New Wall

We've had some construction going on here for the past 3 weeks. Not consecutive 3 weeks, but work a few days, then no work. Finally, on Thursday we are 99.9% finished with a new wall in between the family room and kitchen.

Our house has an open floor plan, which is the trend these days. Here's what I say: don't go for the open concept. I don't think it feels that cozy, and I'm old enough to want cozy. You have to "float" furniture, and well, that's hard to decorate.

So now we have the wall in between the family room, and the family room is now it's own room. Jim and I LOVE this. It feels totally different now. We've switched the couch and TV, and now the couch is against the large wall and the TV will be mounted onto the wall, and there's a cabinet that matches our mantle. The new cabinet is a tad too tall for me, but I can live with it. The cabinet design is beautiful. Here are some pictures of the old and new.

The new is not done yet. We're going to work more on the kitchen, now, adding a pantry, utility closet and some shelving, plus some under cabinet molding. A little later, wallpaper, green scrolly wallpaper is the plan.

Man, It's Hot--Part Deux

Like last year, we're having our geo-thermal heat/cool system worked on.

Last year, it was the company that installed it doing the work. This year, it's the manufacturer, because not only is the company from last year unreachable, their fix was inadequate. Our coils are now being completely dug up and new coils put down. This is a big deal and thankfully, the manufacturer is picking up the tab. I imagine they want people speaking well of geo-thermal.

I feel really bad for the guys working, since it's 93 with a "real feel" of 103. I'm giving them plenty of water. It started out simple, but this is what it looks like now.

Post Light

Well, since we're Jim and Tracy and not only Matthew, I thought I'd include more information about the house. Here's a picture of our new post light. The patio (pictures may come soon) has steps down to it, with a post light near the bottom. It arrived and complements the existing light, but the existing light family was too small-scale for this post. I think this is perfect.

The light needs to be wired by our electrician, in case you notice a pipe running up from the center.

Patio & Deck

We've had a patio and deck put in. We don't have any good pictures of it yet (or at least, I haven't resized them yet.) It's going to be nice, but we need some groundcover to put on our dry steep hill going down from the patio. Seems as though Winter Jasmine is a nice option. I heard that from someone at a large nursery nearby. Very sturdy and actually ornamental. Deer and drought resistant, although the first year, we'd need to baby it. These viney twigs root themselves into the dirt. Another option is the Juniper plants, but the guy said I need to see exactly how much sun we have, because those plants tend to like the sun.

Here's info about Winter Jasmine, also showing another good picture from far away. Oh, the pole you may see on the left is for a pergola that is also being put up. Big project!