Happy Holidays 11-28-09

Here we are beside our new Christmas Tree.

Friday, 11-27-09 - We invited Diane and Jerry over for coffee and dessert. Then we popped up some popcorn and watched a movie on our new big screen TV. It was a fun evening. The four of us went out for a really nice Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

Here's a picture of the new TV.

"Bee Movie" was on this morning when I took the picture.

It is so wonderful getting settled into our new home.

Note to Luther: A couple of weeks ago I discovered you had sent us "Comments". (I didn't realize people could do that; no one had before.) It was really nice of you, and I wanted to say thank you. Hope to see you and Shirley this Christmas.
Sharon

Major Repairs Complete 11-11-09

Wednesday, 11-4-09 - Above you can see the piece of plywood that had to be dried out. The fans ran all night. Below they patched in the sheetrock and re-textured the entire area. It took 3 full days to complete the job. The painters came in on Monday and repainted all of the ceilings (livingroom, entryway, kitchen and hallway) and did touchups throughout the house.

Tuesday, 11-10-09 - We moved the furniture back in and enjoyed a quiet evening in front of the fireplace. They did a beautiful job of repairing everything. You can't see the patch and would never know there was a problem. The electricians returned to replace all of the canned lights on Wednesday.

Thursday, 11-12-09 - I drove to Kent today to take care of rental details on my house there. Ted took care of business at home, including watching his new custom desk and cabinets being installed. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It looks so good and matches his bookcases/entertainment center perfectly. (See earlier blog to see photos of the bookcase.) If you enlarge this picture you can see the Sequim city lights through the windows.

We bought all new bedding and pillows and made up the wall bed in the guest bedroom. I still have to have a shower curtain custom made for the guest bathroom, but if you're in the neighborhood, give us a call! :)

Move Into New House 10-23-09

Friday, 10-23-09 - Moving out of our rental house. It took 2 days, Fri. & Sat. to get everything moved. Huge job!! The first week was just unpacking boxes and reading the books on how to work all the new appliances. (I already knew how to work the tub. :-)

On Monday 11-2 the tile man noticed a leak in the living room ceiling around the middle canned light (enlarge the picture and you can see the drops in picture below) and the couch was very wet. Then I noticed the slight bulge in the ceiling to the right of the light. We got our contractor out of bed and he went up into the attic and found the leak from the in-floor heating tubes that run through the ceiling. One of the staples punctured one hole in the tube and a sheetrock guy put a screw into the tube in a second location. The whole crew was here most of the day today (Tue. 11-3) patching the holes and adjusting the heating system. Tomorrow the sheet rock people will remove a big section of the ceiling to help the plywood dry faster then begin the repair work.

Tuesday, 11-3-09 - On a brighter note, the Hunter Douglas Top Down/Bottom Up shades were installed on my bathroom windows this afternoon. They really look great!

Also had mini blinds put up in the multi-purpose room (guest bedroom, art studio, exercise room, craft and scrap booking area). We just bought the bedding for the queen size wall bed and still need to buy pillows, but we're almost ready for company.

The Final Week 10-17-09

Saturday 10-17-09 - Ted really likes how his new work benches turned out. He can hardly wait to start unpacking all of his tools. The extra pantry and freezer by the door is all hooked up and ready to go.

In the picture above you can see the wood paneling has been installed on the refrigerator and the oven stack is installed and ready to use. In the picture below Jim in about to install the wood paneling on the dishwasher. The carpet is installed in the living room, both bedrooms and walk-in closets.

Below is a picture of our newly built mail box. I don't think we have to worry about driveby damage from baseball bats. :) The contractors have been extremely busy these past two weeks (including weekends) trying to get things finished before next Friday, October 23rd because we are moving in that day - ready or not.

Sidewalk, Slate/Laminate Floors 10-2-09

My beautiful bathtub was installed last week and the plumbing for the tub, all 3 showers and 5 sinks was completed. They should finish up next week. The picture below shows the guest bathroom shower and the new slate floor. The toilet will be set below the window.

The picture below shows the slate in and around the kitchen. They were laying the slate in the laundry room today (10-2) and should finish up the hallway this weekend. After they put the final coat of sealant on the slate they can bring in the refrigerator, oven stack & dishwasher. All of the laminate flooring has been laid in both offices and the guest bedroom. After all of the doors and trim have been painted next week they will put the carpets down. We're getting close to the finish line.

Friday, 10-2-09 - Ted took picture below this afternoon. The concrete crew was finishing up the sidewalk and building the forms for the pad in front of the garage. They will pour the pad on Monday and the rest of the driveway after that. I was watching the stump grinder who was working on 2 big stumps over the hill.

More Tile Work 9-16-09

Saturday, 9-5-09 - They finished setting the shower tiles. By 9-11-09 they had finished the grouting. Took this picture of Ted inspecting his new bathroom. There were several orbs in this shot.

Wednesday, 9-16-09 - Picture below shows guest shower, complete with rock floor. It really turned out nice.

Thursday, 9-17-09 - They have started the slate flooring here in the guest bathroom. It continues down the hallway into the laundry room on the other side of the house, throughout the kitchen and around the large kitchen counter. We found some nice counter stools, but we'll have to buy 6 more. The counter will seat 8.

Ted's Bathroom 9-4-09

Friday, 9-4-09 - Picture above is Ted's shower with a rock floor. The rock is also on the bench seat in the corner and will go in the shower cubby. Bill the tile man is working on the Listello trim strip in the top corner. The tile will continue up to the ceiling, placed diagonally, like on the floor. Glass block walls (like the window) will enclose the shower (which is wheel chair accessable).

The tile work continues around the glass block window. You can see the Listello trim strip better in these pictures. The little cabinet is a laundry chute that opens on the other side of the wall into the laundry room.

We added some of the shower rock at both ends of the sink cabinet to tie everything together. I like the way Ted's bathroom has turned out - it really looks good!

Rock Wall 9-6-09

Tuesday, 8-25-09 - Took picture above of the new view of the house after the rock wall was installed. We'll have plants, trees and flowers in the area between the two big rocks. The picture below shows the different planting levels and where the sidewalk will go around to the front door.

View of rock wall from front entrance side.

View of curvey sidewalk from front door. We painted several different design ideas before we settled on this one with the curves and 2 sets of 4 steps on the steep end closest to the road. The curves are to accommodate future landscaping plans.

Kitchen Counter / Bathroom Tiles, 9-6-09

Friday, 8-21-09 - They installed the kitchen counter today. You can see the double sinks and where the white cook top stove will be. There is room for seating around the entire counter. We're busy looking for counter stools.

Thursday, 8-27-09 - Took these pictures of my bathroom shower and tub. I love the blue glass tiles and how they surround the windows. There will be glass block walls enclosing the shower area when completed.

Friday 9-4-09 - The picture below is one wall of the shower in the guest bathroom. The "blank" square shapes will be filled in with glass tiles (orange, light green & dark violet combo). There will be a large shower head in the ceiling and the shower floor will be natural rock. I'll get a better picture when it's all done.

Garage Doors - Murphy Bed 8-6-09

Thursday, 8-6-09 - The queen size Murphy Bed was installed in the guest bedroom this week. Looks good! In the picture below we folded out the table so you can see what a large craft / art area it will be. Very handy!

Picture below gives you a glimpse of the new glass railing on the deck.

Garage doors are in. They will be painted to match the entry door on the right and the little partitions in the windows will be removed to match the window above the entry door.

More Cabinets 7-25-09

Saturday, 7-25-09 - Here's the rest of the cabinets. Above are the oak cabinets in my bathroom. Framing for tub on the left. Below are the oak cabinets in the guest bathroom.

Below is the laundry room. The little door on the left is the laundry chute from Ted's bathroom.

Took the picture below this morning (8-6-09). Bill will be doing all of the tile work in the bathrooms, including the slate flooring in the entryway hall, laundry room, guest bathroom and kitchen. Right now he's working on the shower pan in Ted's bathroom. The other shower pans are done and ready for the tile.

Cabinets 7-24-09

Friday, 7-24-09 - Ted's bookcase room divider was assembled today. There are shelves on both sides and the big screen TV will swivel around to face his bedroom area. (It's currently facing his office area.) The picture below is his bathroom cabinets and the laundry chute on the left opens into the laundry room on the other side of the wall. All the other bathroom cabinets are oak and are installed, but I only have room for 4 pictures so they will have to wait. :)

Jim, our cabinet installer is busy putting some finishing touches on the kitchen cabinets. You can see where the oven stack will go in the cabinets on the right, and right next to that is the pantry, and next to that is where the frig will go. The counter he's working on will house the cooktop stove, double sinks and the dishwasher. Check out the cool skylight!

Took the picture of the beautiful sunset Friday evening from our new deck. Zoom in and you can see the water clearly.

GypCrete and Deck Posts 7-18-09

Tuesday, 7-14-09 - Tubing for the infloor heating was started. Took them about 3 days to finish all the rooms. They poured the gypcrete over the tubing Friday (7-17) morning, and I took the picture below Saturday evening around 6:00 p.m.

Ted admiring the new posts for the glass railing. His suite is to the left and mine is on the right of the prow.

I'm standing on the deck at the corner of my suite facing the fireplace and the prow. This little deck will get a lot of use. The view is fantastic from everywhere on the deck. :)