Agh and awe!

Well the wall texture is still not right and Bob talked to GC who said he'd get texture guy to come out and look.  That was Thursday of last week and so far he hasn't been out here.  GC said they were charged $1000 extra for the thicker texture but I gotta tell you I think he got ripped off.  Just my opinion but for $1000 I expected more.  And what I've come to learn is that this extra thickness was watered down...a little too much so in places there are drips.  This just won't do.  Bob and I got a small bucket of mastic and practiced on the walls of the master closet to see what we could come up with and maybe do a better job.  Seems like one person is always better at something and as it turned out...I was better at achieving the look we want.  So I did Master Bathroom, Master Bedroom, closet was practice, and I did one of the guest bedrooms.  I think if we push our point they can come back and do the great room and rest of the remaining rooms to make it right.  So we will see.

Took this picture yesterday and you can see the ceiling has dropped just a bit.  Easily fixed by a couple of nails but it needs to be done. 

Moving on....

Search for a cabinet maker continues.  I spoke with a guy on Friday and hes supposed to give me an estimate...and my niece threw in a couple of names and Bob heard about someone so we threw that in for good measure.  Hopefully one of them can help.

Andras Gaspar is the name of the stone Mason and hes just a gem of a guy.  Outstanding work ethic and has a great eye for attention to detail.  

The outside of the house is finished and looks fantastic.  As the tin continues to rust the patina will only get more beautiful.  

Since the outside is finished Andras has moved inside to begin work on the shower in the master.

Very excited to get naked and take a shower in this....maybe TMI?

Time to put on my big girl panties!

Sometimes you want what you want and you have to learn how to ask for it.  And for some people like me...its hard but you have to do it or you know you arent going to be happy.

The texture guys are here.  I've met with them several times to try and get them to  understand the kind of finish we want on the walls. 

We really wanted this:

Which I was told was a stucco finish (very common in AZ.) and incredibly expensive here.  O.K., we arent super rich and are trying to stick to a generous budget but O.K.  Bob and I will look for something else.

We decided on this:

Rustic enough for what we are trying to achieve and a 1 step process achieved with just a trowel and the mastic they put on the walls.  

So the first coat has gone on and they call me down to look at it.  Unfortunately for you dear reader I didnt take a picture but it left a little to be desired.  I told them it was O.K. and walked up to the house but I knew I wasnt going to be satisfied....it just wasnt right and I couldn't put my finger on it.  Finally it dawned on me that what wasn't right is that there wasn't enough texture....the hills and valleys ( for lack of proper terms) were too spaced out.  I himmed and hawed about it and finally had to put on my big girl panties and go down and tell them.  So this is what I got after I showed them the picture.

It's a little hard to see because this is the first coat and once the paint goes on you will see more shadows and texture but we are on the right track.  

I'm hoping second coat will have even more " texture" to it.  Seems to me that it would be easy to achieve but I've never done this type of work so I don't know.  But still.....

This Week

The rock work around the house proper is about 99.9% done.  

They have started on the columns and the 2 in the front are done and they are currently working on the 3 in the back.  

The tile guy was here this week and he was able to bed both shower bottoms and he tiled ( pebbled) the master shower and grouted it.

Here is the guest shower being tiled.

The texture guys are here today so pictures in another post.

More Rock

The first picture is of the side wall without the capstone in place.

The next picture the capstone is on.

I think it makes a huge difference and finishes it off so beautifully.

This was yesterday afternoon and hes about 3/4 's of the way done with the back wall.  The framers need to come and frame around the doors so they can rock right up next to them but the can skip over and continue on.  Hes over 1/2 way done with the outside now.

Rockin and Rollin

The Rock guy started on Monday. He says it will take him about 3 weeks to finish the outside of the house and the porch columns and then he moves to the inside to do the hearth ( for the wood burning stove) and up the wall for the stove pipe.  

This technique or style is called dry stack.  It's fairly labor intensive as each rock is examined for color and then fit.  There is mortar but it's done in such a way that it is not visible until you get right up next to the rock.  

We think it's really beautiful and the guy doing it is such a lovely man.

Our 2 windows and 3 doors finally arrived!  The back door glass was supposed to be clear but it came in opaque.  I can live with it but would have rather had clear.  We could send it back but theres no telling how long we would have to wait for correct one.  The 2 windows also came in.  The picture window was perfect but the bathroom window was in no way correct.  It's a much more square looking window rather than a rectangular one.  Like the backdoor we will live with it.  Theres just no telling how long it would take to come in and since it's just to let a little light in, in the guest bath nobody is gonna know that it wasnt what we planned from the beginning.

Opening for guest bathroom window.

The window that came in.  

Today should be a pretty busy day at the worksite.  Front door and picture window will be installed.  The rock work continues and I'm supposed to meet with the guy who will be doing wall texture and hopefully the cabinet maker.

We have also been talking about being finished by March 1st.   We will see and I'm not holding my breath but things are moving along at a much nicer pace now.