No More construction Lights!

Today I'm celebrating the fact that I no longer have to use construction lights while working on the house. "Why?" you ask. Because we got most of the lighting installed this weekend! Huzzah!

Photos below...

Kitchen Track Lighting

Wall Sconces in Upstairs Hall

Ceiling Fan in Living Room

Ceiling Fan for Guest Bedroom / Craft Room

Master Bedroom Ceiling Fan

Vanity Lighting for Master and Guest Baths

Vanity Light for Half Bath (1st Floor)

Rock the Vote!

Hello, Loyal Readers!

Today is the day (or tomorrow, whenever) that you get to voice your opinion about my countertops! I know this is a thrilling prospect and you may be thinking to yourself, "Wow. Am I ready to make such a humongous decision?" Well, the answer is yes. Yes! You have the power to determine my countertop color! (Or at least influence the decision...)

Please vote on the side bar over there ----->

(For reference colors, please see other entries -- all paint colors, flooring, and cabinets and slate tile - booya! -- have been previously shown in the blog, and these colors should help mould your decision.)

Here are the two possible colors for countertops:



Notes: Bamboo shows fairly true-to-life on screen, (assuming your monitor is set up like mine) - light off-white/beigy undertones with flecks of caramel and mink. Yeah that's right -- dessert and animals. (Also read: off-white/beigy with flecks of tan/gold and grey-brown. Very fetching.) Antique gold looks much more gold and much less caramely than it does in real life. This one is much more monochromatic, and looks velvety and rich in real life. Both textures are smooth and somewhat glossy -- and the flecks within are about twice the size as they appear in this post.

What a Bummer

Despite spending weeks trying to patch the ceilings and hide cracks in the drywall, we returned to the house yesterday after Mark painted to find that all the imperfections were still visible...and that the cracks were even more noticeable.

For now, we are going to install lighting and just get this train moving along again. Once the lights are in, we can install flooring and get the plumber out.

So the ceilings downstairs are ugly for now...I'm going to hire them redone sometime in the future...but not before I move in.

Very frustrating.

Painting and Flooring and Fixtures, Oh My!

Last weekend, Mike, Patrick (a new friend/work associate, who agreed to work for a 12-pack of PBR) and I managed to install OSB underlayment on most of the second floor. The floors are now mostly level and squeak-free, which means that we are soooo much closer to installing hardwood and carpet. (The carpet guy came out on Tuesday to measure.)

This week, Mark will paint the ceilings and trim, and hopefully by next weekend, we'll have light fixtures installed and felt floor covering put down. Mike and I have decided that we're going to do a floating floor for the hardwood, which means that we won't need to buy a flooring nailer, but we will need to buy felt and glue.

It turns out we don't have enough slate tile to complete the bathrooms as intended, so I'm also working on trying to find an inexpensive neutral to finish off the areas. If anyone has suggestions of where to find a marble-look beigy tile for under $2.50/sqft, please let me know.

Weekend (House) Update with Megan K. Homeowner

I'm at work, so this will be a low-frills post.

Lots of things accomplished this weekend --

We installed the transom window over my back door. (The builder had obviously broken the last window - my guess is with a ladder, since the window sits 7'6" above the ground.) When I bought the place, there was a piece of plywood tacked in place with a few nails. Needless to say it was a huge heat-loss issue. But now it isn't! Bonnie (Mike's mom) ordered a window from a company she works with regularly -- $50 later, I've got a whole new window, and my living room is a lot brighter!

Here are before and after pictures -- don't mind the plastic in the after shot -- that's to protect the door from paint overspray.

We finished the wiring to the garage, so I can use my garage door opener now! (The garage also has two overhead lights, a receptacle (for the future garage workshop area), and an exterior light, which is controlled by a timer. (The timer photo is a bit blurry, but it shows the switch counting down the time until the exterior light shuts off -- this is nice because I have no way to turn off the light from inside the house.) Yay safety features!

In addition to those big ticket items, Mike and I also managed to install underlayment in the living room area, and set and wire the half wall for the island. Two steps closer to flooring!

Last but not least, Mike ventured onto the roof and discovered that the magic roof fairy had visited over the Thanksgiving Holiday and had finally fixed the gaping holes near my chimneys -- this means that I can start patching the master bedroom ceiling and get Mark to paint again. Huzzah!

Pretty, huh?