Counter Tops

We finally have something to report! We had our counter tops installed last weekend. We found a beautiful granite slab for the island and used man made quartz counter tops for the rest of the kitchen and the laundry room. Our wonderful granite installer told us that our kitchen was perfectly designed to use the prefabricated quartz counter tops. The savings over granite was staggering! We chose white with lots of flecks and some sparkle to liven it up. So take a look at the pictures and tell us what you think.

Bringing the slab into the house. Notice the cut out for the sink.

Getting ready to lift it onto the plywood.

After positioning the apron sink and the slab they had to lift the slab again in order to put the glue on the plywood. Those paint cans came in handy for holding that slab up. It weighs several hundred pounds.

Notice the white counter tops in the background. Those are the man made quartz.

View of the apron sink.

Iain Murray inspecting the sink.

Laundry room counter, sink and faucet.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas. Check back in 2011 for progress reports. Will we ever be done?!

Another Vacation at the Coast

This post is a little late. We were at the coast with Jessica, Isaac and their three kids a couple of weeks ago. Cliff and I needed some time to recuperate from vacationing (that's not a word, is it?) But here are some photos of Jessica's family. Of course the kids are adorable and I freely admit that I'm biased!

Here is our day at the beach. The fog had rolled in but it was amazingly warm - downright balmy for the north coast.

Jess, Isaac, Johnny and Jeanine walking on the beach.

Cliff hanging back with Will.

Johnny and Jeanine in a fort made from driftwood.

We bought a box of 100 Tootsie Pops before the kids came down from Washington. Everyone was in Tootsie Pop heaven! The view isn't bad either.

Isaac and Jeanine.

Cliff and Johnny.

There was no grass or weeds to mow down so Cliff just gave the kids a ride on the lawnmower. They didn't mind that they weren't mowing at all. The ride was enough!

Our next trip to the coast will be another working trip. We're going to be focusing on the few items we need to finish in order to get our final inspection. It won't be exciting, it's stuff like putting face plates on receptacles and switches and getting a fire rated garage door on. But it's going to be a wonderful day when we get the final!

Vacation at the Coast

Last week Jen, Ryan and the kids drove down from Washington for a vacation so we all packed up and drove some more to the coast. They had never seen the house other than the pictures on the blog so it was a fun time. The kids had a blast mowing the bluff with Cliff and we all had a great time at Navarro Beach one day. Cliff didn't do any work, a true vacation!

Here is Warren mowing

Here is Jake steering the mower by himself!

This is Daniel at 10 mo. old with Billy in the background

This is Aubrey on the beach, she's 2.

Warren and Jake at the beach. While we were there Jen was holding Billy's leash and she took off running with him. I turned to Ryan and asked him where she gets all the energy. He said that he didn't know and then Jake replied, "I've never seen her like this"

Cliff telling the kids stories, the more suspenseful the better!

Jess and Isaac will be driving down next week so I'll have pictures of their kids next. I guess it's normal that once you have grandkids you stop taking pictures of your own kids. I don't think we got a single picture of Jen or Ryan!

News From the Bathroom

What can I say except, "hooray, woohoo", our master bathroom is done. We've had the shower working since January, but no sinks or toilet until now. (As it goes in construction there are always little details to be finished up. We have one cabinet that isn't painted yet and needs a top. That will be where we put our coffee pot. Yes, we like to have our coffee easily accessible the second we climb out of bed!)

Here are a few pictures of the vanities, faucets, cat drinking from the faucet, you know, the usual. (Don't all cats love to drink from the faucet?)

That's all for now folks!

What's Up In July?

Lamps, that's what's up in July. Up on the wall in the master bedroom to be exact.

Cliff spent the weekend painting the window and door trim in the master bedroom and bathroom. It's almost done now. Our next trip up we will install the vanity's, sinks and toilet. Exciting, huh? Well it is for us.

That's not all Cliff did though. Have I mentioned our thriving gopher population? And our 2010 Gopher Competition with one of our neighbors? Let's just say that the count is: Cliff - 4 confirmed kills and 2 probables and Jerry - 10 confirmed and 1 0r 2 probables. We need to spend more time up there so Cliff can catch up!

We also let the cats out on the deck a few times. Here's Iain Murray enjoying the great outdoors.

Our next post should have some pictures of finished rooms. Here's hoping!

May Update in June

Greetings to all. This blog entry is especially for Avik who requested some new pictures. Not that he doesn't think our grandkids aren't adorable but this is a blog about building a house!

Cliff has continued working on the trim in the downstairs master bedroom and bathroom. It's all on now and just needs to be painted. We're so close to having that part of the house done-woohoo!

Here's the bathroom with window and door trim and crown molding. We also brought in one of the vanities and sink just to see how it looked.

These next three are in the bedroom showing the trim. The color on the walls in the first photo isn't accurate, but the last photo shows it well. For some reason my camera doesn't like the light in that room and frequently gets the color wrong.

That's all for now. We know that progress is slow, be patient with us, it will get done one of these days!

Blessings from the Lord

We've been to Washington and back to see the new baby and the other six grandkids as well. (Yes, our daughters and sons-in-law too!) We had a wonderful and tiring time! William, the newest, is a good baby who lets his mom sleep 4-5 hours during the night. He doesn't cry much and stares at his mom for long stretches. His brother and sister are getting used to him.

We tried to get a picture of Cliff and I with all seven kids but Aubrey wasn't cooperating so she's being held on the arm of the couch by Ryan. At least they're all in the picture!

"Children's children are a crown to the aged" Proverbs 17:6

And here is Will, as cute as can be!

Baby News

Our 7th grandchild has arrived! It's a boy and his name is William Hudson Stegman. He was born at 1:30 am Monday, April 12th. He weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. I don't have a picture yet but will be sure to post one soon.

Cliff has finished the grout in the master bedroom, bathroom and closet. It was a big, time consuming job at 700+ square feet and that doesn't include the concrete stem walls that we put travertine on and needed grout as well. But it's done and Cliff has already moved on to door trim and baseboards. I didn't get any pics of the trim, but here are a few of the grout work.

We're very pleased with the floor now that it's done but still not sure what pattern we will put upstairs in the rest of the house. This pattern was very time consuming and brain boggling! Luckily we don't have to choose just yet.

Until next time!

Hooray, I'm back up and running! A few of you know that I got a new computer, an Apple MacBook and have been learning how to use it. I attempted to blog twice last week but couldn't figure out how to upload pictures but today I triumphed over my new computer. Actually it was so simple I'm a bit embarrassed : ) So, here's the scoop on what's going on at the coast.

January was rather uneventful except for getting our master bathroom shower up and running. What a blessing it is to take a shower in a real adult size shower, no more trailer showers. You can see that I'm quite pleased.

February was cabinet month. We moved the cabinets from our garage at home to the coast in a rented U-Haul truck with the help of a couple of young strapping men from our church. Shaun drove the U-Haul for us and John followed the next day to help unload and drive himself and Shaun home. We also had help from a few neighbors at the coast. We were quite nervous about getting the cabinets up there and unloaded without any damage to them, but we did and they're in perfect condition and waiting to be painted. Cliff installed them with a little help from the neighbors and Jim Millen who made the cabinets. (We highly recommend his work!)

Cliff put on the crown molding with only a couple of false starts--it was the first time he's tried crown. Several years ago a salesman at a lumber store told us that in order to make the cuts correctly you have to think upside down and backwards !?!? Like I said, there were a couple of false starts but once Cliff figured it out he was off and running. It looks great (that's not just from the perspective of a proud wife!)

The island was installed last because Cliff had cut/drill holes in the bottom of it for the plumbing pipes and electrical wires. The holes had to be in exactly the right spots so he measured and remeasured and then cut. He then called on our neighbors again for help. We're so thankful for Sig, Jeff and Pat being willing to come on a moments notice! So with the island lifted on one side with a floor jack and on the other side with a couple of 4"x 6"s, they moved it slowly into place and lowered it onto the perfectly drilled holes. Who says we don't like excitement or taking chances?

In March Cliff continued working on the flooring in the master bedroom. It's all down and just needs to be grouted. He also continued the travertine outside the french doors onto the patio. I love how it looks when the same flooring is carried through to the outside.

March 19th was an absolutely gorgeous day at the coast. It was warm and the whales were hanging out all day. The first thing I saw upon walking out of the bedroom was a whale blow and it continued all day. We went to Elk Beach and had it almost to ourselves. It was so nice that I walked barefoot. Billy ran around and Cliff and I collected shells and rocks for the grandkids and small pieces of driftwood for Iain Murray (our cat) to play with. He loves to bat around small sticks or bark that he pulls off of the firewood.

Next trip we plan to grout the master bedroom flooring, base, case and install crown molding in the master bedroom. We don't know when the next trip will be because we're waiting for our 7th grandchild's birth (Jessica's third) and then we'll be off to Washington for a visit.

Here's hoping I can remember how to upload pictures next time!

Driveway Paving and More

Well, here it is, our update for December. We got quite a lot done in the first two weeks. And since what was accomplished were finishes it was very satisfying.

The first thing is the driveway paving. Up to that point we had a dirt and gravel driveway so we were always tracking dirt, pebbles or mud into the trailer and the house. It's great to have the asphalt paving done. No more tracking in messes from the driveway.

Cliff started laying the travertine tiles downstairs in the master bedroom, bathroom and closet. They look great but it's been quite a challenge because of the pattern we chose. It was really confusing transferring what was on our diagram on paper to putting the tiles on the floor. That made the job take longer than if we had chosen square tiles. As of now all the whole tiles are down and Cliff is in the process of cutting the rest. Note: the difference in color in the next two photos is due to the lighting-the tile is all the same.

This is our diagram for laying the tiles down. It started out as just the single pattern in the middle but after our brains started to hurt I decided to trace it six times and tape those around the middle. It made the process much easier!

Here are Pete and Iain Murray relaxing in the house. They are on a cot that has a cozy down comforter on top of it. As comfy as a couch or bed at home but with a much better view (not that the cats care).

That's all for now folks.