Mon, ce qu'une belle porte que vous avez ! *

There have been incremental fixes and finishes happening over the last month. In the construction industry, we would say the project has reached "Substantial Completion for Beneficial Occupancy."  Which means you can use it for its intended purpose.  What we're doing now would be considered "punch list" items.  I'm getting the feeling this could go on for a long time.  In other words, we will never be done.

Nevertheless, L continues to work on door and window trims and fine-tuning much of the finish work.  Today, he was THIS close to finishing the trim on the French door,  only to find out the last piece did not quite fit.  This will need final paint and the final piece of trim, but it looks very good.  I should get better pix than this, which was at dusk and so hard to gauge light value with the camera.

The contrast and workmanship is very clear on the close-up shot. I am loving the way these dark trimmed bits make the doors and windows POP.

The rain chain has been completed and attached to barrel. L chose the lotus shaped rain cups and I think it works very well.

It seemed that as soon as we put up the rain chain, it was tested. With buckets of rain. Buckets. One might even say, barrels.  The chain was whipping around in the wind so much, L had to find a way to secure it vertically.

I thought this would be awkward, but it's about 7 feet up so I don't even see it.  Since these pix were taken, L has planted some sweet potato vines in the cutout at top of barrel. Hopefully, they will grow down and around the barrel.

That's all for this report. It might be a while before there's another.

* (My, what a lovely door you have!)

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?

Piles of Tiles

There are some updates.

Cabinet Guy actually HAD ordered the blind corner unit, and received it. He just FORGOT to put it in.

We bought a smaller-size microwave for that shelf and will deduct it from his final invoice. That was his suggestion, but it was really the only option. The other option would be a complete redo of that wall of cabinets and possibly losing the broom closet on the opposite end.

There are some other "punchlist" items in addition to these. His crew will be here on Wednesday to fix all this.

In other news, the tile floor is mostly done (pix from Friday, and today). I guess there is a small fix on that tomorrow, and then the whole thing needs to be grouted. L went to buy a few extras for when somebody drops a pot of spaghetti on floor and cracks a tile. You know it's going to happen sooner or later.

I was looking at possible table runners for the sideboard. Having STILL not decided on the backsplash, I thought I would maybe try to find something Mission / Arts & Crafts / Craftsman. Not everything had to be Irish/Celtic.

I found this place with textiles, vases, art, etc. all reproductions of period pieces. So I go to the place for table runners, and I see a tiny thumbnail of a pattern called "Sage". Well, we've been playing around with the sage idea all through the house. I pull it up and OMG... (click to enbiggen)

I can't believe how Celtic and sagey and Art Deco-y this looks. I also liked this one:

Dark red seems to be the recurring accent color in a lot of places. House exterior, our bedroom, probably in the Kitchen, too. This has sage and dark red. I simply don't know what to do. I love both of these, but they are both quite elaborate.

What do you think?

Yes, I did shed a tear

Don't know where to begin... now, there are some unresolved issues and a few burps to take care of. But, I have to say it still took my breath away... look here at several views of Before / During / Now:

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And a few of the details:

I am SO HAPPY!

T-Minus 9 Hours

OK, some boxes are full up. L insists they can move the old cabinets as they are since we will be using them for the duration.

Spartan old Kitchen. Farewell to toddlers and teens and Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, and the counter edge that broke off 11 years ago. Two stoves and two fridges, and at least two microwaves. The current microwave is a true and worthy friend and he will be allowed to join us for the Rapture. Especially after his expected "beyond the call of duty" behavior for the next 3 weeks.

We cleared out Dining Room tonight. Even this small area has some dramatic Before and Almost After. The bare wood in the picture on right shows where wall used to be. The Breakfast Nook that I was always forcing my derriere through between chairs and walls and table.

The mirrored tile that served as backsplash/greasecatcher. Yeah, that's what you need, a view of yourself as you realize you burned the rice. Again.

The Long-Ago Experience with The Rat under the sink.

The sloppy, uncooperative, annoying, rusty, lazy Susan.

Finally, the cabinets that couldn't hold themselves up....

I can't believe I left my digital camera at work today. Took some pix with the cellphone, but L will take some before they have at it tomorrow.

WHOO-HOO - The beginning of walls

The sheetrock material was not delivered today until 10AM. Then, the crew had to load it in. So, they really only had about half a day today. The Dining Room is time-intensive. There is patching into existing walls, a dropped ceiling which hides the plumbing pipes from upstairs bath, working around a door, an arch and an odd bit of cabinetry that will eventually be removed. Still, it sure beats looking at wall studs and electrical runs.

Looking into dining room, straight on and looking out from my seat into Kitchen.

The completely new wall (where the hallway to back porch used to be). The plan is to build in a new, shallow dish hutch on this wall, and eliminate this standalone piece. We have asked the cabinet guy to get us a price for something like that.

The dropped ceiling, hopefully once finished it will look like we planned it that way (grin).

View from the nook into the still old Kitchen. The stove is sitting in front of the access arch that will be going away. Possibly as early as tomorrow.

Top Flight

Well, the two big things today:

Stairwell to top floor is roughed-in, and I guess I'm surprised at how open it is. Left is view from top floor of addition, roughly where the old stairway curved at top. Right is photo from door of "Yarn Room".

I don't have many pix of the upstairs because I guess I didn't grasp that there would be much changing up there. But the shorter stairway and the new subfloor on left are representing where the stairway used to be. There will be a lovely seating area, almost like a loft up there.

But, to me, the most striking thing of the redo is by far, this:


The angle is slightly different, but E is standing in the spot where that hutch was. Follow the beam across the top of photo on right and you can see that the opening has nearly doubled in width, and now the French door looks like it actually WILL be in the center of the west wall.

Concrete foundation for stairs was poured and set, and stairs from basement to "vestibule" (outside office) will be installed tomorrow.