Oh, our aching bodies.....

So, all that wood I was talking about the other day, it's starting to look like a floor! And the bathrooms are almost ready for all that tile we unloaded two days after all the wood!  (No need to go to the gym these days!) We drove away from the tile store with the staff shaking their heads sure we were going to break the Element.  We made it home in one piece, but then there was the unloading.  It will all be worth it, but there are moments when it seems a little overwhelming!

Here's the tile for the master bath.  It is all the same tile, but with different
finishes/textures  - gloss, matt, rough.....  We're using the same tile upstairs, but in a
lighter color.  Thanks go out to our friend Marcia who inspired us. 

Here's the master bath shower and tub almost ready for tile. We hired someone
to do the shower pan (bottom) and surround and after today, I am wondering
why we didn't just have him do the tub too!!!  The tub now has its platform
and surround in place, but it's too ugly to show you right now.  

Here I am using the grinder (would that make me Grinde the Grinder?) cutting
concrete backerboard for the tub surround.  I appreciate my dad teaching me
not to be afraid of power tools, they sure make the job easier.  Building a tub
surround was a whole new experience I am not sure I need to repeat..........

Here's Paul at the start of the morning.  He's been kind enough to help Bill
with laying the wood flooring.  (He originally said he wanted to help so he
could learn how to do it for a future project at his own home.  I wonder if,
after today, he is thinking hiring someone is the way to go.) He's sorting the
pieces so we can achieve a random looking layout.

And..... after many hours of back breaking work the main room is almost done!
It's looking great!  All of our backs were begging for a break by the end of the
day.  We'll be back at it tomorrow bright and early as Bill, for some reason
unknown to Paul and me, scheduled the kitchen cabinets to be delivered
Monday!!!!!

Wood fiber in one form or another.........

Wood fibers - they've played an important role throughout this project - the plans are drawn on them, the permits written and approved on them, the framing and windows made of them and now, at last, the wood flooring has arrived!  

It's here, it's here!  The wood flooring arrived in Mukilteo (just north of Seattle )
yesterday and Bill head down to pick it up this bright and early this morning!
Sixty-four boxes (or 1 3/4 tons) of it! They loaded them into the truck at the store,
but it was up to us to take care of it at this end. Bill & I unloaded about half
of it (by hand) and then our good friend Paul came and helped finish!  I was soooo
glad to see him!  

Here are Bill and Paul in the midst of the haul.  I think we may all be
a little sore in the morning.  It was such a beautiful day that I decide to do a little
weeding afterward - duh!!!  We each took a long soak in a hot tub this evening
and I have a feeling there will be a couple of Ibuprofen chasers coming up soon!  

Spring is here and I did a little cleaning this weekend!  It occurred to me you might get
a kick out seeing all the paperwork this goofy project has created!  And these are
just some of the files!  See that condo lease one?  Hopefully that will be history soon!!!!!

Here is the plan of the first floor...... It actually is pretty true to the plans!

Same for the second floor!

Ah, those old title blocks!  For those of you who haven't drafted before, you'd
be surprised how much energy goes into this part of a package of drawings!

The Painting is Done!!!!!

Wow, what a relief!  The interior painting is done!  Well, almost.... We think we might need to tone down the guest bedrooms with a bit of "linen white" (I bet that color is long gone from 7 years ago) on the ceilings, but otherwise it's done!  We used a neutral color called Tusk throughout most of the house and it turned out great!  I worried that it might be too white or too pinkish or too tan or..... (Can you see a pattern here?) Anyway, they took all the plastic masking off the windows today (for the first time in over 3 weeks) and it looks great!! Whew!  It looks a lot like raw canvas for those of you who are painters.

Our wood flooring got held up in Illinois on train car due to weather and electrical outages.  It sounds like it might put us a week behind!  Grrrr....

But, maybe, just maybe, we have chosen our countertops!  What a task that was.  We saw some great granite and quartz slabs while walking what seemed to be miles through slab warehouses.  It is an experience even if you don't need some.  What a beautiful variety of natural rock formations.

Thought I would include a picture of the camellia that popped up behind the bamboo in the back yard!  It's beautiful!  I have a feeling we'll be discovering more wonderful plants as the summer goes by as our neighbors tell us that Pete, the previous owner, was quite a gardener!

We're thinking this yellow might be a little bright, but we
can always tone it down by painting the ceiling a gentle white.
(That't a trick we learned at our old house.)

We can see out the back windows again!  Yay!! Those are the railing posts
along the edge of the loft floor.  We had to quickly put them in and wrap them
before they installed the drywall!  A little lesson in planning!

The master bedroom now has a cozy feeling.  We're loving it.

Where's the huge fireplace or hole in the wall?  GONE!  We love how this
wall looks  and there is no huge air intake box at the top!  We are looking
forward to designing and finishing the new, smaller, gas fireplace surround!

Here are the new steps and a good example of the Tusk color we
chose for most of the house.  We'll add other colors as time
passes and we live in the space for a while.  (I can just hear my
friend Karin saying "Yeah, sure!"  We never repainted a wall in
our old house, while she, well Bob, repainted theirs several times!)

Okay, after walking through warehouses of granite and

quartz products, we think this is what we'll use for the countertops!

 We love all the colors in here (Silestone, Black Canyon) and the fact 

that it will provide some contrast to the maple

without overwhelming it......

We think........

The camellia I spoke of!!  These usually bloom in February! Did I mention
it was cold here this winter!!!  It snowed here Monday!  That's unusual even in
January most years!

Tax season and remodeling....

So, one of the remodeling rules that either Fine Home Building or This Old House includes in their list is "Do not start a remodeling project during the rainy season."   Another one I would love to add to the list would be "Wait to start a remodeling project until after April 15th."    They kind of go hand-in-hand don't they?   Oh well, lessons learned!

On the flip side, the painters start today!  Yahoo!

Spring is in the air!!!!

Yes, I think Spring has arrived.  Well, it did snow yesterday morning, but that was just a little blip on the screen!  At least everyone here hopes so.  I thought I would start with some evidence of Sping - some pictures of the blooms we see on our daily walks.  We did a bunch of yard work and drove "da truck" full to the brim to the 'green dump' last weekend.  Bill didn't think we 'd have enough stuff!!!  Hee-hee!  We found all kinds of stuff in the woods at the back of the lot!

The remaining pictures are of the last of the drywall process which ends today! They are texturing today and painting starts Monday.  Just two colors throughout the whole house - the rest is up to us.  Flooring arrives early next week and that's where we start taking on all the work......  at least that is the plan!

Fruit tree blossoms!  At last!

The forsythia is popping!

Okay, so this is a little fuzzy and it is only a daffodil, but it's evidence
Spring is here!  These usually bloom in early March here, but
it has been so cold this year that the bloom is waaaaaay behind!

Okay, so these are in a pot in a protected area, they are still new color!

Ahhhhhh, loving it.

We're off to the green dump!  I hate to admit it, but I love driving this truck!

That's Cisco our drywall contractor discussing who knows what with Bill after
doing a texture test for us.

This is the texture test!  You can see a big difference, can't you?  Ha!

The drywall texture material in the hopper in the back of the truck!
The material travels through a looooong hose (see first picture with Bill and Cisco) to
the sprayer head and onto the walls!  Yahoo!  The painters come Monday!

My brother-in-law says....

My brother-in-law, Tom, says I am falling behind in my posts!  More, newer pictures are needed, so....  Just a little update before we go any further - we are finally making decisions about finishes and it looks like the inside of the new place isn't going to look that different from the last place. The stair and loft railing will probably be some variation on the old, we are liking the greens and yellows for paint (with a splash or orange in honor of the orange carpet!), etc., etc., etc........  At least the form will be different.

So on with the pictures......

The new ceiling in the loft!  No more popcorn!!!  The "tapers" are really making the
place look better!

The kitchen!  Bill says it looks a lot smaller than he thought!  Oops!
Might be ready for another addition before we hoped!  JUST KIDDING!

Notice that odd pattern on the wall in the upper part of the picture?
That's what you get when you "skim coat" old knock down
texture.  It is supposed to work!  We'll see!

Another skim coated wall - I can't wait to see out those windows again!

The master bedroom and bath taped and almost ready for texture.

The newly covered wall and ceiling over the loft and living room - the wall
used to be covered in rough hewn cedar!  It was so dark.  We are thinking a
pale sage green might do the trick.

The guest room door out to the....

new party deck.  Okay, so it probably won't be a party deck, but it should
provide a nice covered area to relax and enjoy the view.  Those are rhodies
to the left & bamboo to the right......  Thinking we may just clear coat the cedar. 

The drywall is here!!! Oh my!

If you want the feel of a place to change, just cover up all the studs and joists with drywall and the windows with plastic film (to protect it from the drywall mud)!!!  "Oh my," as my sister Ann would say - it feels eerie at best and I miss the views outside.  It's like all the rooms are in the film "Honey,  I Shrunk the House!"  I know it will change once again we can see through the windows again and everything is painted, but for now.....  Wow!!

The good news is that since the dry wall crew has more or less kicked us out of the house for a week or so, the yard is getting some attention. That is when the weather is co-operating, which my friend Andi just reminded me hasn't been often this year.  It is still on the cool side here and only the daffodils are blooming, no tulips yet.  Brrrrr - and lots of rain, too! Guess we shouldn't be surprised!!!!

Okay folks, here is your guest bathroom.  Well, it's not quite ready to use, but
it will have a big walk in shower and a solar tube so there is a lot of light.
It is now located by the bedrooms, rather than over the kitchen and in the
middle of the living room. Still a little white, huh?

And this is one of the guest bedrooms or offices - we promise to remove
the plastic film from the windows so you will have a good view!  I miss the
trusses!

The popcorn ceiling in the living room/loft area is gone!  And we
didn't have to scrape it!  Those posts  on the right are the beginning
of our new railing - now only if we could come up with a design for it!

This is  just below where the previous picture was
taken.  The area to the left will be the kitchen and
dining nook.

What to do with all the straw used for erosion control?  It's still raining
a lot and we don't know exactly what we will be doing with this area, so it
will just have to wait a while.  Thank goodness it isn't something the neighbors
have to look at since it is in the side/back yard.

Anyone wanna buy a used plastic garden shed that is in pieces?

Excess old siding waiting to be stacked for future use on a garden house......
Anyone wanna bet when that will be done?????
(We've already lost a bet on the house move in date!  Paul's just waiting for
his free dinner!)

Thank goodness this is the back and no one can see it!  What a mess!!!

This isn't quite so private, but....  That tree in the middle fell down this winter
when the snow was just too much for it.  You can see the new siding waiting for
some color!

The garden spot. Not sure there will be many veggies there this year,
but nest year!  Yahoo!

Another view of the back yard mess.  Thank goodness there is a little knoll
between our house and the neighbor's.  The windows are going to a nearby
community gardening center where they will be used for a new green house!
The little greenhouse in the front of the picture needs a new location on the property,
but that, too, like most of the yard and garden work, will have to wait a bit.