Looking up the stairs

This week, we installed the stained glass windows…yes, stained glass in the bathroom!  The windows step up above the shower stall.

Stained glass installed

They are “lit” from behind by the skylight in the stairwell, or from the stairwell, they are “lit” by the bathroom lights.

From top of stairs

They give real personality to both spaces.

One of the shower walls is built in front of the pocket for the pocket door into the bathroom, so we had to add plywood between the studs of the pocket in order to attach the backer board.

Pocket door re-inforcement

The screws can only extend through the backer board and the plywood or they could go through the door. Then the door wouldn’t slide.  It worked!

We got the board in and also installed the niche into the wall.

Backer board installed

It is a small shower, so we are trying to limit any projections into the shower space.  It’s about ready to tile now.

Trying out the shower pan

The shower pan will be installed before the tile on the walls, then we will assemble the shower walls and doors and slide them onto the pan.

Some assembly required

Piece of cake, eh??

I got a package from Willow last week.  It was a really neat metal sculpture..a lizard!

The lizard

It came from her favorite store where she is living now in Texas.

Lizard on the bark

It’s really cool and we thought the best place for him was climbing up the bark on our back porch.  Looks good!

Now, one other thing. I did an interview a couple of weeks ago for a magazine article about timber frames and small homes.  It will be in the April issue of Timber Home Living.  You can link to the article here.  http://www.timberhomeliving.com/shrink-to-fit

We’ve come a long way, and we’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.  I know we’re going to love living in our new timber frame home!

Finishing the tile

It was fun to get away for a few days, and we had a nice visit with Mandy and Jules. It was warm and sunny and we got to relax.

Dining room grouted

When we returned, we grouted the dining room tile.

Mud room to dining room

I like the look and the chairs should slide nicely without scratching the floor! Ha!

We moved upstairs to the bathroom and John got all the shower plumbing in the walls.

Shower corner

The shower sits in the corner next to the pocket door, so there will be tile on those walls inside the shower.

Shower niche

We’ll have a niche in the wall for soap and shampoo.

Tiling the upstairs bath

We also got the tile on the floor.

Upstairs bath floor

It’s a classic black and white basket weave pattern.  We’ll do the shower walls in black and white too.

We didn’t get as much done this week end as we had planned, but we spent Saturday honoring an amazing lady.  John’s Aunt Jimmie died this week.  She was 102 and was a beautiful and godly woman.  She lived beside us until she went into a nursing home a few years ago.  I remember her always working in her yard and tending her flowers.  She always had a vegetable garden and she could grow anything!  She built rock walls and took care of her house and was such a sweetheart.  We will miss her greatly! 

Now that's cold!

Then it gets just warm enough to rain like crazy and freeze again at night.  The tile saw water pan froze (sitting on the back porch), but we got it thawed out.  No damage, thank goodness.

Change order!  We decided to tile the whole floor in the dining room, so we really need that tile saw again.

Backer board in the dining room

John got the backer board installed on Wednesday so I could start tiling today.  It is somewhat warmer now, so I spent the day laying tiles.

Dining room

We think it’s going to look nice, and will work out better when we have the table fully extended.

Tiles are still wet

John also finished the upstairs shower drain plumbing and replaced the floor under the shower pan.

Closing up the shower drain

Then he laid backer board over the whole floor up there and we’re ready to tile that floor.  Unless we make another change, that’s the last floor to be tiled.  We’ll still have to tile the walls in that shower, but there’s more plumbing to do before we can finish that.

We’re taking a few days off to work on the house, then it’s off to Myrtle Beach for some well deserved R & R!!!  Hopefully it will be a time to rest and return with new vigor.

Working on more panels

I worked some more on the “copper” ceiling tiles on one of the sunny days, but only got 3 of the 6 done.  It snowed last week and went down to around 10 degrees, so not much happened then.  The 3 tiles were covered with diluted green paint.

The "tools"

I used some tube oil paints and a sponge to put in some highlights, then rubbed off the paint…kinda like antiquing.

Wiping down the glaze

Then I went back and rubbed off more to make the copper color show through more.  I’ll get the next 3 on the next warm and sunny day.

John fastens the ceiling tiles

John installed the ones that were already done.  They really do look good.

Ceiling over the tub

They need a few trim touches, but essentially, they are finished.  Nice touch, huh?

I finished the grouting on the sun porch “fireplace.”

"Fake firebox"

It looks really nice too.  I’m excited to get started on the rock work around it, but that will have to wait until after the CO.  We have to concentrate on the minimum requirements to meet building code. Then we can finish the things we want to do and get moved in!

We worked on getting the upstairs bathroom plumbed.

Upstairs shower plumbing

We had to cut a hole in the sub-floor to get to the shower drain.  Now, John can align the drain with the new shower pan and replace the sub-floor.

Upstairs bath

Hopefully that won’t be too big of a deal.  Then we can tile the whole bathroom floor and be ready to install all the plumbing fixtures.  He’ll also install the shower head and then we will tile the shower walls.

Still lots of work to do, but we are really looking forward to moving in soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well, here we are, two years into construction.  We’ve been working whenever we can, but it’s been cold and we had another down time because the blog was hacked again.  Everything had to be taken down and put back again. It was a nightmare according to Bonnie, but as you can see, she came through again.  All is well.

Sun porch "hearth"

I set some more tile in the sun porch.  The back side of the living room fireplace projects into the sun porch, so we built a fake hearth for the stove.

Sun porch stove

Then I added more tile behind the stove to look like an old fireplace that had been bricked up.  The rest of the “fireplace” will be covered with river rock and will have a mantle.  The stove is going to fit nicely and will be great in the winter. We had to get it ready to install so the gas people could go ahead and install it when we install the rest of the gas appliances.

Dining room tile

I finished grouting all the tile in the dining room and the small amount left in the master bath.

Tub trim finished

The tile is finished around the tub.  It only needs to be sealed again.

Grab bar & medicine cabinet

John set the grab bar in the shower.  We will be able to use the bottom part for hanging washcloths, so it serves a double purpose. I also laid out the glass blocks around the shower curb, just to make sure everything still fits. It does!

Trying out the glass blocks

The glass block wall will rise to 6 feet above the curb. We set the medicine cabinets into their spaces too. We’re getting there…slowly.

"copper" ceiling tiles

It was a pretty nice day today, so I was able to take the tin ceiling tiles outside and apply the “verde” paint.  First, I painted green paint on the copper colored panels.  Then I highlighted the “copper” by rubbing some of it off. I only did 4 tiles today because I wanted them to all look pretty much alike.  They will be placed on the small sloped ceiling above the tub.

Ceiling tile

I have 6 more to do, and they will go above the toilet.  I think they’re going to really set that area off and give it a nice look.

We hope everyone has a blessed Christmas and we’re all looking forward to another year to plan and dream and fulfill our dreams.

Happy New Year!  May God richly bless you as he has blessed us.

John & Janice

In the meantime, we’ve had a couple of  ”family crisises” and work came to a standstill.  Now, hopefully we’re back on track and the work has resumed.

Jenny's painting

Jenny was here from Texas at Thanksgiving.  She helped us out by painting some more of the walls. All help is appreciated and it looks good. She did the entry walls, the closet, lower living room walls and most of the stairwell. She would have done more, but we ran out of paint and it has been really cold, so painting has been a chore.

I finally finished setting all the tile and trim in the master bath.  The tub is in now and John installed the faucets. We still have to caulk around the tub where it meets the deck.

Grouting the shower walls

I got all the trim set and grouted and started grouting the floor. Then I grouted the shower ceiling and walls. Now grouting isn’t really hard, but the clean-up takes forever. It really is beginning to look finished now, but this stuff needs large blocks of time!

The shower spa

After sealing the wall , John installed the shower spa. Wow!  This is going to be soooooo cool!

Look at all those jets!

Everything kinda went up without a hitch and so I finished grouting the shower floor.  The square white piece in the floor is a drain plug.  It will be removed and replaced with the copper drain cover.

Shower floor

Notice the trim around the edge of the tile.  Each piece was cut from a 12″ tile, then beveled and set and grouted. It tops off the tile around the tub and gives everything a finished look.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the tub and the shower, but I just keep getting dirtier, not cleaner!

Front porch

One other thing.  I couldn’t resist just a little holiday decorating, so we hung a wreath on the front porch entry.  It’s a great greeting when you go over there to work.

1st wreath

Ah well!  Next Christmas will be here before we know it!

Close-up

It turned out just like we wanted. It will have to cure for about 3 weeks before we seal the grout.

Finished entry

I still have to paint the interior of the coat closet, then we’ll re-hang the doors, paint the entry walls and trim everything out.

John’s been working on the plumbing.  He’s added a bunch of “stuff” to the wall for the radiant heat.

Ready to hook up the water heater

He has a few items that he has to get to install the water heater, but we’re getting close.

We ordered a wooden closet kit for our closet and it arrived this week.

Broken closet shelf

Unfortunately, when we opened it, one of the shelves had been damaged, so we couldn’t work on that yet. We did get a replacement yesterday, so that was really good service.  Now we just have to plan the layout.

We got the tiles set in the dining room today, too.

Dining room door tiles

There are 2 rows of tile just inside the French doors.  We now have tile inside all the exterior doors.  We hope this will protect the wooden floors in the rest of the house. Water and snow on tiles is okay….not so much on hardwood floors. They’ll be ready to seal tomorrow. We’ll also seal the second coat on the shower tiles and be ready to grout both on Wednesday!

We got a real “biggie” done today with the help of Willow.  She and John lifted the tub into place today while I helped guide it from below. We didn’t get a picture yet, but that will come next week.

Willow also helped plant some daffodils today.  She’s a good helper and a lot of fun to have around.  We have a few more things to plant tomorrow, then it’s back to work inside.  All-in-all, a pretty good week!

Leaves & pebbles installed

 The “rug” border was stuck down last weekend and Willow and I filled in around them with the pebbles. It was kinda like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I sealed the pebbles and then covered them with clear contact paper…3 layers.  Then I cut the paper off the leaves and removed them so I could move the pebbles and stick them down.

Pebbles that surround leaves

 It worked, sort of.  I did not put enough thin set down, so they were still not on the same level with the leaves and border. After sticking down the leaves, and while everything was still movable, I peeled off the contact paper.  Most of the pebbles were loose and did not stick down well, so I ended up re-setting them one at a time to get enough thin set behind them to build them up high enough and make them stick well.

Dry-fitting the entry tile

 It was tedious, but well worth the effort.  After that chore was done, I finished dry-fitting all the tiles in the entry and closet.  The tile saw is on the back porch, so there were many trips back and forth.

Today, I started sticking down the rest of the tiles.

View from the loft

 It was pretty cold, so I could only work from the inside. Not a good day to have the door open and work from the front porch.

Fireplace from the loft

I had to keep a fire going in the fireplace all day, but I was plenty warm. John went up to the loft and took pictures. There is no heat up there, but it was warm too. We thought it would be, but if we need auxiliary heat, we’ll use a space heater.  I ran out of mixed-up thin set at about 10:30 PM, so I still have a few more tiles to do tomorrow. Bummer! I wanted to grout tomorrow!  

Almost ready to seal and grout

Well, it looks good, and grout will have to wait until I’m off on Wednesday. It’s not like I’m going to run out of things to do before then!

I spray painted the copper base coat on the ceiling tiles this week .

Painting copper color on tin tiles

They are ready now for the “Verde” touches to be added.

Ceiling tile

We’ll do that before we install them.

John got the posts set for the power panel where the meter box and such will be mounted.

Setting the posts

They will be on the back of the panel and won’t be visible. From there, they will go underground into the house.  That will be a really great day!  We plan to build a small arbor attached to the posts to make that area more attractive. Probably a spring project.

John got the shower tile sealed today before he went to work.  Now it’s ready for grout, too. He’s going to take some time off work next week and try to get the water heater installed and get things ready for the power hook-up.  Hopefully, we can get that done and try out the radiant floor heat soon. That will be so nice!

Dining room

It is pretty dark, but the dining room has lots of natural light and we think it really looks great. The dark background really makes the wood tones pop out.  

Dining room doors

We still have to put the trim around the baseboards and doors and of course put the floors down. The floors will be the last thing installed.

Speaking of floors, I started working on the front entry floors today.  John installed the backer board yesterday.

Entry tile

I spent a lot of time just getting the layout right. The border goes all the way around the entry.  The closet will have 12 inch tiles inside that will show slightly at the bottom of the doors.

Placing "the rug"

After laying out the border, we added strips of 1/4 inch backer board to lift up the 1 inch tiles that will complete the border. Then, I placed the edge pieces of  ”The Rug” in front of the door.   The rug will have tiles shaped like leaves and the leaves will be surrounded by pebbles.  Hoping to get that done tomorrow.  The rest of the entry floor will have 12 inch tiles set on the diagonal.

It turned cold again the last couple of days, so we’re glad we got most of the outside work finished.

Spider on the snail

I discovered a spider had taken up residence with the snail.  Guess everybody is looking for a little shelter.  I know I can hardly wait to move in….someday!

He's not exactly Mr Clean lol

John had installed the glass doors, so we had to cover the opening so we wouldn’t mess them up. The grouting went well.  I had started it on Wednesday, and when John came home from work around 3, he helped with the clean up.

Grouted and ready to seal again

We’re certainly pleased with the way it came out. Now, the only task to be done is to install the log lighter and cement the hole where it enters the fire box.

When Willow was here last weekend, we had planned to do the last pebble dash wall, but it was just too windy, so we did a creative project instead.

Willow's candles

We had picked and dried wildflowers when she was here last, so we decorated candles with them.

Another candle

They turned out pretty well for our first try. We also tried making some candles, but we had a problem, so we’ll re-melt and do that another day. It was fun!

We have a whole pile of tile scraps and we’ve been trying to figure out what we can do with them, too.

More creative "fodder"

I have a couple of ideas, but it might be awhile before we can work on those!

John got the tub tile sealed and we grouted around the tub.

Sealing around the tub

He also sealed the shower ceiling tiles and one shower wall. When the other walls are sealed, we’ll be ready to grout the whole shower and the bathroom floor. That is a real “biggie” because then we can install the shower spa unit and set the toilet and two pedestal sinks. We’re ready now to set the tub, but I’m afraid he’s gonna need someone with a lot more upper body strength than me to help him with that. We’ll have to drill through the tiles for the faucet openings after the tub is set, then the electrician will hook up the pump and the heater.

We ordered replicas if the old tin ceiling tiles last week, and they arrived on Thursday.

Priming ceiling tiles

I got them out in the back yard today and started spraying them on the back side with auto primer.  They have to be sealed against moisture because they’ll be in our bathroom and will be subjected to moisture, so we don’t want them to rust. They’ll be installed on the ceiling over the tub and the one over the toilet. I plan to paint them to look like aged copper. Should look very nice.

It really feels good to be getting so many of these projects done now. Move-in day is getting closer! We work every minute we can, and we’re getting tired, but soon we’ll be able to relax and kick back in our new space.

The Jeep

Maybe we should be like the kitty and take a “power nap” now and then. She has already taken up with our latest addition, the Jeep. Yay!  No more hiking up this long driveway for 2 months in the winter!

We both work full time jobs, so the going has been slow, but we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now………….priceless!