More trim, ready for hardwood and tile

The rooms that get a chair rub rail are starting to look awesome:

That is my office above, and yes I am very happy with how the colors turned out.

This is the trench used to bury the drain tube leading from the propane tank:

The finish grading around the house has been started; here, only the tops of the septic tank access covers are visible anymore:

We've been having a lot of rain lately and we're still getting quite a bit of puddling here and there around the house. Paul told me not to worry, and just be patient until the finish grading is completely finished, since that will help the water drain away from the house and reduce puddling.

The septic drain field has also been all covered up; if you didn't know any better, it would look like a nice park or playground:

We've purchased a second Ford Explorer; this one a bit nicer than the other one I showed previously, and will likely become my daily driver. Both are top-of-the-line (well, for ten years ago anyway) "Limited" editions. I like it, these are nice rigs:

I'm glad we're done used-car shopping; it takes up a lot of time.

A bit more work has been done in the master bathroom. Here the sand\thinset bed for the shower floor has been laid:

My wife asked for a small step to be added in front of the tub surround, and you can see that in the picture above as well.

We dropped off the tile for the murals yesterday to Paul Lewing, and he says he'll be done in about a week or so. After that, we stopped by the DalTile showroom in Seattle, taking samples of all of our tile choices, and finalized the grout colors. We are sticking with "neutral" choices, ie, the grout is close as possible to the tile color. We're just not feeling that adventurous anymore, I guess, or maybe we're tired out. :)

This is our blue-on-blue dining room, with the windows trimmed out, chair rail installed, and with crown molding as well:

Sorry, that picture is a bit dark. I think the whole house will look much better once we have some interior lighting installed. The crown molding looks so cool though, I had to share - wish we had enough budget to do crown in every room. Oh yes - those small round holes on the ceiling are the trim pieces for the high-velocity A/C ducts.

This next week will be a busy one. Hardwood installers will be starting on Monday, cabinet delivery is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday, and Paul will be starting floor tile installation (working around the hardwood guys). Appliances will be ordered tomorrow as well - in fact, I need to get done here and send Paul the 100% final appliance spec list.

The propane tank passed its inspection, and has been completely covered up. I called the propane company Friday to schedule the final hookup (to the house piping) but they were having computer difficulties, so need to call back. I've also been trying to get the phone company out here to hook up our DSL internet - I want to have that ready to go nice and early, so I don't go into internet withdrawals after we move :). I've also been talking with David from Symmetric Electric, having him get ready to come back out and hook up the low-voltage wiring (phone, cable, and data). Phew - lots going on, but I'm feeling like the finish line is nearly in sight.