The floor belongs to the cats

Joey has been driven to distraction. He figured out how to get up the ladder to the upstairs; he had been thrilled with just the downstairs, but now - well, there's 3 more rooms to explore! Anyone that thinks cats are graceful - phhffffft. Joey climbing up the ladder is, well, entertaining. It is not graceful. Mosa's feeling are best expressed as, "meh..."

The floor guys were here the week before Christmas (and the 40-year storm) and the rooms (and even the hallway) were off-limits. The ladder gets moved to the side, as a reminder that none of us can be up there. Well, this is not good enough for Big Joe. You can't stop me just because you move the stinking ladder! I will still go up the stinking ladder....

I'm not quite sure where this wall came from, though. In the words of Stewie Griffin, "Damn You, Vile Woman!"

The floors are now installed, sanded, stained and varnished. It is SO hard to get a true color pix of them, but this is closest.

This one is still a little too orangey, but the color is a wonderful, golden oak, not too dark. They tell me it will eventually darken over time, which is fine. They feel wonderful.

We had to stay off them for 3 days after the work was done. L was giving A the tour last night, and moved the cardboard away and placed the ladder. Joey was up there like a shot, a blur of gold running through the air.

We are looking at some of the final design decisions for the bathroom. We need some sort of backsplash or decorative element behind the vanity. We considered something like this, with the leftover tiles:

but neither one of us can get really excited about it. I think what we will end up with is a 4" remnant piece of Baltic Brown, the same material as the countertop, butted up against the wall. If we can't find a piece of this (initial websurfing says, no problem) then we'll get a piece of plain black something or other.

L is working on the finer points of wainscoting. It will all be painted white and, even just having the pieces standing there, not even nailed in, you begin to get a real feel for what the final result will be. I like it.

Joey has discovered MORE windows, and these are UP HIGH. Even better to spy on the pathetic outdoor cats.

It is good to be king.