Floor and Textiles

Tony and I ended up doign the whole staining process ourselves. Well, ok, I ended up doing most of the staining, but tony helped with one coat and some of the wax last weekend when he was off.
We used Kemiko's Black or ebony stain which basically varied from a light brown to the black depending on how many coats. I think we ended up with 5 coats.

Also this weekend, tony and I got some great deals on some rugs and a runner that we will actually use as a headboard from Crate and Barrel's Outlet.
The blue below will be our main rug and then the colored dots have been mounted on a board that I will attach to the wall as a sort of head board. We also picked up some bathroom rugs, which are not pictured. A few months ago I checked the bargain bins at Ikea and actually ended up with a pair of curtains that were a sorta lime/chartreuse which I was hoping for in the bedroom, as a pop of color. I hung them today so that we can have some privacy from our patio doors. Ironing to be done later. I was also able to find the hardware to hang them for pennies on the dollar.
Isn't Bella a Beautiful Rug Model?To

Grout Job

So Tony and I have been grouting. we still need to touch up a few things and remove haze.

Master Tiler

We are officially tile artists. ok, maybe not, but so what.
I spent almost all day yesterday tiling and except for working around a horrible drywall job, it looks pretty good. We are waiting until this weekend to grout and completely finish because the plumber needs to get in and work.

Vanity

Bathroom Vanity and Lights done.
Bedroom Fan

Kitchen Progress

We have our cabinets installed, put on all the hardware, countertops and a nice sink from DelaTile and our cool faucet, although no water yet. Also, we may need to buy ANOTHER range hood, but I hope not, and a new fridge. After our fridge was moved around when the floors were being done, it started to have a horrible chemical smell inside. we have cleaned and put fresh baking soda, but it still makes anything not well sealed taste like paint thinner.
Unfortunately we do not have a budget for a fridge and another 600$ for a range hood that fits, and Ikea is being shitty about returning it. They have been completely unhelpful and so has whirlpool who made the range. They have been completely unhelpful with finding and replacing missing parts, as well accepting the return. We have definately learned to not buy anything that you need any service on. Returning things there sucks. I even went there months ago because a part for my bookcase was broken when I first used it, and they would not replace it without me buying the $2 part. If with proof that I had the original part that was deformed, I still needed to pay for a replacement because I didn't bring my reciept. I mean really, is it worth the money to piss off a customer? I will say, I will go back to Ikea but I will never buy another appliance from them, or anything that I can't afford to fix or replace on my own.

A Touch of Color

Tony and I just Finished painting the bathroom. It may need more work, but I hope not because we are nearly out of that paint color.
I also installed the tracks and standards for the closet Elfa system. I was able to by a pretty cool set up, repurposing some components from our current closet that will be unnecessary when we switch rooms. The Container Store fortunately extended there elfa sale this year so I was able to get a pretty cool system for not much and we will be able to have a very organized closet.
Two weeks ago we painted the kitchen and bedroom. the kitchen just got the same dark grey blue "Wall Street" color that our whole dining/kitchen area is.
The Bedroom has three walls with a linen color "City Loft," and the wall behind our bed is a near black color "seal skin."
We will need to do some touch ups, but as the workers aren't particuarly careful, we will just wait until they are out of here.

Last weekend I did the Hill Country Ride after those days of painting and a 6 hour photo event the night before the ride.

They started working on the floor in the kitchen, but that really isn't moving a long, and I am not really sure why we are still waiting for things to happen in all areas.
Frustrating...

They need to...
install and stain the kitchen floor
install kitchen cabinets
install/finish all electrical fixtures
finished plumbing in kitchen and bathroom
get the new laundry room set up
get new tankless water heater working and remove old tank
finish the roof
and finally lots of odds and ends fixing the rest of their errors and incomplete projects.

We all will be very glad to have our home seem like a home again and be all by ourselves.

Old Laundry Room

Horrible old Laundry room, this is a before picture where you don't want it to look clean, but it is still embarrassing