tile update and other stuff...

After a very busy Saturday, I am very happy to report that the tile crew have made excellent progress and are doing an excellent job!  They started early this morning and worked until at least 7pm this evening. 

The upstairs bath shower and floor, utility floor, master shower, and powder room wall were completed - to be grouted tomorrow.  The master bath shower floor and the rest of the master bath floor will be completed tomorrow and I guess they will come back to finish the kitchen backsplash when the tile arrives. 

The head boss of the tile guys has been excellent to work with - he suggested grout colors and showed us how the grout would look next to the tile and also worked with us to simplify the upstairs shower tile design (which translates to less expensive to install...).

Everything is moving along quite nicely.  Below is the Master Shower - it is a glass and stone mosaic mix and is quite handsome! 

Next is the streamlined upstairs bath tile - I really like the clean lines and how well the colors work with each other.  I cannot wait until the tiles are grouted - I was so excited to post some updated pictures that I could not wait.  So, after the grout is complete, I will post new pictures.

And, unrelated to tile, the pantry was finally, begrudgingly painted!  I think it looks quite awesome!

 
Will keep you posted as to the progress.  I think that we are getting to the point where lots of stuff will happen very quickly that before we know it, we will be all moved in. 

But, until then, stay tuned!

countertops are installed...

Wish I had more to report - some small, but really important, things are being completed at the house.  The electrical work is being completed including all of the outlet covers and light switches, the inside part of the A/C has been installed as well as the vents and thermostat, most of the paint has finally been completed (still quite a bit of touch up to be done - plus many wall patches have to be fixed, including the large holes/squares resulting from improperly placed light switches and such), the sidewalk and driveway forms have been built awaiting concrete to be poured, and we have been waiting for the tile to be installed since Monday...

We are told it will be ready for a mid July move in.  I just do not see how that is possible, but I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed!

There is exciting news to report!  The counter tops and sinks have been installed!  And, they are beautiful.  Sorry for the image quality.  The island is Staturario marble and the perimeter cabinets are soapstone.  When we oil the soapstone it will have a deep, rich gray color.  And, the plastic will be removed once they no longer need to be protected from any paint and stuff.

The picture doesn't do the island justice - and, the exhausting search to find a single slab of marble (over 10 feet) was totally worth it!

The apron kitchen sink is as awesome as I had envisioned!

Soapstone will look much darker once we apply the mineral oil.

Stay tuned...

paint progress update part 3...

Another week of painting, and all of the walls are still NOT finished!  Progress was made though, which at this point, we will take what we can get. 

Funny story about the slowest paint crew in the world...our builder told us that the painters couldn't believe that we wanted our pantry yellow...which kind of makes sense because it took SO long for them to paint our garage yellow.

Since it has taken them SO LONG to paint everything else, I just thought that the garage was an anomaly.  Not the case.  I think the painters are actually prejudiced against Beach Ball (the yellow color on the garage and pantry)!

Now, I think it would somehow be different if the painters were fast.  I would be more willing to give them a pass and assume that they are unwilling to embrace colors other than white!  But, it is somehow just incredibly ridiculous that they are so slow AND prejudiced against yellow! 

Regardless, they were able to push through and finally painted the shelves in the pantry yellow... 

I mean, for real, you would think that they should have gotten a nice introduction to the color when they painted the garage door!

And, hopefully the color is growing on them, because they still have the front door to go!

The photo below is not the most recent - they have trimmed in now and there is no cabinet color on the wall anymore.  Hallelujah!  But there is still much to be painted...

Stay tuned...

goodbye terrible awful...

The retaining wall, affectionately known as the terrible awful, is finally gone!  The grading crew readied the site for the pouring of the concrete sidewalk and driveway.  The next couple of photos just prove that the wall wanted to come down - it was an eye sore...

They also graded the back and the side as well.