This and That and Back to DIY

We're working our way through a number of different projects here, so we don't have any "after" pictures to share at the moment but there are a number of "before" and "in progress" pictures.  We also said goodbye to our contractor this week - we'll take over from here to get the finishes done the way we want them.  So, we are officially back to true DIY!  And without further ado, a whole list of projects in progress:

First up - we picked up the hardwood for our floors, all 2600 plus square feet of it!  It added up to 91 boxes, which, at 60 pounds a box, gave the truck, and us, a good workout.

In order to get it into the house, we set up a little relay system.  We moved the boxes from the trailer onto a pallet, used the bobcat to deliver the pallet into house, shifted the boxes onto a furniture dolly, and then wheeled the boxes into various rooms to unload them.  It was a lot of steps but, fortunately, not too much lifting - mostly just moving the boxes from one place to another.  It's a good thing Brian is a pro with the bobcat though - there's not much clearance on this delivery system!

Also in the flooring category but not hardwood - we're moving forward with tiling one of the bathroom floors, starting with prep for self-leveling compound

Nice and level for tiling!

Tiling in progress.  We went with a dark wood-like tile for this en suite bathroom because the bedroom will be carpeted.  The floor is finished now but we forgot to take a picture so that'll have to wait for another post...

We also had a big order of stone delivered this week, including two very large boulders that we'll incorporate into the backyard landscaping...when we finally get around to landscaping.

Hello pretty boulders!  And several pallets of stone for the porch.

Also working on finishing the back stairs.  These are being finished with maintenance-free Trex in Woodland Brown.

And now that the stone is here, we got started on the front porch too.  Building up the base for the stone columns here.

Putting the stone on the base of the porch.  We're using ashlar cut stone veneer in Coyote Gray.

Working our way around the porch

Laying out a pattern for the landing.  Here we're using a bluestone in silver gray.  We'll add the stair treads once the rest is done.

Setting the stones

Almost done!  More "after" pictures once the grout is in.