Cabinets, Color, and a Prediction

Well, here they are finally! The kitchen cabinets! As you can probably tell too, the lights are working in the house, so we have power now! It's getting close now people!

The second picture is of our fireplace. It's a deep purple/burgundy color. It looks pretty nice.

The other interesting thing is that there are paper sheets protecting the tile now. It follows a path from the garage to the stairs. Hmm...can anyone say carpet?!? That's our guess anyway!


Kitchen Cabinets 


Purple Living Room 

FIASCO!

What a fiasco today and yesterday have been.

- What you say and what you write

Apparently what our builder writes on paper and what they've told Julie in numerous conversations don't add up. Julie has talked with our builder numerous times about ceiling fans and putting a microwave above the oven. Their response - "No problem!"
However...they gave us a sheet that stated exactly what we needed and it didn't match up, so sure enough, we have fans and a over the range microwave.

LESSON LEARNED: Always read the spec sheet! Go by what is in writing!

RESOLUTION: Joe is running to KMart to get temporary lights to replace the 4 fans so that it passes electrical inspection. I just ran to Sears over lunch to pick up an overhead range hood.

- Countertops early

The latest the countertop guy can meet us at is 4:30PM. This doesn't work for Julie, but does for me. Unfortunately, I think that means it also doesn't work for me.

LESSON LEARNED: Be prepared to be flexible.

RESOLUTION: Not sure how this will work out, but I think I'm going up to talk to the guy, then Julie and I will fax him the edge cutouts and any additional work we want done on the island (like an overhang).

Anyway, I should have some pictures tonight of our cabinets!

House Blog Inspires Another House Blog

Or so I've heard.

Check out my friends' house in Maryland. A few months ago, the week after a LAN party, there house experienced an electrical fire. They weren't home when it happened, so they are all ok, but you can see what happened to thier house. Hopefully, the contractors get moving on it!

http://svhouse.blogspot.com

Let There be Lights (part II)

The lights are mostly up. The ceiling fans are pretty much the only things not up. There's a good picture of the front door lights below.

The ductwork also all went in just today! Remember that pic of all the ductwork? It's all miracously gone and installed. The other odd thing that may be related is that our laundry room now has a second attic entrance. Weird.

We also started to paint the kitchen! The trim is done, but the first coat should be on tomorrow.


Front of House 


Door Lights Closeup 

Lights are No Fun! Hmpf!

We got the call that the electrician will be up at the house tomorrow. Rather than paying him to put the lights together, Joe, Julie and I headed up to try and get built what we could.

Surprisingly, we got a ton of lights together. The four bedroom ceiling fans were too difficult for me, however, so you can see how far I got below.

Also, our lot was graded. We're very happy with the grading. It's perfectly flat about 100 feet back and then it slopes down. It's much better than the gradual 8 foot drop that occurs on the left side. The septic seems to not be as large now either, which is just fantastic.


Graded Lot 


Master Bedroom Fan 

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

Nope, we're not moving in, but something just as sweet! Hehehe! Our jerky neighbor is moving! Check out his house here for the proof!

At long last, it's almost over and they will be gone! I'd like to say thank you to our other neighbors for showing him the value of his house. I'd also like to thank the Academy *sniff, (oh I promised Julie I wouldn't cry!)

Woohoo! Hooray! Yippee!

In other news, a new banister awaited us as well as the dining room's chair rail. Also, I took a shot of the duct work that is awaiting install.

Did I mention no more jerky neighbor? Ah, life is sweet!


Banister 


Chair Rail in Dining Room 


Duct work 

Of Shoes, Eating, and Fire!

The bedroom closets have the wire shelves in them and an additional bonus. Julie has a shoe rack (about 8 feet long) along the bottom of one of the sides. The wire shelves are surprisingly sturdy as well.

The next thing is that the dining room floor is completely stained. They told us the lights should follow soon.

The last thing, and another surprise, is the fireplace trim. It turned out really ornate!

In other news, the duct work for A/C and heat are down in the basement. We're guessing this means that someone will be putting them in soon.


Master Bedroom Shoe Rack 


Dining Room Floor 


Fireplace Trimmed 

A little bit here...a little bit there.

The dining room floor has been stained! Which apparently means the lights, which are in, will be going in soon. The trim seems to have stalled, but we'll see.

The cable, phone, and electric lines are all in the ground. Now the excavator can close that trench up.

There is also a stockpile of ducting in the basement, so that appears to be ramping up.

The kitchen cabinets are scheduled to go in Sept. 26th, so Julie and I are heading to the Corian place to choose our countertop tomorrow morning.

Summary of stuff yet to be done:
- Kitchen Cabinets (Sept. 26)
- Carpet
- Plumbing Fixtures (After kitchen cabinets)
- Duct Work
- Heat Pump (after duct work)
- Water Heater (well is in)
- Final Grading

The Well was Given...with a Cost!

Our well was put in, but apparently, the backhoe driver was little over zealous. There is a little 6"x6" divot in our stucco, which you can see in the third picture. Oh, well. The excavator is paying for it to be repaired.

Also, the wall trim is cut out and ready to go. The window and door trim is totally complete.


Inside Well 


Outside Well 


Damaged Stucco 

Stone Finished and Color!

They got the stone finished today. It looks really good, so I took a close up shot of the center section.

The trim is also in a lot of the rooms as you can see below. I think we definitely have a most colorful house. Check out all the upstairs room, plus the media room below!

The only rooms left to paint are the kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, foyer and master bath. Wait...did I say only?


Stone finished 


Julie's office 


Master Bedroom 


Matt's Office 


Guest Room 


Hall Bath 


Laundry Room 


Media Room 

Sigh of relief!

Whew! It turns out we can get high speed internet up there! Hooray!

Thanks Verizon DSL!

Optical Illusion

It may appear as though the stone is finished, but it's not! Check out the right side of the center area where the scaffolding is and you can see that the grout stuff isn't in on the stone!

We took a ride up there tonight with Franklin. He was pretty excited to see his new house and didn't want to get back in the car to go home. While we were up there, we noticed that the window trim is cut and ready to go in. Almost all the doors are hung.

Julie and I are now struggling with the downstairs paint. To color or not to color - that is the question.


Optical Illusion 

Kitchen Tile

The kitchen tile is in! Take a peek at it below.

Also, the painting is almost done upstairs. We decided to add color to the closets, so we just need a second coat on them. The media room is also finished!

Now we need to pick an off-white color for the foyer/hallway, the dining room color, the kitchen color, and the living room color.


Kitchen Tile