September 16, 2009: Outside lights, carpet, and seeding

I went out of town for a few days and a lot stuff happened. Maybe I should try this traveling thing a little more. Pictures are from when I went out to the house Wednesday after a red-eye into town. The garage door was functionsal, exterior lights were up, seeding had started, and.... well, you'll just have to see in the following.

House viewed from the tree in the northeast corner of the lot.

A light in stairwell going down to the basement.

A light post at the corner of the driveway and the sidewalk.

Light on the north side of the garage (it has a twin on the south side)

Preethi inspects a fan in the master bedroom.

A light in the entryway. Looks real nice at night from the road.

A light by the garage backdoor.

Lights over the basement entrance and the eventual (year, two?) deck entrance.

We're seeding the ground with creeping red fescue. (We have a lot of shade).

Some of the seeds on the ground before straw covering.

Floor padding waiting to be installed in the main level bedroom.

Floor padding was installed in the master bedroom.

Glass began to be installed in a cabinet

Glass in the cabinet doors.

The range was delivered, but hasn't been installed yet.

The floor vents were installed. We didn't want the vents that are flush with the floor to keep dirt from falling in when we clean.

Vent cover for cold air intake.

A little flooring covering to cut down on foot traffic as the floors still need another coat (and sealing).

Preethi reflected in one of the vanity mirrors in the jack and jill bathroom.

The other vanity mirror in the jack-and-jill.

That first vanity in the jack-and-jill with a wider perspective.

The shower door in the master bath was installed.

Mirrors in the master bathroom were also installed. You can kinda see both in this shot.

When you raise the grade of the land, roots can have a hard time getting the nutrients they were getting closer to the surface. One way to help this is with a tree well.

A tree well in progress.

A little retaining wall on the northwest corner of the house. The pad in front of the wall is where the propane tank will go.

Garage door from the outside.

Garage door from the inside.

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August 20, 2009:

On Thursday, we got out to the house in the evening. The rest of the cabinets were in place and cabinet hardware had started to be installed.

A view of the slightly update cabinets. The handles on the doors are on, but the knobs on the drawers still have to be added. Also crown molding on the top of the cabinets and a shelf for the microwave was added.

Closeup of the microwave shelf.

Detail of the cabinet crown molding which was added today.

Compared to before, I don't know that the gap between the doors was adjusted much. However, Preethi spoke with the installer again today, and it turns out that we be able to adjust the doors further, which I'll do later to close the gap. Sure the doors will swell and shrink throughout the year, but cabinet doors haven't been that hard to adjust in the past.

The bifold door for the pantry was installed today.

Bifold door on the linen closet in the jack-and-jill bathroom.

Vanity on my side of the master bathroom.

Forms in the ground for the piers for the stoop on the south facing door from the garage.

The rest of the forms for the piers are currently in the garage.

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August 19, 2009: Cabinets Mostly In

On Wednesday, we went out to the house in the evening (Preethi had been there at lunch) to inspect the cabinet installation. While we liked the colors and most of the design, there's some installation issues that need to be resolved.

View of the cabinets from the great room. Preehi is inspecting some doors (more on this later).

We just have cabinets along two walls (and the island seen here).

The microwave cabinet. That's a gigantic gap between the doors which we're not happy about at all as we got full overlay doors which per usual installation has less than 1/8" of an inch of a gap. (See here for a general discussion of cabinet door types). Here, this is well over 1/4 inch and you can see straight into the cabinet.

Unfortunately the massive gaps aren't constrained to just that one pair of doors. All of them were like this where you can clearly see straight into the cabinet.

As to the source of the problem, Preethi is leaning to issues originating with the cabinet designer as the cabinet installer said that was as close as he could get the doors. I'm leaning towards issues on the installation as cabinet doors typically have a lot room for adjustment. And while I didn't have a screwdriver with me to make the adjustments, I have seen this photo from the manufacturer of the line we bought where there are no ginormous gaps.

Regardless, it'll be a fun conversation tomorrow morning.

Preethi's vanity in the master bathroom. It looks better installed (not intended as a full overlay so there's framing between the doors) though Preethi thought there was supposed to be paneling on the right side drawers to match the paneling on the left side doors.

A vanity in the Jack and Jill (this one looks as it should).

The foyer tile was grouted today. Here's what it looks like now. We're happy with it.

Not all cabinets are in place, but most are.

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July 15th, 2009:Stairs, Trim and Tile

On Wednesday, I finally got out to the lot (thought I think I really ought to be calling it "the house" now) where work on trim, the stairs and tile.

Work was progressing on the stairs. The stringers are in (on the side supporting the steps) with most of the risers in and a few of the treads. The riser on the bottom step isn't done yet as it's going to stick out and a little bit for the bottom post with a slight curve in the handrail into the great room. There's a discussion of stair construction terms in this DIY article.

While we're not putting in crown molding anywhere (the vaulted great room would screw it up) we are installing chair rails in the dining room.

More chair rails in the dining room.

The baseboard trim was finished in the great room.

Tiles were delivered. These are for the master bathroom.

Close up of the master bathroom tiles.

A rubber mat is down in the shower as a vapor barrier on the floor. (How to tile a shower)

Tiles for the Jack-and-Jill bathroom: "Moss" colored.

It felt like I hadn't posted an outside picture in forever, so here's a view from the woods' edge. You can just make out the front covered entry on the left.

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