Details details

Now that the house is closed in the enormous amount of snow that we got did not affect us much.  We are working inside now with the temporary gas heater blowing away.

Concrete wood stove pad

I tried my hand at pouring concrete with Leah's help.  I mixed while she spread and worked it level.  This little slab of concrete is to hold the wood stove and split wood and will replicate the concrete counters in the kitchen.  It would not set since it was too cold so I left it overnight before troweling it out.  Of course it set over night so I had to apply a broom finish instead of a troweled finish.  It looks good though.

Other things that have happened recently is that all the windows are trimmed out, and I have started laying out the bamboo floors.  This weekend is the big floor nailing weekend so hopefully I'll have completed floors by Monday.  I love the stranded bamboo as it is suppose to be harder than oak, so less dings and scratches over the years.

The stranded bamboo floors

Painting is all done except for the bathroom which will come after the ceramic tile.  That also has to be selected.  Leah was a huge help in selecting colors and in applying the suede paint.


 All in all things are moving along since I have no subcontractors to blame for delays.  Now I only have myself to blame when things are not happening as fast as I would like or when things are done wrong.

Tada!  The painting is done

The Interior (and exterior)

You know, everywhere you look around here, there are rocks.  They are just laying there on the side of the road, in peoples yards and especially up in the mountains, so you'd think that rocks would be a pretty cheap commodity around here.  But, let me tell you, rocks are expensive!  After all that snow, my driveway turned into another muddy mess.  Subcontractors showing up in their vans were just slipping and sliding and getting stuck so I figured that it was time to get some more rocks for the driveway. 

I called my buddy Jerry Henderson to haul some more in.  Now, Jerry is my good buddy so he gives me a good deal.  He gets a $5 per ton discount from the quarry which is just a stones throw down the road (he-he).  So he only charges me what the quarry would charge me if I picked them up myself.  His $5 per ton is his cut.  So, you'd think that them rocks were pretty cheap but a truck load like this is a lot of tons of rocks.  And four truck loads is even more tons of rocks.  Them tons of rocks, they add up.  Jerry and I are talking about raising us some hogs together too.  Sue-eeeeee

So now, once again, anyone can visit even if you have a Toyota Prius and not fear for getting stuck.

Leah is helping me paint.  Thank-you Leah!  Painting is not a hard job but is pretty boring after a few hours of staring at a white wall.  She keeps me company as well as kicking ass as a hard worker.  Cosmo and Pearl also stand by to guard the property, keeping all those pesky squirrels and rabbits away.  I am also very grateful for Leah's cultivated sense of color and texture as I am one of those guys that can't tell green from beige. Ask Leah if you don't believe me.  She is helping me pick out great bold earthy colors for the entire house.  I am of the school that if I like a color and it's good enough for one room then it ought to be good enough for the whole house.  Leah is helping me see the error of my ways.

Here you can see us both covered in paint.

So, I guess I am not going to make my move in date of Christmas.  Even though it looks like I don't have much more to do, there is lots to do.  Painting, cabinets, doors, trim, countertops, flooring, electrical and plumbing trim out, and many other things that I cannot even forsee.  Maybe we'll have a late March housewarming/birthday party.

Next time, I'll tell you all about sewage, or is it sewerage?