Why I Haven't Been Blogging

First, work was incredibly busy, what with increasing my hours, learning a new job and learning InDesign and putting out a newsletter, and getting ready for Strawberry.

Then Ethan came home from college, which looks like this:

Because the bedrooms were finished, and all of extra space already had stuff from that part of the house stored in them, he was reduced to having all of his stuff in the laundry/storage area of the music room (clearly a well organized lad), and sleeping on the floor of my office. Which is where I do my blogging.

Then we went to Strawberry, which looked like this:

Way more fun than blogging (though COLD and rainy too).
More soon.

We've Hit the Two Month Mark!

Not too bad I guess, but I am getting impatient for all the last things to get done.

But we do have floors, just finished today! I just have one photo to post, in Marina's room, since the other rooms have cardboard pieces or appliance boxes on them, and they haven't been swept from this week's drywalling and sanding (for the heater closet and living room doorway). But I keep walking around the area barefoot cause it feels so good, so warm! They still need the edge piece and baseboards and some thresholds, so I'll post more pics when it all looks spiffy.

Next to come is finishing up the last of the painting, electrical, plumbing and finally appliance installment (I can barely remember what we ordered).

The roofers came and put dormers and vents in the red tile roof. And, I just looked out my window onto that part of the roof, and see that the guy replaced a few broken tiles as well! Nice! The heater can go in anytime after the painting is done. Sort of anti-climatic that we won't be using it for another 5 or 6 months!

But we're starting to look at bathroom stuff and stair carpet for the next phase. It's hard to build up enthusiasm for it somehow - maybe has to do with kitchen overwhelm, job overwhelm, lots of offspring activity (Marina is getting readying herself for her travels to Israel/Romania/E.Europe and moving to Portland, and Ethan is finishing school, renting a house, AIDS ride and moving back home!) and then also getting geared up for Strawberry music fest! How could I not be overwhelmed?

BREATHE!

We Have Floors!

We went from sparse communication with Craig, the floor guy, waiting for the flooring to be delivered so it could acclimate, to suddenly the floors had to be installed TODAY, upon delivery! He has a job next week, so he can't wait, so he'll start TODAY! That old tile is too well glued to the floor, so he'll work around it - TODAY! So, although the drywallers were here finishing the closet and the doorway to the living room, he began work on it TODAY!

And it's beeyoutifullll!! Here it is in the family room,

in Marina's room (looking toward the window),

in Marina's room (looking away from the window) - wish I knew how to get the color better, but this will give you a better impression of how it looks in person,

and in the kitchen, next to the cabinet (I think the color matches better in person).

Reminder: Greenwood Bamboo, vertical, carbonized

He Crawls on His Belly Like A Reptile

Alan has been a DIYer (do it yourself) this past month with network cable and stereo connections, taking advantage of the open walls to get conduit going from one end of the house to the other.

He hit a snag this week when the heater vents were installed in the attic space before he made the time to complete the project, blocking the access he'd planned on. Plan B meant climbing into the crawl space as well (as if it weren't creepy enough to climb through the tiny attic), where it's not deep enough to do more than belly crawl under the pipes.

So today Alan was my contractor (dealing with the flooring guy), my IT guy (helping me with new software at work), and my wiring guy. I don't know why he doesn't want to make me dinner too...

And here he is trying to be one of the guys...



Sorry, couldn't resist. At least he's still laughing.
Guess we're having take-our tonight....

Tons of Stuff

The drawers and doors and handles are on the cabinets. Sweet! It all looks so good together and I'm completely excited and happy with how it all looks with the counters and the paint.
I'm a little worried about a couple drawers being not exactly flush with the others, but Alan thinks it's not noticeable. Am I starting to get totally obsessed with perfection? I think they can be adjusted, so I'll ask. Here they are:

The pulls look TOTALLY cool, and even though they weren't my very first pick (see this post) I like these a lot! (They're a little dusty in this picture - I forgot to clean them first.)

The pot rack is up on the wall beside our bookshelf in the kitchen corner. Alan and I had a bit of a heart attack this morning when we were holding it up to the wall (to see how high we wanted it mounted). We lost communication with each other and forgot how it all held together, and one of the very heavy iron braces when crashing down onto our NEW COUNTERTOP!! OMG I thought it was all over. BUT we couldn't find any cracks (which is what I full expected after hearing the crash) or even marks or scratches (what I was willing to settle for in that split second). Tonight when I looked again and ran my hand over the surface, I felt a tiny little pitted spot, but it could easily be from the manufacturing end of things. What a relief... It will be really nice to get at our often-used cookware.

The trim around the kitchen window is up. Get this - the window is not level, and the right side is a full 1/2" lower than the left side. Because the countertops are level, thank goodness, it meant that the trim around the window had to be whittled down a bit so that it would fit on the backsplash. Not sure if anyone but me will notice - maybe it will turn out to be one of those nice little oddities, like an eccentric relative you think of fondly.

Tough to get a good picture of it in the sun.

And lastly, the heater guys came and put stuff in the wall (ducts and holes and even a plenum, whatever that is). We have to hire a roofer to put a hole in the roof which is apparently difficult to do with our Mediterranean red tiles - I think it sounds like a big job mostly because no one really wants to do it.

We Have a Faucet

as well as soap dispenser (from Home Debit) and an air switch for the disposal!

For some reason the lyrics that have been running through my head are Greg Brown's song, "All the Money's Gone."

So how much do you all notice the line of silicone that runs along the counter where the backsplash is connected? It bothers me, but Alan says I eventually won't notice.

More Color

The smell of paint is making me a little crazy, but I don't mind sitting with doors open in the cold, fog blowing in, because the upstairs landing is so beautiful! We were inspired by the color in Karen & Mark's bedroom, and for 2 years have had swatches of similar colors in 3 different spots on the walls. Finally the kitchen project propelled us into action, and we now have a fully painted room.

The color is Geranium with some meddling by our painter, so is now a new color called "Geranium II a la John Brown". It goes really well with the Eat A Peach color we have going up the staircase, "tying the whole house together," as The Dude would say. It's lovely at sunset.

We Have Countertops - and a Sink!

It's a good thing we were having such a grand time at Marina's graduation in Arizona, because at the very same time, our countertops were being installed, and we weren't there to wring our hands, watch the process, and get all excited. It was emotional enough watching my girl graduate!

We got home when it was already dark, but just had to go in with a flashlight to check it out. Needless to say, we couldn't see much. But this morning we could, and we're so impressed - they did a fabulous job, no nicks or cracks, just one seam, and the sink looks beautiful too.

The photos don't do it justice, you can't really see the green-ness, but here they are. Again, you'll just have to come and see for yourself.

From Countertops I...

From Countertops I...

From Countertops I...

I just love the rounded bar...

From Countertops I...

and the rounded radius edge...

From Countertops I...

From Countertops I...