Photos With About a Week to Go

Today's site visit was exciting, but a little bit disappointing too.

The kitchen and laundry appliances are now installed. They look great!

The porcelain tile in the foyer is now down -- the last of the tile to be installed -- and it looks great too.

All the bamboo floors are finished upstairs, and as you can see by the photo of one of the bedrooms, it looks great. Unfortunately, Howard is kind of kicking himself that he didn't push the amber color more instead of the natural yellow hue. The amber color will go into the family room and along the entry corridor. But the natural color you see in these photos goes everywhere else. While it does look good, Howard is thinking the amber might have been better. Never satisfied, that one.

As you can see by the next photo, the kitchen granite and appliances are now in place. The clients wanted the brushed stainless steel look on all the appliances, though the gas stove on the island didn't come in the brushed SS. The oven duo in the background and the very large refrigerator with bottom freezer are finally in, and boy do they look great! The gas stove and the pop-up exhaust vent behind it are in as well. The exhaust is really cool. You just push a button, it glides up out of the granite top behind the stove, and then the fan turns on, pulling all the heat and fumes off the stovetop. Also, the plastic laminate on the eating nook tabletop has been installed. Howard doesn't like it, but the clients selected it themselves, so they probably do.

The cabinet hardware -- knobs and pulls -- aren't all in place yet, but they will add the finishing touches to the kitchen cabinetry. The kitchen sink is a single large bowl -- per the client's desire -- and Howard also gave them a deep counter/bay window behind the sink for extra counter/display space. Note the appliance garage at the corner of the kitchen to the right. Also note that all the wall cabinets are 42" high -- very tall per the client's wishes. Their wall cabinets in their current house are 42" high and they like them so much that they asked for them in their new house too.

The next photo shows the Away Room/Dining Room, the buffet built into the wall, and the bamboo floors, which have only been started. It is in this room that Howard most wishes that the amber bamboo has been selected instead of the natural finish, especially since the client chose such a dark color for the walls. While Howard made most of the interior design selections, some paint colors, most plastic laminates, and a few floor tile styles were chosen by the client without Howard's input.

As you should see in the final two photos, the landscapers have been going wild the last few weeks installing fences, bushes, trees, edging, top soil, mulches, landscape rocks and boulders, sprinkler systems, everything!

Also, the heat exchanger units for the air conditioning system were put in place on the side out the house as pictured -- one for the AC system serving the basement and first floor, the other for the AC unit in the attic which serves the second floor.

Finally, everything inside and out is just horrendously dirty and dusty! Howard's amazed the photos have been as nice as they are so far, because in person and up close, everything is just a mess. The contractor is bringing in a professional cleaning crew on December 21st to make everything shine. After that time, but before the owners move into their new house, Howard will have the house professionally photographed for his own portfolio -- and for his loyal blog readers as well!