Mud

The tile people have been at it since Thursday, but they still haven't actually laid any tile. Last week they built the mud pan for the shower, and today they got the floor heat down in what looks like a very liquidy mud pie. I guess it all has to dry before they can do much more.


I decided to go with the John Louis Home Deluxe Organizer closet system in Red Mahogany, along with some extra accessories to fill it out.

Color my world

So now I'm leaning toward another closet option:

I like this because it's made of natural hardwoods, and it's a lot cheaper than the other two options. Shipping is included, and I can have my construction guy, Dustin, install it. But it's a bit of a risk, since I can't see it beforehand to know if I like it. I'll make my final decision this weekend.

Here's my new bedroom, now that drywall is done.

Tomorrow they install the heated bathroom floor and the tile in the shower.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling to pick colors. Here are some choices I'm considering for my bathroom. There's the tile, the mosaic pattern that'll be interspersed, the vanity top I'm leaning toward, and the vanity. Of course, none of the colors is accurate in the pictures.

I'm really not at all sure which way to go. I am leaning to the very dark purple/brown in the top photo, second from the left, for the bedroom, but I'm waiting to get a carpet sample before I make up my mind.

In the closet

Fifteen days of construction are past. All the plumbing and electrical rough-in is complete, and they're almost done hanging drywall (but just hanging; they haven't started all the mudding and sanding).

My challenge this week has been in trying to select a closet system. I've looked at four options, and I've narrowed it down to two, I think.


The question is whether to go with a more built-in, furniture look (from Closets by Design):


or a more modular look that's also more flexible (from The Container Store):

The pictures are just samples, of course. They are very close in price. The Closets by Design is Melamine on particle board, kind of like Formica, and it feels and looks kind of cheap and fake. The elfa closet from The Container Store is natural wood laminate on top of what the saleswoman described as a "honeycomb-like" manufactured structure. Although the structure isn't real, the feel is more solid because it's real wood. Both come with a lifetime warranty.

Opinions, anyone? Help me get out of the closet and on with my life!

Day Ten

They've been at it for ten days. The framing is done, the plumbing rough-in is done, and the electrical rough-in is underway. Next week they'll be repairing the concrete and probably will start drywall.

I selected a light fixture for inside the closet. It's Energy Star rated, using compact fluorescent bulbs:


Here are some pictures after ten days of construction. This one shows the framing for the closet and bathroom:

Here's the shower, or what will be the shower. You can see the shower head and two body tiles just right of center, then just to the left of the tiles is the connection for the hand-held, and to the left are the three valves. The leftmost valve controls just the main showerhead. The next one over from that turns on water for either the body sprays or the handheld, and the one just below that switches between those two. I won't be able to use the body sprays and the handheld at the same time; it's the compromise I had to make to get everything I wanted without spending an extra $10K.
Here's where the vanity will go. There's a half wall on the left.
And here's my new electric tankless on-demand hot water heater (with the cover removed). This will hook up only to the main showerhead. The other three will draw from my existing tank. I was astonished at how small it is. But it draws 28,000 watts of power.

I had to make decisions about locations on all these valves and sprays this week, plus the locations of wall switches, outlets, and light fixtures. It wasn't easy.

Complicating it all, I had my new alarm system installed on Wednesday... and fixed on Thursday... and fixed again today, Saturday. He programmed it wrong, and there were other wiring problems, and he disconnected my phone in the process. Today I found out that he wasn't the only one who disconnected my phone. It turns out that when they removed the phone jack from the downstairs bedroom, they reconnected the wrong wires. I finally got it all working. Now I just need to paint where the old alarm sensors were replaced with new ones.

Fun!

Dust

It's everywhere.

I'm not sure it's right to call it dust. It's this layer of powder that settles on everything, in everything. It's white, except when I spray it and wipe it, it's dark grey.

I guess it's going to be my friend for the next couple of months.

I'm hoping the worst of it is from them breaking up the concrete slab, which happened last week, but I know there's be plenty more when they get to the drywall phase.

They got rid of all the debris, and they have put in the rough framing of the spaces. The closet is smaller than I imagined. It's going to be a good size to store all my clothes, but I don't think it'll end up being a dressing room. It's still hard to judge.

Anyway, it's exciting to see the space actually laid out after just one week. Still a long way to go.