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.

Level

The master bedroom floor is level. Raising and supporting the deck did help some, and then Oscar planed the beams to get it just right. The man from the flooring company even asked how we got it so level (he had seen it when it was buckled up).

Before (humped up).

After: Beams planed, openings foamed and caulked, new insulation added.

New plywood installed. Level and ready for wood.

Birthday Girls!

Beth turned 7 on May 6th and Leigh Ann was 30 on May 5th. WOW...I don't know how either one of them got to be so old so fast! Lookin' good girls.

Ducklings

These little ducklings swim by the house a few times a day. The first few weeks they were always with their mom but lately they are own their own, but still stay pretty close together. So cute!

Plumber...

We were looking for a plumber and found one standing outside Home Depot holding this sign:

JUST KIDDING!! We called Charles Kruger from EPI Plumbing. We used to live in the same neighborhood and his wife and I went to Boot Camp together. He and his crew were great. They had to relocate several water lines, drains and vents because we moved / added toilets, sinks, and showers.

 New washer hook up on 2nd floor.

New gas line for tankless water heater, gas range, 2nd furnace and outside outlet for grill.

Hook up and vent all ready for tankless water heater.

Powder Room

In an earlier post I mentioned that we were going to reconfigure the powder room on the main level. The bathroom is actually behind the refrigerator wall now, through a small hall where the water heater and washer/dryer used to be.

The red and blue lines are pex tubing that the plumbers used on all the new water lines.

Tim relocated the toilet drain from one side of the bathroom to the other.

3rd Floor Shower

The 3rd floor had a half bath and we added a shower. We used the one piece shower that we removed from the master bathroom and luckily the tile removed from the guest bath matches so we can use it to patch the floor.