Eble Family: March 2012

Week 21

Good meeting today down at the house!

Jim Tragessar our Landscape Architect and Mike were there to review Jim's plan. It's beautiful but also likely VERY expensive. We think we're going to break it up into chunks and do a bit of it over the next few years. I took the C size print and scanned 5 8.5x11s that I then pieced together. I think this gives you a flavor of what it will look like.

Interesting things to note on the print: patio out the back of the house and a round fire ring. Also Jim was the man that designed the curvature of the front wall. That is visible in front of the home along with quite a bit of plantings around it.

As I had mentioned in the previous post, the kitchen and back hallway are just about refloored. I expect that they'll likely finish up today and grout on Sunday.

The bathroom mirrors are installed as is all of the closet shelving. Once the tile flooring is complete the plumber will be back in to finish things up and will turn the water on to the house. Mike told us that he'd be turning the pex on one line at a time so that each line could be labelled. Thank God! I thought I'd have to do that.

I didn't get any new pictures since the kids were dying to get out of there. Instead, I present some pictures taken last week that I had not posted in the week 20 update. Kind of week 20 rejects that are good enough for week 21.

Jim T's plan. Click for a better view.

View of plant shelf. Our camera won't get a good picture of the raised ceiling. Sherwin Williams - Notable Blue

Cordelia and Evie's bedroom. SW- Solaria

Whoops! Light fixture now hangs in our current house above my sink. 2 more lights are in the mail. SW- Softened Green

Across the street from our house

View of friends entrance and carriage light.

All's well that ends well

Last Friday (3/16) I stopped by the house in the AM on my way to work to drop off some hose reels that I had assembled the night before. The flooring for the hallway, kitchen and eating area had been installed and it did not look good.

Back when we were choosing flooring, Holly had expressed interest in a slate look and the flooring company (ICC Floors) had suggested the real thing. There was a 3' x 3' area in the show room of "Indian Mulitcolor" that looked great. We went with it and got two sample pieces for color matching. Let me say this, the showroom floor and our samples had some texture which we liked. Some.

Below are the photos that I took of the flooring as installed. Unknown to me, Mike had emailed me the night before suggesting I stop by and look at the flooring. After seeing the slate, I called Mike who was only 3 or so minutes away. We looked at it together and he agreed that it didn't look good. He had had his wife look at it the night before and she assumed that it was an outdoor tile (indoor per ICC). I told Mike that it was unacceptable and he immediately called ICC Floors.

Two of their salesmen came down that day along with the Rep for the tile company (DalTile). The story as I understand it is that the Daltile guy said that since it was natural stone it was expected to have some variations and that the tiles were to their standards. Low standards in my opinion. See below and judge for yourself.

Here's where having a good builder comes in handy. Mike fully agreed with us as to the quality of the tile. Though the Daltile Rep washed his hands of any wrong, ICC Floors stepped up to the plate. They offered to open the store off-hours to allow us to come look for an alternative; they brought samples to our home for us to look at; they allowed us to pick out what we liked as a replacement -- with no consideration for whether it fit into our original budget. Holly and I picked a new tile (slate looking ceramic) last Saturday. By today (3/24) ICC has removed all of the slate flooring and subfloor and has replaced it with the new. I truly believe that this was made possible due to Mike's sterling reputation and relationship with his subcontractors.

Good for ICC Floors. Good for Mike. Daltile Co, not so much.

Silly Blogger. Best viewed with head tilted to the left. Note the extreme height difference.

Move over Costanza, there's a new hand model in town!

Week 20

I'm a week late on the text for this post.

Last week most of the flooring (non-carpet) was down including the kitchen and eating area. Long story there which I'll cover in the next post. The front wall was capped and dirt was backfilled. The back porch was capped with concrete and the side posts/screen were installed.

The tile folks have also been at work on the master bath shower and tub.

Flooring at entrance and dining room. Looking at it now it reminds me of a basketball court.

Front door from inside

Formal Dining Room. I like the red. I like the cherry. Not sure if I like them together. SW - Wild Currant

Hall Bathroom. SW - Watery

Hall Bathroom

Wall complete and capped. Fence is coming soon.

Back porch is complete and screened but needs some paint. Patio has been flagged off and dirt removed.

Master Bathtub

Master shower with seat

Week 19

We met Mike and the Landscape Architect (Jim Traggesser) out at the lot today to discuss the front wall. The good news - the wall won't be quite so tall as the photo below and will be stepped down twice as it goes from the front door to the garage. Bad news - It's so tall that according to Code, it will need a wrought iron fence along the top.

The painters are still working on coat 1 of the interior. Kitchen tops and island installed and the remainder are in the garage waiting to be installed. The brick and stone has made it up to the top-most eave and should be completed by next Wednesday. Lighting is about 60% hung.

Starting on Friday and throughout the weekend the tile men put down the underlayment and will be tiling all next week. Flooring (not carpet) should be complete by the end of this coming week.

The mason suggested the brick work at the top of the eave. The initial plan had stone all the way up. Good suggestion!

The left side as shown is out near the driveway and will be about 16-20 inches shorter when complete.

Green in downstairs 1/2 bathroom. Sherwin Williams- Softened Green. (if there's no shower/tub why is it still a bathroom?)

Kitchen countertops are installed

Head of flooring installer laying subfloor for slate.

Handrails installed. Entry hallway is SW "Nomadic Desert"

Spare bedroom. SW- "Watery"

Noel and Xavier's room. SW-Regale Blue

I can't figure out how to turn this photo in Blogger. Laundry Room. SW - Nomadic Desert

Week 18

Holly and I invited my Mom and Dad down to the home for this morning's visit. Dad had some other obligations but Mom did make it. Thank God too, the minivan wouldn't start and had to be jump started. Thanks Mom!!!!!! Following the tour of the home, Dad joined us for some delicious pizza at Arni's.

The front wall is a bit more than we had expected but the Landscape Architect has some thoughts on how to make it a bit inconspicuous. The mason's worked inside and completed the fireplace facade and should be completed on the exterior by the end of this coming week.

The boot lockers have arrived. Yeah! Holly and I agreed that of all the features that we designed in the house, these were likely the one's that we were most excited about. They are tall and will swallow coats and shoes. Fantastic considering our current stack of shoes in the laundry room.

Most the interior trim is now sanded and will be wiped down and get a single coat of varnish (I think) on Monday then the interior is ready for painting.