Swingset being built

This is what's happening right now, can't wait to swing and slide! I had to spend hours with a big magnetic rake clearing the area of huge rusty nails and huger non-rusty screws over the past few days. I also spent a backbreaking hour trying to dig up a cement block that was countersunk under the ground to support the old laundry line. I failed and carefully buried it. That's what the rubber mulch is for!

Another garbage haul

Most of this stuff got hauled away today. Yay! The weight lifted from my shoulders as each area of the construction zone gets cleaned up is tremendous. When I got home from work all Ronan wanted to do was turn on the sprinklers and run around the back yard getting soaked. Fun!!

I should add that we found a new home for the indestructible plastic play structure -- it's not going to the landfill.

Checking things off the list

As a stay-at-home Mom, Erin's sanity has been eroded by the year of construction more than mine, so I don't question that fact that this sod going in was one of the happiest moments of her life.

J.D. has really kicked things into overdrive. Here are some of the things that have happened in the last few days:

• Sprinklers installed
• Sod laid (lain?)
• Raised-bed vegetable garden built
• Gravel spread next to the "wall side" of the house
• Compact electric water heater installed
• Toilets installed
• Stucco put up on the last bit of the back wall
• Wood installed on stairs
• Faucets hooked up
• Shower doors installed
• Sink attached to master vanity
  

Merbau floor

Holy hat racks that was quick. I'm not sure how long I expected it to take them to install the floor, maybe a few days, not half a day. Granted, it's a pretty small space.

I love the way it looks. This photo is fairly crummy; when I get a chance I'll take some better ones.

Hardwood flooring has begun

Here are the stair fronts partially clad in wood.

I also saw the glass shower doors and window being carried in, so hopefully those will be installed by the time I get home.

Vanity in place

Jim installed the vanity -- I love it, and can't wait to have the faucets put in. The sink hole hasn't been drilled yet, so that's just sitting there for effect. We still need to buy mirrors, towel bars, and toilet paper holders for both bathrooms.

I put together the vanity from Ikea for the guest bathroom last night, and I'm very happy with the way it looks (I'll post a photo soon).

Coil Screens

We've been struggling to find a solution to blocking light and adding privacy to the guest bedreoom, especially because our first house guests will be arriving at the beginning of June. We've thought of roller shades, hospital curtains, and curtain rods on boom arms stolen from decomissioned yachts, but nothing seemed quite right/cheap enough/quick enough.

Big thanks to my mom for the suggestion to use room divider screens. We just ordered two of these curvy bamboo screens from Chiasso.

Guest bed

In funner news, we just ordered the twin sized version of this bed at EQ3. The feature that sold us on it is the removable / repositionable headboards. We ordered three of those, so we can place them on the long side when it is in daybed/couch mode. Or maybe two on long side, one on short side to make a little corner? Add some throw pillows for comfort.

Concrete floor cracks

Here is a photo of the floor. I spoke with Danny from the painting crew about it, since they are the ones sealing the floors. He said that they would be filling in those cracks with some sort of epoxy -- it doesn't hide the cracks, but it does prevent further cracking. He also said that doing a hand applied stain would make it look better. I thought we had ruled that out at one point because of cost, but he said it was only $1.20 sq. ft. for staining. We'd love to make it a warmer, richer reddish/brownish/orangish color if it really is going to be that affordable.

A couple of people have mentioned now that this wasn't from the sandblasting; that just revealed cracks that were already there from the foundation settling.

Is sandblasting supposed to crack your concrete floor?

I'll post some pictures soon. There are some pretty long fractures in a dozen places. I don't know that that can be fixed/filled/hidden/??? Maybe when they seal it it'll look OK, but I'm a bit freaked out at the moment.

It's a subcontractor party at our house

Here's the guest list:

• Sandblasters are here to do the concrete floors in the back.
• Oscar is here hanging doors.
• Painters are here touching up the exterior.
• Port-a-Potty guy is here doing, well, you know.

Also, Erin was talking to J.D. and he said that he and James have a running bet that after J.D. does three walk-throughs at the end James won't find any problems when he does his. I don't know if I've mentioned here that J.D. is quite a perfectionist.

Courtyard grooves

Is this a patio or a courtyard or some other name? Who cares! All I know is that I'm overjoyed that it's finished.

Is the end in sight?

J.D. called me yesterday to talk about the schedule. He is putting off a firm date until next week, after he can look at the list of remaining items. He did, however, guess that we should be finished by the third week of May! As it turns out, four projects that he's working on are all at the same phase of completion, so his resources are spread thinly. But he says that starting next week he's going to focus them on our place to get it finished. Hurray!

Here's what else is going on:

• Painters have been doing the prep and paint in the interior of the addition, as well as a second coat of orange for the stair tower.
• HVAC registers were installed this morning.
• Melesio and his crew have been prepping for the concrete porch, fixing/laying sprinklers, and digging to widen the driveway. I saw him drive by with a cement mixer as I was on my way to work this morning.
• Sandblasting the concrete floor is scheduled for Friday.
• The AC compressor was installed yesterday.
• Baseboards and more paint will start next week after the floor is sealed.
• Hardwood for the upstairs has been delivered.
• Glass for the showers will be installed next Wednesday.
• Severio and his crew will finish the tile after the glass goes in.

Things are really building up a head of steam. Nothing quells my anxiety about the house quite like seeing swarms of subcontractors doing their work.