Sneak Peek

I was invited to a lovely tea party at a neighbor's house this morning (have I mentioned how nice our neighbors are?), so I stopped by the house afterwards to get a photo of the preliminary patio layout that Josh and I marked out yesterday. (That long board running down the stairs is a neglected piece of Trex that now appears to be permanently bent into that shape. I hope they weren't planning to use it on the porch!) You can see the overgrown brick pile in the background.
If you compare this with the photo in my previous post, you can see where the phrase "growing like weeds" comes from. We've had a LOT of rain lately, so that hasn't helped.
Just as I was leaving, the front door opened, and one of the floor guys set something out on the porch. I took the opportunity to peek inside and snap a couple quick photos.
I noticed the guys had left their shoes outside and were working in their socks to protect the floors. They appear to have finished staining and are putting the semi-gloss finish coat on today. It looked like they had only done the family room so far.

This is kind of a weird angle -- I was standing outside the front door -- but you can see the color of the stain a little better. I think it looks pretty good. It's a nice medium brown that's not too yellow or red. I couldn't tell from my vantage point how well it covered the differences in flooring material -- old vs. new, red oak vs. white oak -- so that will have to wait until I'm allowed back in the house.
I got an email from Rob this morning letting me know that none of the SAI crew would be at the house today -- I think they took the opportunity to do their 6-month walk-through at a previous job site -- but they were hoping to be back in the house tomorrow. Fortunately, it is sunny and dry today, so if they are able to finish finishing the floors today, they may be dry by tomorrow. Fingers crossed...