Whack It With A Hammer

The tried-and-truest solution to so many home problems chalks up annother win! We'd been having a bit of trouble with the front door not latching properly. If you didn't hold and turn the handle a little bit when you pushed the door closed, the latch struck the strike plate in such a way that it didn't depress and allow the door to close; rather, it ricochetted off and the door bounced open again. This was particularly obnoxious if you had your hands and arms full of stuff coming through the door. It wasn't always like that, it developed gradually over the last year. I'm guessing that the doorframe has swollen just a teensy tiny bit with the wet weather. Or maybe the house has settled a tad to the left. Who knows? In any case, it finally got to the stage of annoyance where I starting thinking about trying to fix it.

At first I thought I would have to take the strike plate off, use a chisel or a file to remove a milimeter or so of the doorframe, and then replace the strike plate. Simple, but... the holiday season being what it is, still much too complicated of a project to complete. (I'd need, like, three tools! TNFW!) So I spent the last two months mentally pushing it back to the top of my to-do list every time I carried something in through the front door, and then immediately displacing it with the half-dozen Pacific Arts projects that I needed to do first.

Luckily, during the course of the lovely Christmas Eve dinner we enjoyed at my Grandma Joy's, I happened to ask my Uncle Fred what he thought I should do about it. "I'd try giving it a few good whacks with a hammer, before I did anything else," he said. "Right on the edge of the strike plate, where it bends out."

Now why didn't I think of that? Sure enough, when we got home I took the hammer, gave the strike plate a couple of solid whacks, and voila! The door now closes easily, smoothly, perfectly, and best if all, hands free. I alternatly feel like a hero for fixing the door and like an idiot for not doing it sooner. But mostly I'm just glad I had a good whacking hammer handy. :)

Slate Entryway Floor - Done!

The entryway slate has been grouted, washed and sealed. The colors are just amazing now. Steve really did a nice job randomizing the patterns and colors, and putting the best tiles right where they will be the most visible.
Also, the cat door has been installed! Our feline masters will be so pleased.The room has also been trimmed out and the pocket door which separates the entry from the main living space has been installed. The only thing left is to have the trim and the door painted...

Slate, Beautiful Slate

As I had hoped, Steve layed the slate for the entryway floor yesterday, and it is every bit as lovely as I had hoped. As you can see below, there are a couple peices left to put in place - about 3 tiles worth - right at the border where it meets up with the cork flooring. I'm sure that those last peices will be done today.
I couldn't walk on the floor to really look around the corner at the mudroom, but I held the camera up and this is what it saw:
This "China Multi" slate (so called because it is multi-colored and comes from China - how DO they come up with these crazy names?!?) is just gorgeous stuff. And Steve did a great job of randomizing the colors and textures on the tiles, as well as working with the different thicknesses. I can't wait to walk on it!
Coming up next, aparently, is the tile backsplash in the upstairs bathroom. Robin's idea - which I think is going to work beautifully - was to get these hand-made (thus slightly irregular in shape & color) tiles in each of the most prominent colors of the mexican sink. So I was excited to find the Red, Yellow-orange, Green, Blue and White 4" tiles, layed out and presumably ready to install around the top of the vanity counter. The colors of the tiles really do match well with the colors on the sink. With the navy blue countertop I think the whole assembly is going to really look great.
Robin called today, to let me know that the window washers would be coming soon to do the windows, and that she'd vaccummed the sawdust out of the kitchen cabinets. I was totally stunned, I never even considered that they'd clean the windows - let alone the rest of the house - for me! What a bonus... not only do we get to move into a brand new, perfect house, I don't even have to clean it first! :)

Much Progress

The end of last week (been a while since I posted, huh? oh well...) I mentioned that due to the warm dry weather the painters had gotten out and primered the exterior trim. Well, not only that, but they came back over the weekend and put on the finish coat as well. Boy, does it look SHARP:
Here's a close-up of the porch rafters, you can see the subtle details like the corner blocking/column toppers. Not to mention the clean lines. I had gotten so used to the overspray from when the siding was painted that I stopped really seeing the separations.
Inside, more trim & doors were done. Here is the office door (left) and the bathroom door (right) off the main living space, all trimmed out and with the cork flooring completed as well. The trim isn't painted yet, but doesn't the wall color look nice with the floor? So warm.
And what's this? Steve is using the tile saw... which can only mean...
He's started laying the entryway slate! Pretty nifty.
He expected to finish cutting and laying the rest of the tiles today, so I expect to see a big "don't use this door" sign on the front door when I get out there tonight. I can hardly wait...

Also today, Robin was going to meet with the closet shelving people and measure all the closets & the pantry. We're using the coated wire shelving systems in all the closets, which are nice and utilitarian.

Robin also pointed out that Cary and I need to go pick out & buy our bathroom fixtures, things like TP holders and towel racks and the like. They aren't in the budget for the Schramer's to buy but if we get them they'll install them for us. Which is definately worth making the effort to get out to a hardware store and pick something up later this week.

We're so close to moving in now I can just about taste it!

Clean Slate

Well, the slate's not really clean. But organized, very highly organized. Mark and/or Steve have sorted all the multi-colored slate tiles (for the entry way) into piles by color and by gage (aka thickness) in preparation for laying them. Not only will they be arranged in an asthetically pleasing pattern, but the gages will be matched to avoid noticeable edges between the tiles which could be a trip hazard.
If you click on the picture it will get bigger and easier to read. Below is the extra special category of "Cool Patterns". And yes, they are.

Mark is going to be laying the slate himself, and I am sure that he's going to do an immaculate job. Steve is continuing with the cork flooring installation, I think he will probably finish it today. The kitchen and the living room are already done, so the only area left is the office. It's just turning out beautifully. It feels really good to walk on - it has just the right amount of "give" - and it's really quiet compared to hardwood.

As promised, here are pictures of the finished laminate on the kitchen counters. It's a dark grey base with olive, orangey-pink, and dark grey speckles arranged in overlapping mottled clumps. In this image, the pink seems to really stand out (maybe from the flash?), but the color changes are actually very subtle.

This image of the bar gives a little better idea of how the laminate looks. The overall effect is dark without being cold. It has enough visual texture not to be boring but it's not too strident. It doesn't jump out and make you look at it, or distract the eye from the beautiful wood of the cabinets.
Upstairs, all the scraps and whatnot have been cleared away, the floor has been swept clean, and everything generally looks ready for the carpet installation. Fingers crossed for when I get out there tonight!

Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong.

That's right, we have a doorbell now. It lights up, as you can see. Fancy. And what goes best with a doorbell? Why, a doorknob, of course!

The front door has been unwrapped, so you can see what it looks like with it's three little windows at the top. It will eventually be painted, but the color hasn't been decided yet. I'm leaning towards a dark redish-pumpkin color.

I now have a KEY, which is psychologically a HUGE thing. It's right here, on my keychain, reminding me that the house is real. Really, really, for reals REAL. And here is the lock the key goes to:

Pocket Doors Framed

Both the pantry and the front entryway have pocket doors, and both were framed in yesterday. This is one of the last peices needed to really see the definition of the rooms as separate spaces, so it's fun to have it done. Here's the Pantry:
Also, the sheetrock was "stocked" in the house, meaning there are big stacks of it leaning up against the walls in just about every room. You can see it in both of these pictures. I'm not sure exactly when the hanging crew is going to start, but it shouldn't be too long from now. Talk about defining the rooms as separate spaces...

I had to make one design change to keep us in line with the budget - we had originally wanted to have rounded "soft-line" corners for all the walls, but yesterday we decided to go back to regular 90º corners. It will only save a couple hundred dollars on the sheetrock instalation, but will also make the trim placement and painting much easier. We were looking at the soft-line corners as a way of making it hurt less to run into them, mostly, but of course any corner will hurt if you bang your shin into it hard enough. Robin also says that the 90º corners are more durable, and if they do get damaged are much easier to repair, so that makes more sense for the long run.