Day 168

We can walk upstairs today!

Doesn't it look beautiful?  It is starting to look like a house again!  The floor guys still need to come back and do the last coat after we get the baseboards installed. 

And our new appliances were delivered today!  Doesn't the fridge look magnificent?  I can't wait to load it full of vegetables!

Here is the new stove.  It is not fully in place since we need to install the baseboards around it, but it is hooked up and usable.  We christened it tonight with a Papa Murphy's pizza.  Oh, how I've missed you, Papa!  We used the top oven and it baked it amazingly well!  Much better than our rental stove.  Which, now that I think about it, shouldn't be that amazing to me.  We saw the bill when our stove and fridge were delivered at our rental, and our landlord spent $800 on both as we recall.

And the new dishwasher!  We had a dishwasher with the house when we moved in, but who wants a dishwasher that doesn't match?  Having a dishwasher is a totally new experience for us.  Well, that is only half true.  We had a little counter dishwasher at our rental that drastically changed our lives.  We were so excited about that that I got out the tripod and made Jason take a picture with me in front of it.  (I tried to find that picture to post but failed.  sorry!)  Can you imagine Jason's excitement tonight?  I'm exhausted and half asleep and Jason is running up and down the stairs, looking for dirty dishes to wash in the dishwasher!  I hope this excitement lasts!    

Day 166

A coat of stain and polyurethane! 

This is the picture I took around the corner because we can't walk up there yet.  Jason is worried that it is too dark.  I think it looks nice!  They are going to leave off the last coat until after we've installed the baseboards.  The appliances come on Friday!  

Basement kitchen living isn't as fun as it looks!  We're getting cramped down here! 

Day 162

We are getting our floors done!  That means things are getting close! 

These are some possible stain colors.  The far right is just natural with no stain.  We are leaning toward the last two choices, mostly the lightest stain which is the third one over.  Next week we are not going to be able to walk upstairs at all and we'll have to walk around to the back of the house to avoid walking on the landing to the downstairs.  We're hoping we'll be able to stand all the fumes from floor finishing, but we'll see.  If it's bad, can we bum a stay in the Magnuson's guest room? ;)  On the bright side, we will be getting our appliances and we'll be able to put furniture up there by the first week in March!    Hurray! 

Check out this crazy icicle hanging on the Christmas lights cord! 

Day 158

Jason worked on the plumbing for the faucet today, and here is the proof! 

 It's just the cold water for right now because he needs a couple more parts from the store to finish. 

 Check out Jason's amazing plumbing prowess. 

It's so clean for once!  

 

It's almost as if it's ready for us to move in! 

 We just can't go in the bathroom 

 or the garage! 

Day 157

I'm back!  I was in San Antonio last week, and unfortunately it rained the entire time.  While I was gone, Jason worked on the electrical in the kitchen.  And today, our countertops arrived! 

 We like how it has interesting swirls in it.  This picture also shows the outlets that Jason was able to install. 

We even have a nifty little spot for Jason to put his keys and charge his cell phone right next to the back door entrance. 

Here is the island.  I love how silky smooth it feels!  You are all going to have to come over soon so you can feel it in person!

Jason is beyond excited about using the kitchen.  He started installing the sink trap tonight.  My favorite dialog of the evening:  Jason: "Is there water gushing everywhere?" Rebecca:  "no..."  Jason: "You know what that means?  I did it right!" 

Jason enjoys using his soldering torch! 

Day 146

Jason installed our island pendants!

Here, Jason is finding the studs in the ceiling.  We originally decided on 3 pendants, but we realized after the pendant holes were already there that we wanted the island in a slightly different spot.  Now with the island position, there is no way to make 3 pendants centered due to the position of the ceiling joists.  We think 2 pendants will give off plenty of light anyway. 

Here they are installed!  I think they look  great.  We do have a problem though.  The ceiling isn't level, which we knew, but the pendants aren't level with each other!  Is there any way to fix this?  I don't think it is that noticeable but Jason says it will drive him crazy every time he looks at them. 

Jason is going to use these drywall circles to fill in the old holes.  He gets to play with joint compound again!  Woopee! 

Here is the most exciting picture of the post:  the granite!  This is a sample of the color we picked out.  It is a Brazilian granite called giallo ornamental, and we received a great deal from the dad of one of my students.  He says I can't give you his name because apparently it is a super secret, crazy good deal.  I think it is pronounced with a y sound for the double l's but everyone was calling it "Gee-al-o."  Gringos!  They are going to measure for a template in the next couple days, and then it will take a couple weeks for them to fabricate it. 

Day 143

Jason has been painting trim like crazy!  It doesn't make for a very exciting picture though, because he is painting trim that was white to begin with.  Now it looks all clean and shiny!  You really need to see that in person to appreciate.  So instead of a picture of that, I thought I'd show you the first installment of my "Birds on a Wire" triptique. 

I know, I actually found spare time to do this!  I think we are always hardest on ourselves, so I'm going to refrain from judgment.  I used Jason's joint compound to create the texture!  He bought a big bucket of it so I don't think he will miss it.