More tile pics

Gettin' things done - Tile, check

We just had the Vietnamese assasin tiling crew at the house this past week. They were fast, really fast. They were also very good at what they do. On the surface, tiling - at least to me - seems like it would be a fairly easy thing to do. After watching these guys work, I now definitely appreciate this art form. You gotta know where to start and how to end, and every tiling project has its quirks.

The stairs have landed!

Oh, what a beautiful sight. I never thought I would say that about stairs, but that's just what they are. We started off by seeing the pieces, and I was generally happy but not too impressed. The sum is definitely better than the parts.

The intricate detailing on the sides of the staircase is Krista's work. Our staircase is in the middle of the house, opened to the Great room and Foyer. It's detailing that the staircase maker has only made a few other times, so it's very unique. Krista insisted on getting it. And boy am I happy she did.

More pics III

The first pic is the trim on the side of the staircase. It's hard to imagine but pics will follow of the final product. The gorgeous newell posts. And our amazing wood floors. Not finished yet, just in their raw form as sub-contractors are still traipsing in and out.

More pics II

Our beautiful new bay windows in the Kitchen courtesy of our father-in-law. Our fireplace. And our master bathtub.

More pics

The first pic is a picture of our front door from the Great room. The second pic is a picture of our Kitchen from the Great room. And the third pic is a picture of our fireplace with our new paint color and new cultured stone.

And now it's moving ... fast

Houston, we have a driveway. I am very happy to report that the house is coming along nicely. One of my favorite sayings during this house building process is "peaks and valleys" in terms of the emotional roller coaster that we've been on. And, as a major side note, we really couldn't of done any of this without the strength and guidance of God in our lives. All the doors that He has opened; that we were sure would not be possible, has been amazing. So, my other favorite saying is "fits and starts" and now we're definitely in a start period.

It's been very hectic over at the house the last week or two. Dry wall guys came in and sealed the walls on the inside of the house in less than a week. We gave a tour to another construction savvy guy; he commented on how well the dry wall turned out, so I'm very pleased. The hardwood floors have been installed and they look beautiful - better than expected. We chose to go with Tigerwood which, I belive is a fairly uncommon choice and especially in Connecticut. It looks pretty much as it sounds with black "tiger stripes" flowing through the wood. We have to give credit to my sister-in-law and mother-in-law for helping us with the selection. So, thanks Yvonne and Kara! We're actually getting a lot of complements from sub-contractors which is nice to hear.

Our builder has been painting the inside of the house a soft, off-white color. We wanted a warmer color for the two-story great room and my lovely, hard-working wife worked really hard to get a color right as it would have been difficult for us to paint it later. After sampling many colors on the wall - I would guess at least 10 - we found "our" color. We continued to hem and haw over whether it was too dark or too light up until we finally saw the end product on the wall in all its glory. In a nutshell, we're very pleased.

Now the staircase is being built. I'm so excited to see the finished product. We've seen the components of the staircase and it is very intricate. We have a "fancy" staircase. I can't wait to see the staircase. I almost left work in the middle of the day to drive out to the house to see how the staircase was progressing. It will definitely be a centerpiece of the Great Room.

Tile guys are coming in this weekend. We're pushing hard to get the house done by the end of December. But, we'll see how it goes. If I've learned only one thing from this project, it's that; in the immortal words of my father-in-law, "sometimes you've just got to go with the flow".