Central Vacuum Project

Peter's been working hard lately on installing the central vac!
This was the first wall cut so he can see what's going on inside the walls & figure out where to run the plumbing.
Drilling into the foundation wall to mount the vacuum...
Mounted!
Main plumbing line - this run connects the attic, upstairs and two outlets on the main floor.
He's back at it this morning!! I can't wait to try it out!!

Guest Bath re-do

We (Peter mostly!) have been knee deep in the guest bathroom re-do! Last week he tore out all the existing stuff...
Under the tile was some delicious linoleum. We pondered keeping it for a half-second. Not.
The studs had a little bit of mold, but we were actually pleasantly surprised by how dry it all was!

Clean slate, with new PEX plumbed in! Now the master bath (next and last BIG project!) is the only room with the PB plumbing in it!
This picture is mostly for Wes' benefit. Peter had to work with some copper pipe for a bit, so he brought the bar-b-que propane tank up to use to solder. :) Hah.
Deep in plumbing thoughts... you know, drains, P-traps, hot and cold water connections, etc. The hot-water valve was faulty on this new piece we bought, (which we found out after it was all installed, bah!) so P. called the manufacturer and they over-nighted (!!) a new valve to us. Wasn't that nice of them? We'll be buying Moen products from now on, thankyouverymuch. :)
New tub in!!!
That catches me up on blogging, and you up on our house progress!! Happy Veteran's Day!

Real quick update...

Central Vacuum 75% done!

Peter finished putting in all the plumbing in the walls, upstairs & down on Saturday... Also, the outlets are in too. Now he just has to run the plumbing from the attic to the garage and install the vacuum unit! Speaking from experience, (Peter's experience) this would be a MUCH easier project to do when you're building the house, not after it's already built!

Here's a pic of one of the outlets... maybe not as exciting for you as it is for us!!!!!!!Also, Friday was my last day as a Loan Ops Specialist, and as of tomorrow, I'll be a Credit Analyst! I know the learning curve will be HUGE, but I am really looking forward to a change of pace and atmosphere!

Week 4 of accounting class down the drain... this week is my Mid-Term. Ack!

Master Bath Update

Remember that bathroom remodel we started awhile ago??  Well... we've picked up progress again on it, and I'm so excited to show you how the vanity (used to be bathtub) portion looks as of today!! 

BEFORE!

Cabinet moved in; P. is working on the plumbing.  The plumbing was a pretty major overhaul since this area used to house the bathtub... P. had to reroute water supply, drains, vent pipes, etc.  He's pretty amazing!  Also, the mirror is hung & new lighting fixtures added.

Countertop / Sinks, all molded from one THICK piece of frosted glass... I LOVE this! 

To give you an idea of what the accent tiles and shower tiles will be.  Also, paint colors.  :)

 Now here are closeups of some of my favorite touches:  

:-) :-)

These are from West Elm.  I think we'll get the two-light sconce which matches this set for above the new jacuzzi bathtub.  Nevermind the unfinished drywall above.  We'll get to that eventually!

We will add a 4-6" back-splash to the countertop, crafted from the mosaic tile in the fourth photo of this post.  :-)  I'm pretty sure this will look... amazing!  :-)

I just love this countertop!

Cabinet and floor detail

In other news, we're SOOOO looking forward to my brothers and sis-in-law coming this week!!  I'm sure plenty of photo-ops to blog about will come from their visit.  :-)  Hope you're having a lovely weekend!!

Catsup... aka Catch-up!

Sorry for the delay in posting!! I'll try to catch you up in pictures of our adventures from the last few weeks. :)
This project is done now! What a huge improvement! Next on my list is to repaint that ceiling fan, and we'll put it in one of the guest bedrooms. We plan on moving the fan location to the peak instead of having it sit 12 inches off center... that drives me crazy! You might notice the window in this picture isn't centered either. It's off about 2 feet from the true center of the room, but there's not much we can do about that, short of tearing into the wall!!
Cans in...
Lights and finish work done!
Our hostas are blooming!! They are quite pretty - this last week of dry heat has wilted them a bit, but we enjoyed their color just outside our front door for the better part of two weeks.
Well hello... welcome to 1486. I'd like to get the letters that spell out your address to put above the door... like these. Someday. :-)
My favorite! The bumblebees love these blooms - they barely fit inside!
Dozer's first experience outside in over a year... he immediately started eating his greens!! I guess we should have been feeding him salad all this time!
Another project! Our backyard was pretty close to being designated as a forest, so Peter's been cutting down all the scraggly trees. We still have over twenty back there, but they are mostly around the perimeter, plus some of the larger ones in the middle are left. Now we actually get sunlight in the back windows & the deck sees a bit of it too!
Just the start of a woodpile!
This door will hopefully be gone before too long!! The edges will be squared off and we plan on putting a rock fascia on the face of the garage - instead of siding. The rock will be similar to what was on our place in Oregon. We're attempting to make this colonial style house look more craftsman style! The rest of the house siding will be replaced with hardi-plank concrete board... color to be determined still! Oh, and we're hoping for a red metal roof! :-) I'm so excited for all of this!!
Upon unpacking boxes the other night, I came across this VERY exciting discovery!!! When we moved from Oregon, we marked a number of our boxes with red dots, to remind us that what was in them probably wouldn't be needed for the interim period that we were in an apartment... I hadn't seen these dishes for over a year!! It was like Christmas in June! I might just pack some other things up and store them til' next June to do it all over! :-)
Coffee mugs!! With cream? Honey? Tea? Come'on over!
We were brainstorming the other night and came up with a pseudo-plan for the front of the house. I'm really not a shutter-type of girl. But the house would look so stark with out them, so... we're thinking about putting a porch along the front. Big sturdy pillars that have a base made out of the same rock that will be on the garage front. Then we'll trim out the windows and garage door with some sort of dark stained wood... Like this window/garage trim maybe? Just ideas for now, but it's fun to dream anyway!
The big D again... he's found his new love - CRICKETS! They are plentiful around here, so I'm not complaining! It's amazing how he disects them tho... we find two perfectly intact pairs of legs over by his food bowl on a regular basis. Somehow he eats everything but the legs!
New exterior faucet. The old one was plugged, way back at the valve in the basement, so Peter replaced it.
The plumbing for the aforementioned project was a bit of an experience, but it's done now! Eventually Peter plans on replacing all of the plumbing in the house. Back in the 80's they used a material called PB (Polybutylene) piping (the grey stuff below), which these days isn't used or produced because it's SO horrible! They say there are two types of PB piping - the kind that leaks, and the kind that will leak. Great! Well, ours has already had one catasrophe (thankfully before we owned the house). The pipes burst and flooded all of the main floor. Anyhow, hopefully we don't experience that again before it is replaced!
And dinner tonight! Quiche is such a great meal when you need something quick, but healthy. I mixed this up and we were eating in less than an hour... yummm!
Washed the cars tonight. Simple little things like that I'm appreciating so much now that we have a house! We certainly couldn't do that at the apartment!
In other news, we booked a trip to Aruba this week! We'll be hangin' out in the sun from Sept. 3rd-8th! Can't wait!!! Then Dellas and Jill's weddin' is right after that, so we'll be in Boise the 16th-21st! I'm SOOOO excited to see my family again - it's been WAAAY too long!!

Saturday Morning Surprise!

Because, WHO doesn't like to wake up to a burst hot water pipe?
The water flooded out from here when Peter started slowly pulling the sheet-rock down. It had been pooling there for awhile.
The culprit... Peter's on his way to Lowe's as I write this to get a replacement.
Poybutylene plumbing is the PITS. Remember this post? I'll copy & paste what I wrote before: Eventually Peter plans on replacing all of the plumbing in the house. Back in the 80's they used a material called PB (Polybutylene) piping (the grey stuff below), which these days isn't used or produced because it's SO horrible! They say there are two types of PB piping - the kind that leaks, and the kind that will leak.
A bit of cleanup to do...
HAPPY Saturday y'all.

Master Bath Update

Remember this post?? Well... despite my lack of blogging, progress still has been made!!! Fortunately things don't stop just because I fall behind on blogging. :-)
Here's a rundown of what has been accomplished:
A pocket door was installed~
The new bathtub area was framed in~
The exterior side of this wall got the drywall patched~
The floor started being laid~ (and it is breathtakingly beautiful!)
Plumbing was roughed in ~
Flooring was finished!

And the shower (to the left in this photo) was framed in.
Isn't it amazing!? :) Isn't my HUSBAND amazing?! That's ALL his handy-work!