Shelob's Remodeled Lair

So after some more idle time and some frustrated venting on my part to the contractor we've finally had some more progress.  The cabinets are nearly stripped and hopefully work will start soon on staining them.  We haven't finalized the new color, but w're close.     The various drywall work around the house is making good progress: This is the repair from the where the old half wall around the entry stairs connected     There was considerable damage when the old vanity mirror and bathroom cabinets were removed The biggest excitement though is the doors and trim are all primed!  We are changing from an oil-based gloss finished to a latex enamel and that requires a pretty nasty oil-based primer to be applied first.  The paint crew has been amazing.  The got everything masked and sprayed in just 2 days.  Another bonus is that nearly all of the existing brass is now removed since the door knobs and strike plates have ...

I can't believe it, the bathrooms are all tiled!  The pebble floor turned out great.  We still need to install the fixtures in the Master shower as well as the drain in the boys bathroom.  Tomorrow (hopefully) the master shower will be measured for the frame-less glass enclosure.            Master Shower        Boys Shower I love the gray tile against the espresso cabinets.  I can't wait to see what it looks like once it's all painted and cleaned up. The plumber finished moving the gas line from behind the fireplace brick. Now that the tile installer has finished with the bathrooms he is ready to start working around the fireplace.  Let's see if he actually gets to it this week..... Greg finished all of his to-do list inside the house (garage still needs to be cleaned out).  The last thing he did was install the latch on the pocket door.  It looks great.  Ian to...

Well, after making some progress on the tile in the bathroom, the crew must have decided that they'd earned some vacation time because they've been a complete no-show for nearly a week.  I'm sure anyone who's dealt with contractors (or more specifically, sub-contractors) can sympathize.  When I called to complain to the General contractor he was as surprised as I was that the tile wasn't done.  The guy's tile saw is still at my house, so I know he's not busy with another job.  Grrrrr.... On the bright side, at least he did get started in the Master bathroom before vanishing. They only other thing that the contractors have done is to move some electrical lines where can lighting is being replaced with regular vanity lighting the bathroom, and to start on moving the gas line to the fire place so the new tile work doesn't close off the access valve.      Other than that, all the work in the house this week has actually been be me and t...

Terri and Ian are both at summer camp for the Boys Choir this week, so she has left me in charge of the blog.  I'm not as cute or witty as Terri, but I'll do my best to fill her tiny open-toed shoes. We finally had some good progress today after a string of frustrating days with little-to-no activity. The tile for the bathrooms arrived and they nearly finished the boys' bathroom in a single day.  I love the niche!  They were supposed to add the same detail trim to the boys shower that is going in the master shower though.  Another call to the contractor....         Last week they installed the shower pan in the master bath and the finished off the drain plumbing.  Today they got the Hardibacker board mostly installed and it's nearly ready for tile.   Master shower all framed out Plumbing finished and shower pan/liner added Hardibacker board installed and we get a niche too! They laid some sort of sand mater...

Sorry it's been awhile since the last update, thing have been moving, but slowly.   2nd Bathroom:  Counter tops, plumbing, and hardware! New shower backer, all ready to be tiled... as soon as the tile comes in. It was supposed to be in last week (sad face).  The shower had drywall behind it before, but I feel a whole lot more comfortable with hardibacker wet area cement board.  So it feel like things are really moving along... and then you realize you have a toilet in your hall. This spawned an amazing quote from my good friend, SM: Life Lesson #679 courtesy of Cannon Renovation: "Sometimes we just have to appreciate the positive and hope our crap ends up where it should..." Master Bath: we've got some materials in: master shower flooring Shower detailing I love, love, love our silver travertine counter tops! We got to go pick out our slab and I'm so glad we were picky, it looks great with the cabinets.   Plumbing and ...