Simply doing the laundry...

...is an "adventure." The dust is thick, there are boxes and tools everywhere (and nowhere to set the laundry baskets), and the power goes out in the middle of a load, sometimes. Heaven forbid I drop a wet sock transferring from the washer to the dryer - back to the washer it goes, covered in dust!
I will not miss this!!

Rewind

This week's decision topic: where oh where should the TV go? We were going to leave some space between the mantle and TV, but that resulted in the TV centerline located at 74" high. The contractor reviewed it with me again today. "Too high!" he said, while motioning to a sore neck, right before heading home for the day.

R and I revisited it again tonight (we've only gone over it, oh, about a dozen times), and with help from dear designer friend H in LJ, determined that the contractor was right.

The mortar was still soft... So we yanked two chunks of stone right off the face of the fireplace to make room for a lower TV mount.

What will we do for fun when this project is over?

It's all in the details

They're continuing to finish drywall mudding and sanding this week, and they're finishing up the window and door trim. It was tough to choose the appropriate trim (thanks MLG and T&A), and I'm pleased to find that I love it!

Out with the wooden window box...

... to make way for a wrought iron balcony. Stay tuned.

Paint colors

I've been agonizing over paint colors, which I find to be the most difficult of all design choices. I've had two color consultations, one this morning, and I think we are finally done. Walls, ceilings, trim, closets - everything has been selected!

Colors include "wet concrete," "smoke," "pashmina," "meditation" and "honeymoon." Gotta love paint names! :)

Mobile office

I came back from dropping the kids off at school this morning to thick dust hanging in the air throughout our house. I need to squeeze in a couple of hours of work before heading off to a meeting, so I'm working in my car. Dust free, and the wireless reaches out here!

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...

Quiet work

The guys have been "mudding" the drywall (covering up all the seams and screws) since yesterday. It's a nice respite from all the noise.

The doors

Not the band... The lovely, privacy-enhancing, quiet-producing solid wood doors. With the lack of privacy we are currently experiencing, you have no idea how exciting the prospect of a door is!

Drywall in the loft

Almost all of the drywall went in over the past two days. What a difference! Very hard to photograph, but this gives an idea...

Sorta like a scratch on a brand new car?

Except it's one of our brand new windows. Broken today by the drywall subcontractor. Waah!!!

The Pella service rep is having a hard time explaining to me why the cost of the new glass and cladding is over $100 more than the original, complete, brand new window.  On top of this, they add a $500 labor cost to replace what she described was "a very complicated installation."  Are you freakin' kidding me?

Near miss

Today, I heard a lot of loud cutting that sounded like it was coming from the bathroom. The construction is right on the other side of this wall behind the toilet. I went to investigate and found the electrician cutting the blocks that hold up the cabinet over the toilet! I notified him of the problem, after which he replaced two of the four screws along the top of the cabinet that he had cut clean through. Whew! That was close.