Paint's finished, tile is almost there, and the floors have started!

The plaster guys, who happen to be the painters too, came back Saturday and finished painting.  On Monday, they came to clean up.  All of a sudden, the house was completely transformed.  Since the plaster guys were back in the house, it turned into a total pigsty, and it was really hard to imagine how the house would look without dust and junk everywhere.  The floors reappeared and the windows were revealed again. Its kind of amazing.

Tile Guy also came back on Tuesday night to work on the powder room.  Thank goodness he agreed to at least redo the tiles that poor Joern had to remove.  Even when it wasn't finished on Tuesday, it looked so much better!  From this:

To this:

And then, he came back on Wednesday night to finish up the tile, and to install the cap tile, in the powder room. 

Tile Guy still has some work to do.  Most importantly, the grout must be completed in the powder room, so that the plumbers can come in next week to install the plumbing fixtures.  He also has some work to do in the foyer, as he couldn't finish the tiles until the front door was installed.  But that isn't such a huge deal, it won't have an effect on our moving in anyway. 

The most exciting change in the house was definitely yesterday.  If I wasn't sick, I would have braved the pouring rain and freezing cold to go see for myself.  But the good news is that it will all be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.  The guys from the parquet company started installing the wood floors!  They started with the top floor, and finished the master bedroom, hallway, and the office. 

The good news is that as of today, we won't be covered in dust anymore, like Joern is in the above picture.  I'm ready to say "goodbye" to the dust and so ready to see our house that much closer to becoming ours.

Okay, so I love the floors!  I can't believe how they warm up the house.  And yes, it looks ridiculously American, but since there are 1 1/2 Americans living in our house, that's fine by me :)  As soon as I walked up the stairs, I felt immediately at home.  I can't wait to see what the first floor looks like when the floors are in!

We also got news today from the garage door company:  the garage doors should be in next week!  For the first time since forever, the house will be closed off.  No more worry that someone could walk into the house and walk off with whatever. And even better, no more freezing my butt off in the house! 

I hope beyond all hopes that either the plumbers or the electricians will be available next week to start the finishing touches.  Maybe its because I'm the daughter of a plumber, but I cannot wait to go to the bathroom in our house- and wash my hands there too!  I knew that this was all very exciting, but didn't realize just how exciting it was going to be to get to this stage!

Second Window Day and our first visitor visit in our house

Yesterday, the window installers came to finish the windows.  There wasn't much left for them to do- just the window in the foyer and the window in the kitchen.  But, what was much more exciting was having my friend, Iris, come and visit the house.  This was the first time we had someone come over and chat with us in the house, like a visit, not just a show here and there and go somewhere else experience. 
I also got our first house gift- a bottle of window cleaner.  Thank you, Iris!  Since receiving your first house gift is such a big deal, it must be forever immortalized, as it will now be, in my bog :)

Of course our visit included a tour.  And Joern so very sweetly set up a beer table with some water for tea and a few pastries.  So very cute and sweet, Joern!  Oh, and you can see the now completed kitchen wall with all the windows.  I know it is a little different, but I think the overall wall is very cool!

And here are a few more pictures of the house, which is now almost completely closed!

This is something cool that German windows do, you can tilt them in a little to let in air.

                                 And this is just a cool picture of the sun setting on the castle.

                     
The windows are pretty much done.  There are two windows that need to be changed out because of a defect and a scratch.  Also, our back door is a bit sticky- if doesn't close unless it is locked, but you have to push against it too to lock the door, but the window guys will work on that. 

We're now looking forward to next week- the coming of the plumbers!