The new gate, eventually

The old gate has been removed & the footing for the new one is in place. This increases the area we had in the back yard, which helps to compensate for losing some area by the additions. You can see the plumbing for the outdoor shower on the left. You can also see another paint color for testing, and I'll go on record as saying I don't like it. There are a couple of other new colors that I do like though. We *might* have a decision on paint this weekend. Actually, we WILL have a decision - we need to.

The old gate will be joining the trellis that was out front & become a new trellis in the back yard where the hibiscus was. It will be kind of 'big and white' until we get it planted, but eventually, it will be very nice, and gives us a bit more space in the back yard. The hibiscus was really growing into the yard.

We are putting the order in for the floor in the next few days, the kitchen cabinets should be in route, and the outdoor heater has been ordered. The only essentials we have left to order are the bathroom lights, but we have narrowed down what we want to a few things.

We are still homeless on June 29th. There is just no telling if we'll be able to live in part of the house by then or not. I'm guessing not, so we are looking for another place to live for a week or two the first part of July. Anybody have a pop-up trailer we can use?

Rust

The Cor-Ten is on site. We wondered how long it would take to start rusting, and the answer is: one week :) This is the flat metal here that they will use to trim out the edges, but you can see that a portion that wasn't completely covered has already started rusting. It will eventually turn a much darker color, but we were surprised to see it turn so quickly.

They take the hibiscus out tomorrow :( Sad to see it go, but as you can see, it's really not doing very well. They will start work on the trellis that will replace it & the side gate this week too.


Still looking at the paint colors, no decision yet...

No big news

They started taping & texturing yesterday and while that's going on (which could take up to two weeks), we are going to tackle the outside. The goal is to get the new side gate it, and move the trellis that was out front to the back, where the Hibiscus was. Well, the Hibiscus is still there for the moment, but alas, it is going away. It is very old and has not been doing well the past few years. While the yard is destroyed, we are going to have it removed. The trellis that was in front (the one with the Bouganvilla on it) will be combined with some old pieces of the side gate & reconfigured to be a "new" trellis in the very back yard. We'll plant some kind of vine on it, not sure what yet. This will still give us privacy in the back yard, and allows a little more room for the hot tub to scoot back.

Jeff has been busy working on plans for the yard and what he's come up with is really cool! No plant diagrams yet - just the hard-scaping.

Thanks to those of you who have given feedback on the paint colors. We ruled out three of them, and the builder is going to show us a couple of other colors he likes. We hope to be able to pick a color soon. The Cor-Ten is at the house, and while it's not rusted yet, it should help us visualize what color we need.

It's a 3-day weekend, yeah! We have some friends coming up from down south, and other than surfing & hanging out, no big plans. I kinda like that :) Have a good one.

Pick a color, any color...

Ahh, the next big decision. Here's the first stab at color. Actually, this is five different colors. We want to pick something that will go with the metal once it's rusts. The strip of black you are looking at will be the metal, so try to picture a dark rust color there with one of these colors. Granted, cell phone pictures don't have the best image quality, but these will give you a general idea where we are going. I've labeled them A-C (you'll have to click on the pictures to enlarge them & see the letters), so if you have any thoughts, share away! I can tell you that the colors come off a bit cool here. "A" has more yellow in it than shows here, and "C" is not as gray looking in real life.

On the inside, the dry wall is all up & they have most of the corner beading in. Taping & texturing next.

The trimming of the tower

These two photos aren't exactly the same, but they will give you the general idea. This is the tower of power, after it was taken down about 10". Quite different, I think, and also, much better. The scale feels right now and I like it. Before, it seemed too imposing.

We did lots of puttering at the house this weekend, Jeff did a lot of plant moving & cleanup. We will almost be starting over with a blank slate with the yard. Kind of exciting, but also, it represents a lot of work to do, and a lot lost. Oh well, things change!

Update on *Crud*

Jeff met with the builder for over two hours yesterday and with some small changes, everything will work out OK. They dry wall guys should be back on Monday to finish the initial hanging, then they can start on the taping & texture. We are going for a "mostly smooth," also called "imperfect smooth" finish. Of course, it's more expensive because it's done by hand vs. being sprayed on. Once again, we pay for discerning taste :)

The tower of power was emasculated as we requested and we are pleased with the results. It's not so towering now and we feel it's balanced perfectly with the scale of the exterior. I'll try to post a before & after picture so you can compare.

Not surprisingly, it's questionable whether we'll make the end of June deadline to get back in the house. We have to see, but we are potentially homeless for a few weeks. Finding a vacation rental for one or two weeks around the 4th of July is not going to be easy, so we'll just have to see what happens.

We got the final quote for the kitchen counters and are disappointed that it's $800 higher than the original quote. We've asked them why and they are looking at it. The picture here is nothing new - I just wanted you all to see the state of the yard. I 'm sure you remember what it used to look like :) We are starting to collect ideas for landscaping and know fairly well what we want to do. But, even when the hardscaping is done, it will be a long time before everything is planted & looks "grown in."

That's it for now. Off to check the waves...

Crud

I should be excited. About three fourths of the dry wall is done. However, there appears to have been some major miscommunication - or lack of communication - between the builder & the installers. The interior beams have been covered, and they weren't supposed to be, and according to the somewhat angry installer I encountered yesterday, neither the windows nor the doors were framed properly for the kind of edge finish we requested. But, that didn't stop the installers from working. They just kept on installing and by the time I got there yesterday, all the doors & every window but two were done. This means, that if we want the window trim we requested, they have to rip off the dry wall around the windows, frame them properly, then put dry wall back up. Of course, the builder is out of town until tomorrow. We made an executive decision & called the dry wall company and told them to stop until they could meet with the builder. We figure this just cost us two weeks and a bunch of headaches and to be honest, we are fairly pissed. But, there is nothing we can do about it the builder is back. Needless to say, we've left messages on all his phones to call us asap when he gets back.

Sigh....

It looks like the driveway...but it's the roof

As promised, here's a shot of the completed roof. Ahh, gravel. You can see the bathroom skylights and the kitchen skylight, which was replaced. These are all double pane so they will insulate well. We stayed with the "frosted white" because we like the quality of the light they provide in the house.

Lets see, in other news, maybe Sheetrock tomorrow? We'll see. We passed another inspection today so they are clear to go. The Cor-Ten has been ordered and should be here next week. Still waiting on paint samples for the outside. The last pocket door - which was back ordered, arrived and was installed today. The new beam in the garage is done so as soon as they put up Sheetrock, the garage will pretty much be done.

Somebody asked about the doorbell :) It's been wired for the right side of the door, but, it's too tight of a squeeze. It's getting moved to the left side of the door tomorrow, which means another visit from the electrician, which means more $$. Oh well.

The kitchen vent hood came in, and we are ordering the kitchen sink this week. We chose a material called "Silgranite." It's kind of like a Ceasar stone countertop: it's made from ground up granite mixed with a composite material. It's really cool looking, and is supposed to be scratch & stain resistant. We bought a kitchen faucet, but I'm having second thoughts and I think we'll exchange it.

We are still shooting for end of June. As long as the Sheetrock doesn't hold us up, we should be good to go!

There are a few more pictures in the photo gallery.

General updates

I'm going to try and make this quick, but here's some updates. This shot is of the front door with the stain on it. I like it a lot. All the exterior doors have the same finish. Not sure what we are doing with the interior doors, but I'm guessing we will do the same to match these. It will pick up the color from the sap-wood in the floor and should go nicely with the cherry cabinets in the kitchen.

We have *almost* finished the tile selections, just a few things to nail down. We got lucky and and found a big enough remnent of the CeasarStone that we want to use, so it saves us about $400. If you navigate here CeasarStone Gallery and look at the fifth sample down in the left column, and the fourth sample down in the fourth & fifth columns, "Lagos Blue", that's what we are getting. It looks great against the cherry cabinets, and the back splash is going to be a small pale green glass subway tile. They look great together. We also found a limestone remnant to go with the limestone flooring/shower in the master bath. It too, is a good deal (yeah!).

On our way home this weekend, we stopped by a building in Paso Robles that uses the Cor-Ten material we are going to use. They used it oriented horizontally; we are going to orient it vertically. I put a picture of it in the gallery. It should look great. The trick is that we need to use a paint color that matches the material after it rusts. This means that at first, it may look a bit off, but as the material rusts, it will start to work together. They are almost done with the hardy board siding and we should be getting paint samples up soon.

The sheet rock isn't up yet and I don't when they are starting - hopefully soon! We have purchased all the faucets and the medicine chests, the wine rack, outdoor speakers and outdoor heater are getting ordered today also. Been dropping a lot of cash lately. Friends told us that it gets more expensive the farther in you go and it seems to be holding true. Oh well.

I really think we are pushing it for an end of June move in, but we are literally homeless at that point, so we'll have to figure something out! Check out the gallery if you want, there are few new pics there. I'm going to try and go by the house after work today and take some more pictures. Thanks for stopping by!

What a difference a day makes!

I stopped by the house today to pick up some stain samples for the doors and check it out -doors and insulation! This is just a quick camera phone pic, but it gives you the general idea. Yellow fiberglass everywhere. Wow. All of a sudden it feels like a house. Nice. The doors look great, and I can only imagine how much quieter and warmer/cooler the house will be with the insulation. I'll try and take more pictures tomorow, but wanted to share this one.

Making progress

This is a shot of the roof after all the sheeting was ripped off. What you are looking at is the other side of the knotty pine ceiling you used to see inside. You can see them reusing some of the wood they took off the interior walls to patch up bad spots. You can also see the holes for the new skylights in the bathrooms. This photo is a few days old; the roof is now done & we are back to tar & gravel. Kinda quaint, but apparently, as far as flat-ish roofs go, it's the thing to do.

I took a long lunch and Jeff and I met with our builder today. They were just getting ready to hang the doors and he wanted us to look at stain colors. I think they are going to beautiful when they are done. Once the doors are up, the insulation goes next, then the sheetrock. The siding is coming along and we also need to pick the exterior color. We went through the paint deck & picked about 5 colors to get pints of. We'll put up swatches as a starter and then go from there. Because we are using the Cor-Ten, which, when it begins to rust, is kind of an "earthy" color, we are leaning a bit darker than we originally thought, but we'll see.

We got the price for polished concrete floors in the office and it's in our budget, so we are going that route for the office/dog day room/guest room It should be a really neat looking surface, and durable. Now we don't have to worry about our guests ruining the floor - the dogs would be so unhappy :)

I've uploaded a few more - albeit not too exciting - pics to the photo album. Take a look if you feel like it. It's starting to seem like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I can't believe we've been out of our house for four months. Oh, the new exterior lights came. They are the same model as the original ones, it's just that the original ones were too big. We kept one to use as the entry light, but will use the smaller ones as general exterior lighting around the house.

That's all for now!