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My Dad is starting to get the faucets installed on the tubs.
This is the lower floor jetted tub.
My Dad has also started installing my range and kitchen plumbing.
Since there was a large beam on the West kitchen wall the plumbing is on the South wall and of course my sink is on the West wall. Dave worked on making a path for the plumbing in my cabinets.
I finally finished the grout in the kitchen today.
It took much longer than I expected. It also ended up much more expensive than I figured.
The product was called Spectralock and I choose it because they had a much wider color range than the others. You buy a pail of the epoxy mix, sponge, gloves and instructions for $15.98 at Lowe's and then the color is $3.98. It was supposed to cover 16 sq ft and ended out only covering 9 sq ft so I had to use 12 units. The color doesn't really match the sample on the box but the box does say color samples are approximate so it's not their fault. This grout is good for the kitchen because it will never stain and never needs sealing and really, mixing the small pails one at a time gave me time to rest between pails. It's hard work but I really enjoyed it. It was very satisfying to get to the end of the job, my first ever tiling experience.
Meanwhile, I was feeling that my little chickens were not as happy as they could be. I thought they needed some fresh ground to scratch on. Dave suggested that I move them to the green house and let them in there.
It worked out perfectly. I was able to close the door of the greenhouse over the top of the tractor.
They were pretty excited with their new found space.
There were lots of worms, slugs and flying things for them to snack on.
I was also having a look around my trees and I cannot believe how big my apples are already, must have been all that rain we got last week.
We were in the high 80's today and that makes for one hot weiner dog. They always get wiped out after a few days at the property. I feel a lot like that myself, wish I could sleep like that.
Wally came up today and helped Dave get the ceiling to the halfway point.
That's a big step and Dave couldn't have done it without him since I just can't make it to the top level of the scaffolding.
It looks great. My Dad took advantage of the scaffolding and hung the first ceiling fan.
It came with two poles that were both too short so my Dad had to make one and paint it to match.
Stuart has been working on putting the wood wrap on the sky light.
There are lots of tricky angles but Stuart is an expert at it.
My Dad has also started to put up the lights. This one is still hanging a little low but it looks great.
I bought this from the Lowe's display sale for $9.99.
It picks up every color I have used in the house so far.
I spent most of the day working on the grout. I choose a colored grout called Red Quarry. It's a nice dark brown/red grout. Well, that's what the box says and that's what the sample looks like but the grout is pretty brick red.
It seems to be getting darker as time goes on so we will see what it looks like in the morning. I like it alright but I did like the dark brown red better.
It's also hard work and it's not going a far as the box said. Each one was supposed to cover 16 sq ft and it's only covering about 9 sq ft. I'm going to need to buy at least four more boxes tomorrow.
I love this tile. It's all cleaned now, sealed and ready for grout. I couldn't manage it today though so I'll do it on Saturday.
This tile is called natural peacock tile and it has so many wonderful colors and each tile is different. I used a color enhancing sealer and that darkened it somewhat and really brought out the colors.
The fireplace hearth is also ready for grout.
There is a fair amount of brick red color in this tile so I chose a grout called red quarry. Can't wait to see what it looks like.
The guys continued to work on the ceiling. Alejandro sanded and put the last coat of varnish on.
He and I also made all the angle cuts on the wood and set them up for the guys to put up.
First a vapor barrier goes up (heavy duty painters plastic) and then the boards.
It takes a lot longer than you think to put these boards up. I'm glad we decided to put the varnish on first.
Today I spent the day painting. I got the second coats on two rooms and some ceilings painted. My Dad started installing lights and ceiling fans and putting in the plugs and switches. It's all coming together.
I am beat. Linda left me her husband for a few days so we could finish up some tiling. He woke me up this morning early with coffee after taking Linda to the airport and we started in on the fireplace. We worked pretty straight at it with one lunch break until 7pm.
Today I learned how to use a tile saw and it was great. We got it off the clearance table (what else is new?) at Lowe's and it really paid for itself today as Alejandro had some pretty creative ideas for the hearth. We cut the tiles in half and set them on an angle on the top and straight down on the bottom. Every single tile had to be cut but it really paid off.
I'll clean it up tomorrow and get it ready for sealing and grout.
We will go to Lowe's in the morning to get the sealer, grout and bolts for the board that I am going to put over the fireplace. It's a piece of a dock that Dave and I found down at Klamath Falls a few years back. The short one will go over the fireplace and I'm not sure what I'll do with the other one.
I've got to get to bed and get my rest. Tomorrow is Alejandro's last day and we are planning to finish rocking the fireplace.
Sorry, Linda if I spelled it wrong again. Please correct me in the comments if I did. Thanks for leaving him, he's the best.
Here is a close up of the hearth pre cleaning and sealing.
I cannot believe how much work we got done in the last four days. For my birthday (which is in a few weeks) my friend Linda and her husband Alejandro came up from California to help out on the house. Thanks guys! You're the best!
My Dad got the paint sprayer working again and I finished priming all the rooms on the main floor.
Linda and I painted color in all the rooms while Dave and Alejandro worked on the ceiling so we could work on the tiled kitchen floor Sunday.
We started out by varnishing the pine after it was up but found that it was much easier to put on the three coats and sand in between while they are on the ground.
The goal was to do just enough ceiling so the scaffolding could be out of the way of the kitchen floor.
Stuart came out and finished up the edge around the sky light. They are really tricky cuts so I'm glad he is working on it because if anyone can do it he can.
Saturday night we unpacked my kitchen.
It was the first thing we bought even before we closed on the property.
It was a display kitchen that was being discontinued. It felt like Christmas since I only saw it about five minutes before it was packed away in the trailer.
Since we were planning to tile the kitchen floor on Sunday we needed to lay out the kitchen and get the sub floor glued down.
They are even nicer than I remembered them.
First we had to staple down the lath that will hold the mortar.
The next step was to open up all the peacock slate tile and separate them into color range.
Now we have to be quick as the mortar sets up pretty fast. He set the tiles while I mixed the mortar and cleaned up the tiles as he went.
I got to use the new tile cutter saw and it really worked well for a clearance table saw.
It is really starting to take shape and I love this tile. So many colors and they all tie in with the colors in the room.
Once we seal it the colors will really come out.
All done. It took us 6 hours to finish it. Now it sits for 24 hours before we can grout and seal it. Then the kitchen can be installed.
My stove arrived yesterday, the wine fridge is fixed and ready to go in and the dishwasher will be fixed soon.
While we finished the floor Dave got the hearth ready for tiling. That will be the next project.
Linda got three coats on the home theater room. Boy, this wall board really sucks up the paint. Perhaps we should have put another coat of primer on them.
I got to start putting color up. I'm taking a lunch break so I thought I'd throw some pictures up. The colors are Wheat Grass and Savannah Red.
I thought I would only need one gallon for each color but it's really soaking in so I will have to put on a second coat.
The front wall will be Heavy Cream. Not sure if I'll have the energy to get that one done today.
Here is the new texture machine that our guys brought in. They were able to knock out the texture in the great room, HT room, kitchen, stairs and rec room in about an hour.
It will dry overnight and I will be able to paint tomorrow.
It went on fast and even and looks great. I can't wait to get some color on it.
The two bedrooms and bath will be done on Friday and I can paint them Saturday and the main level will be all painted and ready for the ceiling to be finished and the flooring to begin.
This is what happens when you have your fridge set too cold. I cleaned the RV fridge last week and thought I set it back where it was. What a mess.
Well, it was an errand running day for me today and one of those was to have these wiener dogs shaved. They were like little dust mops bringing in every piece of straw and sand and sticks that their tails and bellies could hold. It will be much easier to towel them off now before coming to bed.
Hopefully now I won't have to shake half of the yard out of the bed every night.
They do look cute shaved, it brings out the silver in their coats.
I finally picked the paint for the great room and hopefully they finished the texture today so I can paint tomorrow. That was the plan when I left on Monday.
The rain is really lovely but Amber doesn't think so. They want to go out and play but in this weather they get so muddy and wet that I keep them in the RV. They like to sit in the dash and survey their kingdom.
While it is pretty soggy out there the work continues inside.
The rec room, home theater and part of the great room are all primed and ready for texture. That should happen tomorrow.
My Mom and I spent the day taping the windows. They look like packages ready to open. I"ll get to open them up after all the color is on. I am hoping that will be by Friday.
Russell got the big spray paint machine all cleaned up and working and he spent the afternoon putting on the primer.
The drywall really soaks it up.
Russell soaked up a fair amount of paint too.
Three tapers showed up today and finished taping the lower floor and my Dad put the faucets in one of the tubs.
Tomorrow the texturing begins and Wednesday the color goes on! Yippee!
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