Stone work and outside painting finished - for now

Last week I was a little frustrated about not being able to report anything finished in our home rebuilding. So I focused on the ongoing painting process, especially outside, and the stone work just begun on the posts holding up the porch. But when the stone ran out (as they knew it would), they had to wait for more to arrive, which happened yesterday, enabling the masons to finish the stone veneer on the posts. In the middle of the week, also, the painters finished the outside painting, but will have more painting later.

In the meantime the electricians have started installing light fixtures this week, as seen here in the master bedroom (left) and the guest bedroom. You can also see five of the new kitchen and laundry room appliances, but the refrigerator was to big and had to be left in the kitchen.

We have also put this model fan in the guest bedroom (below) and plan to put it in the loft.

We are finally beginning to make some progress on the first-floor bathrooms.

This week George, our builder, installed the base cabinet and a medicine cabinet with a three-view mirror in the guest bathroom. Note on the left the reflection of the flash from the mirrors.

This picture shows some of the work yet to be done. Next Thursday vinyl will be laid on the floor. The base cabinet will eventually get a counter top and faucets, and a toilet will be installed to the right of the cabinet. Then wallpaper will soon cover the walls, as well as electrical switch plates.

The master bathroom will take a little longer. It will also get a vinyl floor next week, but unlike the cabinets here, the master bath vanity and medicine cabinet will be custom built by our neighbor Paul. First, he has to install the kitchen cabinets - hopefully by the end of next week - and then built the much larger vanity (7' vs. 31") and the cabinet that will surround two three-view mirror units.

Finally, we come to the prettiest new addition, a clear finish for the oak floor of the living-dining area. What you see is only the first coat; there will be two more.

The view on the left is looking north toward the dining room and the front yard. The picture on the right is a view toward the back or south side of the house and the deck, with the room divider featured pro-minently and color-fully. The view below is toward the west end of the house and shows the stove and tiled hearth.

Next week we hope that John, our floor man, will finish finishing the oak floor and grouting the tile downstairs and in the kitchen, so that the cabinets can be installed and measured for counter tops. We also hope to finish installing electrical fixtures and start installing plumbing fixtures. Getting everything done by the end of October now looks rather doubtful, but I still hope we can get our certificate of occupancy by then and officially move in, even if not all the work is completed.

Special note: I just discovered that my post of September 29 was still in draft form, which probably means that it was never published. So, take a look two posts back at "Porch and deck finished"!

Take care, and have a good week!  --oc