It's September!

I'm having a hard time getting my mind around that.  All along we have been hearing "the house should be done end of September, beginning of October."  Well, turns out I probably don't have to get my mind around the house being done this month because it ain't happenin.  I met with the "creative director" and the "faux painter" last Friday and was told it would be at least 3 weeks to install trim (which doesn't start until the tile and cabinets are done) and at least 3 weeks for the regular painter.  So... that's 6 weeks just for those two things...putting us at mid-October, which I had already mentally prepared for.  I am not yet mentally prepared to not be moving before November.  Our rental is fine.  But certain things do wear on ones nerves:

• Being accosted by the shower curtain on a daily basis
• Not having my stuff, ie:  cooking in disposable ziplock containers (yes, I could buy a couple of pieces of real cookware...)
• Driving...driving....driving... and having to leave early because we are so far away.

The progress at the house has been fun to watch over the past week. 

Outside front:

Installing the stucco on the sides of the dormer windows  (The workers are 
pretty used to me whipping out my camera by now...  If only I could understand 
Spanish I would know what they are saying as I am snapping pictures.  
One can only imagine.)

Front porch pre-cast stone is done!

Running stone up the chimney

Final stucco color... and the stone looking very, very yellow.

Finished garage--stone washed.   I like the fact that it looks less yellow when it is all clean.

Outside back:

all of the rebar and plumbing for the pool

The fire pit

framework and plumbing for spa

Gunite!  Meaning "dry-gunned" concrete.  That means  "the cement and sand are injected into an air stream conveying it to the nozzle.  The nozzle operator then adds the water at the nozzle and has total control of the water-cement ratio." (Thanks to Wikianswers.com!)

This must be the cement and sand...

Here's the "nozzle operator" so that red hose must be for the water.

Complete spa

Complete pool interior--ready for plaster, or "pebble-tec" as they call it, once it is dry.  The next step before that is putting in all the stone walls and the decking, though.

Here's what's happening inside:

Hardwood floors installed!  Dining room.

Kitchen

Gallery floor with inlaid design

Foyer looking into eating area

Cabinets going in!  Pool bathroom vanity.  Also note travertine floor.  This floor was grouted on Friday.... with the WRONG grout color.  We're still waiting to hear what they propose to do about that.

Kitchen

Kitchen dish hutch and supposed shelf for cookbooks.  I may have one or two that will fit in this space--the shelves are not tall enough!  Also, if you get down on your hands and knees you can see the beadboard lining behind the shelves.  Honestly, you wonder sometimes what people are thinking when they are designing.  (and using your money on.)

Master bathroom

Guest bathroom shower

Choosing a color scheme.  This has been on my mind for months and I even posted a picture of what I was thinking a long time ago here.  After the shingle/stone/brick debacle on the outside of the house I am hyper sensitive about getting the colors right on the inside, although it would obviously be much easier to repaint a room than to change the color of any of the exterior items.  I've made a spreadsheet showing every room and what color the walls, trim, cabinetry, etc are.  It's the only way I can keep track of it!  In our allowance, we have 5 paint colors and 2 trim colors, after which we pay $250 for each additional color.  So far, I'm only over by one color!  

Here they are:

 Loggia:  main wall color

 Westhighland White:  main trim color,
and the base for the kitchen cabinets

Hinoki:  Laundry room and storage
(because I needed
to use it one more place!)

Sea Salt:  Dining room, guest room,
powder bath, Robert's room

Balmy:  Master bedroom/bathroom

Tavern Taupe:  Media room

Chateau Brown:  Media room trim and assorted cabinetry

Poolhouse:  cabinetry in mud room and pool bath

For those of you familiar with our previous house, please take note that there is no gold, no rust,  and no red!  It may be September but we won't be using any fall colors in this house.