Making space [s]

I threw up a surf rack and a hanging device for the neoprene. The garage is slowly becoming more spacious.



On the clipboard right now is an order form for window coverings. I'm leaning toward wood blinds or cellular shades. Should I go with the former, I'll have to decide between stained wood to match the floors or bright white to match the window trim and baseboards. I created another mindblowingly photorealistic mockup of what either might look like.

Please chime in if you have an opinion.



I ordered a chandelier for the entryway or above the stairs. The criteria was low-key, no faux candles or faux crystals, and no single pieces that are bent more than a few degrees.



One subject of contemplation is door choice for the upstairs bathroom. It used to have a pocket door, great for space but I always found them difficult. Chances are I'll put a regular door in, but I'm considering a slider with some translucent material inset in a wood frame.



So the rest of the bathroom is empty. Cement board, tile, vanity, shower door...



I picked up a Panasonic bathroom fan from Dixieline. It's quiet* and all, but the main perk is that it's not crazy ugly. Most are. They're all plastic, some are huge, others drop several inches down from the ceiling. The worst offense of all is having the ugly yellow, plastic light. The last fan tucked under the joist, no such luck here. I had to relocate it a couple inches so there's a bit of ceiling repair to do.

It wasn't too tough to install, though I had to extend the electrical and fuss about getting the pipe through the wall.

* Maybe too quiet.



It has been noted that I haven't posted photos of the shower with fixtures. Now I have. Bronze finish is looking good for some, if not all of the house. In fact, Jon installed door handles on Saturday.

Burning the midnight oil [s]

Busy days and nights. The beams have been verathaned. The shower and fireplace are nearing completion. Tomorrow will be a foray into flooring. This weekend will feature some prodigious laying of hardwood.



The shower's looking pretty good. Fixtures will be bronze. As we went along, I picked up on the following:

• Different size tile comes in different thickness
• Keeping to a single size as much as possible makes life easier because of the first bullet and because 2' != 1' + 1' because of grout.
  
• The 2' squares are awesome.
• To finish the grout, go over it a couple times with the rough side of a two-surface sponge. Then do the smooth side, it works nice.
  

Next up is touching up the grout and then sealing it. And to decide on a door. Probably simple clear glass; as few surfaces as possible.

More work [s]

The first round of tile went in to the downstairs shower.


China multicolor slate.


Laid out as you'd be looking from the top down. Left wall of 12x12 and 24x24, middle wall of 24x24 and then 12x12, then the right wall of three 12x12 columns.


Windows at last. Vinyl frames, bright white to contrast the swiss coffee interior paint color.


Rob dug up some photos from his trip down. Here you can see Connie knocking out a wall. I added few more pool photos to a previous post.

The Singapore GP was a good watch. How I long for it to be covered in hd and see the full brilliance of the machines at night. The significance of the safety car leads me to wonder if it'll be Ferrari or McLaren to first have their number two driver strategically impact a wall. You know, the Hamilton-Massa gap is only six points and that's nothing considering the final race is in Brazil.

Construction site with amenities [s]

Progress. I picked up the centerpiece for the media room. Furnishings include a futon and Justin's chair. The game systems are there, though tomorrow I have to call Microsoft to take the xbox back a second time. And the tv speakers were atrocious enough I immediately set up audio system.

The components are there, but much needs to be done before it actually looks like a media room. Of course this all comes after flooring and bathrooms. But the plans include:

• Paint the walls a darker shade to eliminate distractions.
  
• Polish the concrete floors for style, resilience, and benefits to electronics (cooler and dust free).
• Wall-mount the lcd.
  
• Feed wires through the walls for 5.1, mount the speakers appropriately.
• Devise a shelving system for electronics and accessories.
• Recessed lighting on a dimmer.
  

Tiling soon. Picked up some 12x12 and 24x24 slate pieces that should look pretty good.