It's Official - New Floor on the Way

I finally put my foot down and let Bob-the-Builder know I was through with de-humidifiers that really are not doing a thing to help the floors go down. There is no discernible difference from when we moved in and my patience has run it's course. Bob couldn't be better about it and is fine with this decision. The floor guy is now looking for the exact same manufacturing lot of the wood. If we can't find it (and are certain it does not have too much moisture in it) then we have to pull up the entire floor as well as the baseboards. No one wants to have to pull the baseboards off - I just don't think it will ever look good if we have to do that. Perhaps I am wrong - we had to pull off many of the door frames and replace them and they are fine; however, I don't want to find out.

I think we are going to have one large section in the middle of the den replaced first so we can make sure that it stays down and does not warp. If that works, then we will go with the rest of the rooms and hallways. Yuck. I don't look forward to this process, but it should be the LAST thing we have done.

Then - PARTY ON - we can finally have our open house. A friend predicted in early August that the party would take place in January. Noooooooooo!! I said. It won't be that far away. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think he is right. We are getting into Halloween, then the holidays. January is generally a slow party month, so that might be it. 6 months after moving in. Wow (not a good wow).

Manatee

Before we were sidelined by the Halloween Spook House plastic door, we started hanging art - which is the last major thing to be done. All of the big pieces are hung with the exception of the den. I don't want to hang anything in there with the low humidity. It's not working on the floors, but I don't want it to ruin anything else. :)

When I told our designer what color we wanted on the walls, she noted that she was not surprised, given that the same color could be found in almost every single piece of artwork we own. I truly had not noticed - but it is really evident now! I was most surprised when we hung the Wyland Manatee Port Hole. The frame actually matched the walls - who knew?? It looks right at home!

Floored

What we hope is a last ditch effort to determine if the floors are ever going to go down is in progress. We have an industrial grade de-humidifier at work in the den with a really nifty drain hose that runs the length of the master suite into the shower drain. How much fun can you have? We cordoned off the room for two reasons - first, a piano consultant said that the piano should not be subjected to such low humidity and two, it will be easier to tell if the floors go down if we limit it to only one room. The plastic barrier looks like the entrance to a halloween haunted house - hummmmm is that prophetic? The vortex created by the machine working contrary to our HVAC system caused the plastic to come off the first day and now, after two days, it is coming loose again. Aggggghhhhhh. Not to mention, the machine puts out so much heat, it is almost unbearable to stay in that room for any length of time.

Oh, and we're having our first dinner party this coming weekend! Thankfully, they are all very good friends and the disarray will not matter to them (not if we have enough wine - which, thankfully, we do!).

Now, That's Entertainment!

After all the drama, time, two different groups to build it and two different painters to paint it, the entertainment center is finally ready! Whew! It is worth it, though, as it looks spectacular! Photos are difficult as we put mirrors on the back, which reflect the images from the window on the other side of the room. Anyway, you can get a good idea of the finished product. Whohoo - more boxes can be unpacked!

Faux What, Part Trois

The doors to the kitchen pantry were painted white and they stuck out in a turquoise room with mahogany cabinets and darker granite. Since we loved the work our faux painter had done, we asked her to paint the view out our back door on the pantry door. She incorporated all of our favorite things, Equity sitting on the dock, the boat (wine barge) heading out, a pelican sitting on the idle slow sign, the osprey nest, the shuttle and, if you look closely in the clouds, you just might see some mouse ears to symbolize the fireworks we see every night! Quite an improvement over a plain white door! Oh, and she painted the bottom to match the cabinets!

Faux What, Part Deux

In addition to the mural on the back wall of the wine/dining room, we asked our faux painter to paint the entrance, which is a small hallway under the stairs, to look like an old barrel ceiling with a few niches containing some of our favorite wine. Here is the end result. We think it is fabulous and hope you agree!

Is That a Light at the End of the Tunnel or a Train?

A couple of weeks ago, I drove to Tennessee to pick up a couple of pieces of furniture for the house. Many thanks to my mother (and to a prodding cousin) for the marble top table that fits perfectly in the foyer niche! I also took mother to VA to see the baptism of the twins. Overall, well over 2,000 miles in less than a week. Since I have been back, we have had multiple crews of people in the house almost every day - exactly 15 out of the past 17 days, thank you very much. It's enough to make you want to drink - oh yeah - THAT'S the reason!! Tempers are running short and we are damn tired of it. However, it is not over, but we think it's close - or it could be that train! I pray it's the Hogwart's Express coming to take me away!!!

The floor guy came by and tested the moisture again and it really is coming down. Verrrryyyy sloooooowlllllyyyy. He said he thinks it will be several more months. BIG sigh! We'll just have to have our open house party and point out to everyone that if we start dancing and stomp very hard on the floor joints that it might help flatten them out! Any excuse to dance, right?? It doesn't help the floors that this has been the summer of unprecedented heat and humidity. And yes, the biggest drop in the moisture was right around the dehumidifier. The dilemma is this - at what point does the humidity get so low that it negatively affects the 130 year old piano? No one seems to want to be the one to do that, so we will keep it slow.

Anyway, it's Friday after 3:30, which means no one else today. Yea! However, we get no reprieve since someone is coming on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and.......

I think we will hit the wine cellar this weekend!!