Art and mirror up really make house seem my home

These are just a few of the things on the walls.  And my sister can stop worrying.  The piece she finds objectionable is hanging in my room.   Teenager helping me find the northwest art cool but the objectionable myth piece showing Pygmalion sculpting Galatea who was brought to life by Venus at Pygmalion's wish for the perfect woman he found creepy.  The objectionable piece is a framed poster of Jean-Leon Gerome's painting.  My sister finds any depiction of nudity objectionable so was fun in Las Vegas to get her to pose in front of statues at the Bellagio and the Forum casinos and snap photos.

Bright red is not navy mixed with bright blue !!

So I ordered a shag rug to go next to the soaking tub in the color scheme of navy mixed with bright blue.  I was all excited when the rug was delivered today but the package seemed too big and long for what I ordered.  I opened one end and was surprised by a bright red color.  The company is shipping out the right rug tomorrow but now it will not here in time for a visit by my son and his wife from Seattle. I have not seen my son for a year and his wife for even longer than that.  Well, you win some and lose others.

Garage footings were poured today since the rain held off despite the dark gray skies.

passed garage footing inspection yesterday

Not very exciting, more holes in the ground forming a rectangle, filled with rebar.  The inspector was here all of 60 seconds.  Long enough to look and fill out the form with the okay.

Footings dug for garage -- ignore fingers in photos

Another piece of furniture in place and some house jewelry

More construction items that are left over or to be used later were moved to the garage so I could get my buffet in its place.  Now I just have to find the fancy dishes in the old garage so I can fill it up.  The buffet is one of my pieces from Seattle that was not damaged by the water and mold in the portable storage unit.  It would be hard to replace since it was made of alder by a craftsman in Oregon.  I really love the old/modern look of the piece and the depth given the wood by the stain used.

The baubles were added to the chandelier in the dining room and for sure no one will notice where one of the arms cracked and had to be glued back together.  It is fun to have a bit of sparkly house jewelry.  The piece is not a traditional chandelier but comes from Spain.  It is made of all black and silvered glass with smoky crystal drops.

Living room starting to emerge from boxes

Unlike those HGTV shows such as Sarah's House where renovation also means selecting furniture that fits exactly in to the space, my budget doesn't allow for that.  So I am making the best I can with my existing furniture.  This means book cases are not going upstairs since they won't fit up there.  Instead they are put in the living room and one has to overlap a window a bit so their corner match up.  Also, the antique book cases have to be stacked up around the flat screen to make a surface to put the cable box and dvd player upon. And what am I going to do with all those speaker wires?  Drill holes in my new bamboo floor, really you say?  A quilt rack has become a towel holder outside one of the showers.  Various used pieces are being spray painted to fit into the decor of the back bathroom such as a little shelve unit to hold towels and provide a surface for guests to put toothbrushes, etc.

Contractor put up framing on one side for screening of breezeway

Hard to see in photo because tough natural lighting at this time of day but contractor put up pressure treated wood as framing for the screening that will enclose the breezeway.  One side was finished today. 

Hoping street re-numbering doesn't delay utilities mark out

When my grandfather purchased the land for this house he bought several lots and put the residence in the middle one.  The town gave the whole parcel the same street address.  When my cousin bought the south lot and built a house, she was given the same street address followed by a letter to differentiate the addresses.  When 911 service came to town, my aunt, who by then owned the house, refused to change the street address and even went so far as to create brick numbers in the driveway with that address.  When my aunt died and I acquired the house and land, the town arbitrarily changed the street address to what they wanted for 911 reasons.  Unfortunately, the county records have not been updated to that new address, so I keep having to explain why the block and lot numbers do not correspond to the street address.  This also plays havoc with the utility companies such as for electricity and natural as they work from the block and lot numbers and then send their crews out with the "matching" street address.  More than once, I intercepted someone who was confused as to where they were supposed to be working.   So, last year, the utility mark outs finally got to the right place but now that they need to dig for the garage, the mark outs have washed away since it has been so long.  New mark outs were called for last week but I don't see any so I will have to check whether they marked my cousin's house again.  I got reminded of this problem on Friday when the driver delivering the trusses for the garage roof had the wrong street address and realized that the cousin's house was not a construction zone but mine was.  That would have been a mess indeed for trusses to fill up their driveway.

Got help from my grandson and daughter getting kitchen in shape

My daughter and grandson came over yesterday afternoon in the oddly summer temperature weather (this is April, 83F degrees in not usual) to help me work on getting stuff into cabinets and out of boxes.  Just before they left, my grandson was given a piece of a double chocolate Klondike ice cream bar.  It worked like a charm as his mother reported he was asleep before they had driven 2 miles.  Because it was so messy, warm in the house, and his bib was packed away, she removed his shirt to make it easier to clean him up for the ride home.  Washing skin is a heck of lot less trouble than trying to get chocolate ice cream stains and melted chocolate out of his shirt in the wash.

And I am still very, very grateful for the help as I now have countertops I can see and use. Glassware, flatware, pots and pans, and utensils have all reached their final destination from Seattle to boxes to pods to house to cabinets.  Special note to my daughter-in-law:  Everything you packed came through its journey flawlessly.

Of course, my grandson is too young to play unattended so I am also very grateful that my 82 year old mother could come over and keep him occupied with books (paper format and from her new ipad) or watch him as he plays in the dirt.  Four generations under 1 roof working harmoniously is sweet. 

Also, what a trip to have your grandson sitting on your lap as you read Winne the Pooh from the ipad and when you whisper, "Please turn the page", he reaches out with his finger and flicks to the next page without any instruction or further prompting.

All together a very good day indeed.

Kitty and I spent our first night in the remade house

With lots of help I have been dusting, cleaning, removing tons of cardboard that was protecting floors and washing clothes that were in the dressers that had gotten moldy in the portable storage unit that leaked.  Fortunately, the clothes themselves were not damaged but they had picked up a smell being in that unit for twenty months.  I need to get closet rods up so I can move the clothes from the wardrobe boxes (coats, jackets, dresses) to the closets.  

Not being patient though, I found pillows, sheets, and a quilt and made up my bed so kitty and I could sleep inside last night.  She is and will be adjusting for several weeks.  Right now she is upset because the heating/cooling guy is here making the air conditioning units run.

Getting older is great until you want to do stuff that was easier 20 years ago

For the past several days, I have been cleaning with help (paid for) from neighbors and family with the whole point being to set up the kitchen.  Dust is gone; all those large cardboard remnants that had been protecting floors are gone; showers are wiped down, beds set up, most windows washed on the inside.  So after a half hour search for the brackets/pins for holding the kitchen shelves, I find the shelves themselves too heavy for me to lug but worst of all is that the pins require strength in your hands and fingers to push into their holes to seat properly just isn't there.  Twenty years ago, I could do them in a snap.  Sigh

With towel bars and toilet paper holders in place, contractor says he is done inside

I also put in some grab bars for the shower (see oval in photo) and for the toilets.

The portable storage units left today and the owner said he was working with his insurance company to get me some money for the water and mold damage to the antiques.  That was good news that he was trying.