Back from Japan - Pine Floors are in! 19 September 2009

I got back from one week in Japan Friday Night. Saturday morning Ellen and I went out to the house to sweep floors of all the lovebugs, dust, etc. This took about two hours. While we were there Joe's framing/carpentry crew arrived to finish the deck of the Screen Porch area. The existing Trex did not look long enough so the the crew supervisor tried to contact our builder but couldn't make contact. With nothing else to do the deck crew left.

While I was gone, the antique pine flooring was installed. Almost all of the tile flooring has now been installed with one of the master bathroom closets and the entryway yet to be finished. The shower tile work is all done as is the the guest bathroom tub surround.

Also the exterior doors have been installed (except for the master bedroom doors to the screen porch) and painted. The side railing and the main stairways are now being put in place. Next week should see the electrician installing lighting fixtures, etc.

Shower almost done; evening at the house - 04 September 2009

Another busy week with little time to keep up-to-date on the house. Ellen and I chose to visit on Friday before Labor Day to see the incremental progress. Floorworks installers have almost finished the master bathroom shower. Ellen was displeased with the second bathroom's pattern and Floorworks will correct. The kitchen sink has been installed, the last cabinet arrived and was installed, and the counter-top folks were able to make their template measurements. The counter-top is scheduled to be installed next Wednesday if the faucets are installed beforehand. Hopefully the plumbing store has our order for plumbing fixtures in stock! Ellen has been working with the lighting fixture store, ABC Lighting of Slidell. So lighting and electrical will soon be coming. John is getting a bonus from work and that money combined with a couple of days of extra Navy Reserve pay, will help finance the main bathroom bath tub and fixtures.

Shower and bathroom flooring process begins - 30 August 2009

With the help of credit cards (no thanks to the bank) we started the orders for the installation of the bathroom tile work. We are working with Floorworks of Slidell. They had just been through training on the Schluter flooring system and wanted to use our bathroom as their first installation. In return we kept the price at a normal Hardi-board base cost. the result should be a very durable and water-resistant seal for the laying of the tiles and tavertine stone.

Our bicycling friends, Sue and Sergio Derada, wanted a tour so we met them at the site and showed them around.

Fireplace, laundry, and bathroom carpentry - 28 August 2009

While we work to resolve the kitchen cabinet issues, the trim carpenter has been building the fireplace cabinets, the laundry room shelves, and master bathroom shelves. The painter has been painting the new color choices for the other rooms.

Color Problems with the Cabinets and Trim Paint - 27 August 2009

Wow, it has been a tough 2 weeks since my last post. Slow progress. We had some problems with the kitchen cabinets, namely a wrongly ordered side cabinet and some mismatched colors.

Ellen wanted the the Kitchen wood trim to match the kitchen cabinets - so our painter, Thomas Quave, had paint color-matched to one of the cabinet doors. The result revealed the differences in color amongst the cabinetry. We also had changed our mind on color choices for some other rooms. Meanwhile bills are piling up and the bank was being very tight-fisted on advancing funds based on progress. In the end we had to dip more into savings to pay the tradesmen.

Luckily in one of our weekly meetings with our builder we were joined by the retail cabinet store manager/owner and a regional cabinet company official. Both saw the color differences in the cabinets. The company rep agreed to have the entire set of cabinets repainted. So we have to wait for that to happen. The delay in getting the kitchen sink from Kohler and the missing cabinet has delayed the installation of the counter top.

The painter, in this down period, tried some different trim and wall paint combinations to improve the visual interest/contrast since we found the off white trim blended almost too well with the great room paint scheme. What a hot, miserable summer!

Trim carpenter goes to town - 13 August 2009

Ken Hamilton, our builder's subcontractor for trim carpentry was at the site and was busy putting up trim mouldings for windows and the kitchen structure. The replacement window for a wrongly sized window had finally arrived and was installed on the eastern dormer. The Water pump was reloctated to its originally designated location in the garage (which will not be built due to cost containment measures). Several thunderstorms have made the driveway tricky to negotiate at times.

Kitchen cabinets & more color on walls- 06 August 2009

Today we had our consulting architect, Vaugahn, join me, Ellen, and our builder, Joe. The Floorworks of Slidell shop sent a two-person team to work on the master bathroom shower. The kitchen cabinets have arrived and are being installed. Should be done within the next day or two. The painter was able to apply a color primer on all the walls. This has led to a re-evaluation of the color choices, so Ellen is re-thinking those. The outside decking made from recycled plastic called Trex has now been installed except for the portion where the screened porch is. This will allow contractors to get in and out without hurting the decking.

This weekend is a tax-free holiday so Ellen and I will shop for some lighting fixtures, etc.

A huge thunderstorm came at the end of our meeting, but luckily Joe had more gravel installed with a new culvert.