Odds and Ends

The house is really coming together quickly now and I find myself with no time to blog.  

The stairs were installed.  All six runs of them.

I was so excited to finally get them and so happy with the way they looked.  

I love the angled zig-zag profile.  

Eventually we will drywall the stringers so that the oak zig-zag is the feature that will stand out.

Unfortunately, after living with them for a few days, I realized that they made the treads on the first run (the most important run!) a half an inch smaller than the second run.  We did have space constraints in a couple of areas, but not there.

So I asked the stair guys to re-do them.  They were absolutely fantastic about it!  They took them away, re-made them, and re-installed them in 3 days.  

Our treads are now a comfortable 10 1/2 inches in this run.

When I thanked the main guy for doing such a great job, he said to me, "The sooner you're happy with your stairs, the sooner I'll get paid!"  

True enough.

The third floor 1/2 bath got tiled, and I built the high gloss grey Godmorgon vanity that will go in this room.

The entire house got painted including the big steel beam.  

Our painter preferred to work the night shift, which suited us just fine.  It meant he wasn't going to be in the way of our regular guys.

We went all white for the walls and ceilings -- Atmosphere by Dulux.  It has a very slight purplish tinge to it which makes it soft but not creamy.

The beam is Jet Black by Benjamin Moore.

The master bath is getting tiled.  

It took me a long time to decide on these tiles because I didn't want to be disappointed with this room.  I settled on dark grey 12" x 24" porcelain tiles for the floor with matching 2" x2" tiles for the shower bottom.  The walls around the shower will be 12" x 24" Carrera marble.

I love it so far.

And we got our hardwood delivered!

5" wide, 3/4 inch, unfinished, quarter sawn red oak.

 This wood has been a big source of stress for me lately.  

With all the drywall mud, scratch coating and floor leveling, the humidity in the house was way too high.  

The wood company recommends an ideal humidity level between 45 and 50 so the floors don't gap or buckle after installation.  

After getting the furnace going and running a de-humidifier for a few weeks, we finally have the humidity at just over 50.  Pretty good now, I think.  

Steve gave me a few colour samples of the Rubio oil finish we are using for the floors. 

I truly had a hard time deciding between the three on the left -- Smoke, Oyster, and White.

You'll have to wait and see which one we decided on :-)

And finally, they leveled and scratch coated the front hall (this just happened today).

It was terribly uneven since this area still had the original sub-floor with an original beam and joists underneath.

A lot of yelling and swearing over this one.  From the guys-- not me!  I just left them to it.  

They eventually got it done.

These are the tiles we're putting in.

24" x 24" grey Limestone tiles.  Although they're actually porcelain-- they're just called "Limestone".  

Same look, no sealing.

I really like the colour, the matte texture and the subtle swirling.

Tomorrow is floor day!  

The installer dropped off all his stuff this evening and starts laying the hardwood at 7:00AM.

So excited!