Tile and counters - or at least most of them.

I went to the house yesterday afternoon - "The Tile Guys" were tiling the master bathroom shower floor and toilet room (there must be a better name?). With the exception of the rest of the bathroom floor, all of the tile in the house is installed.

Lanai (aka screened-in porch)

Guest bath

 Pantry

Today we met with Kate at 'Concrete Solutions' to pick out the base and accent colors for the patio, plus the designs of the concrete and the patio. The 'winning' design is Royal Slate in Hilltop Tan with dark gray accent. It's better looking than it sounds. Now we have to design the design. 

After some down time (hah!) at home, we went to Custom Furniture to be sure the new bedroom furniture is ordered and to look at dining room chairs and barstools. So far we like this design for both the barstools and the dining table side chairs - simple and a good brown/black color.  Jeff wants comfy chairs for both ends of the table so they are TBD at a later date.

As if we haven't had enough designing for the day, we went to a carpet store to look at area rugs. We need three - one for the dining area, one for the living area, and one for the den. Because you can see all three from both corners of the house, they have to, at least, not clash. It's a very nice store, owned locally, and they try to use US made carpets if possible. So far we like the following:

The design of the living area and the small sample for the dining area. Trust me - they both look much better in person!

For Jeff's study we like the one below. Our furniture is black and the cabinetry is both black and natural.

Any and all are more than welcome to weigh in on our choices. We have very broad shoulders and not a lot of design sense.

When we got to the house, we were surprised to see the granite company truck. We thought our "Cabinet Guy", Guy would be there working on the dog's house under the island. Instead "The Granite/Quartz Guys" were installing the granite in the kitchen, pantry and lanai, and the quartz in the MB. They were supposed to install quartz in the guest bath, but they didn't like some marks on the edges and decided to get a new piece. How great is that??

Our good friend, Barb Clouse, who also built in Motts, had some words to live by in making choices for their house and then seeing them in place. She said that there are things she loves, things she likes, and nothing she hates, and that's really good. We're OK with the granite - don't love it and don't hate it. One of the problems with building a house in our kind of development, is that you don't get a lot of time to choose, and often you choose from such small samples. Good news again, we think it will be a good look with the subway tile.

Pantry

Master bath - the template was on top of the quartz, and we couldn't walk on the newly laid tile, so we'll all be surprised by how it looks!

The lanai counter with our original granite choice.

"The Tile Guys" also finished our bathroom floor - luckily after "The Granite/Quartz Guys" finished installing. It really does bring out the 'glow-in-the-dark' yellow walls!

Jeff and I spent the next couple of hours laying out the design of the patio. Unfortunately, it got too dark for a good photo, but it's basically trapezoidal with a curve around a tree and a sort of pointy part at the other end. You get the picture, right? Actually, that is what it is.

Our guess is that they will grout the MB tomorrow, Guy will work on the dog bed area under the center island, and who knows what else will happen. To be continued ...

A long catch-up post again - December 10th to December 16th

The best part of "Christmas Trees" is being with the Edwards family. Jim and Jeff have been best friends since 2nd grade and are so lucky to have each other. Maybe I said this in an earlier post, but one of, if not the, best things is listening to them reminisce about their childhood. They are both so relaxed and happy when they're together.

This year we were especially lucky because Jim's sister, Sally and husband, John, made the trip from Hendersonville for "Trees". John is a fantastic chef, and he had the 4 siblings, Jim, Steve, Sally & Larry + spouses, plus honorary brother, Jeff, for a wonderful dinner and reunion of sorts. I don't think anyone stopped smiling all evening.

Dinner with some of our Maple Row Family and friends - from top left - Heather Edwards, "Christmas Tree Jim", Kaylee Edwards, Jackson Edwards, Some party crasher, Nancy (I can't believe I can't remember her last name! I've totally drawn a blank.), and Dr. Ferris Gorra (Jeff worked for him in Washington, CT while we were building our home/office in Easton).

Kaylee showing her tongue acrobatics!

Jackson being Jackson

****

After we left the farm, we went to Bren's for the night and then to Raleigh. We had an 11 AM appointment on the 10th (BTW our anniversary - "37 of the happiest years of our lives") and decided it was silly to drive home and then drive to Raleigh the next day. We met our friends from Easton, Sandy & Bill Berry, for dinner at Sitti, a Lebanese restaurant in Raleigh. Very good food and better dinner companions. Wednesday morning we headed to Majestic Kitchen & Bath Creations - Constrata Division - in Youngsville, NC. This place is beyond amazing. It is HUGE with slabs of marble, granite, quartz everywhere being cut, polished, fabricated, etc. We chose the kitchen granite before we had to change our subway tile because "The Tile People" couldn't get the silver tile we wanted. From the smallish sample, it looked like it would be fine with the new, darker subway tile - not! When we saw the huge slabs, it did not work at all. Below is our original choice and to give you an idea of the size of the Constrata, the slabs are 8' x 11'. We are, however, putting the original granite on the porch.

Our super helper, Jason - his family owns the business.

A small part of the operation

The new granite. We're happy with it, although we saw a quartz that we loved. Only problem was the $22/sq ft additional price. Not within the budget!

It will look good with the stainless appliances.

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While we were in CT, Phil was on onsite inspector. On the 5th he took these photos - we have a driveway,

a sidewalk,

a finished fireplace,

a sketch of the island with the "dog house",

and a tiled lanai (aka screened in porch!) with cabinets.

Of course we stopped at the house on our way home from Raleigh to find we now have

garage doors,

partially finished glass shelves,

a partially tiled master bath, 

a partially tiled guest bath,

and a beautiful mosaic in the entryway.

We also found the prep sink was in the kitchen - not installed luckily. Jeff realized that the we were sold a sink and a disposal - only problem was that the sink drain was too small for a disposal. Not only that, the butcher block counter that it will sit in is already cut. Next problem was they don't make a sink with a large enough drain in the same size. Great! Three days of emails, phone calls ("Whisper Down The Alley" style), a slightly larger sink, more $$$ of course, and the problem is hopefully solved.

****

An interesting coincidence is 4 out of 5 of us in the ukulele group have December anniversaries. To celebrate we all went to Myrtle Beach - actually Pawleys Island - from Friday to Saturday. We stayed at The Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort - it was wonderful. $100 a night for a one bedroom condo on the ocean including a terrific breakfast. The weather was wonderful.

My favorite subject

Perfect beach walking day

The reason for this particular date is that Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, SC,  has their "Nights of a Thousand Candles" on the weekends in December. It is spectacular. A few facts about the event -

Number of lights: 500,000 mini lights and 350,000 LED lights

Number of candles lit each night: 5000+

Number of candles floating in pools: 500+

Length of extension cords: over 3.5 miles

Number if candles used in 9-day event: 54,000 votives, 1500 pillars, 4500 tea lights

Number of staff & volunteers lighting the candles: about 40

One of many attractions

It isn't a good photo, but most of the majestic old trees had the mini light version of Spanish Moss. 

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We returned Saturday and, of course, checked out the house. 

More of the master bath was tiled,

the floor is finished in the guest bath,

the glass shelves are complete,

and they began grading the yard (guess we can call it a yard now instead of a lot). I got an email from the landscaper asking what planting we want because she wanted to order them today! We said no. We better have a meeting first.

That's it - caught up one more time! I'll head to the house in a bit - I made Apple/Blueberry Crisp for "The Tile Guys". 

Hope you aren't all bored to tears! More later .......

December 4, 2014   Greetings from Easton, CT - a balmy 46°

Jeff and I left home on the 26th and spent Thanksgiving with my sister, Tami, husband Steve, sons Andy (home from Emory) and Matt, daughters Julia (my Goddaughter) and Carrie (my cooking/baking buddy).

Carrie

Carrie's place cards.

Left to right - Andy, Carrie, Matt, Julia and an unknown guest.

Carrie and her horse, Toby (the one on the right). Carrie read an article about a man who lets his horse live in the house, so we had a lot of laughs imaging Toby lounging around on the couch, grabbing an apple off the counter, sharing dinner at the table, etc. Housebreaking??? That we didn't discuss!

We drove to Easton on Friday and had our customary 1st night dinner at The Smithy. We had a very good weekend - clear and cold on Saturday with some leftover snow - people love that. Sunday's weather wasn't as good, but it didn't keep people away. The weekend after Thanksgiving is traditionally the weekend for families with kids home from college so lots of tailgating.

Tree weekend #1 - 11/29 & 11/30

Concolor Fir is our favorite tree.

 "Christmas Tree Jim"

Before the crowds arrive - 

Pete & Jim - Belted Galloways. We call them "Oreo Cookie Cows". Oxen trivia for today - an ox is an altered male older than 5. A younger altered male is a steer. Before that, they are called a calf (prior to castration).

Watching people tie their trees on their cars is one of the best parts - especially when they tie their car doors closed and act as if then planned to crawl through their car windows.

That is 'tractor driver, Jeff' behind the wheel.

The really good tail-gating parties are when they share.

Back home, our faithful Murray stands guard.

On the home-building front, not much has happened. The kitchen trim is almost completed as is the fireplace stone. Jeff is going to pick out the mantel wood on Friday. Good friends here in CT, Al & Cheryl Kellogg have an exotic wood business in Bethel + Al flies. Weather permitting, Al & Jeff will find the perfect wood for the mantel and do some flying on Friday.

Goodnight from CT!