Happening House

Things at the house are really starting to happen! It is actually starting to resemble a home. We have made a lot of decisions in the last few weeks, including several changes from our original plans.

we picked out our doors
we decided on trim
we picked paint colors
we finally decided on the stone for flooring
we decided on the stair railing
we changed our ceiling material
we decided on the fireplace flue

Our original trim plan was to do something simple, paint grade (MDF). But we both decided that we prefer wood. We picked unstained alder. So then we decided that alder doors would go well. Not only did we pick out the paint colors, the painting is DONE! Most of the house is a nice neutral beige, but some of the rooms have some color! My work room is gold. Part of our bedroom is red (kind of brick colored). And, for me, the most daring is the light blue guest room. Let's hope I can make it work the way I imagine. One of our big changes is the ceiling. Originally we were going to keep the whitewashed pine tongue-and-groove paneling. Then we decided to add some insulation. Rather than re-do a perfectly good roof in order to install insulation, we had insulation put on the ceiling and then another layer of paneling. We figured pine was the cheapest, but then we saw a house with Western Red Cedar and loved it! The material cost is the same, but we save the money we would have spent on whitewashing or staining the pine, because we don't like the look of it. We are really happy with that decision. The other change is in the stair railing. I wanted to do something modern and rustic by using steel mesh, but it just seemed too complicated with our GC, so we are getting a nice basic alder rail system. And today, we decided to wrap the fireplace flue with... alder.

Surprise!

Chris and I surprised Tim with a party to celebrate his 40th birthday. We were in Seattle to close the sale of our house, and it was a perfect opportunity to gather his best buddies. Tim was completely surprised and very pleased.

Bright Sunshiny Day

We have had beautiful weather lately. It feels like late April or May, -like Spring. It does not seem like mid-March, which is normally Winter. Of course, the balmy temperatures are just putting the final nail in the ski season's coffin, but I can roll with that. I've just started thinking about Summer: Moving into our great house, cycling (both road and mountain), hiking, boating (we've got a buoy, all we need is a boat). I've already started catching up on my sunshine/vitamin D after years in Seattle. Today it was 66 degrees, but it felt warmer, so Denver and I decided to go check out our homeowners' pier.
I asked Little D to pose, but she had other plans. Lately she doesn't seem to hear my requests so well. Maybe she figures she can pretend to be hard of hearing since she's so old. She's not foolin' me... she hears me get food out, no matter how quiet I am.
Since D wouldn't sit still, I decided to focus on the rocks below, because they weren't moving around. The water is probably 10 feet deep here. Tahoe is renown for the incredibly clear water.

All in all, it was a day full of bright colors and sunshine!

I made the final decisions on paint colors for the house today. The drywall folks have been busy. They started the wall texture on Friday and should be done in a couple of days. Paint is next.

Fireplace is done...

but not exactly functional. Well, you could build a fire in it, but very little smoke would make it out the chimney. Fireplace and chimney are not yet connected. Anyway, it looks pretty cool, doesn't it? And it is big. The opening is 4ft square. I can't even see the top surface of the mantle.
There is more subtle information in this picture as well. The walls are all covered with sheetrock. In fact, we passed our drywall inspection while I was there yesterday. Now they tape it and fill in spots, and then put on the smooth texture. After that comes paint. I think I heard a rumor that our cabinets are coming next week. We got our kitchen bathtub sink this week. I wanted one big sink, none of that divided business. Well, that's what I got, all right. It is huge. I am still going back and forth on the floor for the kitchen/greatroom. We are going with stone, for sure, but the exact type is the big question. Quartzite is the most durable and least expensive, but I am having trouble with the bling factor. There are shiny, metallic veins in the stone, which I can't quite picture in my living room. I like the look of flagstone, but it is much darker and will change the feel of the room. I guess I just have to make up my mind about the look of the room.

We Sold Our House!

The house in Seattle went on the market on Wednesday. We accepted offers until 1pm today and got beyond what we were hoping for! We listed for less than we expected, in hopes of generating interest, multiple offers, and letting the market tell us it's worth. I think we got 6 or more offers, all above asking price. Our agent thinks maybe this is a record for a 2 bed/ 1 bath house. Needless to say, there are no contingencies, the house is accepted as is, and it should be a done deal in less than a month. I am a firm believer in real estate agents. Sure, it is hard to part with 6% of the sales price, but a good agent earns their fees and ours certainly did. Thanks Scott!

Things are not so exciting here in Tahoe...unless you think sheetrock is exciting. I just think it is dusty! Things are progressing.

Truck

Well, the storms have past and we are in the process of digging out. I mean the collective "we" that encompasses the Lake Tahoe Area. Frankly, I'm done. But Cal Trans still has a way to go, in my opinion. The guys came to deliver sheet rock today, and one of the trucks got stuck on our street for 45 minutes (due to the snow) and didn't even deliver the rock. Or so I hear. We weren't there. We went to Truckee for some nice couple time at The Rock Garden where we looked at stone for flooring. We did a few other errands down there and started home. Just about halfway home, the truck started to act funny. It went downhill fast (and I don't mean mph) and just after we passed the stoplight at Squaw Valley, it died. It was kind of an adventure. For those who don't know the area, There is basically nothing between Truckee and Tahoe city except the Truckee River and Highway 89. There are no towns. There are turnoffs for two ski areas and some homes, but it is basically a road through a river canyon. OK, dead truck. No big deal... call AAA. I tried but had no signal on my cell phone. OK, dead cell phone. No big deal... I walked back to the entrance to Squaw and into Tahoe Dave's rental shop, where they kindly let me use their phone. AAA said that it could be as much as 1.5 hours for a tow truck! I walked back to Tim and played games on my cell phone took over truck duty while Tim hitch-hiked back to our place to get another car. We could have stayed together and then taken the bus or a taxi home from the mechanic in Tahoe City, except that Denver was in the back of the truck. We didn't think any of our transportation options would accept dogs. After 3 rides, Tim got home, grabbed a car, and picked us up. We'll find out about the truck tomorrow.