Baluster and Stain

Steve completed the Baluster yesterday on the stairs and in the upstairs hallway. They really complete the style of the house. The white paint and stained wood balusters was just the right balance of both.

The house was busy again today with painters, they were trying to complete the final touches inside, and stain the cement porches outside. Yesterday we chose the samples of stain from a test strip Steve prepared. We chose a darker stain for the back porch and a lighter stain for the front porch. The front porch stain had not dried before we left this afternoon. The back porch had dried, but not enough to apply the sealing coat. I will have to post the completed pictures of the porches tomorrow.

The mirrors and glass are scheduled to be installed tomorrow. Not much more now!

Clean Windows

Steve has been working late nights and weekends to meet our move in date. He has been busy cleaning everything especially windows, they sparkle with all the plastic film removed. Looking through those beautifully cleaned windows we can see the clean-up outside we have yet to tackle.

Since my last post on the blog the painters have completed painting all the windows and stained the redwood on the screened porch. The redwood looks very warm and inviting after the finish was applied.

The electrician comes and goes when in our area installing light fixtures. He installed the ceiling fans on the balcony porch after the last piece of railing was installed.

The doors arrived for the wood burning stove and the installer came out to set them in place last Friday they looked nice, but were the wrong color. The new ones should be here next week. We ordered doors with a gold finish not a black finish.

Reaching the Corners

The painters have their own unique way of doing things which most of the time scares me. They used this long red ladder with one man as an anchor at the bottom to paint the roof trim. Yikes! Where's their scaffolding?

The painters worked on all the outside trim and soffits then they started brushing the paint on the front porch columns. I like the paint a whole bunch but I will have to get used to the columns with paint on them after seeing them in their natural state for so long.

Ceiling Fans, Stain & Tile

The cement man was scheduled to pour the skirt at the garage Monday, but it has rained the past two days. Steve told us today that Gary is still coming, just waiting on the weather.

In the mean time the electrician arrived today and installed the ceiling fans. He will be in and out over the next two weeks installing all the fixtures and outlets.

The painters are presently working on the floor molding and staircase balusters. They have quite a shop set-up out in the garage. They paint, sand, and paint again. Steve boarded up the garage to keep the wind and rain out of the space while they work. They did a wonderful job staining the study sliding doors....just perfect.

The tile men finally showed up this afternoon, they were supposed to be here Monday. They brought all the floor tile and will start laying tile in the morning.

While we were there this afternoon Steve received a call from Carroll's tile, they are ready to install the granite counter tops-tomorrow! Looks like everyone will be climbing over themselves at the house tomorrow. We like that....the more the merrier.

Color Continues

This is Elizabeths reading room which is a darker green than the other rooms upstairs. The painting inside will continue through Saturday. There were four painters at the house hard at work today. They are trying to finish the inside paint in order for the tile men to start laying tile the first of next week. The weather has been nice and warm all week, perfect for painting.

Steve set up his equiptment last night on the balcony and continued working on the columns today. With so much of the work on the inside I have not posted a picture lately of the outside. The outside grounds of the house still look like a construction zone, but won't for much longer.

Columns & Gold

Steve completed the columns on the front porch this evening he is an excellent craftsman, the proportion of the columns is just right. Now on to the balcony columns, five more to go. Again, the columns will be painted "Luna" the same color as the stucco. Where do paint designers come up with the names for their colors?

The painters have one coat on the walls downstairs, they will have the second coat completed tomorrow. The color we chose for the downstairs is called Golden Gate. I like how cheery this color makes the great room. It makes me smile.

Paint Color

The color we chose for the upstairs is up on the walls, it is called pine needle. The painters started painting the golden gate color downstairs this morning which is going to be a nice contrast. Today the painters removed the plastic which has been covering the cabinets. I can't tell you how much I like the cabinets, they are just perfectly finished..

The builder told us this morning the tile company started on our counter tops today and the flooring company will arrive on Monday the 10th of December to start laying the wood flooring upstairs. The builder continues to make progress, but looks like we will not be moving in until after the New Year. We are looking forward to 2008!

Painting Doors

Our painting progress continues as the painters started spraying the doors today. I thought their method interesting. They hammer a stake to the top of the doors, lean them against the wall, spray one side, then turn them around and spay the other. They will certainly dry quickly using their method. We like "quick."

Prime & Sand

The painting work continued today. The priming completed yesterday was sanded by the painters today. I don't know when they will finish all that sanding, looked like a huge job. There were many drawers to be sanded as well as the wood trim. We are anxious to see the first colors to go on the wall.The weather was warm enough this afternoon for the painters to turn off their heater and we are expecting another nice day of sunshine tomorrow.

Painting

Over the Thanksgiving weekend the Craven family stopped by while in town visiting their parents for the holiday. We met them at the house Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving. They enjoyed the very cold tour of the house. Afterwards we headed over to Shanan's Bakery in town for coffee and coco to warm us up.

When we walked into the house we found the painters, with their heater blowing, busy inside preparing to spray the ceilings. I didn't think they would be working over the long holiday weekend, but was so glad they were.

The painters were back early today painting ceilings and priming some of the cupboards. They estimate the painting job to take a couple of weeks.

Steve, our builder continued to add trim to the staircase and other areas of the house.

Encouragement

Steve and Frank finished cutting trim for the baseboards downstairs, then moved on to making shelves for the storage area in the garage.
We met with Johnny McDonald the painter today. He wanted to walk through the house with us room by room to finalise our paint color selections. He completed the work on the stained cabinets today and will start painting tomorrow.
We had hoped to have a small meal together at the house on Thanksgiving with Paul's family, but with all the paint fumes and the weather turning cold that day we decided it was best to cancel those plans.
My sweet friend Kathryn wrote us an encouraging email today, she said "Next yr, God Willing, your home will be filled with all the wonderful smells you want - turkey, dressing, cranberries, pumpkin pie, hot rolls...yum. So close...hold on! moving day's around the corner. Thank you Kathryn, you made my day!

Rock Work

The rock work continues around the perimeter of the house. The men completed the back of the house over the porch yesterday. Today they are working at the side of the house over the garage around the second chimney. Now all they have left is the rock on the front of the house.

We met the painters today. They started working on their prep work before painting the trim on the dormers. I told them of my concerns for them to be working up on the dormers without a safety rope. They agreed that it was pretty high on the roof and discussed tethering themselves around the waist through the upstairs dormers. I liked that idea.

We met with the electrician yesterday all morning going over every outlet and switch through out the house. He was very helpful and patient with us.