I know, I know, there hasn't been a post in two weeks. With the house pretty much done now - the postings are few and far between. However, today the guys we hired to do some landscaping finished the work we hired them to do. That was a bit of an ordeal. After we got used to the integrity and attentiveness of Ideal Building, it was quite shocking to deal with these guys.

We were referred to these guys by our neighbor who used them to build some retaining walls. They are two young guys starting up their business and so we thought we would throw some business their way. And they were cheap!

But as the saying goes 'you get what you pay for'... or even less. I met with the guys and we went over everything that I was visioning for the front yard. They seemed to understand and when they were ready to start, I gave them a deposit for the work. The worked fast and within a couple of days they were 'done'. However on the day they finished up (originally) they asked if I could leave them a check, trusting that the work would be done.

I did, but when I got home, a lot of what we initially talked about had not been done. So I waited for Gary to get home that weekend and then we could talk about it. We were not really wasn't happy with the overall look as the walls looked unfinished, the dirt behind the walls were not leveled up, and our bid did not include cleaning up the ivy that we talked about or laying down bark. So I asked them to come back out we discussed the changes.

This time we put everything down on paper... and they still managed to screw up. After being efficient with the original project, they dragged their feet to finish up. Then yesterday they promised to be out at 11am to finish up with the changes. By 2:30p they still hadn't showed. After talking to them and they said they would be out by 3:30pm, I got another call around 2:45pm saying that they would rather come today and finish everything up. So we agreed (although Gary was ready to fire them)...

Today, they showed up early and we discussed what we wanted to be done today. Before we left on our 140 miles motorcycle ride, they were 'finishing up' for the day and wanted us to settle up with the bill. Because we were not going to be here when they were done, Gary was reluctant to give them a check considering the problems we had the last time around. Finally, we came to an agreed and when we returned home at 6pm - the yard was done... They forgot to do one thing and instead of having them come back - I went ahead and finished up what would have taken them 5 minutes to do.

The three pictures on this post is what the front yard looks like right now. We will be adding some plants and flowers and then planting a lot of ivy to cover what was pulled back during the remodel.

Man, do we miss Robert, Bill and the guys at Ideal Building.

Well, since the last posting - we have finished up the remodel. The soap dish and mirror for the shower were installed and with that - the project that we started with a conversation with Robert and Bill in August of 2006 has now come to a close.

Gary and I spent some time placing our collection of Big Sky Bears in the new living room. For years, these bears have been a fixture in our TV Room, but now they really fit in this room. As you can kinda tell from this picture (if you click on it to enlarge it) - we have a bear climbing up the window to get a better view of the room, a bear trying to climb up to the mantle, a bear relaxing on the mantle, a couple of bears on the hearth and then in the foreground is another bear welcoming you into the living room.

Outside - we contracted a couple of guys who did some landscaping work for our neighbor to clean up the yard (as we have months of construction, rolled up ivy and left over rocks and asphalt scattered throughout. They are currently working on carving a new pathway from Kim and Mark's yard up to our driveway. This time around, I have had them lay landscaping bricks to act as steps up the hill. This will be safer for the neighbors as we often are traveling from one house to another down this pathway called "Barbary Lane".

Additionally, they have built two small landscaping walls to provide separation in the steep front yard. They have laid some topsoil down, and I think I am going to have them put a layer of bark mulch over it. Finally, they will prune up some of our oak trees and clean up the yard. This should all be done this week.

After this - we have two projects left that we will be working on. A new patio/deck just outside the front door and then painting and building up the workbench in the new garage. Once we find some new furniture for the living room, we will be having an Open House for all our friends to see the house.

See you soon!

The painters have returned and finished repainting the living room. Over the last week, Gary and I worked with Robert with Ideal Building to find a color that would really work against the fireplace and the inspiration comes from a placemat that Robert provided. Yes, a placemat. Inspiration can come from all different places. When we originally moved into the house the kitchen and tv room were painted the colors of a Starbucks. Gary and I actually took a color wheel and compared colors at the Starbucks in West Seattle at Fauntleroy and California. So, we will always know that the green, tan and now chocolate was inspired from a dinner placemat.

As you can see from the picture, the new chocolate color has some plum colors in it and it really matches some of the rocks from the fireplace. The fireplace also now POPS off the wall, as before it just kinda blended in.

Outside of the paint, the rest of the trim work went up in the living room, including the trim caps on both the passthrough window between the TV room and living room and the half wall that separates the dining room and living room.

Upstairs, the last of the trim work was installed above the granite backsplash and we expect the soap holder and shaving mirror will be installed later today. With those things done - the project is coming to a close. I cannot believe that we have reached that point. But I am sure Robert and the guys at Ideal Building are tired of us and excited to move onto their next project... ;-)

Another week and a few more pictures to share on the remodel. We are 'just' about done - so we are looking forward to the last little projects before we can fully move back into the house.

Of course, for every two steps forward there can be one step back. And this is the first time since we moved into this house in 1997 that we picked a color for the house that we didn't like after it went up. The first time was when Gary picked out the original color for his office. His office is a wonderful and rich Hunter Green today, but back when he first painted it with his good friend Steve - it ended up being pea soup (vomit) green.

This time around, it isn't nearly that bad. But we picked a color that we thought would really accent the fireplace and although it is nice - it doesn't have the affect we were going for. So, we will have the fireplace wall that runs on the North side of the Living and Dining Room painted in a new color.

Then we will leave the rest of the walls the Safari Tan color as you can see in this picture of the dry bar and part of the living room. Once it is repainted I will post a picture, but until then you will have to wait to see what color that we are going with. If you know us well enough, the new color shouldn't be too surprising coming from the two of us.

Additionally, the painters painted the inside trim around the sliders a galvanized Bronze that matches the color of the sliders. We both love the color and it was Robert's (from Ideal Building) idea - so big props to him for the suggestion.

While we were discussing the changes to the Living Room plans, we considered another of Robert's ideas and that was to pull up the carpet and lay down hardwoods in this room too. Then we would have hardwoods throughout the first floor and then carpet upstairs. After thinking about it for the weekend, Gary and I decided to stay with the carpet... for now. Who knows, we could change our mind and also replace the stairwell with hardwoods while we are at it too!

Outside, the new garage door was painted along with a repaint of the existing garage door too. It is really nice to finally have that done. Along with some touch ups around the garage and the windows on the house, most of the outside painting is now done.

We don't expect much to happen this week, although we do have a new brushed steel soap dish and mirror for the master bath. We hope to have these installed very soon, along with some trim work along the top of the vanity backsplash. More pictures once we have them!!