Living through construction

We've been feeling the strain lately of living with construction all around us. It's little things, but lots and lots of them. They start to drive you slowly insane. For example, the photo here.

Was there any way the stucco guy could have dumped his bucket of cement somewhere other than a perfectly nice bit of our landscaping?

Could the threshold between our living space and the new space have been sealed up with a bit of plastic before drywall mudding, so as to avoid having our entire lives covered in white dust?

What about the speaker holes in our ceiling that coughed up chunks of prehistoric insulation phlegm until I covered them with paper plates and gaffer tape?

To be fair, we were warned about these things by everyone we talked to, including our architect and contractor, so we have ourselves to blame for not moving out. Nevertheless, I needed to vent.

Hot mop has been here

The showers have had some viciously stinky asphalt-like stuff mopped onto them for the purpose of waterproofing. Then, they filled them with water to see if they'll leak. So they're stinky and stagnant!

(Admittedly, I've been waiting to say "hot mop" in a real sentence ever since 1995, when Chris McDonough and the rest of us a White Wolf Game Studios found the Jerky Boys prank phone call comedy albums to be so danged funny.)

The difference a quarter-inch can make

We failed our pre-stucco/pre-siding inspection. Why, you ask? Because the paper is supposed to have rows of staples that are six inches apart. How far apart are ours? Well, I'm guessing you figured that out already from the title of this post.

Yep. Six and one-quarter inches.

Grrrr.

Bathroom floor tile

melange
Originally uploaded by JPPark.

We've found it! This is the tile for our bathroom. It's crazy and we love it. Actually, I'm going to pick up a sample today, so we'll reserve judgment until then, but we're fairly nutty about it.

Stone or porcelain?

I took a brief solo trip to the tile store today. (California Tile Distributors is just down the street and they have it all!) I spoke with one of the employees there, and he confirmed my suspicions. Namely, that porcelain is generally cheaper than stone and easier to maintain. I was looking at something like this.
However, JP isn't sold on the idea.

Although we like slate, I think we've finally agreed to go with something fairly light-colored, maybe limestone, (like this), and find some more expensive tile to accent. I'm really liking this "bamboo".
Originally we thought we'd go with something more like this offset mosaic or zen weave.
But I'm feeling like I need more calm. Perhaps because I'm spending too much time with my three-year-old?

Just found this one that JP and I are both liking, although we haven't seen it in real life. I'll win him over to the porcelain side yet! Daltile that looks kind of like linen.

Where to get bathroom furniture?

Any suggestions on nice-looking, moderately-priced, modern cabinet/vanity/sink? Ikea is letting us down here, as far as the master bathroom goes. Their stuff's too small. We have a space around 45" wide. Help!

Drywalling in progress

Here's a look at things during the workers' lunch break. This is our bedroom.

Drywalling has begun

Hurray!

Erin's door concept

Erin had this idea to mimic the color and design of the stairwell in the front door. I put together this previs using SketchUp. I'm not sure what kind of glass we'd use to maintain privacy, as I don't love frosted. Maybe some bits of the 3form stuff?

Inspection passed, drywall to begin

I just spoke with J.D., who relayed the good news. We now have to pick our bathroom tile and stone, because everything will start happening very quickly. I'm not sure what other outstanding decisions we have to make, but J.D. said he'll pass that info along with the revised schedule in the next couple of days.