5.30.16

Today we all worked like crazy on the outside of the house. 

Our old patio was made of flagstone, so we kept those after pulling them up for the paver patio.  When we came up with the idea, we thought, "we'll just throw down the stones to make a walkway around the house."  Ha ha ha! It's a little more involved, including digging down before placing the stones, and working them like a puzzle to make a winding path.  Greg did an awesome job! (And Trav helped with some of the bigger stones, as I couldn't even pick one up with him)

From the front:

I ended up re-setting almost all the rock wall, between needing to move it, and the old one being grown in/over by weeds.

Both of the girls planted flowers for me. Cara had helped pick some out on Saturday and Mira picked others on Sunday. We started mulching, but all our backs hurt too much. There'll be time this week to finish that.

 

I planted some hostas and some annuals on the north side of the house. Then we took some of the sod we'd ripped out to make the stone path, and laid it to make a mini garden. I'm hoping that between the sod, the grass seed the patio guys put down, and the grass left behind, that it'll look okay in a few weeks.

5.24.16

Here we go again...

The flooring installers arrived yesterday morning and told Greg they could not install the floating cork in our living room or hall, since the floor is so uneven. Remember the bamboo installation guy specifically told us to get this kind of flooring (floating), which is what we did.  In addition, if we want to put tile in the front foyer, we would need to have our front door moved up. (Sigh)

Luckily (?) they were able to put the cork in the kitchen and tile in the back foyer, so with the exception of finding a floor register, the kitchen is done. (Unless we get it together enough to tile the backsplash)

So we've ordered carpet and vinyl:

No, we're not in love with them, but they're *fine*!  And cheaper than cork and tile.  I'm sure it'll all be okay when they're in--whenever that may be.

However, we're soooooo happy with all that's completed. Look at that kitchen floor:

The front step is done (refinished and tuck-pointed):

And the patio is AWESOME!  Look, look, look:

It's getting there. :)

5.22.16

Haven't had a chance to post pics since Friday.

The patio is almost done:

They'll hopefully finish tomorrow.

The flooring materials have been delivered and are "acclimating " indoors:

Sneak peek close-ups:

Flooring install is also supposed to start tomorrow.

We've hung up a few pieces of artwork that are new:

Still loving everything.

We did some yard/flower garden work in preparation for getting dirt for the raised garden and laying down the pathway from back to front.  Hoping we'll be done with workers by next weekend.

5.18.16

Patio digging has started.

First, removing the old step and sidewalk:

And the base is laid for the patio:

And the front step is being patched:

5.15.16

Well, we're making progress, at least.

We picked out new flooring.  The majority of the house will be cork, but the entryways will be a wood-look tile.  Here's the samples near each other:

OK, I think I might actually like these better than our original bamboo choice

Here are the images from the website or store, to get the idea of how it looks when installed: 

The flooring is all ordered and supposed to arrive this week.  Installation was originally scheduled for June 6th, but we said that was not acceptable.  So somehow they found time for us the week of May 23rd.

We also found a rug that we like:

We got curtains and put them up, but the curtain rods we ordered bent under the weight of the curtains.  Not heavy curtains--just flimsy rods.  But we have newer, sturdier rods for them now.

We're starting to put things back up on the walls.  Here's the photo ledge:

The painter suggested all black frames, so I might start collecting some.  Can't afford to buy 25 at once.

We painted our formerly-wood toned key caddy and shoe caddy black:

And we're preparing for the outside stuff.  We plan to use the stones from our old patio to make a walkway to the front of the house.  The guys pulled them all up yesterday because the patio company is coming tomorrow to start demo.

The side of the house with the useless step and sidewalk are what will be pulled up tomorrow.  Not sure how long it'll take for the rest of the work (patio and step and repair on our front step).  They're also bringing dirt so I can finish my raised garden bed from mother's day:

5.5.16

For those of you on Facebook, you know about our flooring issues.  For those who are not (and to document for my posterity :)), here's what happened.

We ordered beautiful distressed bamboo flooring in February.  This is what it looks like:

We so fell in love with the floor that we designed our entire kitchen around it (including the cabinets and countertops and paint).  After a series of mishaps, they finally delivered all the flooring and we needed to bring it into the living room so it could acclimate to our house before installation--which was THREE WEEKS after it arrived and after the rest of the kitchen was essentially done.  Not happy.  BUT the floor installer showed up on Monday (5/2) and scheduled two days to install it all.  We're getting the full kitchen, living room, hall, and closets (3) all re-done and all in bamboo.  Or so we thought...  

If you've thought about using bamboo flooring, here's something you should know: it acts like a sponge, absorbing and bleeding water depending on the humidity level of the house.  So if you will be installing bamboo, you must have a whole house humidifier.  We don't.

Also, nail-down (or glue-down) hardwood floors require a perfectly level subfloor.  60 year old houses don't have a perfectly level subfloor.  So you'd need a floating floor.

Yes, we had chosen glue-down bamboo.  Completely incompatible with our house.  And we tore up everything in every room and moved our furniture and emptied the fridge...  And we still have no floors.

Today at least the company we bought the materials from came to pick up the flooring and all the other installation products.  I'm a bit frustrated that their salespeople don't know enough to explain the issues with bamboo to their customers.  But I'm refraining from saying anything else until I know how they will fix this for us.  We went and picked out alternate flooring materials and (unbelievably) they required the floor measure guy to come back out again to re-measure for the new floor.  We still don't have a quote or know if the materials we've chosen will be acceptable or not.  And therefore they haven't been ordered and we don't have an install date.  And our first floor remains empty, echoey, and lonely.

BUT everything else is coming along well.  I turned an old blind into a roman shade:

Try not to notice that it's a little short--I won't often have it down all the way

Here's how it looks rolled up.

The painters finished today and I cannot be more excited about how it all turned out!  :)  The lighting might not be that great, but the whole first floor (plus both stairwells) are combinations of brown, teal, and off-white, with white trim.

Looking up the basement stairs

Service door

LOVE how the cabinets look against the teal

This makes me so happy.

Patio door (with new curtain just installed today) to the right

That brown makes me swoon

Love the pantry set-up (they have slide-out shelves)

looking out of the kitchen into the hall

A nice touch the painter suggested--painting our wood tone photo shelves black

Love this combo of colors in the built-in

And I am way too excited about how the stairwell going to the second floor turned out.  Photos don't do it justice

Looking down from the second floor

As I said, we put up the patio door curtain today.  Greg also spent time the last week replacing all our off-white (and dirty) outlets with white ones.  He will do the same with the light switches this weekend.  Everything looks so nice and sparkly new!

I hope to hear about flooring installation tomorrow.  And I hope it gets wrapped up quickly.  The patio and outdoor work will hopefully be started in two weeks.  We just might have this project done in time for a graduation party...