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

Old Garage

I made some pans out of the the old garage pictures i had. This whole area is soon to be our master suite.

Spring Plantings

Visit my other blog for images and information on whats going on in the garden.

lights on, lights off

VROOMVROOM

Carport is finally partially covered, still needs a little work, but it's coming together.

Front Door

My first real refinishing project has gone well. Only a bit of polyurethane in my hair.
Took most of the day yesterday to sand the nasty green paint off the door.
The new fixtures still need to be put on but the poly is still drying and may take a third coat.

Drywall

Drywall is 99% up, some issue with inspection though. I think they are taping, etc today on the passing areas...

Finally a Fan

We had them install this fan in the living room, so now we have air and lights in there. The same fan will go in the kitchen and then a different on in the bedroom.

Lights

We finally put the lights for the back deck up. We actually had one of them installed before but the siding people took it down. They look pretty great and its not pitch black when we need to go outside at night anymore.

Insulated

The Kitchen Cabinets came in but we don't really get to do anything with them until the kitchen demo, and repair are done. Now they are all sitting on our uncovered carport, hoping that it won't rain more. The night after they were put out there it did storm and a poorly placed tarp blew off and soaked everything. Not good, but hopefully Tony and my efforts at drying them right before heading to the airport got everything that was really wet dry.

My Pink Guest

Save the Pink Bathrooms

Of course, there are people who love and want to preserve something that has been the joke of our house. Check out this site that lets you pledge to save your pink bathroom.
*this is not our pink bathroom, but one from the mentioned website.

Roof Magic

Carport Skeleton

Disaster

This week our kitchen was torn up way more than I thought it could be.
Floors, Walls, Ceilings. Plumbing, Electrical????
This more than anything really worries me.
I know it will all be OK, but it is kinda hard to image right now.

I had an email update from ikea last week saying they were putting the Ingolf Barstools on sale for two or three days only. I got to Ikea as they opened on Friday in order to pick up several of these stools for only 19.99 each. Solved the need for barstools, and saved a lot of money. They may get a paint job to match our style better but they are pretty nice as is.

Cool Peter Waltz Light

Rain, Rain, Go away, Stay above my garden, but not my house.

Now it is raining in austin for the next several days, and like half as many degrees as yesterday.
The frame for the carport was welded into place yesterday and HVAC work was done.
Carlos says the plumber is coming tomorrow for kitchen and bathroom stuff. sounds like things are wrapping up. All I know is that it is very dark in the kitchen/living/dining room at night with no electricity and that is getting very old.
Off to work, hopefully traffic won't be horrible.

Ohoh, and the bathroom faucets came today, very pretty.

Sinks

Vessel Sinks Bought.

Recent Purchases

A new dirty Mail box from Restoration Hardware's Outlet

Kitchen Faucet, Hansgrohe Metro
Kenzo Vessel Sink Faucet

ByeBye Kitchen

Laundry Closet through to master closet
Kitchen
This just got scarier