The house is almost finished (inside work anyway)

I've been on vacation for a week - Calistoga with my writers group, Tahoe with the Sean and Chris from BootsnAll, and at Susan Brady's family get together in a small old mining town called La Porte, CA. (I'll probably write some of this up for the L.A. Times Travel Blog - and link you up later.

Meanwhile, Jose Delgado has been busting his butt on the Carlsbad house. John went down there for some efficient last minute decision making and purchasing. Here are a few photos that were on my phone when I got back into cell phone range. I went 48 hours without cell or internet access. And believe it or not, it wasn't that hard. I did use a calling card to call John once, but except for some light Twitter withdrawal, I enjoyed the time to relax with Susan's family.

I think the inside of the house will be done, or mostly done by the end of this week. We might start the move next week. Of course, I'm starting it tomorrow with a major close out of a Redwood City storage unit I've had for more years that I'd want to count payments for.

Here's a cell pic of the hardwood floors going in. We got a good deal at Lowe's on special order hardwood on a Memorial Day sale and then saved  some more by having Jose put them in. This room is the kitchen. The worker is right where the sink will be.

Here is another angle of the kitchen. Now we're facing the sink where that bright light from the window is - and this is the start of the island going in. The counter will extended over the top of this island so that we can sit there. With the right chair, I'll be able to work from there. See that patch of dark blue in the upper right hand corner of the photo? That's the accent wall in John's Lair.

Here are the doors that John bought last week. They're already up and in, but still unfinished. They'll end up a nice Cherry color I think. Or Mahogany. Not sure when that is happening. Jose has a specialist coming in.

I think the carpet gets installed in the bedrooms this Wednesday or Thursday. But we don't know when the counter tops are going in. They get measured tomorrow or Tues. So, John and I meet up in Carlsbad on Thursday and we'll have some more buying to do - kitchen faucet, bathrooms sink and faucet, bathroom tile, ktichen back splash. Then we have to get the electricians back in for their last minute touches. I think we can move in before the back splash goes up, but that's currently under debate.

More later....

CURRENT: Redwood City, CA
NEXT: Los Angeles, CA (Tues-Wed)