Tile

The tile guys are at the house.

See?  Here's the evidence.

Tile saw.

Mixer, for mixing grout.

And just inside the door, boxes of tile.

This is the shower in the upstairs hall bath.

That's how Luke reaches the tile at the top of the wall.  He stands on a bucket.  Clever.
Also, those are knee pads laying next to the bucket.  For not so high tiles.

This is one of the guys cutting a piece of tile.

And here is Luke installing it.
See the white plastic spacers in between the tiles?  Thats so the grout lines stay consistent.  He'll pull those out as soon as the mortar behind the tiles sets a little more.

Bathroom Finishes

Here is the new counter top in the upstairs hall bath.

 

And this is the shower, walls prepped for tile.

This is the granite in the master bath.  Sorry the picture is so dark - the light from the window throws me off.

No, not really any better from this side.

Ok, here's a closeup of the stone.

This is the master bath shower, getting ready for tile.

Speaking of poor photo lighting condtions, here is the downstairs bathroom

And a closeup of the counter.

Kitchen Granite

Hey look!  The granite countertops have been installed.

Lets take a look from the dining area.

Fancy.

Very nice, don't you think?

The backsplash will be tile.  See? Theres a piece of it laying on the counter on the right side of the picture. 

Fireplace

Only one picture for today.

The brickmasons were here over the weekend and laid all the brick for the fireplace.  Very nice, no?  That little gap between the brick and cabinet will be covered with a piece of trim, and the top for the cabinet will extend across the top of the brick for the mantle.

We're coming down the homestreach.

More Kitchen, More Dirt

So this is what the kitchen looks like now.  The cabinets are all in, the knobs and pulls are on, we're just waiting for the countertops.

Here's my usual vantage.

The big cabinets.

This is the peninsula side.

And the stove/refrig side.

This is the tile we picked for the entryway, and the hardwood for the living/dining rooms.

While I was walking around inside photographing, Case posted himself at his usual spot on the front porch.

This is what we have planned for the morning.  Picking up the pile of dirt the boys dug out of the planting strip.  You'll notice there are three shovels.  As much as the boys try to say I don't do my share around here, the picture tells the tale.

Still with the "no pictures" policy.  I fear he may try to run me over with that wheelbarrow.  Luckily, I am nimble and quick.  As long as I don't trip over anything as I start my getaway.

Sport hasn't yet noticed the camera.

Obviously he just did.

My, that's attractive.

I told the boys they should be grateful for all these pictures of them laboring away.  When they are grown men and telling their children how hard they had it as boys, and how much they had to work, they'll have photographic evidence.  I just can't help them with the walking to school in the snow uphill both ways.

Sorry boys.

Planting Strip

Remember when the boys dug out the dirt in the planting area?  Well, here is what it looked like after all their hard labor.

Now we're going to fill it all back in with rocks.

See?

Over here too.
The white pipes are irrigation lines for the trees.

Here's the first concrete coming down the chute. 
Of course we're using concrete.  You didn't think we'd just lay the rocks in the dirt and leave them did you? 

Here's Chris filling the form.

Chris and Sport.

All full.  I'm not sure about this.  Maybe it shouldn't be so full?

Dan pulling the chute over to the next form.

And more concrete .

Dan's using the scraper thing to pull a little more concrete down the chute.

Dan

Dan and Chris moving concrete.

Ever wonder what the back of a concrete truck looks like?

More filling.
What follows this photograph is a frenzied period of placing the rocks in the concrete, shoveling out some of it (yes, it was too full) and just general high stress.  I was placing some of the rocks, so no photos.

BUT, after all that, here's the final product.

See?  Rocks in concrete.

No weeds to pull, no landscaping to try to maintain.  Nice and clean.