More details

Details like towel bars are hard to photograph, but here's a look anyway at them in the master bathroom. The lights are the ones in the upstairs guest bathroom--it only took about half an hour to decide on the small detail of whether they should have been hung a mere 6 inches lower. They should, and now they do, and they look wonderful! The final photo is of the great room fireplace, which they finished the detailing of yesterday.

Move in day: T minus two days and counting!

Beauty amidst the rubble

Photos today show a few of the lights--one is the dining room chandelier, which has been on my "get for the new house" list since Thanksgiving last year. Another is one of the outdoor lights to give you an idea of the prairie style that we have out there, and the third is a view of the mini pendants in the kitchen. It is hard to see just how lovely they are when there is so much junk surrounding them. Just four more days before they start cleaning it up!

The fourth photo today is of the front sidewalk. We're almost ready for visitors...once that rubble is cleared away.

Functionality

The plumbers are mostly done--note that we now have faucets and toilets! In a few days, they will actually be functional.

Bob's big range is in (note the lovely cabinets and the gorgeous countertops that surround it!), and the gas company will be over tomorrow to connect the gas and see if the range is actually functional.

The shower glass is installed and it looks very nice. We are going to wait until after we have showered a few times to see if it is functional without a door. The original idea for the glass block shower was to make it so that it wouldn't need a door, but the space ended up being a little smallish. We will see!

They are installing the lights today; tomorrow the decorative trim in the doorways. Little details like the garage door keypad and the trim on the dishwasher and fireplaces are on the list for the next few days as well. It's getting close, and looking almost finished.

(Except for all the dust.)

A prairie "wedding"

Many years ago when Bob and I were antique-hunting, we saw a piece of furniture with two different kinds of wood in it, and the dealer told us it was called a "wedding." Here's our prairie wedding of the light ash of our flooring and the red oak of the cabinets and trim.

The three different-size lines in the top photo of the foyer floor is a standard prairie-school design, and it will be repeated on the chandelier that will eventually hang above the wood design. The ash banding around the oak on the stairway landings was the workman's idea to ensure we had enough oak to do the foyer design. It is beautiful, and we should have thought of doing it, even if expediency hadn't made us!

The workmen did an awesome, meticulous job with the designs, and they were as happy with their work as we are. The pictures really don't do them justice.

Other work going on is sidewalk installation, more trimwork, the bathroom countertops, the glass block on the shower, and the upstairs mantle. Did you figure out from that long list and the small number of photos today that we've been forgetting the camera lately?

While he's cooking

Bob, of course, will be doing all the cooking in the new house with his new toy (see previous post). A worthy hobby for him while I, on the other hand, will be at work--but with my new Amish-made desk! Note the media center glass cabinet doors (at the bottom) and how the pattern there matches the desk. Very cool.

We're cooking now

The kitchen cabinets have been installed (mostly--there are odds and ends to fix), and they are lovely. The bathroom cabinets as well--all beautiful. The Amish cabinetmakers sure do a fine job. I'll have to put up several posts to show you them all, since there is a limit on photos per post! Along with the cabinets themselves, Bob's monster stove has also been brought in. Forty-eight inches of stainless steel power...two ovens, eight burners. Ask the guy with the big smile on his face how many BTU's he'll be master of.

The mountains crumble

Look at our house! They cleaned up the masoners' mess yesterday and started spreading out the mountain of dirt from the foundation (part of it is still visible at the right). Looks like a real yard now--smells like one, too. The property used to be a farm and there are lasting consequences, if you know what I mean....which means, also, however, that we should have good luck with our plantings! Bob is itching to dig into that Indiana dirt and start the landscaping (but most of that will have to wait until next year, of course).