I have a lot of catching up to do and not much time to do it, but I'll try my best.
I got an email from Rob yesterday informing me of yet another tile shortage, so I went over to the house to see if it was something we could work around or if we needed to order more tile. When I arrived, I saw that something new had been delivered, but I couldn't tell what it was.
Inside, there was a lot of activity. The painters were at work in nearly every room, and I was very happy to see Ian and his crew back on the job. The three of them had made a lot of progress. Ian had tiled the blue vanity top in the main level bathroom and had almost finished the white tile on the walls.
He and Rob explained the problem. In the tile drawings, above the white tile we have a row of green 1x6" tile, a row of 4x4" deco tile, another row of green 1x6", and then the blue molding -- but we didn't have enough of the green 1x6" to do both rows. They proposed just leaving off the upper row, since it would take 3 weeks and $400 to get the additional green tile, and I agreed that that was probably the best solution.
John and I also spent some time discussing the handrail for the stairs. I never thought about how complicated stairs are before -- but now it boggles my mind how many different variables and parts are involved. John had hit some roadblocks trying to work with the dimensions of the newel posts and making sure everything met code. We discussed some options, but he eventually decided he needed to take a break from the stairs and approach it with a fresh brain on Monday. Meanwhile, things were pretty quiet at Josh's office, so he left work a little early and biked over to the house.
After I caught Josh up on the tile and stair issues, Rob showed us what had been delivered -- our Italian shoes (and railings) for the stairs.
Another issue cropped up while we were there. We had originally assumed that this peachy color in the front bedroom was just the primer, but Rob opened the can of paint that was sitting in the room, and it was exactly the same color. Now, on the color deck, it looks much more brown -- it's called "Cinnamon & Spice" for Pete's sake! In fact, all three of us looked at the color sample and said that it didn't look like the same color that was on the wall. But when we held it up to the wall, it blended right in. D'oh! Rob suggested that we run over to the paint store and buy a gallon of a less peachy color, and he'd have the painters hold off painting that room until the next day.
So, that's what we did. It wasn't easy picking a new color, but at least we knew to avoid anything that looked like Cinnamon & Spice. We ended up deciding on a color called Yellow Squash, which wasn't even remotely yellow...
When we got back to the house, everyone had left for the day, so we ventured upstairs to see what was new. The tile in the master bath had been grouted, and Ian had installed some of the leftover green slate from the floor in the back of the shelf in the shower. It looks beautiful!
It's difficult to get a photo of the whole room, since it's kind of long and skinny, but here's the shower and tub enclosure with the arched alcove and arched window.
A close-up of the glass mosaic accent tile.
And the green slate in the shower shelf.
Outside, Rob had made some progress on the back porch, installing the railings and the trim around the bottom.
Rob told us the painters and tile guys would be working over the weekend, so he would be at the house for a good chunk of Saturday and possible Sunday morning as well to supervise and work on a few projects of his own. We stopped by on Saturday afternoon to go over the electrical plans with him in order to identify the appropriate kinds of dimmer switches we would need. Apparently those are not included in our contract, but if we supply them ourselves, the electrician will install them for us.
When we walked into the house, Rob was in the kitchen, so we said hello and asked what was new. He got a funny smile on his face and suggested we take a look at the stairs. We turned around and both said, "Wow!"
Yes, we tiled our stair risers! It doesn't go all the way up (or down to the basement) -- it's just on these 8 steps, which are the most visible.
Ian had also installed the green slate by the back door. We did this because Josh bikes to work and we discovered the hard way that his bike shoes leave little dents in the hardwood floors. This way, he can come in the back door and take his shoes off once he gets inside without damaging the floors.
Rob had installed all the drawer pulls in the kitchen. The screws they came with were too short, so he had to get some longer ones. Apparently, that is a common problem with cabinet hardware.
The painters had done the front bedroom with the new Yellow Squash color, which still looks a bit peachy, but not nearly as bad as the Cinnamon & Spice (see above). There must be something about the light in here that gives everything a peachy cast.
This is my office. It was a dark blue-green color before, although I think the old color was a little bit bluer. This one is called Deep Sea.
Upstairs, they had primed the built-ins in the master bedroom. They'll be painted the same color as the trim, Ivory White.
And the small upstairs bathroom has been painted a deep cobalt blue to match the glass tile. It's very dramatic, but I think it will seem less so once all the hardware, mirror, light fixtures, etc. have been installed. Our old bathroom was a similar color, and no one ever seemed overwhelmed by it.
We're excited to see the tile coming together so nicely -- and quickly! The kitchen and bathroom
countertops should be installed on Thursday, so once those are in, Ian will be able to do all the
backsplashes and finish up. I expect lots more dramatic changes in the next week.
After we left the house, we went to the Home Depot in Alexandria to get the dimmer switches we needed, since we were going to a birthday party for our friends' daughter down that way later in the afternoon. Unfortunately, that Home Depot didn't have enough of the switches that we needed, so we zipped down to a nearby Lowe's. They didn't have any of the dimmers we were looking for, so we gave up and went to the party.
Afterwards, we went back to the Alexandria Home Depot and bought as many dimmers as we could find, and then asked at the customer service desk if they could look them up and see if any other stores in the area had them in stock. Of course, the one closest to our house didn't have ANY, so they suggested we try the
Merrifield Store in Fairfax. We actually passed another Home Depot on the way there (
Annandale, I think), so we stopped to see if we could find any there. Nope! None! The
Merrifield store had plenty of dimmers, but they were in a different kind of packaging and were more expensive. We asked someone if they had any of the other ones left, and the guy was nice enough to dig through a box and find a few of the cheaper ones for us. In the end, we only had to buy one of the newer, more expensive ones, but we still ended up spending nearly $400 on dimmers. I definitely should have just ordered those online!
Ian had done a couple sample patches in gray and white grout (sorry I didn't get a picture -- there were lots of people working in there!). While the gray grout looked kind of cool, I was concerned that the bathroom would look way too busy with contrasting grout, since the white tile is handmade and has to be spaced pretty far apart to accommodate the irregular edges. Final decision: white!
The painters were still at work on the trim around the windows and doors. These little windows in the living room look much better now!
The front bedroom upstairs has been repainted with the correct color, which is called Airway. The painters had used an old version of our paint color list when they bought the paint. We had initially considered a color for this room that was a little darker and more purple (Riviera Azure), but after doing a test patch, had changed it to this one. They also stained the balcony doors to match the other doors and windows.
As I was leaving, Justin, Rob, and John were just sitting down to lunch in the family room, so I took a quick photo of them toasting one another with their colorful beverages.
