Happy Anniversary!

Ahhh yes, spending our one year anniversary sitting on the countertop spreading thin set is just how I imagined we would spend our first wedding anniversary. What happened to PAPER?















Here is the full view of -clearly- the island backsplash. We are going to use this same travertine for the kitchen backsplash, behind the stove and the fireplace. If anyone (ah hem...Uncle Dave...) has any idea of what type/color/etc. accent pieces would accentuate this natural stone, we would love to hear some opinions...we seem to be stuck on this.

Luckily, we are headed North this weekend to spend some time with the Schenck family and no more tile will get done until we get back.

The beginning of the end

Tile work is really the big chunk of work that still needs done- inside at least. I must say, what I might lack in skill for painting and cutting T-molding I make up for in tile work. Not bad for my first try, right?

Brown dog

A quick update on the Mulligan Man...he must have heard us talking about how we were really hoping to find a brown PWD and decided to take matters into his own...paws. We stuck him over in our neighbor's yard for a day of fun with his golden while we did some work on the house. Needless to say, he was a bit of a mess and warranted a bath when we brought him home.

...really pushing it...

So, for our one or two avid fans who still check up on the house every now and then, this is a bit of stretching for new stuff, but here are a few improvements; small, but improvementes none the less. Above you can see we finally finished the trim around the tub. You may not have noticed before that it was unfinished because I conveniently tried to take previous pictures from the tub up. We are still planning on doing a bit more tile work here, most likely a 6 inch backsplash on the wall and up to the window...yet another pic to check back for! Does it ever end?

This room was recently repainted as well...luckily for me after an entire weekend of "painting" -if that is what you would have called it- Ian decided it would be best for me to put the brush down and just hire someone to do it properly. No complaints here.
















Ian is now a granite fabricator! Be proud Uncle Dave. The guys who did the countertops for us left us a few bits and pieces of granite for the fireplace harth. Ian did have to cut it down to size, and a lovely job he did. With a little tile this will also eventually be placed on the "DONE" list.




















If you didn't think we were pushing it before, now it becomes more painstakingly obvious of how hard I looked for changes. This is a super small detail, but in reality, one that does make a big difference. What you're looking at (if you tilt your head to the side...sorry, forgot to flip it) is simply T-moulding. But, realize that until about a month ago we just had subfloor transitioning between wood and carpet (not very appealing...and really bad for cleaning). We had run short, mainly because originally, someone (probably not the engineer in the family) cut all the pieces too small and we had to re-order. Woops. Oh well, I signed up for this as a learning process...

The Stairs

There for a while, we had these lovely bamboo floors, with 2 x 12s for stairs. Well, not any more, folks! We're moving up, literally. Finally the stairs to the third floor are complete.

Introducing...Mulligan

Here is evidence of our fun weekend in Sea Isle when we got the little one. He went right after Triton and Jameson for the Ocean. This one has no fear.
















He does, however, have a complex. Even before he met is big brother, he wanted to be just like him...including the beard. He is constantly sticking his face in stuff so that he looks like Monte.















He also likes to chew...but the good news is, his favorite chew toy is also his idol; again, Monte. Only occasionally does he need to snack on a few fingers.

Landscaping

At long last

Well, it has only been -what?- two months since the last post...I know, I know. There are no excuses for that. It is quite easy to get comfortable when there is little work to do.















Here are a few glimpses of our landscaping.
















These three photos are of that big hole in the front. We -of course- put it up to popular demand for the question "pond or no pond?". We got a few votes either way...and I think one for a swimming pool (which we decided would just be a hazard on so many levels), but the final product is a combo pond/garden.















We have inherited several fish to reside here at 211 Oak, so we'll have to get a close-up of them one of these days...maybe I'll post that in another few months ;-)

Happy Housewarming!

Just what we need...a little puppy to pee on our brand new floors and chew up all the furniture! But, how can you resist? We picked out the new baby (the four legged kind) two weekends ago when we were up in PA.
He is 6 weeks in these pictures. He will become a Texan when he returns with us after our Labor day trip up north for the Steele-Pineda Wedding.

The kitchen, at long last

For whatever reason, the pictures of the kitchen have not wanted to post on the blog until now. And, even now, I had to load them a few times. Perhaps I am shedding some light onto why I only get around to this every month or so ;-)

Well, here it is. We are still missing some things, the backsplash in particular. When we get there that will be my debut in tile work. Nothing like starting with the centerpiece of the house!

Before and After

Still a bit of a disaster zone, but slowly progressing into a habitable and workable space.

The mystery room

I suppose we are blessed to live in a house with so many rooms, but it can be challenging as well. We are out of beds, so we had to get a bit creative with the upstairs bedroom. This is our mystery room. It is kind of like an informal office area, which is good considering the mess that we call the office...

His, Hers and Theirs

This would be his...
This, hers...
And finally, theirs.

Progress made in the Master

I am sure most everyone who had been checking this blog for the first few months has now quit seeing as though it has been over a month since we posted anything. Well, the lull has been due to part laziness and part minimal progress. The house is starting to come together and feel like home, but the changes are subtle and sometimes seem silly to post. Plus, we want to leave some "wow" factor for when you come and see it in real life (probably all just excuses, but we're going with it for now...)

Here is a look at the master bath...

We are still missing some trim work in here, but that should be done in the next week or two. Below you can see the master bedroom. We are still lacking furniture in here. The room is immense and I am not sure what we are going to fill it with.
Here is our little window seat. We need to have a cushion made for it but again, we haven't gotten that far. For now we have just thrown a bunch of pillows on it.

Comfy outdoor living

White wicker furniture has been the plan for the house before the pilings went into the ground, and finally here it sits. Now if we can just get past the scorching heat and the mosquitos, we'll be able to enjoy it. Maybe in January...

Boy's toys

This is Ian's new love. I am not really sure which he enjoys more: turning the tv on and off (it makes this cute little sound) or turning the fire place on and off (it came with a remote control).

All I know is that I have no idea how to work the Direct TV and Ian won't show me how. He says he is living every man's dream...or something like that.

Pond or no pond?

The idea was to have a little planter here in front of the house for a nice palm tree or something of that nature. However, with the incredible amounts of rain we've experienced in the last few weeks, it has turned into a pond. Really, a pond- it has remained full of water for so long now that there are actually things growing in it; tadpoles, etc.

I vote it stays a pond; put some cool water plants in it and a bunch of koi (to match the house). Ian is still on the palm tree track, but maybe keep a small section for a little pond. We'll see.

Several neighbors -on the other hand- are thinking pool...

The Stairs and Railing

Ah, the much awaited front entrance. We decided on a temporary white railing, but the plan is to eventually weld a galventized one.





















Monte doesn't seem to mind to change of scenery.

A glimpse of the living area

Here is a quick glimpse of the dining area. I took some pictures of the kitchen area, but for some reason the blog does not want to take them. Note the big clock! Our house warming gift (in addition to all the work they did) from the Millers- thanks Mom and Dad Miller!

Granite

Desperate times call for critical measures. The granite almost created some difficult times like the appliances, but all in all it worked out well.

Basically (before we knew how challenging the hot water heater was going to be) we wanted water for our holiday company and to get water, we needed sinks, but to get sinks, we needed granite. Of course the glitch became that to get the granite in the house, we needed the front stairs, and to build the front stairs we needed a driveway.

Now, mind you, we realized this on a Thursday and the granite would be delivered the following Saturday. Plenty of time...until the rain started. It rained all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Luckily we got some nice weather and were able to pour the driveway on Thursday, the framer put the stair stringers in Friday and Ian put the treads on Saturday morning.

All that, and the granite got postponed till Tuesday. Well, at least it was done and it made things a lot easier for moving!

Kitchen in working order

Our appliances arrived two weeks ago Saturday. You think this would be an easy part of the whole building deal. Drop 'em off, put 'em where they go, voila! A Kitchen!

Hardly.

We chipped the slate on the porch getting the fridge into the house, the dishwasher leaked, the stove was installed only after three trips for the plumbers and an uncountable number of runs to Home Depot, the microwave (which was bought specifically to fit a custom built hole) didn't work, and was no longer available for purchase, and last but NOT LEAST...the water heater...

Where to begin?...well, we have some friends who bought a tankless water heater. They didn't realize the amount of money and work they would have to do to accommodate their older house for the new technology, then they lost the box and couldn't return it (maybe this is where the bad karma began?) so we bought it from them.

A third of the price; good deal, right? Wrong.

So then, the plumbers who have become increasingly living up to the stereotypes that surround the profession, hooked the darn thing up with too small of a gas line. My loving husband Ian, who was done with cold showers decided he was going to fix the thing one way or another.

Let's just say...after that, bad simply got worse and we went from cold showers to just a little trickle of water from any given faucet. Clearly, this was right about the time we all needed to clean up for a boat ride which lead to some very "clever" showering techniques. This was simply unrealistic for five people for a week, so we bit the bullet and sent the boys to Home Depot to buy another one. Well, don't you know the darn thing is a special order item which takes 10 days to arrive. Great. So, we bought a temporary one for the time being and that is what were using to date. It works fine and our showers are piping hot!

I am just hoping that when the new one arrives we can return something. These tankless deals are not cheap and now we have 3.

2 out of 5 isn't so bad

We have at least set up 2 of 5 bedrooms (that is, of course, if you don't look in the closets). Really 2/4 because -as the previous post indicates- one bedroom will be used as an office. These are the two down stairs bedrooms. We were lucky to acquire a bed from Tiffany -thanks Tiff!- in order to have a place for some company. And just in time too as we had the Miller crew join us for the fourth of July...or was it the Jourth of Fuly?

Movin' on up...

We did make the move...almost two weeks ago. Sorry, blogging has taken a back burner to other random tasks. In any case, we are now residents of 211 Oak. As you can see, however, most of our belongings reside in the smallest of 5 bedrooms.

This will -hopefully- some day resemble an office area. At the moment, I believe it could be a little bit of anything!

Night view

It looks so tranquil...appearances can be sooo deceiving...

Door hardware

Here is a sample of our door hardware. We went with oil rubbed bronze. Ian doesn't see the big deal with the oil rubbed bronze, but I love it! I just want to say that all of these knobs and such were installed while someone was in Mississippi...

Cabinents arrive!

All the way from Alabama, here are the cabinents! At first we didn't believe they would all fit in the space available.

We got started and were doing pretty well setting the cabinents...until the electrical problems...we eventually got it sorted out.

Here are the pieces of the island...


Getting closer...

The view from the stairs.