Cabinets

Bob starting installing the kitchen and laundry room cabinets on Friday.

Oops....he forgot to put fronts on these two drawers. Apparently the cabinet was facing the wall in his shop and he didn't realize they weren't complete until he loaded them on the truck. Don't worry.....he'll fix it.

This cabinet will have glass fronts and the "hole" will house the microwave, warming drawer and oven.

Cort has the fireplace all prepped to begin the stone work on Saturday. The cabinet that Bob made on the right is for the TV and components plus it has a wood drawer.

Lots of Projects!

Matt is cutting the piece of wood for the fireplace mantel. He has to get it done before Cort comes on Saturday to do the stone work.

Dan is cutting tile for the entry way. You sure have to be patient to cut tile.....it's a slow process.

Entry way with porcelain tile and natural stone border. It looks like a rug.

Bob came today with all of the cabinets. He had a truck load plus a trailer.

He does beautiful work. I love the color......it's called Looking Glass. He told me I should do a mauve wall color in the laundry room. Mauve and grey do look great together but I don't think so.

Bob will be back on Friday to set all the cabinets.

Master bath shower is coming along. It is a marble called Manhattan.

After looking at Ikea closets and spending an hour on the phone with a salesperson at the Container Store to design our master closet, we have decided to have Matt do the closet. We mostly need hanging spaces and some shelves. All of the bells and whistles that you can get now are nice, I guess, but we are going to stick with the basics. The closet is large enough to put in a chair or stool, and I'll get some containers for the shelves.

Tile Projects

Hearth tile all ready for grout. This is a porcelain tile that looks like slate and is harder and more durable.

Full view of the fireplace and hearth. Matt will be making a wood mantelpiece and attaching it to the chimney before Cort applies the stone this weekend.

Entry way ready for tile. Darren and Dan will be using the same tile as the hearth but applying a natural stone border.

Laundry room tile......ready for grout.

We hike with Cooper every day. The lupines are blooming on the Boulders Trail. (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better view of the wildflowers.)

View from the Peach Orchard Trail......

April 25th Update

The outside of the fireplace is done and the stone looks gorgeous. Cort, the stone guy, will be working on the inside this weekend. The siding is moving along. Pat worked on the front of the house today. Matt has been working on closet and pantry shelving, and he started on the bookcases in the master bedroom and my office downstairs.

Wildflowers are popping up on our lot. I have to get a book and learn the names of the flowers and some of the trees.

Darren and Dan started work on the tile in Randy's office and the master bath today. The office and laundry room have a ceramic tile that looks like slate but will be much easier to take care of. We have slate in our rental house and I am not a fan.

I'll have more tile photos in the next few days. We are in the process of choosing hardware for all of the doors and cabinets. We also met with a fence company so that we can put up a fence for Cooper and a future garden. We are going to take a class this weekend on "square foot gardening" at the local nursery.....growing more in less space....sounds interesting.

We spent some time on the electricity issue today.....going to APS, talking to the realty company and credit union that now owns the lots around us. It's still "up in the air" and we are getting nervous about getting a final inspection in June so that we can move in. I'll keep you posted...keep your fingers crossed for us.

Stair Banister

Here's Mark setting up his saw and tools to make us a beautiful banister for our stairs.

He's one of those guys who measures and remeasures to make sure it's just right.

He spent most of the day on Saturday working.....

The finished banister.......simple, mission style...sort of.

I took this photo in the evening which is why Cooper and Randy are in the dark. We'll stain the banister to match the beams in the great room and master bedroom.

We've been shop-vacuuming and trying to clean up all the mess from the sheetrock crew. We're hoping for kitchen cabinets this week coming up.

More Progress

While we were in the Bay Area celebrating my mom's 90th birthday, lots of things were getting done at the house site.

This is Darren, the tile guy. He is preparing the pan in the master bedroom shower. Tile has been ordered and we expect it any day now.

We finally have a garage door.......it's not hooked up yet as we are still waiting on the electricity.

The fireplace is almost finished on the outside. I just love this stone.

After he finishes the outside of the fireplace, he'll work on the pillars by the front door. As you can see the siding is coming along.

Matt has started working on the inside trim work......windows first.

Stone Work

The stone for the fireplace and entry pillars arrived from Telluride, Colorado.

This particular stone is called "Greystone." It has grey, rust and brown coloration.

Our Stone Guy is working on the chimney starting at the bottom.

He is an "artisan" and carefully chooses the placement of each stone.

Sheetrockers should be finished with texturing on Friday. We will start interior trim early next week.

Ugh! More Snow

I know I should be grateful for the snow/precipitation as we haven't had enough in AZ this year but really......last Wednesday I was wearing white pants and sandals! Today it is 32 degrees and snowing....alot.

Cooper thinks it's great fun except no one wanted to take him for a walk this morning. He loves racing around the yard, grabbing big chunks of snow and eating it.

Randy went up to the house site this morning to make sure all the doors were closed. One was left open. We don't have a garage door yet but we can close up everything else.

The stone arrived for the fireplace and entry posts....it's sitting out in the snow. Sheetrockers will continue their work next week, and Pat is still working on the siding.

Electricity Update: We have a case number with the AZ Real Estate Board. They really don't have any authority to make someone pay restitution so I am not sure how helpful they will be to us. We need the electricity so we have asked APS (Arizona Public Service) to start the process and we will just have to pay for it.

Taping

The sheetrockers have been taping like crazy and they are almost done. I love these square windows in the great room. (We also have some on a wall in the garage.)

How's the weather up there? (Notice the stilts on the sheetrocker.)

How would you like a job that required you to work on stilts all day?

Kitchen.....

Great room with kitchen on the right and front entry on the left....

Next up: mud to cover all the nails. Then texture.

Sheetrock is Hung

Matt bought a new construction trailer. It's the "Rolls Royce" of construction trailers.

A view of the west side of the house......windows are in. Pat is working on siding.

South side......

Sheetrock is hung in all of the rooms. This is the entry/front door.........the door will be painted cherry bomb red.

The sheetrockers are the messiest group! The stone for the fireplace arrived in Phoenix. We will have it soon.

Kitchen....

French doors in the great room leading out to the south deck.

Next for the sheetrockers is tape, mud and texture.

Windows Arrive!

Yippee! The windows arrived at noon today. They were made in Dubuque, Iowa and shipped to Snowflake which is 84 miles northeast of Payson. They had to be processed there before they could be shipped to us.

They were unloaded into the garage area. Matt is thinking.....there are a lot of windows!

Pat and Matt cut out the Typar, siliconed the edges and applied weather stripping.

They then lifted the window and placed it into the opening. These are aluminum clad wood windows. (Best for the Arizona sun.)

Pat put enough nails in the window to hold it until they can go back and use a nail gun to finish the nailing process.

They made sure the windows were level and square before they put any nails into the wood.

The kitchen window was a heavy one plus they were standing (balancing) on the deck jousts.

Ta da........looks great!

Mud room and one of the kitchen windows done......just a few more to go.

Matt and Pat will be working on Saturday to try and get all of the windows in place.