Smugglers Cove Whidbey Island

The windows are in.  Triple-paned super efficient windows.

The past few days I have spent hours trying to find pendant lights for over the eating bar.  Seems easy, right?  Not so fast.  We actually bought some lights at a big box store.  Then we came home and I read the reviews.  Fabulous colored glass shades have a coating of paper on the inside.  After a period of time, that paper cracks and peels away.  The ones we bought had a consistent one star rating out of five.  They are going back to the big box store.  As I looked for replacements, it became apparent that this was an issue with all colored glass shade.  I looked at a number of sites and they all presented the same issue.

Then there is the issue of whether or not to have the lights hanging from a rod or wire.  Unless the shade is heavy, the wire looks stupid and does not hang straight.  The rods are not always included with the lights or they come in unknown lengths.  I choose one set of lights and called customer service to find out if the rods were included.  The representative pulled up the exact same page at which I was looking.  Really?  She couldn’t figure it out either.  Well, that’s why I called!  So, I nixed that order.

I finally found a site that sells the pendant lights with metal shades and an assortment of different length rods is included.  Thank you.  I hope they do not have paper glued to the inside of the metal.  Just a thought.

Oh, and the faucet for the main bathroom that I bought at the same big box store has a consistent one star out of five.

We had our first overnight guests!  Friends from Oregon pulled their teardrop trailer onto the property and stayed for a couple of nights.  Our fabulous crew lead swept the house and set-up a couple of chairs and a table for the guests!  He is the best!  When I first saw this photo on the phone, I thought he’d put a couple of soda bottles on the table.  Nice touch – however, on closer inspection, I saw that he’d placed two bottles of insect repellant on the table!  That is an even nicer touch!  The little buggars have been out and about!

Wires hither and yon, winding up and down and through.  The electric panel is chock full of power.  There is now going to be a media panel.  I don’t even know what that is.

The windows were delivered.  They are triple-paned and very, very heavy.  I would have jumped in to help the guys lift them, but, ah, no.

Corbels have been chosen and a local metalworking artist will creat them  We are very excited about that. Now to decide on an inlay for the concrete countertops.

Today, we tried to order the upstairs flooring, but we ran into a snafu.  It may work out.  We should know soon.  Bamboo.  🙂

So, there’s the deck.  Concrete tomorrow.  Party soon!

Yesterday, we came home and made a list of what still needs to be purchased.  The list is daunting.  The rental garage is chock-full of items and there is so much more to do.  Yesterday, we walked into several flooring stores and started to look at flooring for the upstairs loft area.  So many choices.  We thought about a fabuolous white-washed oak laminate.  Then we dug deeper and had concerns about laminate.  Bamboo?  So green!  So beautiful.  So pricey.  However, we keep reminding ourselves that this is IT for us.  There won’t be another house.  We want this to be fabulous and at the same time we want to be able to have a cup of rice now and then.

Then we started looking at backsplashes and tile for the shower and flooring for the bathroom and after a very brief time our heads were spinning.  Eyes glazed over.  We went to three stores.  Minds had been blown.  Hence, the list making.  We need to focus on one thing.

So, we just made a decision about our kitchen cabinets.  I can’t tell you how good that feels.  Hickory.  Love it.  Local custom carpenter – love it even more.  Did I mention we are supposed to be in a home show?  Up the ante, my friends.

Did you notice there was not a massive gap since the previous post?  Probably not.  We seem to get hits from very strange places, but whatever.

The goal is to be a bit more consistent.  Here’s the latest.

Yesterday our phenomenal crew had laid out the deck and started the concrete pour around 9 AM.  It looked marvelous!

We went back this morning and there it was in all its glory.  Today, they laid out the deck and it will be poured tomorrow.  Freind are on their way next month and we will be up and running for a triumphant deck day!  Games, beverages and serious laughter!

This is an awesome piece of rusted metal.  There are more where it came from.  We are fortunate to have a master carpenter/builder/jack of all trades working on our home.  He has some very cool ideas.  We will have a kitchen bar and it needs corbels.  I had zero idea what a corbel was.  Not only did he explain it, but he encouraged us to look for items of interest to us that he could fabricate into corbels.  We spent some of the past two days digging through metal recycling yards.  That is almost heaven to me.  I want all of it.  So many treasures!  Today, we found this piece and if it was cut, it might make a phenomenal corbel.  We’ll be taking it in Monday to ask the guru’s advice.  Fingers crossed.

We are closing in on kitchen cabinets.  Hickory is the main contender.  Loved it in Black Forest and I’m am sure we would love it here.

This is not okay, but stuff happens.  However, this needs to be repaired or redone or whatever, so that it is just like brand-spanking new.  We did lots of shooping for cabinets and such today, but this fiasco was in the back of our minds all day.  We went to the site this morning and the roofing crew was hard at work…good for them.

So, how can we not love this sink?  It looks terrific and has come highly recommended.  So, it too, is stashed in the garage.  We have cupboards, washer, dryer, fridge, vanities, faucets and more in the garage.  We bumped up the insurance in case you wondered.  Now, we need to nail down the kitchen cabinet decision.  We have 3 bids.  So many options.  We want cabinets that will work for us.  Too bad the water line got broke…

Of course, this is the stairway to heaven…seriously…  We really didn’t want stairs in the house, but it is stinking expensive to do a one-level home.  Who knew?  So, plans were changed and there are the stairs.  We do have main-level living on the first floor – laundry, MBR, kitchen, great room.  The upper floor has a small bathroom and the rest will be left open.  It will be what it needs to be – an office, a spare bedroom, whatever.

This is the mill where some of our trees will be turned into posts for the porch.  How totally cool is that?  There will be extra wood that will be milled into large planks for us to use later.  Benches?  Who knows, but they will be put to good use.