The new house is coming along nicely. The drywall is finished and the painters have primed everything and started painting the trim and interior doors. The tile is all down, the handrails for the stairs leading to the basement are in and stained, the roof is done, sofits, brick and the first layer of stucco is completed.

Tile surround for the garden tub in the master bathroom.

Master bathroom shower.

Main bathroom tub/shower tile surround.

Kitchen and nook tile. This tile is in the 1/2 bath, laundry room, entry from the garage and front entry. Stan the tile man puts down a wire mesh and builds up a mortar bed everywhere before he lays the floor tile down. He does this to make it stronger and avoid cracks. He'll come back later and seal all the tile and grout joints when he does the backsplash in the kitchen.

This is the black granite tile surround. The mantle will frame the tile eventually.

We are very pleased with this handrail. The cabinets and mantle will be stained this same color.

The painters spent about 4-5 days preping the drywall, caulking the trim joints and taping off everything for paint. He apparently had different colors of primer because the walls are all different colors. :-)

This is the den and looking at the wall where bookshelves will eventually be. We dig the high ceiling and the view from the windows which overlooks the valley to the North. There will eventually be a hardwood floor in this room.

This is the coffer ceiling in the master bedroom. Too cool. We picked out a ceiling fan/light to go in here.

These are the closet dividers that the builder puts in his home. We had the choice to design them anyway we wanted but chose his design.

These are all the interior doors being painted in the basement. They nail a painter's stir stick to the top and lean them against the foundation wall to spray them. To get the other side, they turn the sticks around 180 degrees and lean them against the wall again.

After the painting is done, they will start installing the cabinets and counter tops. The finish plumbing, heating and electrical will follow. The interior doors will go on and all the hardware throughout the house. At the same time the rest of the stucco on the exterior will be completed, the foundation will get plastered and the final cement work. The builder believes it will be done by March 18th.

Another week or so has gone by and the house is different once again upon our arrival. Each time we go out there is a surprise for us. The drywall is hung and the first tape or fire tape is done. The garage below will be taped when the weather gets a little warmer along with the garage floor concrete being poured.

This is the stairs going down to the basement and the utility closet coming in from the garage. Eventually there will be a nice oak/wrought iron hand rail along the stairway.

The cool thing about this builder and his contractor is that they hang whole sheets of drywall over the doors and then cut the door opening out so there are no joints around the doors that usually crack later when the doors are open and closed. They do the same thing around the windows and other areas that are normally susceptible to cracking.

This is the kitchen and pantry. The black and white pipes sticking up is where the island will eventually be installed.

This is the dining room/nook area.

This is the great room and fireplace.

This is looking from the kitchen at the great room and hallway leading to the bedrooms.

 Barb is really excited about the shelf on top of the great room wall for knick-knacks and such.

When it's around freezing or below, the brickers and stucco contractors drape plastic over their work area and heat it for them and the product.

Front entry and windows for the den and guest bedroom. On the other side of the front entry is the window in the back of the 2-car garage. The remaining exposed wood areas will be covered with stucco. They put down a heavy builder's felt, chicken wire and 3 coats of stucco with the final 3rd "skim" coat having the color we selected. The jury is still out on that but so far all the colors we picked look pretty good and not like a bag of skittles had Barb not been in charge of colors. Everyone who knows me knows that at best I'm an 8 crayon kind of guy narrowed down to a 2 crayon black and white kind of guy narrowed down to a single black crayon kind of guy when coloring on white paper. I digress.

Another closer look at the brick and windows for the den.

This is the other window in the 2-car garge.

We promised a rock wall that skirts around the back of the house earlier in the blog. Here is the beginning prep where the contractor clears out dirt and sets the grade for the back and wall.

We couldn't have dreamed putting the wall in better than Derek, the contractor, did for us. He used a track hoe and bobcat to set these stones. He sets the stones the way he wants them and then back fills with dirt before setting the next row. The majority of these rocks came from our lot. I say the less we have to dig through for the sprinkler system. :-)

The next task back here will be to remove the remaining scrub oak and set the grade for what will eventually be grass, shrubs and a butterfly bush in the far corner between the rock wall and back property line which is about 25 feet or so.

We asked Derek if he could put some rock stairs in for us just off the patio so we could get to the upper part. This is what he created. Too cool!

At this point, the drywallers are finishing up the walls and getting them ready to be painted. The tile guys are in and laying tile in all the tiled areas. The cabinets are being constructed. The stucco will be going on, garage floors poured, the roof finished up-we had a spell of cold weather so the roofer had to stop. The shingles have strips of tar on the back to seal them together. When it gets too cold, they won't seal correctly and can be damaged easily by wind. The landscaper has a little bit more to do when he can get to the front after the stucco guys are finished. When the stucco is finished, another contractor will come in and do the facia and soffits. Really the only thing to maintain on the outside of this thing is the wood trim around the doors.