, including this really long one. Luckily, there was an extra sink onsite and I was glad I had talked with the plumber about it the other day, or I wouldn't have known it was there! They were able to use the second one and could continue installing the granite.The sink also didn't fit into the sink base cabinet, even after cutting out a "scoop" from the sides of the cabinet. Our KD was called and he came out to sort things out. By the time I left, which was before they did the backsplash, everything had been sorted out. DH and I are headed out again tonight, as he hasn't been out to the house since last Saturday. I'll get some more photos and post them later tonight.

The kitchen pendants have been hung. I love these 3 that are over the island.

I'm not so crazy about these pendants over the peninsula. The colors are very different from what I remember...
The holes have been cut in the ceiling for the 1000 cfm vent over the cooktop. It's probably overkill for an electric cooktop, but better too much venting than not enough. We still have to decide whether to put U-shaped track lighting around the vent. Our KD usually does that, but we have so much light in the kitchen already, I'm not sure we need any more.
The granite is all in place, but not attached yet...
Here is the photo of the stairs looking from the attic level all the way down to the basement (ignore that blue hose).

The stair railings are all finished now...
The fireplace mantel is up... and they hid an outlet on top of it, which will come in handy...
The lights have been installed in the master bathroom and most of the other rooms...
The furnace is in (or is that an AC unit?)...
This was sitting in the garage - not sure why we would have a portable AC unit????
The woodwork in the great room is done, except for the doors on the bookshelves behind the French doors. I love it!

Here is the wall opposite the wall in the above photo...the hole in the middle is for the TV projector.
A close-up of the woodwork over the bookshelves...
The downspouts have been connected to the drainage system...
Well, most of them - this downspout ended up coming down about 6' away from where the drainage pipe is located in the corner...
More later!