All in a Week's Work

It's been a busy week for us. Still plodding along, making progress, feeling exhausted. Bob wakes up to immediately begin anew, barely refreshed by his sleep as he lies awake "pondering" all that has to be done. I feel the same, trying to help, balancing normal household stuff with being in the house, helping as I can, hitting the ground running every morning, never feeling completely rested or without some degree of soreness or achiness in some part of our bodies. He says his nursing hands will never be the same, so full of calluses and dents, scrapes etc. So, here is our progress with little narrative, hoping the pictures will speak for me. Bob is all ready in the house, laying a heating mat in our bathroom. Once that is done with a myriad of small other electrical, we will be able to have our L and I (Labor and Industries) inspection done which will allow our final to be attempted. (Thanks Mr and Mrs Taffy for your comments on the final. It did put our mind at ease a bit, but we are still confirming with bank and county as to what needs to be done. We think we are getting closer).

Bob did the stairs last week in oak. We are going to stain them dark to match the teak in the flooring downstairs. We still need to get the rail up. Still working on those details and finding the right stuff. This MUST be done to final.

Bob taking a moment to read his deck book on stairs, relaxing in a chair on our newly finished deck. He loves taking a moment to enjoy the fruit of his labor, being the first to turn on the lights or sitting down. I love how it turned out and it is much bigger than I thought or hoped. We did a bit of an overhang so that helps. We found a great deal on the Accents Saddle Trex at Lowe's. The 12 foot lengths were marked down from $2.50 a linear foot to $2! THEN, we got our military discount on top of that so it was only $1.80 a LF.

The lovely stairs the next day........

Bob cutting tile for our bathrooms. A friend allowed us to borrow a tile cutter that worked wonderfully for straight cuts. For circles necessary for around the toilet, he burned up his diamond blade on his stained glass Taurus II cutter. He resorted to making several small straight cuts and then nipping them off one by one. More time consuming, but it worked.

He tiled both smaller bathrooms with some assistance from me. All I could do was hand him tiles, help set spacers and play "gopher" for him. Once tiled and dried, I did the grouting. What a job! It was hard work, much harder than I thought it would be. I had blisters in my right palm and one on each pinkie knuckle! My hands, back and legs were so sore. The grout was colored latte, but dried a bit lighter than I thought it would. I wanted a bit more contrast, but I think, being our first attempt at tile, that we did a pretty good job. I think I would add tiling to my short list of jobs I would not like to do (the one with drywalling on it!) Here is the room with the tile complete and the vanity set. We are waiting for the faucets.

This is the light above the vanity. It matches the ones upstairs in the girls bathroom.

The Scribbler and Bob cut the granite on this vanity so it would fit into the bathroom space.

Apparently, they protected themselves with goggles, masks and ear plugs. The Scribbler felt like little bits of granite were going into her skin. I wish I had gotten a picture. Once trimmed, they were able to scoot it into the room and get it into place. The faucets are here for this one so we will get this one ready for inspection as well as the toilet and shower.

The view from inside the bathroom. Don't worry, the mirror will not stay in this place. We have two of them, one for each sink.
Bob picked up the trim this week on Friday. We helped him unload it all into the living room. Here it sets, waiting patiently..........It is all different widths and thicknesses. I need a map of where it all goes and which is used for what! Every stick of it needs to be painted too as well as the doors.

Bob began the process of tiling the master bathroom. Yesterday, we made a trip to Lowe's to return some tile and buy new. He "redguarded" (waterproofed) the floor. Then we added adhesive. Then he placed this gray mat with my help. This morning he is out there placing the electrical radiant mat on it. Then he needs to add thinset self leveling mortar before tiling it. He anticipates two days on tiling and then I will grout it again. We bought darker grout this time called sand or something like that.

Countertops arrive tomorrow. In his spare time this week, he will also be doing the toilets and sinks aka plumbing trim. We are considering having someone tile the shower. We got two bids for the job, but are awaiting the price on the second. Clock is ticking.
Thank you for the prayers. God is good.

Love Ellie~
PS The faucets arrived this afternoon. I only ordered them on Thursday! Amazing. AND, our vanity for the master bath is on its way too. It was supposed to take 4 weeks!