Big Day, Not Much Visible Progress

I'm getting to the point where I really need to drop some money on a couple of things. On deck for the day was getting 1 a bathtub, 2 cabinets, and 3 epoxy paint for the porch. Long story short: The Project - 3, Debbie - 0. Dang. I do feel like I've made some progress.

I went and looked at tubs again. I've narrowed it to 3. (I got this close once before, then I saw the price and went back to the drawing board. This time I shopped where I could see the prices of my options while I looked, it makes a world of difference).

I went to order my cabinets and changed my mind again. I've decided to go with a local supplier/builder, now I have a 2 week wait until the color/style samples I ordered come back. Hmph.

I went to several paint stores and couldn't find what I needed. I ordered a catalog and color samples online for a paint company in Florida. We (Laurie and Steve helped me HUGELY) looked at colors online, but I'm not sure I trust them. We looked at color schemes for other kinds of paint and picked something, now I just have to wait for that catalog in the mail and hope that there's a good match to what we're looking at. There'll be something I can use, but still, cross your fingers for me.

Travertine!!

That's right, I'm going to have a kitchen floor after all. Whew! That was close! Egads! That's a level on the floor. Does that thing work? I couldn't look. I mean, I couldn't walk on that floor yet, so I really couldn't look.

Exterior Repairs and Finish Work

Will and John are putting up trim and siding on the west wall, outside the kitchen. Hey, what's that I see on the kitchen floor?....

The Upstairs Floor Predicament

The upstairs floors are nearly done. The sanding wasn't exactly quick, but the shine sure was. We had a bit of a conundrum with the stain color. We had to decide whether to maximize hiding of the flaws and match the old reddish brown trim, or to keep it light and try to coordinate better with the new oak. Well, I decided on the latter--about an hour after I'd decided the former. Luckily I caught Dave while he was at the store with the varnish colors in front of him actually. This is some kind of "honey" or "wheat" color treatment and I think it looks pretty nice. I like that rustic/rugged look. Yay!

Kitchen West Wall Trim

Here's most of the west wall. The trim beneath the windowsill isn't done yet because we had to figure out how it would go with the backsplash underneath it. Some of the heating mat is visible through the thinset on the floor/subfloor.

Progress in Wood

A couple of days progress in the kitchen and upstairs. There's a new rail in the foreground and new trim around the windows, door, and beam. Nice detail at the ends of the beam. The clamps are still holding on the cap for the new newell post.

Oh yeah, and the wiring is hooked up too, see I think those lights are on! :)

Nothing To See Here...

Hi,

I just thought I'd post a quick update, no new pictures though. The house has been "no change" for about a week and a half, until yesterday. Actually, they were working on the upstairs "loft" floor, sanding and staining. Stain color was the big decision of the morning. We're not re-flooring, so nothing's going to look new, but it will look different and considerably better (I think).

The tile guy, Sim, apparently had some staffing issues a week or two ago, that was the reason for the hold up. But he got started, or rather picked back up, in the kitchen yesterday with the heating mats that will go in the floor. It's a considerable expense, but I'm ECSTATIC that it's going in. Warm floors. So nice.

Dave said he made a list of tasks that need to be done before painting. Cool.

I still need to order cabinets. I had another appointment at Lowe's on Monday. It's all settled except the south wall, which I'll figure out today... sometime. Agh!

Wohoo! It's A New Porch!

There it is, my new porch. I like it. I was worried, because it was/is a little different from what I expected, but I have to say it looks better than I expected it to. Whew! Thank heaven for Dave who argued for this design when I was considering bearing the expense of changing it.

It sure helps illustrate what else I need to work on on the exterior. Luckily, Dave's helping me with that too.