Day 146

I finished tiling, grouting, sealing, and cleaning the back half of the living room floor. I was really on a roll and I probably would have finished tiling the rest of the house by now except for one tiny little problem: the last pallet of tile was sealed with something different from the first three pallets of tile. I didn't realize this until I had installed about 70 tiles from the last pallet, grouted them, and cleaned them. Then I stood back and realized that the process had just removed the finish, leaving the tiles dull and drab. This was particularly noticable because all the other tiles are so bright and shiny. So tiling is on hold until I get an answer from Dal Tile about what to do.

I still need to paint and/or stain the trim around the windows and doors, but that will probably have to wait until October.



AND I still need to bring out the monster 9'x13' carpet I have in mind for this space, but that will probably have to wait until we do something with the backyard so Sadie doesn't get sand and dirt all over it.



In other news, they finished the color coat on the house yesterday and installed the rock around the front door. Remember this awful red brick on the front of the house?



Gone! It's been replaced by a cultured stone product. I'm really happy with how it turned out. It has the gray/brown color of the stucco, the tan of the workshop, and the red of the red rock wall I built around the front garden.



Still left to do for the front of the house: clean up the trim around the windows, paint the door trim, install a new storm door (assuming I find one I like), cover the ceiling of the patio with tongue-and-groove cedar boards, replace the front porch posts with decorative cedar posts, install a new light fixture (maybe a fan?), stain or resurface the concrete, paint the soffets around the house, replace all the red fascia boards with cedar boards, and get a new roof. But I'm running out of enthusiam right now (and am anxious to get back to restoring my large press), and the other night I think I heard our checkbook crying, so I think almost all of that has been moved down to the schedule for 2010.