No Vacancy

We were full up at the hangar while my niece Danielle and the kids visited for 2 weeks. It was hectic because there was a lot going on at the new house but we managed to squeeze in some fun at the Stockyards, the Zoo, Horse Camp, the park, boating, tubing and swimming. We also stained some doors and cleaned out the sold hangar. They love Uncle Tim - he made toys out of rolling carts and skateboards and played with them in the pool!

 Stockyards

 Just waking up...

 Markaus liked to lay in Ty's dog bed.

 Tired after a long day at the zoo.

 Horse Camp!

Faux Stucco

From this:

To this:

To this:

The brick fireplace was painted with shiny white paint...beautiful! Tim hand sketched a design idea. The painters built out the form with drywall and filled the brick joints with mud. Then they a applied a heavy trowel texture to resemble stucco. We will add a wood mantle.

We also had them apply a lighter hand trowel texture to the walls before painting.

Avocados and Olives

That's what one of the painters called our color scheme. Tim wanted a dark green fireplace and I wanted green walls, so we just painted the entire first floor green: ceilings, walls and fireplace. We love it! There is so much natural light that it doesn't seem dark at all.

No Leaks

Our plumber told us about this fiberglass shower pan. The first day they floated the floor and let the cement dry. The next day he fiberglassed the entire floor, curb, bench and up the wall a few inches. He brought rigid pieces of fiberglass and then joined everything with the fabric and resin. They said it is just like building a boat. I thought our whole house smelled like a new motorhome! Next they will tile the shower, and guaranteed, no leaks.

Interior Doors

These are not my first choice for interior doors...however after considering if special order doors costing 3X as much would actually enhance my life - I decided that these are perfect!

'Tim' of All Trades

I am amazed at all the things Tim knows how to do. My Dad has always done everything himself and Tim is a lot like him in that respect. Now I'm not sure if that is good....or bad!

When the washer/dryer was in the garage somebody - a genius no doubt - vented the dryer outside right next to the front door. Tim removed the dryer vent and patched the brick. Once the mortar dried you can't tell anything was ever there.

Tim ran the new dryer vent thru the floor and thru the brick on the side of the house.

Much nicer!

Cabinets Installed

These guys worked FAST! First cabinet installed.

 'Legs' for island.

About 3 hours later.

Master bath vanity.

Saltillo Tile Floors

Keith Clay Floors installed mexican Saltillo tile on the first level. The installer, James, worked alone and this took a little time but he did a beautiful job.

First tiles go down.

 Almost finished.

Stairs with tile sides and fronts.

Wood stair treads.

Grouted.

Next tiles will be 'antiqued' with stain and then sealed for a glossy finish.

Wood Floors Installed

Flooring piled in the living room awaiting installation.

We had oak floor put on the 2nd level, bathrooms included, and stairs.

They were really pretty, even unfinished.

The 2nd day they wetted them down and handscraped the wood across the grain.

This is the finished floor. We LOVE it!

Keith Clay Floors from Rowlett installed the wood floors and also the Saltillo tile. Most of the trade people we have used we either know or they have been recommended. (Some of our neighbors said they would not recommend the companies that installed their wood floors.) I found Clay Floors online. Their website is good and Keith and his crew have been great. There was a lot of communication with Keith and Brenda, his crew did everything we asked and I would definitely recommend them.

Now we have them covered with corrugated to protect them while we continue to work.

Do you know what this is?

It is MOUSE POOP!!! I hate mouse poop. I especialy hate it when removing drywall and it falls into my hair. This photo was taken when the master bedroom floor was removed, but it has been in every wall we opened. And there were birds happily nesting in the attic, flying in and out through the fan vents. The neighbors also told us there were fox living under the deck.

Can you guess who gets to clean up MOUSE POOP? Me.

Thanks to cleaning, caulking and Corgis on patrol I think most of the critters have moved on.

Etta, does this car look familiar?

We saw this 'Caddy' at a Boat-Bike & Car show at the Fort Worth Boat Club. Tim said his mom and dad owned one just like it, same color and all. Tim even took his driver's test in it.