Glub, glub, glub

It seems a lot of northern Colorado is under water at the moment, but my little part of it is doing OK. It's truly scary to hear/see the harrowing tales of people's homes being inundated. Our local river, the Poudre, flooded Friday, closing several bridges in town. Although the river is about a 1/2 mile from my house, there are a couple of good-enough-sized hills between me and it, so it doesn't look like my neighborhood will flood.

We had a nice morning and afternoon Saturday weather-wise, but by late afternoon the rain started again. It's supposed to finally push out of the area tomorrow. The kids got another unplanned day off Friday, which I think was a good idea, and have a scheduled day off tomorrow, so another four day weekend for them.

I've been working on jewelry stuff. Button fobs, to be specific. Mr. W is holding some finished ones and some works in progress below:

My wireworking skills are so-so, but getting better. I still have to figure out the best length of chain or cord (I'm thinking cord) to use, but I like them so far. I can attach different things on the bottom, and have bought some new charms and even some old clock hands to play around with. I thought also to make some textured polymer clay tiles to attach at the bottom, too. 

In kitchen news, the stove and dishwasher got delivered, but even after one return trip by the installer to fix the probelm, the dishwasher is leaking, so I haven't used it. I need to finish the tile, which I hope to make a dent in today, and I have hit the wall, so to speak, regarding all the clutter in other parts of the house. It is time to get stuff put away. So tile and de-clutter are on tap for this rainy Sunday.

As requested, more floor pictures

This is my bathroom. Please don't look too close, as there is a lot of construction grit and grime yet on everything.

The bottom of the closet door needs to be planed, so it's still off the hinges. In the picture above, I'm standing in the doorway that's always closed in the kitchen pictures. The bathroom has a whopping 5 x 5 of floor space, and has three doors. The stripes actually do make it feel a little roomier in there, and I figured with all the blue and green in the kitchen, I'd make the floor neutral in the bathroom and eventually paint the walls something else. They are a medium-dark gray at the moment, which doesn't look bad on its own, but doesn't really go with the tans of the floor.

Here's the back hallway. I originally wanted this all the white/light tan but after using so much for the bathroom, there wasn't quite enough. Since I didn't want to change the walls that I recently painted, I let the installer pick the extra non-white tiles and I love how it turned out. The dark rectangle is the heater vent, btw. The baseboards in here will have to be redone, as there is now a 1" gap under the orange walls. 

This is looking down the stairs  to the back door. The stairs look skewed in this picture, but they look just fine. I just love that this area will be easy to clean now. The carpet was really gross. I will need to get rugs with grippers, though, because the floor is nice and smooth. 

The floor tiles are really dull at the moment because they come with a protective finish that I will eventually strip off. I'll then give it a couple of coats of wax and it will really pop. 

I spent a good bit of yesterday starting the backsplash tile. For some reason I thought the space would allow 1/8" joints all over, so I set the first row 1/8" off the counter, and 1/8" between tiles. When I then went to fill in the other rows, I was about 1/2" short of space. Panic!! 

I left the first row in place and have done 1/16" joints instead, which is basically just setting them so they are level and have a bit of space between the rows. I bought the little 1/16" spacers, but they pop out even when I've pushed the tiles together, they look right, and are level. Since the first row of subway tiles has 1/8" spaces horizontally, I'm continuing that and it looks fine. 

I'll post some pictures when it's a little further along. 

New floor and counters

It was a busy week in the kitchen remodeling, and the end is in sight. I took this picture yesterday morning, but the counters were finished yesterday. The floor turned out great, and I really like the feel of the VCT tile. 

Partway through the process, the contractor suggested that we do the bathroom (through that door) and the back hallway (behind me from where I took the picture). I ordered the tile (boxes of 45 pieces) thinking I'd do the bathroom in blue and green and have mostly tan in the kitchen. 

After placing tiles in various patterns, it was clear that I needed to have the white in the mix, otherwise it would be too dark. Further, it looked better if the white and tan ran diagonally across the floor. It kind of evened things out. I also decided I wanted the option of having the bathroom different colors, so had them do alternating stripes of white and tan. 

The back hallway was supposed to be all white, to match with the orange-yellow walls that I had recently painted. Since I used so much white, they popped in a few tan and a couple of green tiles in random spots and it looks great (fun but not overwhelming). 

When I first saw the finished kitchen floor, I thought "I love it!" Then I thought, "when it comes time to sell, will this be a bad thing?" Then I remembered seeing several pins on Pinterest showing how to paint vinyl floors. This covers all the bases for me - I can enjoy my busy colorful floor, and if I get tired of it, or if I ever sell the house and the buyers want it changed, I can paint it tan (or whatever). 

The speed and ease with which they did the floors (one day to tear out and put down new subfloor, one day to lay the new tiles) makes me very glad I had them do the bathroom and back hallway. It's so solid, and it is DONE. The new floors will serve for a long time. I had been intending to tear up the carpet in the back hallway for months, and had managed to rip up the edges, but that's about it. They had it, as well as the indoor/outdoor carpet underneath that, out in about an hour. I know this because I went to work that day, came back to the house 90 minutes later, and it was done.

The rest of the pieces should come together next week. Appliances delivered, sink and faucet hooked up, trim put back. 

Mr W asked what I was going to put in the space between the tops of the cupboards and ceiling. I don't know yet, so he's taken it upon himself to make some color-coordinated action figures out of the many Bionicle pieces he's got in his collection. So I'll have several kitchen guardians in place, and he gets to feel like he's contributed a little something to the process. Yes, I'll take pictures.

The delay continues

It's been a week-long pause now, since my new kitchen cabinets were installed and anything else has happened. I emailed the contractor and he's trying, but hasn't been able to get an installation schedule yet for the floor and counters.

I'm trying not to get too annoyed here, but I'm tired of doing my dishes in the bathtub. It seems to me that the floor/counter sales person knew that the job was happening, and even if my final choices weren't made (due partly to his lack of communication) he should have scheduled the installers' time.

In other news, Mr W's had his first cross country meet yesterday. He's just started up this running thing again, and it's been a challenge because it's been so hot since school started. They actually called off school on Friday because of the heat. The schools just haven't been able to get cooled off at night. Crazy. He's doing great, though. I keep telling him that the person he's racing against is the runner he was when he started two weeks ago. 

I've been getting inspired for making new jewelry, and ordering supplies. Yesterday I put in orders for watch parts, buttons and some other new dangly things that are going to look great. I signed up for two craft shows this fall, over the first weekend of November and first weekend of December. That will give me some Christmas spending money, and it seems I get motivated with a goal like having to have stuff ready for a craft show. 

I've done yoga twice a week for the last two weeks and I'm really glad I've started. Yesterday we did these balance on one leg and lean forward things and I couldn't really do them. And having to sit on your feet, so the top of your foot is completely on the floor and you sit on the soles of your feet, is impossible for me right now. But it will get better. Gotta start where I am, just like the kid.