Builder Blog or Travel Blog?

As my house is almost completed. . .just an upstairs bath to change a cabinet in, and a little painting is left, this seems to be turning into my travel blog.

My siblings are some of the hardest working people that I know. My sister, Pam has been a coordinator/acting principal for summer school for the last few years. What this means for her is that she finishes up her teaching year & immediately turns around & begins preparing for summer school. This really limits her vacation time. She ends up getting about 2 weeks off during the summer. This year she called & asked if we could go somewhere. The closer it gets to the time to go, the harder it is to get wonderful timeshare locations. So, I just looked for what was available during the week she had off. We ended up at Whistler, B.C. It was so much fun. We really enjoyed ourselves. We walked everywhere. It is such a great community. The unfortunate part is we ran into traffic on the way up & border problems on the way down. So, what should be a 4 hour drive ended up being a 7 & 6 hour drive. Still, it was so worth it.

One of the things that I have always wanted to do was to do a zipline excursion. I first heard about this when I went to Costa Rica. We decided to do a TreeTrek instead which was an ecological excursion about 200 feet up in the air. You walk between platforms on swinging bridges. It was so interesting & we got to see people who were zipping. I sure hope I get to do it some time!

If you look right in the middle of the picture you can see someone zipping!

There is already much building going on for the 2010 Winter Olympics. They are doing a 600 million dollar road improvement project up to Whistler. Many of the signs are up marking the venues. This is a picture of the bobsledding coarse. It is almost completed.

This is such a great place for families. There is just so much to do. The tiniest little girl was doing this bungy jumping deal. My niece's kids love their trampoline & this would even be a safer extension of that!

They had a climbing wall for kids & those blowup jump houses, as well as an alpine slide. They also had horses that kids could ride.

We got in some reading time & pool time every day. . .with sunscreen, of coarse!

This is like the mascot thing for the Olympics. You see them scattered throughout the area. I forget the native American word for it, but it means "in the image of man."

One of the things we wanted to do was the Peak Adventure. We rode the gondola & the chairlift up the Whistler side of the mountain. The views were incredible! You can see some of the glacial ice in the background. The color of the lakes & streams were amazing. We were told most of the water in the streams were part of the glacier 45 minutes earlier. It gave the water in the streams & lakes amazing color. I know what ice blue is now!

All in all, it was a relaxing trip. I would go to Whistler again in a second!

Yellowstone June 08

Marian and I were able to go to Yellowstone for a couple of nights in June. We haven't had time like that alone together in years. . .very fun! It sure keeps things in perspective when you see God's wonders! I had never been to Yellowstone that time of year. It was teeming with new life, wasn't crowded, and yet there was still snow at the higher elevations. I think Yellowstone encompasses everything in "America the Beautiful." How blessed we are!

Finishing Touches?

Could this project really be close to being finished? The fireplace mantel was installed today. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do to make it look finished. We (Ken & I) decided that we would put a wood skirt up from the floor in the hickory, and then just have a 3" band of tile around the perimeter of the firebox. Someone told me when I built my house the first time that you make a thousand buying decisions when you build. I think when you remodel you must make at least 2000 decisions! I was a bit disappointed with the stain on the fireplace mantel. I thought it need to be a couple of tones darker. We are going to have the painter darken it up a bit! Just fine tuning. . .

I went with the vessel sinks & got the copper faucets on overstock.com. I don't know if you can tell, but the back splash has a lot going on. . .there is ceramic tile, glass tile, copper tile, and stainless steel. Ken did a beautiful job. . .it wasn't easy getting all those little tiles to line up!

This is the accent trim band in the shower. It is stainless steel and copper. The metal is much thinner than the marble, so my thoughtful builder put a lathe? band of wire in under the metal, so that it would be even with the marble and wouldn't collect water. He is thoughtful in his process. I appreciate it!

On Sunday, June 29th, I took my first bath in my new tub. I was starting to think the day would never come!! It was good. I need a shelf for my coffee & books. After all, its Bathtub Ministries!

Another view, it is really beautiful, I think! Carpet went into the bedroom on Friday. The closet package will arrive this week. I ordered it from Costco. I can't wait to move into my room! It still needs fans, and the chandelier hung in the closet. I got a box, and couldn't figure out what it was. When I opened it, it was the chandelier! It wasn't assembled! I don't know how I thought it was going to be shipped, but I didn't think it would be in pieces! Ken says its not a problem. . .I hope he's right!

New views

View of front of house.


View of garage side of house. There will be a little balcony railing under the window. It is yet to be installed. There will be matching metal flower boxes along the front also made of iron.

Something old. . .

I used to like all things old. . .not so much anymore as I learned they are sometimes more difficult to take care of and maintain. There are a few things that are really worth holding onto the old and you can't find new things that compare. One of these areas is in lighting. . .I love antique light fixtures. . .when they are re-wired and work like new!! I was able to buy a couple of these light fixtures on e-bay. These are some of the first things I bought for the house and it is so fun to see them up! They are even more beautiful than I remembered!!


This one is in the master bedroom.



This one is in the master bath area over the copper tub. I had them put a dimmer on it, so that if I want it not so bright!!


The other thing that is not quite the same if its new is stained glass. I bought this stained glass window about 30 years ago. I had Ken put it in when we built the house 13 years ago. Now it is relocated to its new home in my closet. The afternoon sun is amazing coming through the atrium windows & then through the stained glass. So, my advice is choose old things carefully. If you don't, you just end up with a lot of junk!! I know!

Around we go!!

This is my first try doing a mosaic! I need to get two more pictures and then I will edit it. I'm missing the front and the garage side of the house. At least it gives you and idea about how it is looking! Help Sarri!! How do I make it bigger? Oh, maybe I figured it out!!

All things water. . .

I am a bather. . .and a soaker! I have always enjoyed my morning bath time. While I was looking for a new bathtub to replace my $130 one that I have used for the last 13 years, I came across copper tubs. After much shopping, I decided on the copper one that was lined with tin. It has been in the garage since February. It is finally in the house! The drain was even hooked up after this picture was taken. Unfortunately, the freestanding faucet leaked and now we are waiting for parts. Grrr! Nothing easy! I was worried about it not being comfortable, but Jake climbed in it, and said it was good. I hope he's right!!




These are the body jets in the steam shower. The shower is all done now, except for the waterproof light inside the shower. I can't wait!



The vanity has the vessel type sinks with copper faucets. The backsplash incorporates both copper and stainless in it. Marian's frame shop made me a frame for the mirror that goes up to the ceiling. We are having holes drilled out for the light fixtures, and they will go on top of the mirror. I hope it works!




I have always wanted a hottub. Jake found this one for me on Craig's list. By accident, it just fit into the spot we had for it! Yay!! I absolutely love it!! The stars are so beautiful when its really dark. See my air mattress? When it is hot out, I turn the tub temperature down, and float on the air mattress. Who needs a pool?



Chad's grain looks amazing. I can study it from the hottub! Lovely! The Owyhee mountains are in the background.

A new project?

In November, actually on the day that I lost Checquers, we had obtained a permit for a 12 foot addition to the master bedroom. Later, I decided that it wouldn't be that much more money to extend it by an addtional 4 feet. This allowed me to have a huge walk-in closet. Ken didn't want to start it while the weather was so wet, and end up with a mudhole. Finally, in the middle of March, we were able to dig and got the deck on.




The three windows you see are where the closet is. . .




The new kitchen. . .we turned it and eliminated the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.




Ken built the cutting board for me out of maple. He did an amazing job. It was not an easy task for him as he was building it at a guy's house that wasn't easy to access. I am so thankful that he hung in there and got it done!

The weather was actually good enough this week to finish up the outside paint! I'm so glad its done! It makes me feel like it is really going to be finished sometime soon. . .

Getting close!

This is the redone living room with Jake's new furniture in it. His parents and I bought it from Marian's design company for his birthday.



When Ken originallu built my house in 1995, he had built the mantel out of oak for Bill and Sue Thompson. For some reason, it didn't work in their house, so the three of them gave it to me. I have loved it and wanted to reuse it in the remodel. After we added the rock to the fireplace, we had the mantel painted in my trim color. I was so glad we were able to re-purpose it!