Progress...

Another eventful and productive weekend at the Brink residence. Friday and Saturday all of the floors were removed. We are down to dust, slab, subfloor, and more dust. Very strange. We discovered after the cabinets were removed that the valves for all of our sinks and toilets leak when closed, and needed to be replaced - this was noted in our initial home inspection as well. Apparently the builder heat crimped the rings on to each copper pipe, which shrinks the ring, ensuring the seal between the nut and the valve, and making it literally impossible to pull the rings off without cutting. By the time we determined the issue and purchased a small saw to cut each (15!) ring instead of trying to pull them off, we had been without water for nearly 24 hours. We felt like squatters! At least Patrick was there to lend a hand...

The new valves are beatiful and work like a charm. Our next adventure Saturday morning was sod. There used to be a tree in our front yard, which died while the house was vacant (thanks, Bank). It left a huge stump and hill in the lawn, which we painstakingly removed. Here are two "before" shots and one "after":

Hardly looks like the same yard!! This was 330 sq. feet of sod, which comes in small rolls that are very VERY heavy. It was a dirty job, but we are thrilled to have a lawn we can play on now :)

Back to the indoor projects. We thought that while all of the flooring, plumbing, cabinets, etc. are OUT of the house, why not paint the walls? I selected some colors I am very excited about (pale blues, greens and golden tans), we purchased 14 gallons of paint, and away we went. While I started on the bathroom and laundry room downstairs, Greg patched the damaged drywall around the fireplace where tiles were removed - he did a great job!

Here are some paint pics - this is "ground ginger" I believe, painted in the powder room and laundry room:

Our lives are consumed for the moment with this project, but eventually I'll start posting fun stuff (like our vacation to Grand Cayman in three weeks!!). This week we plan to finish painting, and on Thursday the cabinet installation begins. Our makeshift kitchen currently consists of a fridge, grill and patio furniture, so we plan to do a lot of grilling over the 4th of July weekend. Happy birthday Carlos, Dad, and Grandma!!!

Here are my two new favorite flowers in the front planting bed: Mandevilla and Passionflower, which has a very beautiful and unique fragrance!