All dressed up....

and nowhere to go????  Drought has brought everything outside to a standstill.  Well, the drought and the fact that our rural water district is over-extended in its commitments, so it has had us on severe restrictions all summer.  We've got the pool as far as we can go, and hard-scaped around the house and pool.

Next question - do we buy a couple of watertrucks-full of potable water, or fill from the hose and hope the water district doesn't find out?  Waiting on the quote from the water-truckers.  Regardless, I will be in one of these chairs SOON with a cool, adult beverage in my hand. 

Masons rock!

I can't believe it, but 107° temps did not deter a crew of six masons for two days to finish out the coping and waterfall on the pool.  Now if only we can stay out of Stage 3 water restrictions, maybe we will be able to fill this pool when it's done in a couple of weeks.

Pray for rain!!!!

Local color

These guys...well, maybe it's only one "guy" who keeps hopping around....anyway, I'm seeing jack rabbit(s) daily.  Gotta love those ears!

In the meantime, most focus is on pool building (and moving unpacked boxes around the house to accommodate the floor refinishing.  But no picture-worthy events there.  Just frustration. And the eternal hope that it will all be done shortly so I can completely unpack.  Major finds this week:  the "mother" phone and the iron.  Woohoo!).  Spent the last week watering the gunite walls of the pool 3Xday in this 102 degree heat.  Tomorrow starts the tiling and coping.  I can feel the cool water already.

Back side of spa looking to the deep end

Pltaform for the water fall

Shallow end and front view of spa

Treated tonight to a full(?) moon rising over the fireplace and future spa.  Dreams of future evenings spent in that spa or in front of that fireplace watching the moon rise over the magnificent cedar elm in the southeast corner of our yard.  That will be so sweet.  Soon.

Central Texas moonrise

Moving - so much fun!

All done!

Well, we closed on April 29, but didn't start moving in until this past weekend.  Things are a jumble of boxes and misplaced furniture, as this house is not laid out quite the same as the old, and we lost some square footage.  Where to put everything?  Where to find everything?  What little organization we had in the previous house was totally randomized by the packers.  It may be a long summer.

In the meantime, I broke my old vacuum cleaner when I dropped it on the driveway while vacuuming carpets that had been  in storage. Goodbye to 15 years of excellent service from my Miele.  In the process of buying a new one (isn't it cute?!), the lady at the vacuum store clued me in to a consignment store next door that she claims moves stuff fast.  (Unfortunately for us, we chose a neighborhood where the HOA forbids garage sales.  grrr.)  So at least I have a destination in mind for some of the overflow.

We've found a few glitches - most minor and quickly addressed by the builder.  We're not so thrilled with how the concrete floor finish is scuffing and scratching, and found, in fact, that adhesive tape of any kind swiftly removes the finish - ack!  The concrete guy will be coming this next week to put a couple more coats of sealant on to "harden" the finish.  Sure hope it works.  We're not unpacking anything fragile or heavy like books to help them out as they move all the stuff around to seal each room's floor.

Next step:  pool and landscaping.  Excavation for the pool started Thursday.  Pretty impressive what they can do in a couple of days with heavy equipment.

Oh, and I walked up to a pile of limestone we saved from the septic tank excavation and got "rattled" at.  I did not see a snake, but I didn't need that kind of proof to back away from the pile.  This was the day before the heavy equipment rolled in for the pool, so I'm hoping they have left for quieter "digs."

And last - the concrete floor finish is complete with another central Texas souvenir:  an embedded scorpion.  Gotta love it!

Master Bath Details

The master bath is finally done - complete with chandelier and heavy gauge "rain" glass between the tub and the walk-in shower. I L.O.V.E. the tub - it came out fabulous! Had visitors in this weekend for a tour, and response upon walking into the shower was "Part-eee!"  Amen sistah!

Pretty chandelier!

Nice view of the rain glass

Floors were also cleaned up and given a satin seal.  Still a little dusty, but looking pretty good.  Honestly, a little more mottled than I wanted, and more a medium tone brown instead of dark cola brown, but I think they will be lovely once we get all the furniture and rugs in.

Appliances come in this week.  Septic and propane, too.  April 19 we have an independent inspection scheduled.  April 22 we do the walk-through with the builder.  April 29 we get the keys.  Whew.

Back wall of Great Room and view of floor finish

Let there be light!

Kitchen

Light fixtures (except one that arrived broken) and most of the plumbing went in last week, and the tile work is almost done.  The pedestal sink for the powder room got dropped during install....so a new one is on order for that, too, and the master tub won't be in until next week.  Final grout and threshold for the master shower still needs to be done, but that's it for tile.

View of cooktop wall and center island

Tile detail

Finally - we can see some granite in the kitchen!

Composite kitchen sink

Dining room chandelier

Foyer - view through to dining room

Master tub sans tub - looks like we still need glass in that wall, too

Tub decking detail

Master shower floor - looks like a pebbled river bed :)

Master vanity

Master bath back splash and counter detail

Guest bath counter and light fixture

Close up of tile back splash in guest bath

Guest shower

Garage carriage light

Front entry

This coming week brings rough clean, septic and propane, and seal and final finish on the concrete floors.  Week after that is appliances and final grade on the lot.  Hopefully the landscaping will start then, too.  Then - it's done!!  OMG - as they say.

The details are starting - Tile and a mailbox!

Our mailbox!

About half of the tile was installed when I visited the house this past Saturday.  No grout anywhere, yet, but what was there was looking pretty good!  And we have our official mailbox.  Can't wait for the junk mail to start rolling in.

Still meeting with pool contractors, and I have the first rough plan from the landscaper - mostly just the footprint of the yard.  That is going to take a lot more work.

So for now, some interim tile pics and a nice view of the back elevation from the back yard.

Kitchen back splash - travertine in a 2X4 railroad

Master Shower - ceramic tile floor-to-ceiling, with travertine 1X2 railroad inset

Guest shower with white subway with marble and glass 1X1s 

Mackenzie's shower with white subway and aqua glass 1X1s

Front door fit for an Admiral ;)

Rear view from back yard - that short wall on the back porch is the back of the outdoor kitchen