Rain Gardens And Dry Well

The stakes are in place for the rain gardens. This is on the north side of the house. Two stakes are visible on the long side (about 30 feet) with the short side being 10 feet.

The other rain garden is on the south side of the house. All 4 stakes are visible here. The stump on the right will need to be removed and any roots that are in the way will need to come out. This rain garden will run parallel to the driveway.

There is also a 7'x7' dry well behind the camper garage to handle the rainwater coming off of it. Three of the stakes are visible here...

House Numbers, Paint, Pet Friendly Flooring (Vinyl Plank Floating Floor)

Steve posted my house number on his sign!

They started painting Mom's bedroom. What a pretty blue she picked out!

While I was home, we took delivery of the vinyl plank flooring. This product is "Pet Friendly Flooring" which I selected because I have 3 dogs. It's quieter, and resists scratches, moisture, and stains. They claim it is "virtually dog proof"... The driver refused to come all the way to the house, claiming that a low hanging tree would damage his truck. He backed down the street as far as he dared...

...then Steve did the rest with the bobcat. There were two pallets of flooring...

I selected the "Reclaimed Oak" since it has some brown and some gray, which will go with everything. It also has grain texture, which will help the dogs have traction. Their feet slip out from under them on the smooth floating floors, but they shouldn't have any problem on these floors.

Paint Colors, Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Cabinets, Propane Tank Pictures

I took some pictures while I was home for Easter. This is the pool room. There's a chair rail with the accent color beneath (painted) and the neutral color above (still just primer).

The colors in the pool room are carried through from the living room and kitchen. In these pictures, the neutral color has also been painted. I'm going to leave the trim white. The inside of the doors will be the neutral color so they will pop.

The crew was looking at the lay-out of my cabinets and pointed out that the refrigerator will extend past the cabinet and will make it hard to reach the corner cabinets and counters. Since this picture was taken, they swapped the refrigerator and pantry.

The lighting wasn't the best to show the blue of the spare bath and laundry rooms.

The four-way bath has a rich brown paint and cream and brown tiles in the shower/floor. I've got this set-up in the three bathrooms on my side: a vanity, a medicine cabinet/mirror, and a toilet topper.

The master bedroom and bath are a really loud purple that nobody likes (except me!)

Mom has got a terra cotta color accent wall. Everybody is calling it "the red wall" but it's got some orange to it. I think it looks really great!

The insides of her doors will also be the neutral color you can see on the right-hand wall and the trim will be white.

This is Mom's bathroom. She is going to have pink towels. She wanted a pink paint, but I went with this color instead. It will go well with just about any color (without being pink walls...)

Some new pictures of the utility room in the garage. The holding tank for the well is on the left. The propane boiler for the radiant floor heat is on the right.

The propane boiler.

Steve put shelves in the utility room, currently being used for staging of build materials.

Here are some pictures of my propane tank. These pictures are more for documentation purposes than for interest. Once the tank is buried, this information will no longer be visible...

The tank will be buried down by the tree line, where the yellow line is coming out of the ground. By purchasing and burying the tank, I will be able to shop prices when I need a fill. If I didn't buy the tank, it would be above ground, owned by the provider, and only filled by that provider. I like being able to price around for the propane and I like a buried tank that I won't have to look at...

Did anyone see my dog in the pictures above? This was her first time going in the house and she was sniffing everything! I think she approves...

More Kitchen Cabinets

Here's pictures of the kitchen cabinets on my side:

These base cabinets separate the kitchen from the living room. It will have a planter box on top, and there's a drain running through the middle cabinet for run-off while watering. Mom has the same set-up on her side.

Kitchen Cabinets

Steve started installing the kitchen cabinets. He wasn't happy to find that Mom's corner sink consisted only of the front, with him having to build the cabinet. I asked the cabinet lady about it and she said they didn't make a unit for what we needed...

Mom side is looking good!

Well

The crew came out and drilled the well today. This isn't the best picture of what's happening. But the well is located behind the truck that is facing the camera, on the front corner of the property.

Propane Boiler

The heating and A/C company was back today to work some more on the propane boiler for the radiant floor heat. It looks a lot different today:

Steve got some shirts and hoodies with his company logo. Looks pretty good!

Propane Boiler For Radiant Floor Heat

The propane boiler for the radiant floor heat is being installed. This is huge! We need the heat working so we can install the flooring.

Gutters and Downspouts, Shower, Utility Room, Trash Run

Gutters and downspouts are going on the house now that the drain tile is in place. Looks pretty awesome!

Here's Paul working on the shower in the 4-way bathroom.

This is the utility room in the garage. The walls have insulation. Steve put shelves in there. There's room for the propane boiler for the radiant floor heat, the collection tank for the well, and a deep sink.

Here's Steve on the way to the dump with whatever trash they have collected since the last run.

Drain Tile, Slab Insulation, Painting, Shower Schluter System, Tiles,

The drain tile is being laid. It will carry the rainwater coming off the roof (via the downspouts) to the rain gardens. This is part of the required storm water management. The Styrofoam provides insulation between the parts of the slab that have radiant floor heat and the soil.

Once all the drain tile is in place, we can fill in the "moat" that has surrounded the house...

No more ramps to get into the garage and breezeway!

Storm water management dictates which areas of roof are serviced by each rain garden. Steve has to calculate all of the elevations of drain tile to make sure everything goes the right way. This is the view from the double doors (for the riding mower) on the back of the garage. Drop clothes are down in the patio area, for painting the ceiling.

This is the shower in the 4-way bath. The Schluter system is being installed.

These are the tiles and grout to go in that shower and bathroom. That's the "brown" room... The tile on the left is accent tile. The tile on the right is wall and floor outside the shower. The tiles for the shower floor are in the box with the black top. It's actual stones that have been cut level. I think it will look pretty cool and bring some of nature inside.

I took a few pictures as I drove away, to head back to Virginia. It was starting to get toward dusk when I left, so the pictures are a little dim. The camper garage on the left is situated so I can easily back the camper into the garage. The daffodils are blooming in what used to be Mom's corner garden, much of which has been run over by heavy trucks turning into the driveway. Steve had to bring in large rocks for the driveway so it wouldn't become a churned up mess with all the vehicles coming and going.

There's Steve, tidying up the site before quitting work for the day. The stump on the left of this picture is coming out.

This was my last look at the house during this trip. It looks like a finished house in the front now. Except there's still plastic on the posts and the front doors and porch ceiling need paint still. And the gutters still need to be installed. But still, if I didn't know better, I'd think it was done...