September 29, 2009: Cleaning near done

Went out to the house on Friday and Tuesday. Between the two days, glass was put in the cabinets, grass was growing well, bricks had been cleaned, railings had been stained, and the last of the locks were put on the doors. Essentially everything is done now (we have a Certificate of Occupancy) except for some touch ups so I'll probably only update this blog once more when all the touch ups are done.

Most of these pictures are from Tuesday (29th) unless otherwise noted.

View of the house from the front. The bricks have been cleaned and grass is now growing.

Glass installed in the cabinets (from Friday)

Another view of the kitchen.

The outside railings were stained. Also see where the locks on the front door were installed. The front doors still need to be stained.

View of the great room from the dining room. Some painting had been touched up on the steps.

Another view of the steps.

View of the basement from beneath the dining room looking towards the area underneath the great room. All the insulation is now in.

Basement underneath the main level bedroom as seen from the basement underneath the dining room.

View from the East on Friday. It was raining. Mulch had been delivered and spread out in front of the house.

View from the fron of the house.

View from the Northwest

Straight on view from the side.

View from the side yard.

View from the backyard.

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September 12, 2009: Hardwood and Backsplash

On Saturday, we thought the floor would be dry enough for us to try out some backsplash tile, but that also meant we could take some pictures of the hardwood from different locations.

Preethi tries out the tile pattern for the backsplash. A white veined marble with granite insets (absolute black instead of the angola black on the counter top but it's pretty close). We're going with a different edge though - lots of little stones.

A thermostat was put in on the top floor.

A view of the stained hardwood on the top floor. It still has another coat and a sealing layer to come.

A view of the stairs. There's a lot of dust in a new house as shown by the railing.

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September 11, 2009: Garage, Floor Sealed

On Friday, I went out to the house after work. The garage door was in, the hardwood had been sealed and a few things other things were done.

View of the house from the road.

A doggy door was put in on the garage back door. It locks on the inside.

The garage door was installed. Wasn't operational when I was there, so this is the best picture I have.

The hardwood floors were sealed, so we can't walk on them until Monday.

However, I could peek in again at the front entrance. Here's the great room. All the sunlight reflecting off the floor is skewing the light sensors in the camera making the floor look lighter here than it actually is.

Stairs. This is a bit more representative of the color.

Dining room floor.

Great room looking towards the fireplace.

A "temporary" railing was installed on the front porch. We are thinking of doing concrete railings long term, but this looks pretty good so we might put that off for a while and maybe just stain the railing to match the door.

A close up of the condensers (dual-zone)

The freon tubes coming out to the condensers.

And inside the house where the freon tubes go outside.

The driveway was graded a bit, but won't be finished until Monday.

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Aug 3, 2009: Paint and tub tiles

On Monday, we visited the house in the evening. Painting had begun on the ceiling and the first coat on the walls was up in some rooms. Also some tile work was still going on in the master bathroom.

View of the dining room. As painting traditionally starts with the ceiling, that part is about done even though there's not yet any primer on the wall (which will eventually be bluish grey shade you see in the corner (top part). The railings will remain covered for quite a while.

The ceiling in the kitchen.

A railing was measured and cut for the stairs. It'll go down as soon as the painting begins on the walls.

View looking up the stairs. Here you can see where some of the walls are beginning to be painted an off (yellow) white. That color was chosen mostly because we don't really have the furniture we want for the house yer and thought it would be a nice neutral color.

View of the walls in the master bedroom. If you look closely, you can see a gap between the walls and the ceiling. That'll be filled in eventually, but a little gap makes spraypainting the walls easier.

View of the walls in a different second-floor bedroom.

Tiles around the master bath tub. The little row of small tiles uses the same tiles as on the floor of the shower - in theory tying it all together. That's actually the last of the tile except for the foyer.

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July 31, 2009: Steps, tile, and paint prep

We actually visited the house on Thursday and Friday, but I didn't get around to posting pictures until after Friday's visit, so there will be some progress shots of the same room in this post. Work focused on completing the steps (done, except for staining), tile work, and prepping for painting, which begins in earnest on Monday.

The completed steps (well except for staining, which is why the feet are above the steps) viewed from a low angle in the great room.

View of the great room. And Preethi.

A couple steps were built in the garage to lead into the main house.

Some casing around the garage opening was added.

Tiles in the laundry.

Tiles on the floor in the master bathroom.

Another view of the tiles in the master bathroom.

Yet another view of the master bathroom. You should generally stay off of the tiles while the thinset is curing, hence the slight barrier.

Tiles in the downstairs bathroom.

A view of some of the channels in the drainfield from the master bedrooom.

In prepration for painting, the tiles were covered.

Covered tiles in the laundry.

Actually, from the painters' perspective. they've already started painting as they caulked the trim around the house, which you can see if you look closely at trim around this closet door on the second floor.

The caulk is a little easier to see when the trim isn't also white (it will be painted white along with the rest of the trim).

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