5/24/2011 Movin' in!

So this is officially our third night in the house.  It still seems like I'm living in some resort - or in some dream.  The idea that this is all ours hasn't really hit me yet.  We have until the end of the month to move out of the apartment so we've been doing a little every day.  Finally, however, we had to move the bed and claim this new place as our residence.  Many more "things" to come in but we can certainly survive here - after tomorrow.  The new refrigerator delivers tomorrow - God willing and the creek don't rise!  Yes, we had a new fridge installed last week - but it hasn't worked yet.  So after some gentle persuasion (ahem!),  - and about 200 phone calls - a new one arrives tomorrow.  The pantry was painted today so tomorrow I can start stocking it too.  Didn't have a thing to offer the kids today for a snack, and believe me, that's not good for GG's image.

The grandkids initiated the million dollar shower yesterday.  Well, OK, not exactly a million - but a bunch!  It has all the bells and whistles...with a rain head, shower head, body jets, hand-held sprayer, touch-button controls (including desired temperature) and, are you ready to this?... a remote control!!!  It's 4' X 8' ceramic slate tile accented with bronze glass tiles.  Think we went overboard?  And JD screamed through the whole experience...guess he doesn't like showers. But does he run through the water sprinkler? - heck yeah!  We outfitted the master closet with IKEA units.  I'm really liking them.  The closet is bigger than the guest bedroom.  I've always said you can't get a closet too big!  The big-screen TV and surround sound are in, as is the Dish TV system.  The phone booth is hooked up and receiving calls.  Waiting for the jukebox to arrive.  Tommy's masterpiece, the dining room table, is in place and looks awesome.  The guest bed is up and ready for guests.  Tommy's mom is occupying it this week as she helps us get moved in.  What a trooper she is.  Washing windows, dusting, floorboards, whatever - at age 82.

Tommy and Todd have turned their attention to the outside and a little landscaping.  Leveling out the lot some and bringing in topsoil.  Forty tons of rock (officially called "crush and run") laid down for the driveway.  Now we just need a little rain - and lots of sod.  Well, maybe just a little sod.  The bank is about broke.  As for me, I have to learn which light switches control what - and I have to corral and identify all the remote controls in the house.  What a joke!  We have remotes for the TV's in 5 rooms, DISH,  surround sound, ceiling fans in 2 rooms, shower, Tommy (no, just kidding about that one!)  I'm overwhelmed - and humbled by this whole experience.  We are truly blessed in so many ways.  Tomorrow I'll take more pictures of some of the almost finished product  and post them.  I suspect we'll be adding finishing touches for months, maybe years, to come.

5/20/11 Almost finished pictures

 

Kitchen cabinets - hickory with chocolate glaze

installing granite counter tops

island view looking toward pantry

guest bath - Mexican Talevera vessel sink

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master bath vanity with copper sinks and appliance "garage"

stacked stone fireplace under construction - against wood

 plank wall

5/11/11 Better late than never...

OK already, so this update is really overdue!  Things have been happening fast and furiously at the Dublin house.  I took a ten day "leave of absence" in late March to visit Denver and Phoenix, checking up on my brother, sister-in-law and sister, respectively.  Enjoyed a little R 'n R along the way with a family cookout at my niece's newly-remodeled house.  It was a good mental break from the Dublin house that refreshed me for the push to the finish.  Once I got back, things just started happening every day...make this decision, choose this, choose that, get colors lined up for paint, pick the floor. Oh, the floor - what a whooping decision that was!  I probably took more than two dozen samples to the house and agonized over each one.  Once a few other choices were made, the floor became easier.  But if someone had told me 6 months ago that the living area of the house would be beige and gray - well, I would have laughed at them!  It kind of started with the great room paint color - called Yosemite Sand. ( I could write an entire blog about paint color names, but that's another story.)  Anyway, I prefer to call it "khaki."   There's a lighter version of it on the ceiling and a darker version in the study.  We did the room's longest wall (which supports the fireplace) in 8-inch tongue and groove planks. Now, what to do with the fireplace?  The kitchen cabinets are hickory with a chocolate glaze (which tones down the high contrast of the shades within the hickory) and we decided on mostly black granite countertops.  Officially the granite is called Uba-Tuba - now what's with that name for a color?  We went with gray stacked stone on the fireplace, so it just seemed right to go with gray slate-looking flooring in the kitchen, breakfast room, sunroom and mud room.  I got my wish for the high-end cushioned vinyl which is, by the way,  easy to clean and pet perfect.  What's not to like about that!?  We opted for carpeting everywhere else in the house (well, except for the bathrooms!) and choose a beige/gray (would that be "greige"?) frieze that will do well in hiding the Georgia clay dirt.  While all this is going on and the decisions are being made, I am second-guessing how well everything will go together. It's harder than you think to pick out bits and pieces of the "big picture" - especially when the big picture isn't incredibly clear.  I worried everyday...

The front porch came together when the columns were put in.  OMG - what a huge differences to the appearance. Much more substantive...the four columns are one-third brick (on the bottom) and two-thirds square tapered white fiberglass.  Love it!  Meanwhile, the garage doors have gone up and the place is  beginning to really look like a house.  The shop is finally finished, bathroom completed, painted, floored, and equipped with a fridge.  We brought in the pinball machine and the room is a huge success.  Jacely loves the pinball (but she calls it gumball!) and stretches her arms across the glass to reach the "flippers."  She managed to put it out of commission the first day!  But it was soon up and running again and the shop's room is officially  the new hang out.  Tommy's got the TV hooked up and dialed in to the Western channel. Thinking about calling it the "roadhouse" - what do ya think?

Rather than make this a marathon post, I'm going to stop here and add a few pictures.  I'll resume the narrative tomorrow.  That is, if the computer holds together...it's been acting funny lately.