Misc Updates

Craig came in and tiled and grouted the decorative tile in half-bath. The tiles are not bright green, but almost gray-green. Which is fine; I think it gives us more options for wall paint color.

He also did the "raw" hardwoods in Living Room, Pantry, Hallway, and Loft. There initially was some confusion about which direction they should go in the hallway, and, mean mom that I am, I pointed this out. L told them to rip it and do it the other direction. The next day, carpenter came in and said that was the right choice - it looks better this way.

DH did a 95% install on the DW, but it turns out the counters are higher than standard and we have extra space at the top - you can even see the insulation wrapped around the unit.. Cabinet guy is going to come on Monday and put in a filler piece there. Also, they need to fix the fancy-a&& wire basket assembly which will not clear the oven door, meaning the interior set of baskets can not "come out to play." Grrr. We will probably get the corners trimmed off at a 45-degree angle and get them rechromed, but I don't know who does that.

All in all, we are settling in a bit into the new environment.

Doesn't mean we don't have some work to do, some things to unpack:

Oh, if only this were all of them and not just a portion...

We've gone over several different ideas for backsplashes, some very ornate, but this one, in a Lowe's ad, caught our eye.

If we replace the plain green ones in this design with the little Celtic Earthsong tiles, we could have a real project instead of an idea...

I think you saw the chairs in last post. It turns out they are wildly popular and not just with the humans.

We ran some errands Saturday and came upon some excellent finds that we weren't even actively looking for. This table, from Pier 1, appeared to be a good match with the chairs. Huge sale going on, and we knew that if we left and thought about it for a week, it wouldn't be there long. So, there you go. We needed some sort of end table but weren't sure what we wanted until we lucked upon this.

At Staples, we went in for tiny little ziploc bags, for DH's parts in garage (nails, wire connectors, etc.) I have been complaining that my office chair is too low. Actually, I am using my dad's old desk and I think it is high. Typing on the laptop, I feel like a kid at the grownup's table. We found another copy of DH's chair, the same chair, on closeout for about 55% of the regular price. Clearance. Done.

We looked at some large floor vases and DH's wallet was itching to get that too but we decided to hold off for now because the idea was "close but no cigar."

Then, DH came upon a lucky find. He and DD are dragon freaks. He found a ceramic he HAD to have. And he's put it somewhere I can't find it to photograph (smile). Eventually, it will show up.

Finally, had a wonderful visit from an old friend and she gave us these. They are machine-stitched and made in the Yucatan, where she and her DH are teaching. I am trying to figure out the best way to display them. They would really add a pop of color in the Dining Room, I think. Aren't they lovely?