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!

A little mistake

When I came home on Tuesday, I was very excited to see our powder room wall tile.  BUT, then I said to Joern, "Of course, you know it will look much better when the grout is in."  I didn't know why at the time, but something just looked off.  On Wednesday, when I got home, the majority of the subway tile in the shower in the kid's bath was complete, and again, I said "It should look better when the grout is in."  But I didn't have such a good feeling.  Here, you can see why:

It looks off, right? 

So, I went home and checked my pictures, sure enough:

Check out the installation pattern.  Yup, they are installed in a brickwork pattern, NOT in a grid pattern.  That explains why the tiles didn't look right to me.

UGH!  I don't know what's wrong with me!  I have come to every situation armed with 1,000 photos just how I want each detail in our home.  And then, I forget to show Cute Tile Guy just how I want my subway tiles installed!  OH MY GOSH! 

The worst is that I can't leave it.  I can't just say, "its okay," and walk away.  It needs to be fixed, at least in the powder room, but possibly the shower as well.  I talked to Joern that it was important that Cute Tile Guy be made aware of the problem, because the kitchen was next, and I'm pretty sure it would be harder to redo the backsplash in the kitchen, plus its a waste of money and time to keep redoing our tiles.  So, Joern had to talk to Cute Tile Guy.  Turns out, he feels just as bad as I feel. 

Joern and I were discussing it all last night.  Cute Tile Guy is right, the tile in a grid pattern looks like a swimming pool- which in my head translates to it looks horrible.  It has to go.  I brought up with Joern how I can't believe I didn't advise him how the tile should be laid, and then Joern also brought up the fact that Cute Tile Guy asked how I wanted all the tile, except for the subway tile.  So, it looks like we are both in error.  Joern told him that I want at least the powder room reinstalled.  Not sure when we'll be doing that, but it needs to go.  We're running into a little time problem though, because Cute Tile Guy is finishing the master bath next week, and the plaster guys are starting next week.  It may not be possible to redo the powder room before the plaster guys need to work. 

I guess in all, if this is the biggest problem, it isn't so bad.  But slighlty aggrivating.  Hopefully, it will be fixed sometime this winter.