A little Decorating

We let Motoki draw on the walls.

We also decorated his room with a car sticker.

He built his own house with some empty boxes.

House Purifying

A Buddhist Monk came to perform a house purifying ceremony.

Hose Reel

I wanted an interesting and cheap solution for a hose reel. A local junkyard gave me a couple of steel spare wheels from a truck, which I put to use.

Screens

We had roller screens installed in all of our windows.

We like how they disappear when not in use.

Window Cleaning

The builder promised to have the outside of the windows cleaned. They arrived with a giant cherry picker, but no glass cleaner or paper towels. Luckily we had some. Our windows look much better.

Unpacking

What moving in looks like.

In the studio...Lots of boxes.

In Motoki's room, boxes filled with toys.

In our closet, boxes filled with clothes.

Downstairs, stuff everywhere.

Appliances

Exterior

The exterior landscaping is finished. It's a mix of sandy soil and gravel. Looks simple and clean.

Woodpile gift from the woodstove company.

Moved In

We're finally moved in, it feels great!

We celebrated with Yoko's family and enjoyed our first meal together in our dream house.

It was Great-Grandmother's 90th Birthday too.

Finished and Pristine

Early March 2013

The bathroom is about finished, we're just waiting on some parts for the shower.

In the meantime I put together our IKEA cabinet.

The tub is caulked and looks very inviting.

 

The toilet is hooked up and has been tested.

 

We have decided to just put clear film on the glass partition next to the toilet.

The woodstove arrived, unfortunately they sent the wrong floorplate, so it will be a few more days before we can have a fire. 

It was interesting to watch them carefully bring it inside.

 

Motoki's room received a nice coat of blue-green paint  on one large wall. So painting is finally finished.

Moving in begins

Now that work is just about complete and the house is pretty clean, we've started bringing in some of our furniture and lighting fixtures.

Today we put together our Eames Rocker and enjoyed the view...

We also installed a nifty light that will hang above the sofa. It can be raised or lowered easily for reading. We decided to use a Plumen light bulb.

Details

Yoko tries out the front door.

The hand made glass door handles turned out amazing.

 

More glass panels and door installed in the bathroom. 

Inax Tankless Toilet.

 

Second floor toilet. It has the feature which incorporates a hand-washing as the tank fills after you flush. As well as being fitted with a heated seat of course.

 

The door handle for the second floor bathroom. Black glass.

One of the sliding doors handle.

All of the lights and outlets have been tested and are working. Here are the LED lights above the living room.

The Kitchen island is just about finished. I installed a Heath tile back-splash for the range top.

Dual Grohe faucets are installed. One has a water filter cartridge under the island.

More Finishing Details

Our front walkway got a smooth coat of mortar and some nice lines in the cement to polish it off.

 

We've installed a very simple front door chime.

The glass artist and his assistant devised a plan to install the two part door handles. His assistant created the interior part, she used a mold to get the shape that we wanted, based on the golden ratio. 

During this step they have glued the interior handle on the day before.

They're getting ready to epoxy the outer handle to the door.

In the bathroom. All of the tiles are installed and have been grouted. 

There is lot's of caulking to be done, but here is a look at the shampoo niche after grout.