Not Much to Show This Week -- Wk 65, 9/21 -27/08

As might be expected, we hit a few hurdles this week. We have been pretty laid back about how long this is taking, but now I'm getting a little concerned. In order to lock in our loan rate, we have to have a certificate of occupancy by mid-October. We can't get that until we go over the hurdles.

The major hurdle is the grading. It didn't pass inspection by the county this week. We are going to have to do some more erosion control work on the east side of the house. The other inspections can't be done until the grading is completed and approved.

We decided along with our builder, Dave, and the grading guy, Cisco, to do whatever is required to pass inspection, but not go any farther into landscaping that area because we have a plan for that coming from ZonaGardens. So Cisco will do the 3:1 slope grading where possible and use rip rap where we want to save some trees so the bank will have to be more vertical. It works out to about 50 feet of rip rap. The link goes to a picture of a combination of rip rap and gravel. The rip rap is the larger rocks to the right.

The parts without rip rap will have to be revegetated with a native plant seed appropriate to the area. That grade number means that for every foot of vertical bank, we have to slope out 3 feet to flat. So for most of the east side of the main driveway, the slope will have to extend out 9 feet.

So what can I show you this week? Well, the parapet cap got done.

This picture shows it and the house that's being built behind us. We took a looksee inside it this week. They have tile and carpet on their floors and huge rooms. The house is much bigger than ours and their covered back porch you can see here is enormous. They also have 3 fireplaces, one in the great room, one in the master bedroom and one on the back porch.

This is facing south from the deck.
And this is facing northwest from the deck.
This is the area over the back porch roof.
I just had to take this shot of going up the stairs through all the protective covering. The masons did a great job of cleaning up after themselves and keeping things as neat as they possibly could. Walking through this as the plastic was fluttering in the wind was fun.
Here's what it was like going back down after they finished. The final painting will include the doors in this area. Trout decided he wants his doors painted blue. Shall we do this garage door blue, too? Or should it be red or green?

This is the stairwell with the parapet cap finished. The mural was grouted, but hasn't been cleaned up yet.
This is the intersection of the shop wall and the garage wall.
They grouted this mural, too, but it also hasn't been wiped clean.
This is the great room from the kitchen sink.
They installed the shop bath light bar. It doesn't look very bright here, but it lights up that whole little room.

The master shower is almost done. This looks good.
The pebble floor has been wiped clean but not sealed yet. When it's sealed it will take on a shiny look. This also shows the "rough" edge of it.
It looks like the pebbles are spilling out onto the floor.
One major accomplishment of the week was that the window and door company came out to install the screens, adjust the doors, etc. They hoped to finish in one day, but when we were there on Saturday we could see that they still had a little work to do.
Someone asked what the inside of the sink was like, so I took this picture to show the short divider between the disposal side and the sink side. It really functions like one big undivided sink.

Now for the new pet. These are pictures from a website I recently discovered, Reptiles and Amphibians of Arizona. When we were out there on Wednesday, the place was a beehive of activity with all kinds of people working all over the place. The one grouting the front porch mural noticed something coming out from under some cardboard laying on the ground. I was so fascinated, I neglected to take a picture, but they said it was a kingsnake. This is the picture from that website.

It had its little head sticking out from under the edge of the cardboard and raised up above the ground about 10 inches. Our neighbors said they had never seen any rattlesnakes in the immediate area. If there are some these guys around, that's probably why. This is what the link says: This is a powerful constrictor that preys on snakes (including rattlesnakes), mice, rats, lizards, amphibians, reptile eggs, small turtles, and birds. One of the guys took a long tube, moved the cardboard and Wilbur (as I dubbed him) slithered off to the south into the terrain. By the way, kingsnakes are not venomous.

One day Trout decided to drive past our turnoff toward Kitt Peak. We got to a point on the edge of a hill where we could look back to see where we're building. My camera isn't quite up to this long a view, but I cropped this picture so you could see our house smack dab in the middle. You can see the red shop and the big door. The colors make a big impact close up, but from this distance, the light colored houses and roofs seem to provide the greater visual pollution.
And here's what our little development looks like from that hill without the cropping. Our house is off to the right of center. That's a dust devil in the foreground.
So, at this point, barring any further delays, I think we will be moved in by the end of November. That means one more Halloween here at our rental and probably the last time we'll have any Trick or Treaters for a long while.

Barely Visible Progress -- Wk 64, September 14 - 20, 2008

I keep hoping I can take some pictures of a totally completed room or view and show at least one area of the house where we are ready to move in, but not yet. So some of these will be totally new and some will be what you've seen before with some barely visible refinements.

This is the mural in the courtyard. It's on the stairwell wall.

This closeup shows that it hasn't been grouted yet.
This kitchen island is pretty close to done. After some trial and error, the dishwasher is positioned just the way Trout wanted it.
These pictures were taken late in the afternoon. This one is facing the back porch.
And this one is facing east.
My vanity is looking good. The lights haven't been reinstalled yet and the sink isn't grouted in, but it works.

The too tall linen closet door is gone now from next to Trout's vanity and he's working on another piece of tin for the right size one that will go here.
His sink isn't grouted in yet either, but his vanity is looking good, too.
He had me take some panorama pictures for inspiration for that tin. These are from the viewing deck. The pointed peak to the left of center here is Baboquivari.
And if you click on this one, you can get a better view of Kitt Peak's telescopes in the right of this one. In the winter the sun sets to the left of Kitt Peak.

These raggedy tops are just to the right of Kitt Peak.
And this is the highest part of the range from our viewpoint. In the summer the sun sets in the valley to the right.
One of the most obvious bits of progress this week was that the bricklayers started the parapet cap. Here are some of the adobes sitting on the floor of the viewing deck.
These are sitting on the garage roof.
Here are some of the guys laying them. For all you women out there, the guy in the blue shirt was a real hottie. He came inside to admire the house and said it looked like Michoacan. I'm guessing that's where he's from originally.

These adobes are stacked on top of the highest part of the shop roof.
Here's what the cap looks like above the garage doors.
Here it is on the courtyard side.
And this shows both the front of the garage (farthest away), the courtyard wall (green) and the intersection of the house. That blue wall to the right is actually on the outside of the master bath.
The other noticeable change this week was some refinement to the grading. You may remember the pictures of the puddles from previous posts. Here Fred, our neighbor who is building the house to the east of us, uses his Bobcat to work on the grading on the west side of the house.

He's heading down the Cinnabar driveway here.
He already did the courtyard. And that AC does work, now although it really hasn't been used except to test it.
Fred already did some work on the area in front of the garage and shop.
And in front of the front porch of the house.
This week's delaying issues:

1. Our builder discovered that the roofers hadn't decked the top of the porch roofs with plywood. They just did the tongue and groove that shows underneath and tarpapered over the top. So he will have to have plywood put on top, more tarpaper and then the corrugated tin can be installed.

2. The company who did the bid and was going to install the scuppers and downspouts had some major malfunction and backed out of the contract. They had already built the scuppers and had installed some boxes over the back porch on the west that you can see in the 1st Bobcat picture. They said they wouldn't charge for that or for the scuppers they already built because they could use them elsewhere. Dave and Vicki found another local company to do the work for the same price and Dave said he actually thought their scuppers were a little nicer, so I guess it all worked out for the best. We'll find out when they are finally installed.

Any Predictions? Place your bets? -- Wks 61 - 63, August 24 - September 13, 2008

Although our builder hoped it would be true, getting a certificate of occupancy just isn't going to happen by tomorrow. It might not even happen by the end of the month, but I feel confident we will be settled in by Thankgiving!

If you haven't heard yet, we plan to give our 30 day renter's notice on the 15th or the 30th of the month depending on which is closest to when we get the certificate of occupancy so that we will have a full month to move in and do what we have to do to move out of our rental.

We hoped a lot more would have been done by the time we got back from WA on 9/8, but with the holiday and some very heavy rains while we were gone, it was not to be. So here's what I can show you for the 3-week period covered by this post.

Appliances

You may remember that the rangehood is already in as well as the base of the cooktop. The rest of the kitchen appliances were delivered while we were there on Monday, the 8th (yes, we did go almost straight to the house after getting back from WA). Here the guys are unloading the congelador. That's the freezer. I just love the Spanish name for it.

I'm not sure if these count as appliances, but the furnace, hot water heater and water softener are all in now.
Sinks

The utillity sinks are in. This is mine, mine, mine. It's in the garage and will be the one I will use for gardening, dog washing and whatever other messy work I might do. Eventually, there will be counters of some sort on both sides of it. The 13 foot stainless steel piece we got a couple of years ago won't fit between this sink and the water softener to the left, but I'm sure we will find a good place and use for it.

This is Trout's in the shop. It's his, his, his. I'm not sure what he plans to do in the way of a counter here. He doesn't have a lot of room with wall behind it, but he does have a lot of nothing to the right of it that he can do something with.
This is his shop bath sink. It was a free one Joan got from Lowe's when the one she ordered didn't arrive on time. Free is good.

Hardware

Many posts ago I put in pictures of the door handles we picked out. Now they are on the doors. This is the front door one. They are kind of rustic and feel great to the hand. You may remember that the 1st choice for looks was not the 1st choice for feel. This was our 1st choice for feel and 2nd choice for looks.
Here's an interior handle.

Color Prep

Now for all of you who have wondered, "What are they thinking?", gaze back upon the entryway star. Breathe deeply. Focus on the star. You are starting to understand. It is all coming together. By the way, the light isn't actually on here. That's the solatube shining through it.
All along I planned to have some accent walls in various locations around the house. At first I thought I would paint them. Then I decided to let the pros do it. I managed to catch one of the painters on Friday cutting in the color on this one behind the master bath tub and toilet.
By the next time we went over, he had finished it. This is on the same color path as the wall behind the range in the kitchen. It's just one shade lighter. It's called Spanish Peanut.
Here is Trout checking to see if this toilet flushes yet. It does.
After seeing how bright my vanity lights are, I decided to use the same color behind my vanity mirror on the light wall. It will keep it from being so bright and the warm color will make me look better than I actually do. Over time I plan to fill this wall and perhaps part of the side walls with other Mexican mirrors and milagros I collect. It should be interesting.
This is the accent wall that will be behind our bed. The color looks a little funky in this picture due to the reflection, but it is very similar to the Pomegranate of the shop.
This picture many represent it a little better. My feng shui book said we needed pink or red and gray or silver in this room. No remedies needed here now.
The office got two adjacent accent walls. I love bluegreens of all types. And by feng shui guidelines this room along with the guest room should be blue and/or green. I also wanted this room to be darker and more study-like.
This is a good example of camera error and lighting differences. The color is actually more like this than the blue above.
But where's the blue or green in the guest room? It will all be in the bedding, draperies, etc. This accent wall is the same Spanish Peanut as in the master bath. The bed will go between these two windows. When we get our own bed done or bought, the one that will go here is the one we use now. It's pine. I thought it would be lost on the yellow wall, but it will contrast nicely with this light terra cotta color.
This is the back hall wall between the laundry and the master bedroom. Except for the guest bath, what we have the least of in the house is green. That's not such a bad thing because we have lots of green outside that we see through all those windows, but we both thought having a green accent wall somewhere would be a good thing. It is anticipated by a green countertop and backsplash in the laundry.
This is what it looks like from the living area. You may also notice that the pendant lights finally have shades. I'm not fond of recessed lighting and we only have it in places (like bathrooms) where codes wouldn't allow anything else. But I do like to see what I'm doing, so we have lots of light in the kitchen area.

These are our friends, Don and Patsy, hanging out in the kitchen. You can see the blue accents here behind Don. That big blue nicho to his left will house the desk I got in Santa Fe. It's also pine and would've been lost on the yellow wall. The box to his right is where the freezer and refrigerator will go. The trim that will make them look like they are lah-de-dah builtins instead of Kenmores is to his right.
The kitchen sink is coming along here. It looks fabulous.
Here's a closeup of what the interior is like. To the left of the pullout faucet is a soap dispenser. No more GoJo on the kitchen counter. That will be limited to the garage and shop. The little faucet you can barely see to the right of the big one is for the reverse osmosis system. So not only will we have a water softener for the whole house, but we also will have filtered water at the sink and for the ice supply in the freezer. Both those systems will help keep the calcium deposits down and improve the taste of the water.
Here's a picture of the cooking wall with the lights.

We've been waiting forever to see how the fireplace would look painted blue. The day finally arrived this past week. I've seen many fireplaces down here with decorative painting on them. We still may do that later, but I want to wait to see if it will be needed after the furniture is in, the bancos have their pads, the curtains are up, etc.
This is the mural that is on the front porch to the left of the front door. We made a place for it in the stucco, and it's perfect. Dave (our builder) put it in and now all that has to happen is the grouting.

These handpainted tile murals are fairly common down here. This is the smallest size. They can be very large and take up the better part of an entire wall. Most are pretty primitive like this one. The mural itself consists of the twelve 4" center tiles. We added the 2" ones around it to frame it and make it a little bigger. The ones in the corners are 2" versions of the ones on my vanity.
And we'll end on an unfortunate mistake. Trout did this beautiful and creative tin work for the top section of the linen closet door, but Kelly and he accidentally made the door for a taller cabinet. So they are going to have to make a new door. Today Trout said it's small enough to just need one panel. Kelly may end up using this mistake for his examples or we might just hang it on the wall as art.
So that's where we are now. There still are many details to finish and mistakes to correct, but we are getting very close. I'd better get busy with my curtain-making.