Island Uba Tuba is in!

Phew! What a scary thing that was. I snapped a few pictures in the beginning but when the rollers started moving the wrong way I couldn't watch anymore and went out to the car to wait it out. But thanks to Jim and the guys the granite top for the island on and looking beautiful!! Plumber is there doing some final things, Paul is there finishing up the tile, electric guys are there hanging more lighting, the first chimney is nearly done. TJ is working on the post that will support the granite overhang and the rest of the finishing is happening. On my way back here, I passed MainCare who will hook up the propane tank so the ground can be put back. By end of day tomorrow everybody will be cleared out so Mike Wemitt can refinish the hardwood floors. I changed the PODS to be delivered there next Thursday. What's a week in the grand scheme of things? We'll be in soon enough.

Granite!

Part of the countertop came in today and we couldn't be more thrilled! Uba Tuba turns out to be a beautiful choice. The colors are just right with the floor tiles, the cabinets and the paint. The sink we chose for the island though is too big - and any sink (even just a bar size one) is going to be a nightmare to install. Our options were to let them do it in two pieces if we insisted on an undermount sink, switch to a smaller drop in sink, or bag the sink all together. So we've just decided to nix the second sink. Paul has been working on the tile floor in the hallway and the intersection of the two aisles looks beautiful. We made his day when we decided to do with straight 12x12 tiles in both hallways instead of the original diagonal plan. He's going to work our tiles from italy into the design on the wall under the window and will do the ceiling of the shower in 12x12s (which until today he didn't realize we wanted tiled.) Ross and Justin are working to hang the lights now - when I was there they had finished the front and were working on the patio area between the master bedroom and kitchen.

Cabinets and Range Installed, Granite Templated!

More big stuff every day - kitchen cabinets are all installed. One panel to the left of the island sink was sent wrong and reordered (wrong style on the bottom) but the rest is done. The range is in (oven door to be replaced as it arrived dented!) and the other appliances will be delivered any time, probably next week. See David standing in the space for the new green technology Liebherr refrigerator! M&J Granite was there today to template and will now get to work on finishing the stone. That should be done within two weeks or so. Our master painter finished the master bathroom in "Almond Yellow" and the vanity was moved in. Stone for the top of it comes Tuesday. Most of the flooring in the master bedroom was laid out by Mike today. The finishing work on the window wells has been started by our crack carpentry team of TJ and Jeff and the HVAC guys, Jack and Al did more work on the A/C today. I picked up the lighting for the island, the chandelier and sconce for the dining room and the ceiling fans. I like the calla lily sconce so much we're going to order them for the hallway too. But today I noticed (and had Loretta from next door confirm) that the electrical boxes for the hallway sconces are too high so we'll need to get Ross to move all 5 of them and repair the sheet rock where they were. They're not going to like that but hey, this is our house! Gas, water lines and electric aren't finished yet but hopefully that all rolls next week.

Teeming with activity at 271!

There are so many people in there today I couldn't get around to take many pictures! Here's what I could snap. Jeff finished oak stairs to the guest suite last night and they look beautiful. TJ and Jeff are installing the kitchen cabinets with all the puzzle pieces mostly all fitting together. The 36' Capital stove/range came today and was almost a disaster - it didn't look like it would fit through the front door. But out of the box and with storm door hardware removed, the guys were able to squeeze it through. The island sink and all the faucetry were delivered and we picked up the black ceramic farm sink today from Ackermans so the granite counter templating can be done later this week. We also prepped the bedroom for it's "montpelier" blue paint but Mike, the floor guy, showed up to start laying out the slats before we could start painting in there. We're saving big bucks by reusing the flame birch flooring from our old bedroom. It's only about 4 years old and still in great shape. Jack and Al, the HVAC guys, were there to finish the panels for the radiant heat in the entryway hallways. Meanwhile, Jim's out back starting to harvest the field stone from the old stone wall - he's sure there is plenty of it and all of a fairly uniform size and color to more than cover what is needed for the chimneys and retaining wall. After snapping these shots, I got out of everyone's way and started pulled all the boxes out of the basement and now am laying out my paper and bubble wrap supply to begin organizing for packing.

The greatest neighbors ever!

Big changes every day now! Sara, Peggy and Loretta - our truly wonderful neighbors - all pitched in on the painting over the weekend so we had it ready today for the cement board in the kitchen to be installed and kitchen cabinets to be unpacked. I think they look great up against our newly painted walls. We particularly like the wine rack (which we can't wait to fill, empty, fill, empty) and the tall pantry cabinet on the cathedral wall. The beaded wainscoating style really suits us. Our beautiful Slate Solutions "Multicolor" tiles arrived for the entryway and kitchen as did the island sink, the bathroom vanity and the lighting for the bathroom. "WinterWheat" tiling of the master bathroom continues and final parts of radiant heat installed so bedroom flooring can go in tomorrow. Oak stairs to the basement are being put in as we speak. I spent a couple hours at Mario's picking out paint for the bathroom ("Acorn Yellow"), bedroom ("Montpelier"), library and hallway ("Firenze") today. Two out of three ain't bad I guess - in the light of our space, the "Firenze" orangey color I picked that went so well with the floor tiles in the store just wouldn't work in the hallway behind the green wall. So back to visit Dottie at Mario's tomorrow for something a little more complementary (in the brown/taupe family) for there. Today Jim walked us through the plan for the deck. Our old deck was 16 feet deep so since we're using the old wood we'll make it 16 feet vs. the 14 feet that was originally architected. A deck that big will reduce the light that gets in to the guest suite/office but we're already planning to light it well to compensate. Since we're not doing the screened-in porch on the side (at least not for now), we'll put deck there too. Jim will start bringing the field stone up this week and we'll have the fireplace delivered so they can start installing as soon as they can. The granite folks come to template Thursday. I've taken vacation to start packing. It's hard to concentrate on work anyway - and most of the clients are also on vacation. Yippee!!

Painter Extraordinaire!

As soon as we picked and delivered the paint, our painter started right away - working until the sunset on Friday and back bright and early Saturday morning. Isn't he the cutest painter you ever saw?! The plum raisin wall will have the stove, sink, dishwasher and cabinets up against it and the springfield green wall is where the large pantry and refrigerator will go. We'll use that green throughout the great room as well. And the electricians hung our pendant light in the hallway where the two entrance paths converge - we've only had that for what....two years? We had them tie it up so it would be out of the way of moving stuff in but at least it's finally up!

The kitchen is here!!

How about that - the kitchen has been delivered as promised! It looks to me like a big set of puzzle pieces or a set of german blocks out of which one builds a castle with their father in time to display for Christmas. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's done. We've bought the paint - "Plum Raisin" for the kitchen and "Springfield Sage" for the rest of the living room. David's going to try his hand at the painting to get it done sooner (and cheaper!) Tiling continues and wood flooring will begin shortly now that the radiant heat parts have been finished. The wood for the new part of the house was delivered this week and our old flame birch flooring will be used for the library and master bedroom. We go to the lighting store tomorrow to finalize the inside and outside sconces, ceiling fans, pendants and chandelier orders. The stone estimate came in and is very reasonable so we're going to give the mason the go ahead to use the field stone and go as soon as can. We still hope to be in around labor day or just after. Oh and I have I told you the leaves are changing already down around Fowler Lake? Check it out - that's the view from our new master bedroom by the way.....