2 weeks til now...

My gas was on empty the last few weeks so we headed off to Cancun for a break. Tilo was in Germany, so Viola, my mom adn I headed off to the beach.  You have to allow yourself some "away time" during a renovation. Just time it so that there is either no work going on or just sheet rock.  Some discipline that does not require ONE SECOND of oversight.  There aren't many of those - sheet rock, hardwood flr install, adn ...well that is all I would trust to the actual sub!! 

It was a happy 3 day break from reality..sleeping next to the ocean sounds, drinking margaritas and have no cell service..heaven....

Over the last 2 weeks we did make some head way - had a set back but corrected it and moved forward.  Ruben came in to set the final posts of the extension and realized that the granite column was placed incorrectly!! YES incorrectly!  I nearly died.  So I got the contractor out there, showed him the plans and showed him how his product did NOT work with the plan.  He agreed so they tore up one half of the granite column, extended it back and redid it.. 
The bigger fatter column!

 Cant even tell that it got bigger but it will make a design difference.

 The happy masons - they LOVE me :)  They call me the crazy lady and steer clear when I am coming.  But you know, it is MY house and I AM the client with the money! 

 This is what I had left over.  MAKE SURE you have the masons leave you the rest of your stone and/or brick.  You have paid for it in your price so it is yours.  You can use it in the garden, whatever.  i will make some more granite garden walls when we save up some cash after this depletion!!

And this is my driveway now!!!  Finally we can park here, well until the pod arrives next week for storage while we do the rest of the finishes!

And the FINAL Exterior PRODUCT...with cedar post and all!!

We also got all of the sheet rock in and have a true home-y feel upstairs..one unfortunate thing is we realized that our old walls were AMAZING at keeping the sound out.  we actually had 2 layers of concrete walls with insulation. Now we have regular sheet rock (1/2" less thickness than the old walls) and fiberglass insulation. it is a bit disappointing but we had to get the plaster off - we could blend plaster with sheetrock and have it look good.  I will post some soundproofing suggestions that we have learned about in this process..we didn't do the research early enough but maybe you can benefit from what we discovered!

Regardless, the walls look great....The master bathroom

 The stairwell and landing area...

 The master closet.....

And we also got our hardwood floors installed!  They turned out beautiful.  we will stain them at the end  - trying to decide on colors now - light or dark, what do you think?

They delivered and laid them out all in one day....

And then the final install..true floors..

We are now deciding on tile configuration and interior trim ideas.  Both will get started next week!  I will post tile pictures tomorrow - need some input!!