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.

Paper is up

The stucco and siding prep are finished, as near as I can tell. The main part of the addition will be a smooth stucco. The stairwell will be done in some sort of concrete siding. Not certain, but I think the colors will be gray for the stucco and orange (!) for the siding. The original part of the house will be cleaned and repainted. Color there is taupe-ish, I think.

Insulation

insulation panorama A

insulation panorama B

insulation panorama C

Click on the links to see panoramic movies of the insulation.

Roofing

We've been passing various inspections without too much trouble and the roofing guys are busily roofing away. J.D. said that the insulation will be going in soon, and after that the drywall. I've been telling people that we'll host a party once the drywall is in. More details to come.



We're awaiting an official, revised schedule, but we've been able to divine from J.D. that the house should be done sometime in February. (Historical note: The original end date was yesterday.) Not too far off track, but it seems that hitting that date would have cost a lot more money. I don't know if that's because of overtime/weekends or simply paying sub-contractors to "forget" about their other jobs for a little while.

All the windows and doors are in

I can't believe that guy's holding up the window with just one hand.

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.