Chippin' away with Larry the peacock

Saturday was Chipping Day: The day we attempted to rid ourselves of the giant pile of tree stumps, branches, shrubs and who knows what other plant detritus. We started with a long, tall pile, which is only half represented by the photo below, from last October:

The debris pile, back in October. It condensed a bit over time.

The pile was so compacted that to get pieces out Pete had to cut branches and pieces off with a chainsaw. Hayden and Cole lugged them to Bryan (or pulled out branches on their own), and Bryan fed them into the chipper. (I joined in the lugging later.)

Dirty and pooped Hayden on our Pile o' Chip.

The post-chipping debris pile. Still looks overwhelmingly huge, doesn't it?
Time for some fire! Though that will have to wait for another weekend.

I started the day harvesting plants from the more densely grown areas of our property to help fill in the areas near the house that we need to replant. One of the first things I harvested was this toilet, which was in the part of our property that's in the middle of a bend in the private drive we share with our neighbors. (Pete assures me that the guys will haul it away when they remove the rest of the trash from the site.)

Not the harvest I had in mind ...

Hours of work (and, unfortunately, a case of poison oak) netted me these plants. There are multiple plants in each pot, but it still doesn't look like much. I sure hope they survive and multiply!

Our favorite part of the day was hanging out with Larry the peacock. (Pete named him and we love it.) He seems to like the sunflower seeds the guys eat, and he's not particularly shy -- he hung out on the deck with us while we ate lunch. Unfortunately, I accidentally scared him off when I suddenly lurched out of the fern forest with a 3-foot planter in my hands.

Larry peeks into our great room window -- or maybe he's admiring his own reflection.

Painters, tilers, concrete guys, a plumber and the ever-present siders

The plumber spent a few days here installing all our sinks, faucets and shower heads (he was leaving just as I arrived today), so the bathrooms are looking much more complete -- as is the kitchen, with its new sink, faucet and hot/cold water dispenser, plus an "air switch" button for the garbage disposal. He'll be back once the water is up and running in the house. Today the remainder of our counter -- the bar -- arrived after a snafu that required a bar do-over. Looks like we're almost ready to start cooking!

Pete installed these cool, low-profile brackets to support our bar.

The concrete guys have been busy at our place today and yesterday as well. They can't pour concrete in the rain without getting pockmarks in the surface from the raindrops, but they can sure do a lot of prep! They moved this log to its final (we hope) resting place, where we'll complete the scene with some plants, a few boulders and stepping stones, and a fire pit.

The walkway along the eastern side of the house is ready to be poured -- whenever it stops raining.

The stairs from our deck won't be filled with concrete but rather topped off with gravel.

The painters have been busy for weeks and are just about finished with the interior. They're putting the finishing touches on the living areas, the master suite is now finished and the boys' rooms are seriously colorful -- just as the boys wanted.

Cole's really wanted this red in his room, so he has one feature wall. The other walls are pretty bright as well!

Even the tile guys were still on site today, cleaning up the tile and smoothing the caulk. It's looking so good, I keep thinking they must be done ... . Oh, and the siders are still there, too, but they're pretty much fixtures at the site by now. They've been siding our house for so long that I don't think I'd be surprised if they were still hanging around after we move in!

The evolution of siding

The siding is progressing more quickly now; it may actually be complete one day! We love the look and can't wait for the paint to go on the lap siding. (The cedar stays the way it is.) We've been playing with sample siding paint colors and have settled on a dark charcoal for the trim color and a gray called Iron Mountain for the main siding color. Can't wait to see it!

The Barn's siding is almost complete. That's one beautiful storage area!

Our backsplash went in this week, too. 

Peter built the laundry room counter and hanging area (at the right end of the counter).

Many of the interior walls are now painted their final color. The boys' bedrooms are being painted now as well; each boy has chosen two different colors for his walls. Unfortunately, when we visited yesterday evening we discovered that one of Hayden's colors was in Cole's room and one of Cole's colors was in Hayden's room. This is an easy fix, though, so nothing to worry about.

We're also finalizing our planting and landscaping plans; we'll be chipping our giant pile of yard debris next Saturday and using some of the chip to make pathways. I've been investigating purchasing boulders and stepping stones and have some great information, so hopefully we can get those up to the land soon. Rachel (my friend and landscape designer) and I will start major planting on May 29 and schedule further planting around the concrete schedule. (We can't plant near where the concrete will be poured or the plants will get trampled.) Concrete starts this week with the east side of the house, and hopefully will finish with the south side of the house the following week, though it will likely take longer. It's hard to plan around the concrete schedule because pouring concrete depends on the weather and the other jobs vying for concrete at the same time, as well as the other contractors involved. Since we have lights embedded in some of the concrete, we have to schedule the electrician to place the lights after the concrete guys have set the forms and before the actual concrete can be poured. It's all about scheduling!

Most of the counters ...

The photos I took today didn't turn out well, so I'll have to go back and retake them with my real camera. In the meantime, we can all admire our new counters -- well, most of them. The counter company made an error on the bar counter and had to re-do it. The rest looks great, though! This is a recycled quartz counter; the color is called Riverbed.

Peter trimmed the pass-through to the pantry in our counter facing. Nice!

Our master bath vanity counter is a granite called Uba Tuba.

Our master shower is almost finished.

We're also figuring out paint color for the interior doors and trim as well as the colors for the window casings and trim on the exterior of the house. Peter had a couple of options painted on for us to look at; we liked one of the interior trim colors but not the exterior ones. Tomorrow we'll get to see the new concept. Thank goodness Peter has a good artist's eye; this would be far too difficult for us without his input!

The siding guys continue to work on the east side of the house; maybe I'll remember to take photos tomorrow.

Actual siding!

Look at our siding! It's beautiful! The cedar will remain cedar colored; the lap siding on the bottom of the south side of the house will be painted a charcoal color.

Aaand ... the interior is being painted the final colors; can you tell that the great room is now a pale, warm yellow?

Cabinets, tile and more!

Our cabinet installer worked most of the day on Saturday to finish up our cabinets, and they look awesome!

The kitchen cabinets look great, and they'll look even better when we get our counters (a week from tomorrow).

Our mudroom cabinets. I have high expectations for them controlling
the chaos that sprawls across the entry to our current home.

The laundry room cabinets. The sink and counter will go in later, with the washer and dryers.

The guest bath vanity. It will get sinks and countertop when the plumber comes through. 

One of the boys' vanities. These, too, will get sinks and counters when the plumber arrives.

We had a lot of other visible progress from this week as well:

Our master shower has tile!

The floor in the guest room looks so cool!

The guys labeled the boys' bedroom windows. Cole was thrilled.

Exterior steps being built ...

... and exterior steps in place (but not finished).

It's crowded around here

As I drove up to the house with my two vanity sinks today, my driveway was crowded with at least six trucks and vans, plus the trailer our guys keep on site, plus two more trucks that didn't even make it onto the driveway. (I parked at the bottom and carried the sinks up.)

The people belonging to all these vehicles were siding the house; installing the garage door openers; creating our exterior stairs (he was sawing the juniper wood, which smells wonderful); installing interior doors, trim and baseboards; installing the kitchen cabinets; and making templates for the kitchen and vanity counters. And, of course, Val and Pete, who are everywhere doing everything.

Many of these people will be back tomorrow, and several of them will even be here on Saturday. And with all the exterior doors in place (and a few appliances inside), the house now gets locked up at night.

Kitchen cabinets!

Our island has facing where the bar stools will be. Nice!

The master vanity, plus a couple of boxed sinks.