California 2 Puerto Rico

I couldn’t come up with a good title for this post because the work didn’t really get any “construction” accomplished, it was more a lot of little things and some major manual labor to get this work done. Although it didn’t really feel like it was doing much, it really moved the house forward when we were done.

Mosquitoes be Gone! (almost)

We have been sleeping with mosquito nets every night because of the fact that downstairs was not screened in and had hundreds of tiny places for mosquitoes to sneak in. This week we framed off the giant openings on the ground floor, added big french doors (so we can still move big stuff in and out) and screened it in. It may not seem big, but it puts us that much closer to being able to hang out in our house without bug spray on.

Screened in Great Room Downstairs

The final step in getting rid of all the little pests will be to install the screens in all of the downstairs windows. I had a guy that was supposed to show up on Thursday morning, then on Friday morning but he pulled a ‘no call no show’ which is pretty typical for down here. I’ll work on him again next week.

Organized Construction Equipment

Again, this is something that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it really makes the house feel more like a home in these final finishing stages that are going to take so long. Over the past couple of weeks we have been doing all kinds of work to the house including plumbing, framing, electrical, drywall and concrete board. Because of all of these projects we have been using many different tools and purchased a lot of supplies that have all been stored in the Great Room for ease of location. Now, having 10 different people in and out daily using tools and not having a ‘proper organized place to put them’ has created a lot of headache both in the sense of finding a specific tool and the amazing clutter that it created. We also had 8 sheets of 5/8’s treated plywood, 25 extra sheets of 4/10 fire retardant greenboard (originally 140 sheets), drywall tape and drywall mud laying all over the place.

So…I built a shelf for the tool room downstairs and we organized all of our tools into the one central location (but you have to walk up and down the ladder if you forget a tool) and moved all of the supplies in there as well. I also hung a surfboard rack and stored all of our boards.

Stacking the plywood and greenboard saved a lot of room

Not much time to surf….yet

Once the Great Room and kitchen were cleared out, it was on to priming. Here are a few pictures of the before the priming stage and after the rooms were fully primed.

5 gallon buckets of Behr Water Based Exterior Primer

Great Room Mudded and Taped - Right Side

Great Room Mudded and Taped - Left Side

Mark applying the first coat of Primer

Great Room - First Coat of Primer

Kitchen - Two coats of Primer

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Summer and I have been doing everything we can to get Monkey and Kuta down to Puerto Rico. We were originally told that we could fly them on Continental Airlines via their award winning Pet Cargo travel program (the dogs are flown in climate control and priority) but when we went to book the ticket the operator told us that Continental can only fly pets during peak season if the flight is less then 74% full. Too bad they didn’t tell us this before…we would have flown them down earlier.

Because of this FAA restriction, I have been calling every day (you need to book 3 days out) trying to get a spot for the dogs. Two days ago, the operator told me there was a flight available on the 23rd of July (72% filled) and to call back today, on the 21st to book it. Well, I called all of the numbers for the pet travel program and they are disconnected AND the regular operators for reservations don’t have the ability to transfer me to that department. Needless to say, now I can’t call to book the tickets for the dogs this morning. Hopefully they will get their phone system working soon. This is starting to be a pain in the ass.

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We’ve just been advised that we should paint before we tile the bathrooms, so now Stefan and I are in another scramble to pick a color…QUICK (tile is supposed to start tomorrow)! I found this cool color visualizer from Sherwin Williams, that helps pick wall paint colors. It was VERY helpful!

The fixtures in the bathroom are Kohler “almond” color (I think, that’s what Stefan said) and the travertine is walnut colored (which I’ve paired with the colors below for comparison).

Here are 4 colors that I think would look good in the guest bathroom:

What do you think?! Help!

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Summer and I spent a lot of time picking out the Kohler Shower Set for the master bathroom. We are being very cash conscious with all of these purchases since the money is quickly disappearing. We were a little bummed out that we needed to make the “which one” decision before we even had tile in the bathroom because it is so hard to visualize how your bathroom is going to turn out when it looks like this!

With that said, we found what we were looking for and ordered it online, all the while our plummer is asking me on the daily basis when we are going to get the parts. Well, they finally arrived to Puerto Rico yesterday so I called the plumber and had him come over this morning. When he got there, he informed me that the “valve” we need for the “rough in” wasn’t included in the two sets we bought. After reading further about our Kohler Shower heads on line, I realized that we purchased the “trim” kit, which basically means everything on the outside.

The Installation Guide suggests the K-306-KS HiFlo Valve so I simply Googled it and found one right away. Unfortunately, the Kohler list prices is $358 each. That would make our shower worth about $1500 pre-tile and pre-custom shower pan. So, I searched for our shower heads on Kohler and found the “People that bought this item also bought this” section that showed three choices for valves that ranged from $99 to $300. Amazingly enough, I found what we needed and ordered it 3 day to California (they don’t ship to Puerto Rico). Once Summer gets her hands on them, it will take another 3 days (if she pays for overnight) to get to Puerto Rico and into my hands.

This is a picture of the infamous “Kohler HiFlo Shower Valve”.

Also, let our lesson be a good one for you no matter where you are building your house (or redoing a bathroom); you don’t need to buy you set of shower/bath accessories ahead of time, you only need to buy the “rough in shower valve.” You will need to do a little bit of research first, get an idea of the brand you would like to use (Delta, Kohler, American Standard, Latoscana) so you can match up your shower faucet with your roughed in hardware…but besides that, you can choose your finish (brushed chrome, brushed nickel, nickel, vibrant french gold, brushed bronze etc) well after the tile is in and you can visualize the bathroom.

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When I was back in California, Forrest came up to me and asked why I haven’t gotten rid of the nickel plated steps on the side of the Bronco . He told me it made it look like an old lady car instead of a bad ass 4wd truck. So, at the end of the day yesterday I pulled out the tools and removed the nickel plated runners and decided that the truck looks great! In a totally different way from the van, this thing is a classic.

Here is the Bronco without the granny steps. Forrest, what do you think?

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As I’ve said before, construction on the house is going quicker then I’ve expected. So quickly, in fact, that I realize that we need to figure out what we are going to do design wise, pronto. Since we’re already trying to pick out tile and flooring, I think we need to have a game plan when it comes to the general look we’re going for. Stefan and I picked up an amazing deign book called “Interior Design Details - 1000 New Ideas for the Home”. Here are two rooms that I really like:

“‘Neutra’ from Casa Dolce Casa is a decorators’ kit offering a collection of wall and floor tiles, both glass and porcelain, and mosaics with co-ordinated colors in matt and eggshell paints and grouting. Distressed walls in scumbled terracotta and ocher paint are anchored with big square charcoal “Carbone” floor tiles 600 x 600mm (23 1/8″ x 23 1/8″) grouted in anthracite.“

“A futon on a tiled platform has a dramatic backdrop of “Titanium” slabs, banded with “Copper” strips from Hyperion Tile’s “Metal” collection. Ceramic tiles look like Corten steel yet have all the durable qualities of ceramics. The adjoining bathroom walls are covered in small metallic porcelain tiles.“

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Tray has been hauling ass taping, mudding and edging the greenboard. It is really starting to look like a house. He will be done with the guest bedroom today. That means it is ready for primer and a somewhat permanent bedroom where we won’t have to move all or our stuff around every other day. Stoked

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I spent hours looking for tile yesterday. To be exact, I spent 6 hours driving from Mayaguez to Aguadilla and everywhere in between trying to find quality tile. Everything I have found down here has been ceramic tile or junk.

I am going to have to drive to San Juan to check out some tile stores there if I don’t find anything around here by Wednesday. I hear about a place off of the 2 in Mayaguez that i haven’t been to yet..I am going to check it out tomorrow and if they don’t have anything good…it’s off to San Juan on Thursday.

I really want to have the guest bath tiled this week so we can have a fully functioning bathroom by the time Summer gets down here.

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I went to Home Depot Expo today and was looking at flooring. I totally fell in love with the MS International Inc Tarvertine flooring in Tuscany Walnut Pattern.

http://www.msistone.com/brochures/2006_Limestone_Brochure.pdf

The picture does not do it justice. The tiles are big and smooth, but with roughed up edges that look slightly crystalized. It’s pretty rad and it’s only $5.49 per square foot. Is it just me, or does that seem pretty damn cheap?

Also, I think Robin is right about the grout space on the flat river rock. Since the master bedroom is going to have hardwood floors, I think the travertine will compliment the wood nicely.

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I think I am going to create a category for poker (actually, I just did) because we really do play texas hold ‘em a lot. Our games are three nights a week with a $10 buy in plus $1 for clean up and $1 for the royal flush fund. For those of you that are as good at math as me, that is a $12 buy in for hours of fun (sometimes less). Everyone brings their drink of choice and we usually end up with a couple bags of ice (which is good because Luther eats ice like a maniac). The game is played outside under a tent and their are two tables available. Eight people to a table…tonight we had 14 people so we played two tables of seven.

Tonight, I played good poker. Mind you, I lost. But, it was much fun. After becoming the small stack, I went all in a few times in a row and won a few chips. Unfortunately, it didn’t put me at the final table, but the fun was well worth the buy in. I bluffed my way through a few and won a few with great hands and decent betting.

Summer taught me how to play….thank you Summer. Another great attribute you bring to our table.

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