Granite chosen at last

Our declaration as we jumped into the car for Saturday's trip to Jacksonville was, "We will not leave there until we have chosen our granite!" This one is called "African Tapestry." After a dizzying look at all the gorgeous stones, we decided that they would all look beautiful. Let's hope it works out.

The stone has a gray-beige background with serene swirls which are more subtle than shown in the pictures.

It is a relief to have one more decision behind us. What painful pleasure to equip our home with the bare necessities, or luxurious necessities as in this case.

Weekend work

After a morning's trip to view granite in Orlando, we returned to the building site to several small jobs. We stained some wood, chain saw milled a few planks of the pine that was lightning struck, burned some brush piles, and attempted hanging an interior door. After lots of tedious leveling, we decided we needed longer nails to secure the frame. We also decided that we have a lot to learn about hanging doors.



We filled some cracks in the "accent wall" that we're painting. It's looking nice.




And the cabinets are almost in. They're carefully connected to the wall, to the floor and to each other, leveled and leveled again, ready for the granite installer to make a template this week.

Laying out the kitchen

We're laying out the kitchen and getting everything level. The two cabinets shown backwards form the base of an island. We're building a 1-1/2" base for the cabinets in order to raise the finish counter top higher than standard for those of us who are 6' tall. We've bought the dishwasher, selected the refrigerator, and are still researching ovens--Consumer Reports better steer us in the right direction.

Wall tile is up

The wall tile is up around the tub and on the wall behind the toilet and sink. Remy decided to use the basket weave that will be on the floor also on the front of the tub, "This way it will look like the tub runs out like a wave onto the floor." Remy stood back at the end of the day and exclaimed, "When we were talking about how to lay the tiles at the beginning, I didn't know that it would look this great!"


We'll finish the floor and grouting next week.

Boys in action

The boys lay some wall tile.


Remy takes a break to make a wire puzzle he remembers from his childhood. After some failed attempts, he gave the boys the solution.

The final shiplap board is up!

Here we are, putting up the final shiplap board on the house exterior. Granddad Kiker, with golden hammer in hand, proceeds with the ceremonial nailing. Yeehaw!

Bathroom tiling begins

The tiling in the bathroom is going full guns. We've got a hand-made 4x4 below the chair rail, and a subway tile laid in a brick pattern above.
Notice that in the modern day and age, tiling is done with one hand while the other receives calls on the cell phone (which rings constantly).

Bathroom prep

We got the bathroom ready for tiling. Framing is complete and backer board is in place. Let the magic begin!
















Remy uses his truck as a portable saw table outside the bathroom door.



As always, two boys are eager to assist. After studying the expert, they got to try some installation themselves. It's fun to build a house.

Thanksgiving 2008

We took a week off for the annual Kiker family Thanksgiving. There was lots of food, lots of football, and best of all, Grandmommy Kiker baked eleven pies!