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Still no finished-finish pictures, but we're getting closer. Grouting takes SO much longer than I ever expected. The blue painter's tape will stay up until we're done cleaning the tile/grout. If anyone has spoken with Grant's dad, Greg, he'd probably verify how he wanted to strangle me when I let him know that Grant and I had designed a 6x12 border and a 45-degree brick pattern for the dining room and kitchen (aligning with the island). And then a coordinating diagonal 6x12 border for the entryway. Also, if you know Grant and me, we can't do things the easy way - don't be ridiculous! Now that all the grout is in and has been cleaned at least a couple times, they'll be setting the toilets and installing finish plumbing fixtures this week. Also, we picked out carpet called "River Rock" on Sunday, and we've made our first attempt at the lighting fixutres. Hopefully, by later this week, we'll have finished all of our big decisions, and just watch the last few pieces come together.
A few smaller things have been finished at the house over the past week. They put in stairs out the sliding glass door in the dining room. (We'll be designing and building a deck - with the help of my dad - probably next spring/summer. For now, we have a set of stairs going to a concrete landing directly out our door so we can get out to grill, etc.) They installed our two vanity sinks in the bathrooms. Both are a dark "Canyon" polystone. Basically, polystone means that they're a hard plastic composite with a bunch of color flecks throughout it - they turned out awesome. They also installed the large mirrors above each vanity last week. Although not as fun to look at, they also installed our furnace and hooked up all the ductwork. Pretty sweet lookin, huh?Other than this, we've just been grouting and cleaning the tile the past week, looking at lighting possibilities, and picking out carpet. It stinks that quite a few of these places and people we have to talk to are only open during business hours and limited time on Saturdays. So, hopefully we'll be able to knock out a couple appointments on Saturday morning and get some more decisions made!
Our Labor Day was anything but a break! The Monday off work gave us some extra time to get the tile laid throughout the house. Luckily, Grant's dad, Greg, came down for the long weekend to help us. Also, Josh Ropski, a friend from work already owned a tile saw that we could borrow, so that saved us mega rental bucks! We started in the master bathroom (first and second picture) on Friday. Once we got a system figured out, we did the other bathroom and the entryway on Saturday and took the night off to watch Husker football - of course! On Sunday, we finished the Dining Room area (the last three pictures), and Monday gave us just enough time to complete the rest of the kitchen. Those diagonal cuts took quite a bit of time, but it turned out great and looks awesome! We still have the mud room to finish, but it's completely square, so it should move pretty quickly. We still have to grout all the areas as well. I now fully understand why tile sub-contractors charge so much for labor. Granted, we're probably not quite as efficient, but geez this stuff takes forever! More to come...
On Saturday, our house was officially painted! The painter (in the first picture) usually paints on a crew for his dad's company, but works on his own for a house this size, and was completely done in less than a day. He taped off all the windows and doors, sprayed on the base house color "Dormer Brown" and then went back over the trim with a custom color match to the brown window trim. The second picture is a finished product. Now I'm getting antsy to get some grass and landscaping designed for our front yard to break up all the brown tones we have going on.
Over the last two days, the interior has changed quite a bit. You'll notice our "Nomadic Desert" interior paint, our "Rustic Slate" counter laminate, and granite composite sink. After looking at itty bitty samples of laminate counter options, we were really excited to see it installed - you can kinda get a picture of what it looks like in the close up picture. The wall is still unpainted under the cabinets because we're going to be doing a 2"x2" tile mosaic backsplash that matches the floor tile. You can see the island taking shape with the addition of the sink and kickplate along the dining/living room side. We were also pleasantly surprised that the front door, which Grant and Padraic are checking out in the last picture, is "wood." (It's actually a gel-coat on a fiberglass door that looks very similar to wood stain, while the door still has the necessary safety.) We were going back and forth on what color we wanted to paint the front door, so this made our lives a lot easier! :)While no specific pictures are posted of this, they also have painted and hung all of our interior doors, put shelves in all of the closets, and also painted the garage. The outside will be painted soon - as long as the rain holds off for a period of time!P.S. We're going to be laying tile this weekend, so Tuesday's post will either be really awesome, or at least have some good stories from the weekend's attempts. :)
