rounding the bend, finish line in sight...

Ok -- so it's down to the wire -- Ed and crew are wrapping up their duties and Hector has sanded the floors to prep them for stain and poly. You can see here that the kitchen hood is in which was the last of the appliances to be installed. A couple things remain to be done -- one is attaching one of the old beams from the second floor to the LVL along the peak of the kitchen -- it will give the look of an old beam. They guys notched it out so that they can fit it around the LVL and attach it with timber locks. That should happen on Monday but they'll have to do their work in socks because the floors have been sanded and if moisture or foot prints get on the floor it will show once it's been stained. Another view of the kitchen -- the plywood on the island is not staying -- it's just there to keep it out of the way for Hector. We plan on using some of the floorboards that were in the attic to make a counter top for the island. We're going to do this in my uncle's work shop -- the plan is to plane them down, biscuit join and glue them together and then treat them with something -- any suggestions for what to use to treat the counter? We don't want to use anything oil based like poly. Thoughts? The two pendants you see here will actually have two big glass globes on them...we just did want to put them up until the beam was installed.Here's the mostly cleaned out study -- I cleaned the ceilings yesterday. Lots of spider webs and 1700's stuff still up there.

Looking from the study into the dining room and kitchen beyond. May have mentioned it before but it will have a rectangular linen shade on it -- for now it's just there for people to walk into.

We're looking at the pantry in these photos -- you can see to the right of the fridge that Gus has done an excellent job creating a counter top look. Because the cabinet company didn't make 24" deep 36" tall cabinets we need to improvise to get the old fashioned pantry look over here. we bought base drawers and 15" above fridge cabinets and then we added some cabinet doors. For the "counter" we used birch plywood, like you see on top of the island. There are two pieces glued together. And to face the cabinets, Gus attached two pieces of pine. We're planning on painting it white to match the cabinets. The doors will then have glass in the open space.

Yesterday I had a little problem getting the fridge to sit flush with the cabinets like it's supposed to -- after all it's a counter depth fridge that is supposed to look built in -- BUT it was sticking out half an inch beyond the cabinets -- for various reason -- the ice machine tube, the plug, a couple of bumps on the back of the fridge. All of these things were more than half an inch deep. So what did we do - we cut out the sheet rock and plaster and voila the fridge fits -- the lucky thing was that as a practice Ed applies plywood to all kitchen walls that have cabinets attached. So we're in good shape.

So that's it for now...Leigh and I are going to head over to the house to move some wood out of the way so that we can have the storage trailer taken away next week. Fun stuff.

Just a quick update with a few pics -- stairs look great. The posts look a lot better with the balusters in...Gus did a great job finishing up the stairs.

Plumbers mostly finished up today -- here's the guest bath sink -- looks good I think..

Master Bath sink -- also looks good - unfortunately a little chip on the back that must have happened when it was stored in the basement for awhile. Here's a question -- see the two faucets in the photo? We'll they are both hot/cold water. Normally the faucet is in the middle and so the sink stop can be operated. In our case they are off center so how do we get the sink stop to work? HMMM?

Anyway, the plumbers did a good job today...and I spoke with Ed who promised to make any of the little things that I was bothered by, right. So today was a better day.

Inching towards the finish line...

It's discouraging when you have a day close to the end of the project when almost nothing gets done. We're trying really hard to get Hector into the house to get the floors done. Before he does that the plumbers need to be out of the second floor -- they were supposed to be out of there today. But for some reason they were only able to work a short day and managed to get the shower fixtures in -- that's it. So we're another day behind. Does anyone else think those posts are HUGE?

Here's the photo of the guest bath -- nice fixtures -- I'm not sure why the plumber roughed in the shower heads so low. I guess it must be to code but if I was any taller than 6 feed, I'd have to crane my head back to get my hair wet -- you know like when you stay in a 1970's hotel and you have to bend your knees to take a shower. It's not that bad but I wish they had given us a little extra height here.

You can see that the sink is waiting for fixtures.

Guest bath toilet -- the plumber made another interesting choice here too - he did a 13" rough in -- this means that the standard 12" rough in toilet sits an inch off the wall -- weird. The toilet is made to be snug against the wall -- like all other toilets...do plumbers have signatures? Could the 13' rough in be this plumbers signature?

Master Bath toilet.

Master bath shower fixtures -- low shower head.

Alas -- when we do our next house we'll be able to address all of these issues...

Getting close...

We're getting there -- not moving in over vacation week but we're getting close. We're at the point of all finish work - this past week Ed put in a good push, with four guys at the house all week...it's just a lot of details at this point. All of the trim is done with the exception of the mantels. The tile and counters in the bathrooms and the kitchen are done...pretty much all of the electric is done -- we're just waiting for some fixtures at this point. We selected a gray soapstone slab for our counters but we think it's actually green....hmmm. Anyway, here you can see the white subway tile that we selected for the back splash in the kitchen and for the wall by the sink.

A little bit closer in...

Here you can see that the pantry is coming together...since we didn't do custom cabinets we had to be a bit crafty to put the pantry together. There will be glass in the doors - we just haven't had them cut cut yet. there will also be shelves in the cabinets.

Here's the dining room -- the central pendant will have a large rectangular linen shade on it and the sconces will have drum shades.

Gus has been working on the stairs for the last few days -- they look great. He takes a lot of pride in his work. I think on Monday the newel post and the banisters will probably go in.

The plumbers will be here on Monday to install toilets and sinks -- the one major thing that is holding us up from moving in is that the floors need to be re-finished. Unfortunately Hector can't work next weekend but we're hoping that evenings this week will allow him to get lots done. We'll see...

The most obvious part of this photo is the fireplace which Mark E and his helper have been working on this week..Mark picked up some 1700's bricks to use to re-face the fireplace -- he had to build it out from the original depth because code required Ed to build the walls 2" from the opening...the bit in the middle that looks like new bricks are new bricks -- we're going to ask Mark to change them to old bricks -- all in all it's looking good though. You can also see the door that goes into the first floor powder room. Norm and Gus have been working on hanging doors and trimming them out this week... This fireplace is waiting to receive a new face as well -- the other fireplaces in the house will be skim coated with plaster/mortar and painted black - -this is how the house was when we bought it.

Here you can see the master bath where Hector has been laying tile...you can also see a bit of the door trim that went on today.

The tub surround...

Here is the floor of the guest bathroom...

Doors..Sink...Counters

So our interior doors arrived today -- 1600lbs of them! Here are a couple of photos of the doors that were installed after they arrived.

The Kitchen Sink was also installed so that Russ from Eno's could come template the counter tops -- which with any luck should be installed in the next couple of weeks. Things are moving along nicely.

Other things happening this week -- Mark the mason should crank out some brick work for the fireplaces and get the insulation in the chimney. Hector is working on the bathroom tiles and we're going to try to get the basement bulkhead closed up so we don't keep losing heat!

A milestone day...

With unseasonably warm weather for the last two days, Leigh and I were able to FINALLY finish siding the house...this is a major milestone for us -- if you recall we had hoped to be done with this part of the job by May 15th or so last year! How about that only 7 months off our estimate! Anyway -- it was a good feeling. You can seem me here up on the plank getting ready to put that last piece in. Leigh was working inside today cutting the angle on all of the shingles and handing them out through the window. The final shingle...

Our friend Bruce today asked if we were hand nailing the shingles or using a nail gun -- good question -- I can tell you that if we were hand nailing them (see left hand) we would be done by about May 15, 2010. So yes, we used a nail gun and stainless steel nails (very expensive) but they are better because they will not have a reaction with the white cedar. With galvanized nails, they often react to the cedar and create black streaks as the cedar weathers. Our plan is to let them weather to a nice grey and to sell the house before their 30 year life span requires replacement!

These next two photos can only be shown because it's already happened -- otherwise, our mothers would be too nervous...getting up and down onto and from the plank is a bit awkward...

Finally today - and entirely unrelated to siding -- is the master bath tile is is starting to go on the walls - Hector worked on Saturday to get started -- these are subway shape but more like 5x13...they are grey -- yes grey -- I seem to be in a phase where grey is my go-to color. The question of the day is WHAT COLOR DO YOU THINK THE GROUT SHOULD BE? I am leaning towards a lighter color to give it a bit of a retro look -- and so that he vertical brick pattern is a feature. Tile store folks suggest a dark grout...WHAT DO YOU THINK?

The floor tiles are a really pretty white 18" Square with a subtle line pattern in it.

I am hoping that this week, doors arrive and that Mark E shows up to finish up his masonry work...it would be nice to have that wrapped up. Also, painting should be done.