It’s been a long, but very productive week at the house. The shower floor and threshold were poured, niche shelves were installed and a waterproofing coat was done to the drywall.  Although we drew out where the decorative tile would go, we opted to make life easier on the tile guy and move it up a little from the niche so he can do a bullnose tile border around the shelves, then a full 12″ x 12″ tile and then the decorative tile.  You can see the new line drawn below the shower head pipe.  Above that will be one more 12″ x 12″ tile and another finishing bullnose tile.  The floor will have a mosaic pattern with similar colors.  The tile guy picked that part out without our input so that the shower floor can be slopped for drainage, but he did choose something that coordinates with what we chose, so we gave him the green light to proceed.  He will also use a piece of the quartz we have as counter tops for the threshold top so that there are aren’t tile cuts showing on the edges.

The finisher also installed all of the windowsills.  The nail holes still need to be caulked, but that will happen at the very end.  He also installed shelving in all of the closets, which was not supposed to be done.  I felt bad about them wasting time and money, but what they installed was not efficient use of the space – and that’s the exact reason we had that specific request included in our contract.  We did save them some cost by choosing not to have crown molding in the master since we didn’t want the lights behind the molding, so I guess it balances out.

The hubs and I have spent a good deal of this week working on the flooring  and are officially out of material until the second shipment arrives tomorrow or Tuesday.  We were able to finish the main living area, the laundry room, start the hallway and do part of the master bedroom and a section into the master bath so the tile work on the tub and shower can be started.

The odd shapes in the Master bathroom have certainly proved challenging.  That small piece in front of the tub and shower took three tries to get the right shape and joints!  Luckily, all three were cut from scrap pieces I’ve been saving and categorizing as we’ve progressed.  We’ve only had 1 or two mis-cut boards, which were then used in another spot by cutting the mistake off and using it for a starting board.  So, overall we’ve had extremely little wasted material. 

We’re loving how the floor is looking, even without the trim and lots of foot prints!  The girls were in and out the back door the whole time we were working, tracking in snow from outside and it held up perfectly.  You probably couldn’t even tell it was damp if it weren’t for all the dust still inside!

The counter tops were being cut while we were there working and we got to see them come in, one by one.

Notice their caulking warming station int he heat vent over by the door?  I was actually pretty impressed with their resourcefulness.

The foreman asked if we wanted round or square sinks and since we didn’t have a preference other than that they be under-mounted, I told him to do whatever was easiest.  He said the round was, but still laid both out with the counter for me to see before deciding.  When he pointed out that the round sinks were also deeper that made the choice clear.

I didn’t think about the fact that the round shape means more counter space until I saw them in the space.  Guess that was a good choice!

We left for a bit to get some dinner after we ran out of material, but stopped back by before heading home to see the progress.  By then he had most of the counter tops in place and was working on the back splashes.  The island is so long it has to have a seam on the bar top, so that’s why there is a bit of bare board on the end.  The back splash on the island will go from the top of the inside counter to the bottom of the bar counter, which should be super easy to clean!

I’m loving the under-mount kitchen sink, which will have a single faucet head that doubles as a sprayer.

I was originally worried that the counters would be too dark or too orange, but combined with everything else they look fantastic.

Down the street, the new neighbors foundation is in, as is their well and septic.  They are obviously trying to get things up going before winter sets in.

But they may be a little too late since all this came down while we were on-site yesterday.

And because I forgot to put up the window I’d had down for the dogs on the ride in, we took some of it with us…

Please ignore the lovely hole my fur-babies have started in my seat.  We’ve decided to just let it go and replace that chair once it’s fully destroyed, since seat covers didn’t prevent it from ripping in the first place.  😦