We're getting closer!

We're moving right along with the house!

Sorry the video cut off early - I ran out of room on the memory card.  I was about to tell you where the toilet and new double vanity will be going.

This vanity was our find of the month so far.  It is solid poplar, with a granite top and two under-mount sinks. It was originally $1100 at Lowe's and happened to be on sale last weekend so we went to buy it and discovered it was slightly damaged (a little nick I'll never point out to anyone and will be impressed if you can find), so they marked it down some more.  While they were trying to load it onto the cart to take to the register, the manager broke the back-splash and we bargained them down even further!  We ended up getting it for $375 and are so happy about it!

We're hoping to be moving into the house sometime in the first half of November and are getting more and more excited about it.  We're hoping we don't have any big set-backs before now and then and that everything continues to stay on track.

The details that matter

The last two weeks have been full of finish carpentry.  We've been putting up crown moulding, hanging doors, painting, and working on plumbing and electric work like crazy.

A stack of trim - ready to go up.

 Vinnie found us a fabulous deal on moulding/trim at a warehouse and they practically gave it to us.  We're so happy to have someone on our side who knows where the good deals are and who knows how to talk his way into an even better deal before you even know what's happened.

Kinda blurry picture of the crown moulding in the living room

Here's the front bathroom.  We bought the vanity at Home Depot, I painted the walls in Arabian Sands (by Behr), and we're doing the oiled bronze fixtures for a little added flair.  Yesterday Vinnie put a door on that bathroom. Today Scott's putting in the drain on that shower and finishing the plumbing for it and the toilet, which we bought yesterday, so we can finally have a somewhat working bathroom over there!

Scott's dad came down for three days last week (he was a trooper with his recently operated on broken ankle and all).  We set up little work stations with comfy stools for him and he helped Scott figure out the rest of the major electric work.  Scott's been working on connecting everything throughout the house for the last few weeks now.  A big task considering we have about 150 outlets and light switches alone (not including light fixtures) - the more the merrier, right?

Another big project has been the master bathroom shower.  We were originally going to do an Acrylic shower insert which we special ordered through Home Depot.  Three days after it was supposed to arrive, a few weeks ago, they told us it was back ordered for at least 5 more weeks.  Such a frustration.  SO, back to the drawing board.  We decided to go with a tile shower, but were afraid of leaking, due to the fact that we have heard only horror stories of completely tiled showers which crack and leak within a few years.  Because we really like the brand new sub floor we put in throughout that whole area of the house, we decided to play it safe and hopefully avoid leaks and termites and rot and all the fun things that come along with water seeping into places it shouldn't, with a fiberglass insert for the base.

I painted the room last week and we went shopping for the tile on Monday evening.  We picked out a marble tile from our local flooring outlet place for $1.99/sq ft and love it.  

Scott found the glass tile border on clearance at Home Depot.  We have enough to hopefully carry that through to a back-splash for our vanity and maybe around the bathtub in the room?  Details that can be added later as we go. 

Our tile man is over there grouting everything as we speak and will be done with it today so Scott can move onto the plumbing in that room next.  

Floors and Walls

SO, SO much has happened to the house since our last update!  I keep thinking of the few faithful readers I have on here and feeling guilty that I haven't updated you, but honestly I just haven't had the time or energy.  Anywhooo - now you're going to get a rush of posts as I try to catch up while I'm on break from school.

This last week flooring was the goal of our lives.  We bought almost an entire pallet of slate shipped straight from India to our local flooring store and made available to us on sale for $0.99/ sq foot.  A steal of a deal. Hence the reason we bought so much.  It was hellish to carry all of that from the truck, up one flight of stairs, and into the house.  My arms and legs were shaking after only half of it was in the house and we were both sore the next couple days.  I will be happy if I never ever have to carry that much slate in my life again.

We found some great tile guys on Craigslist and they laid it last week.  We now have slate in the back hallway, our pantry, our master bathroom, the other back bathroom, and our laundry room.  About 360 sq ft of slate.

Our slate.  

Half-empty pallet in the back of the truck:

First few pieces laid in the back hallway.  It was such a dusty ordeal!

All the slate laid and looking dirty from the thin set.  

(I spent about two hours squatting/hands and knees cleaning off the tiles so I could seal the slate before grouting it)

My husband, the stone mason.  Chipping away some high edges so we can open and close our back door

Two coats of semi-gloss sealer for all the slate:

Finished product:

We picked a different porcelain tile for the front bathroom.  I love it.  The shower surround is matching porcelain with a travertine tile design border.  We found the tile at a great price and it ended up being only slightly more expensive than using a fiberglass shower surround.  We're pretty happy because we love this look so much more than the fiberglass we're used to and were expecting to use.

Shower and floor laid: filling in with grout.

I forgot to go back and get another picture that evening with it all done.  I'll show you next week once we get some paint on the walls and a toilet in (we're so close to having a working bathroom over there!)

The big decision this week is what tile to use in our master shower.  We're trying to figure out how to use a different type of tile (we think slate would get gross in a shower - it's so rough and porous - even after sealing it) to use that will tie in well with the slate on the floor.  Hoping we can come to a decision by Tuesday so that tile work can get finished and we can start hooking all the plumbing up!