Autumn came back this week and it was much appreciated…not quite ready for the winter spell we had.

Mums

The mums in the back yard have burst out in a real show of colors. They’ve multiplied a lot since I set them out last year. They are, however, a call to us to finish all the outside projects, so that’s exactly what our agenda was today.

Willow is here, so her project du jour was painting the siding under the wrap around porches.

Willow's a good painter

 They don’t really show, but that was the point of painting them dark green. They essentially disappeared.

House foundation under the porches

 She did a great job and was pretty fast. It was a pleasant day, so working under the porch wasn’t too bad.  

Willow's green thumb..fingers...hands....

She’s a good painter, but kinda messy! It all comes off with a little “GOOP” and a fingernail brush. Good to have that done…it’s finished under there! Yay!

While Willow painted under the porch, John got busy with the trim around the back porch and down the side of the sun porch.

Just a little more outside trim

Hopefully he can finish that tomorrow.

I started grouting the tile on the front porch.

Grouting the front porch

We had already applied two good coats of sealer this week, but because the grout is black, I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to clean the haze off.  Not bad at all.

Grouted and cleaned

The final clean up was done by rubbing the tile with microfiber shop rags.  Those things are great.  You never have to worry about them leaving lint on anything, and unless we get paint or poly on them, they wash and clean up very well.

We used an enhancing sealer on the 6″ tiles because we wanted to highlight them, but the rest of the tiles were sealed with a regular penetrating sealer. They cleaned up very nicely. John and Willow helped clean them, so I just kept grouting.

Finished front porch tile

We mitered the edge tiles and wrapped them down over the first riser and the apron past the stairs. It finishes the space very well.

Earlier in the week, I added the “back-splash” around the tub.

Tub "black-splash"

 The pattern just runs around the tub and stops at either end where the walls turn back.

Tile around tub

 I tried to clean them well as I set them, so hopefully it will require very little effort to finish cleaning and sealing them.

Tub tile

 I want to do that ASAP so we can permanently install the tub.

Tomorrow’s project for Willow and me is to pebble dash the last wall on the lower level. It’ll take us several hours, but is kinda fun.

Our lists are getting shorter and the weather’s getting cooler. We still have plenty to do, but we’re making progress every day, and trying to have a little fun along the way.

The Fly

I don’t know when move-in day is yet, but I know it’s getting closer!

It’s was really windy and kinda cold today, but that didn’t stop the work on the whirlpool tub. Earlier this week, we were able to bring the tub inside from the back porch.

Checking the plumbing fit for the tub

We removed the tub deck board and set the tub in to check the position of the plumbing, then measured for the deck cut out. It sits in a “bump-out” so the plumbing comes down right on top of the rim joist which is on top of the foundation. Good support.

John cuts the tub deck

After gluing and fastening the deck, John cut the hole. Don’t worry, he did put blocking underneath so he wouldn’t fall through! Then, he covered the remaining deck with backer board and I cut the tiles.

Backer board installed & tiles cut

It was late in the day by then, so I waited until today to stick them down.  There will be a border that goes up the wall and we decided to use the same pattern of tiles that we used on the fireplace.

Closer view of decorative tile pattern

I started sticking those up today, but I’ll wait until they’re done before taking a picture.

The kitty always inspects our work, and she came in about midday to look at the progress.

Kitty lends a helping paw

I guess she was bored, so she went out to take a nap in the wheelbarrow.  Maybe that’s her whirlpool tub!

We also painted the walls in the living room this week.

Living room walls

The color is Willow leaf, and we really like it.

Living room

You can see in picture where I laid a piece of baseboard down to the right of the fireplace to get an idea of how the trim will look. All the windows and doors will be trimmed with the darker woodwork.

I had to use the fireplace today while I was working. This little cold snap is a preview of things to come, so I’m getting anxious to finish and move in. Every time I work on a project, I tell myself  to do it right because we’re going to have to live with it for the rest of our lives! Looks great so far!

We’ve been working on the fireplace tile this week, and it is ready to grout.

Fireplace tile

First we did the face beside the firebox and the decorative area above it.

Fireplace

The hardest part is deciding what it will look like. Then we plan how that will work out mathematically given the tile sizes.  After that, it’s a piece of cake! Yeah, right!

Hearth tile

Another day we did the sides. Just needed to be careful not to mess up the pre-painted borders around the walls.

Log lighter key valve

There was a hole to be drilled for the log lighter valve, but that wasn’t too bad.

Then, we had to plan the hearth design. We had a plan, but one of the 16″ tiles cracked in the middle, and guess what?…..no longer available!  Back to the drawing board. We decided to repeat the design above the firebox and I honestly think it looks better than the first design, which was functional, but rather bland. We are pleased with the total result and can imagine sitting by the fire on a cold winter day.

Another project that was finished this week was the plastering on the foundation under the sun porch.

Plastering under the porch

It was a small section that won’t even be visible, but we have to cover all the Styrofoam in the ICF foundation before we can get a CO. Yay!  Done!

When tiling, we sometimes have a little thin-set left over, so when I was cleaning out the thin-set bucket, I got creative and fashioned a turtle.

Never waste anything

The next time, it was a snail. Then, Willow made another small stepping stone with the leftover mortar from plastering. John did a “critter” too, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I’ll throw that one in next time. I think I’ll put the turtle and snail in the bird bath out back.

Laundry/mud room

One other project this week was the wainscoting in the laundry/mud room. We ran it 4 feet high except at the place where the sink will be on the wall. This room will get a lot of traffic because it’s probably where we’ll enter and leave for work every day. The top of the wainscot will get a trim piece.

We are making progress, but the falling leaves are beginning to create a panic. Gotta move faster now, but we know we’re getting close.

Well, I hope there is an ending to the shower in the forecast! It seems like I’ve been working on this shower forever!

Tiling the curb

The tile is all set now except for the tiles on top of the curb.

Awaiting glass blocks

Then we can seal it and grout it all.

We did move on to some other things this week.

More pebble dash

We had Willow this week-end and thought it would be fun to do some more pebble dash.

One more wall to "dash"

We finished the inside of the wall that we did before.  We put in a pad for the telephone connection box. It was fun.

Kitty prints in the pebble dash

Even the cat got into the act (involuntarily) by putting her footprints in the mortar.

Willow's stepping stone "Happy"

Then we had some left over mortar and Willow got creative by making some stepping stones. Be Happy!

John got the TV niche installed and trimmed.

The TV niche

Then he stained the interior. All it needs now is the final finish and it’ll be ready to install a TV. Probably wait on that until we’ve got power to the outlets. Duh!

John also got the trim around the tile on the front porch. It really defines the porch now and soon we can get that all grouted, too!

Front porch tile

We’re trying to get all the outside projects done now before the weather turns cold. There’s one more pebble dash wall and a little bit of trim paint on the back of the house, so I think we’ll make it.

When will we finish and move in? I’ve stopped setting deadlines, but hopefully really soon!

We ran a “double header” this past weekend at Shadowood. 

John tiling the front porch

While I lumbered along with the shower tile, John started work on the front porch. 

Front porch tile

We chose some of the darker 12″ slate tiles for the main entry. We cut them in half and set them in a pinwheel pattern with a colorful 6″ tile in the middle. Kinda has a basket weave effect. 

Main entry

  The main pattern comes almost to the edge of the porch. We’ll trim around that with more of the dark tiles and extend it out to the steps. 

View from sun porch

There will be slate tile in the sun porch, but the pattern will be different and it won’t be limited to the dark tiles.

I installed some more of the 12″ tiles on the bottom half of the shower walls. I had to mix the mortar pretty stiffly so they wouldn’t slip down the wall. 

Shower walls

We are keeping the shower floor covered with cardboard to protect it. The cardboard also helps to cushion the knees.  This work was finished on Labor Day and I continued with the work today on my day off. 

Tile all the way to floor now

I finished the walls except for the smaller tiles that meet the floor. Because the floor slopes toward the drain, these tiles are all different sizes so they had to each be custom cut.  Love that tile saw. We had to put a new blade on it so it’s as good as new again. We could have never done this project without that saw!

Two more days to the weekend and we’ll be knee deep in tile again. Catch you then.

We have been working  on a lot of details this week. John got all the drains hooked up under the house and hooked up the faucet at the front steps. He also got everything ready to install the dehumidifier in the crawl space under the master bedroom. Nothing to take pictures of, but important none the less.

Beams are stained dark

We did get the dark stain on the beams in the master suite. There was so much light stain in the beams and ceiling, we thought it would be interesting to do the bathroom beams dark to match the windows and trim.

Dark stained beams

They do look good, and they aren’t too dark.

Work continued on the slate tile in the shower.

Top half of shower walls

First we put the tile on the upper half of the walls. We used 6″ tiles and set them on the diagonal. It looks really good, but was kind of a pain to set.

Decorative detail

Next, we did a band of 2″ tiles around the center of the walls. This band corresponds with the sections of the niches that we built into the wall. We removed every fifth tile and inserted copper colored tiles. It gives a nice decorative touch. The shower unit that will mount on the end wall is made of hammered copper.

Niches

It took a while and several trips back and forth to the tile saw, but we finally got the niches tiled. The top niche is tall enough for shampoo bottles, etc and the lower niche is for soap.

Close-up view

We installed the soap trays that I had carved from the slate using the Dremel tool. Now, that just leaves the rest of the top half on the end wall, and we’ll be done with that.

The bottom half of the wall will be done with the 12′” tiles and should go pretty quickly….almost ready to grout!

Powder room vanity light

One other thing we did today is installation of our first light…Yay!  We’re almost done with the powder room now. This is going to look nice.

I’ve got a three day weekend coming up, so I’m really hoping to finish the shower and move on to another project.

There’s always another project!

Tags: slate tile

We’ve been busy this week at Shadowood, but not much you can see.

Trim boards

I’ve spent more time on staining trim boards and finishing the downstairs kitchen cabinets.  I’ve also been doing a lot of sanding and trying to keep the dust mess down. I’m really going to be glad to get rid of all the dust.

John did some plumbing in the mechanical room downstairs.

Sump pipes

He installed the sump pump and water alarm into the sump well. Then he connected it to the drain system with pipes.

Sump valve

The downstairs drains all have to be pumped up to the main floor level because we are below the septic tank in the basement. As the grinder pump pumps waste up, there is a check valve that keeps it from dropping back down in the pipes. The alarm will sound if there is too much waste in the well, signaling a malfunction of the pump.

Beams sanded and stained

I sanded the beams in the master bath and put the first coat of stain on them.

More beams

They will have a dark stain for the second coat, matching the windows and door trim. Hopefully I’ll get that done tomorrow.

Jenny brought by an old trunk that I painted years ago.

Old trunk

Now I’ll have to find a place for it. I think I have a good place in mind, but that will have to wait.

I prepared to start the tile on the shower walls. I’ll start at the top and work down from there. Some of the tiles are already cut, so we’re ready to go! Keep checking off those lists!

Yay! The master bath floor is tiled and we’re ready to move on to the shower walls.

Master bath floor tile

That’s going to be harder than the floor, so we have been finishing some other projects. We have both been “under the weather” and need to do some easier tasks.

I did some painting above the cabinets in the kitchen and beside the fireplace in the living room.

Paint and bark

I also put bark on the fireplace above the mantle.

Ready for trim

There will be trim around the recess for the TV, so that has been cut and stained.

John got the water heater vent installed, sealed and painted.

Water heater vent pipe

It doesn’t look bad at all.

We have two places where the floor bumps out from the rest of the foundation…under the whirlpool tub and at the dining room door.

Closing under the bump-out

John got those all insulated and capped off this week , too. Really crummy work, but it had to be done. The vent for the downstairs stove exhaust vents out the bottom, so that’s one more thing off the list. Whew!

John also installed the cut-off valve for the toilet in the powder room.

Powder room vanity/sink

We set the vanity and sink in place and got the baseboards cut.  It fits just right in there.

I stained all the pre-cut trim work and the wall cabinets for the downstairs kitchen.

Downstairs wall cabinets

Hopefully, I can get a coat of polyurethane on them tomorrow. When we get those up, we can finish with the base cabinets.

The “to do”  list is getting shorter!

It’s been quite a month. The heat has been really bad and we’ve had to water all the plants and grass almost every day.

Red day lilies

The weeds have been thriving, though. We did some clean-up the first week of the month and then locked all our doors (for the first time) and headed to Myrtle Beach for a week.  Yes, it was even hotter there, but it was good to get away from the construction and just kick back at the beach.

Upon our return, we were back to work.

Wallpaper for the powder room

We found a discount “in stock” wallpaper store in North Myrtle, and got paper for the powder room, so that was my first task.

One wall

We selected a floral for one wall and grass cloth for the others.   Since this room is just off the main entry, we wanted it to really look nice.

Grass cloth

I’ve never hung grass cloth before, but it did just fine. We think it looks real “organic” and gives a nice touch.

Next, the floor had to be grouted.

Grouting the floor

Grouting isn’t hard, but requires a lot of washing afterward…all on the old knees in a cramped space.  After it is cured, we’ll seal everything.

Grouted and ready to seal

Next is the trim, then installing the lights, toilet and vanity!

Our rock man finally came out and finished grouting the rocks by the front steps.

Rocks are finally grouted

We put a water faucet in that wall so we’ll have water for plants out front someday. He did a great job and it really helps the place look more finished.

Speaking of plants, we planted a couple of hanging baskets and hung them on the back porch.

Flower basket

The birds planted some sunflowers around the feeder, and they are attracting gold finches.

Sunflowers

It’s nice to sit on the porch at the end of the day and just enjoy.

John got the holes drilled for the water heater vent pipes. One is for intake and the other for exhaust.

Vent holes for the water heater

The exhaust pipe will extend up the wall and terminate near the eaves, so he painted the pipe the same color as the wall. He also got the island vent ready to install and connect to the vent pipe. We need to get all the vent pipes finished before we can get our CO.

This week end, I’m working on tiling the master bath floor. All the tiles are cut and I put down some of the tiles today. I should be able to get them all down tomorrow.  Yay!

What a week! We got power back on Saturday, but the water wasn’t pumping from the well. After buying a new pump, we had a guy come out to install it, but he checked it out and told us it wasn’t the pump…good news?? It was the power line that connects from the pump to the pressure tank! It’s been buried underground for years, so how could that be?

John bought wire and strung it down the hill (on top of the ground) and hooked it up…It works!

In the meantime, we lost the telephone and Internet. No explanation…just not working. The phone came back first, then the Internet the next day.

Scraping the window

We still found projects to do, but only those that required no water.

They don't make windows like this anymore!

We started stripping the old window for the dormer. There was a lot of paint on the interior and exterior. I set up a stripping area on the sun porch where we had plenty of ventilation and were protected from the rain.

Ready for stain

It took several days of scraping and sanding. Then we were finally ready to paint the outside and stain the inside. We had to trim about 1/2 inch off each side, and it fit perfectly.

Installation at last!

It’s about 15 feet above the living room and gets the morning sun, so it should cast some interesting patterns on the walls and floor.

Back lit

It will be back lit at night, but the light is not installed yet, so we hung a light on the wires for the ceiling fan.

Nice addition

It really is a nice addition to the dormer.

I finally got to finish putting the tile down in the powder room. It was tough, but looks really good.

Sealed and ready for grout

I put 2 coats of stone enhancer sealer on it and it’s ready to grout. We got brown grout for this room because of the dark vanity and toilet seat. I’ll probably do the grouting tomorrow night or Saturday.

Next, I did a dry run with the tile for the master bath floor.

Dry-fitting the master bath floor

We’ll set it on a diagonal. It looks like it’s going to work out just fine.

Speaking of the master bath, we got the tile set on the shower floor.

Shower floor

We used 2 inch tiles here so we could keep a good slope for water to flow to the drain. This shower’s going to be really nice.

Shower floor is tiled

We’ll seal this tile and cover it again with cardboard so we can finish the walls. Then we’ll grout it all.

We continue to work on landscaping projects in all our “spare” time.  The grass is filling in nicely and the plants are growing. I finally got to see what color lilies I planted on the back bank.

Lilies on the bank

Yep, just what I thought. The orange lilies are triple blooms. I’ve moved them around for about 15 years, and I really like them. They bloom later than the wild lilies along the roads, and they’re shorter. The yellow lilies were taken from some my Dad had, so they’re special to me. Hopefully they will all spread and begin to cover the bank.

Now, maybe I can move up to the next level and plant some more!

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