Where it's at

We met with James and J.D. the other evening to go over some design and schedule items. Looks like we're going to be slipping on the schedule a bit in order to keep costs down. Not sure yet what the new end date is, but we should hear back next week on that.
Design-wise, James brought some seriously cool samples of materials to look at. We have narrowed down the stair treads and upstairs flooring to either the reclaimed, vertical-cut Douglas Fir or a pre-finished hardwood plank (I forget which hardwood it was made of, I'll post a photo soon). The planks fit together like a Pergo system, with no bevel between boards, so you can't really tell it's not smaller strips.
The master bathroom. Very nice array of stone tiles to look at. We're thinking of doing large cuts on the floor, smaller on the walls and an accent strip of colored (glass?) tiles up the vanity column.

Today, the electricians are back to install can lights in the kitchen. I can't wait to have real light in there when I'm cooking!

The structural inspection went very well earlier this week, with only a couple of minor corrections that can apparently be photographed when complete to save the cost of another on-site.

Wiring and stuff

So there is a real hum of activity at the house right now. We've got the low-voltage electric guys wiring rooms up for sound, video, CAT5, etc. The painters come in tomorrow to prime the old part of the house. Stucco man did a walk through yesterday to see what he's up against when the new part of the house gets clad. More windows came in and will be installed soon.

We're waiting on a set of inspections (not sure which ones actually) and then things are going to get going even faster.

One note on the low-voltage wiring: in an effort to cut costs, there will no longer be surround sound wiring in the master bedroom. A moment of silence for that, please.

Trench 1, Driveway 0

This is where the electrical will be laid from the new circuit box to the old.

In other news, we aren't going to have the time to refininsh the floors in the old part of the house right now. We were able to get out of the house for a little while, but not long enough. The floors will be repaired, and giant holes covered, but the sanding and finishing will have to wait until we can get out of the house for a vacation during the summer. Bummer.

We're also having loads of can lights put in in the old part. I can't wait to have a brightly lit kitchen.

Looking for radiant floor heating advice

We are planning on some kind of stone for the master bathroom floor (slate?), which leads to concern about freezing our tootsies off. I've just started reading up on electric radiant floor heating mats/rolls; essentially a very thin electric blanket installed in quickset under the stone. Has anyone got recommendations/experience/advice to share?

Pano tour of rough electrical

I've gone mad. Click on the image to check out a panoramic QTVR tour of the current state of the house. In it, please be sure to look up and note the many can lights.

The rough electrical and plumbing installations seem to be going well. I never knew they hammered little metal plates onto each 2x4 to guard the high voltage wire from homeowner studfinders & nails.

By the way, if you have any problems viewing the QTVR pano movie, please email me.

Framers have finished

They got the stairs and everything else done yesterday, after working a very long day. I'll post some photos or panoramas soon.

Next up are the plumber to cut and move one pipe, and the electricians will start getting high voltage wiring in.

On a related note, we're going to be meeting with the low voltage guy sometime to talk about all the cool wiring: ethernet CAT5, coaxial, speakers, phone, and others. I'm thinking we'll try to terminate everything in the closet of the studio. I'm envisioning a huge patch bay and scads of blinking lights. James was telling us about having IR remote receivers in a few rooms that send their signals over wire to the media closet. That's where TiVo and pals will live. Does anyone have any other recommendations on serving audio and video up from a central location?