first working weekend

Thurs, Dec 29
loaded with supplies & on the road, dog Blue, K--, J--, & I. Home Depot stop in Virginia Beach, load up on paint, rollers, & paint tray liners.

We chose Behr paint, Linen white, satin, for all the walls & ceilings. And, Ultra Bright White, semi-gloss, for all the trim & doors. Plain & simple.

We plan on painting the lavs...not a very ambitious goal but one we thought we could finish.

Thursday afternoon
Go figure. Home Depot (HD) in Virginia Beach says they don't deliver to the Eastern Shore...none of the Virginia HDs will. We were told we had to go to the Salisbury, MD store to get delivery. Makes no sense. HDs in the Hampton Roads/Newport News/Virginia Beach area are all within 25 miles of Cape Charles...Salisbury is 90+ miles away. On top of that, HD won't even let us order appliances/fixtures online for Cape Charles. Guess we're spending our $$$ at Lowes. They won't deliver either but they will let us order online.

K & J rolled the full bath, ceilings are so low they didn't need a ladder or even a stool. I did the powder room or half-bath, brushes for me...I hate using rollers, too messy. Tho' surprisingly I needed a ladder, half of the room is tall, where the addition meets the house.

[Why call it a half-bath when there's really no bath? It's just a toilet & sink. For that matter where did the term powder room come from? Did ladies say they were going to powder their noses to avoid having to say they were going to do something more crass?]

Fri, Dec 30
Yesterday we got one coat on both lavs, wrapped up brush & roller for next day & headed to Exmore & the Best Western Eastern for the night.

Great meal at El Maguey, Mexican restaurant in Exmore. Had to wait almost 45 minutes for a table but it was worth it. Up & out by 9 on Friday.

Stopped at Clay Werks to get our job in the queue. Great folks. Lots of tiling options, almost too many. We're going to have the shower in the main bath tiled & probably tile counters for the kitchen.

Next stop, Peach Street Carpet, to see Steve Hairfield. Steve was out but had left the shop open. We checked out his samples & Blue checked out all the toys in the shop for Steven & Ned's dog, Roxy. Steve & Roxy came in and the girls "met." Roxy wanted to play after she got over her initial hair-raising shock of seeing another dog in her space, but Blue was having none of that.

Steve had intended to install cork flooring in on the main floor & carpet on the stairs, the upstairs hall, & bedrooms. We had been wavering & considering other options, but decided to go with Steve's original choices. He has great taste & his choices were very nice.

Back to the house to get the 2nd coat of paint on both lavs.

K--- swept the drive for nails using a heavy-duty magnet on a string & I planted crocuses & daffodils around the house for next spring.

Starting to feel like we belong with the house.

Chores done, we leave Cape Charles to head to Williamsburg. K---'s never been (shocking for a Virginian to say!), so we're spending the night and we'll have time to walk the town, see the decorations, and catch the fife & drum parade.

We're staying at the Four Points Sheraton in Williamsburg, they allow dogs & have a pool that K--- will definitely enjoy.

Sat, Dec 31 New Year's Eve day
Williamsburg. Late start & cool rainy day.

Headed to Aromas coffee shop for breakfast (some of the best food we've been able to find in Wmsburg so far). Too cool & rainy for walking in the historic district...so we're going to head home.

Since we left early we're going to stop in Richmond at Caravati's, a salvage yard. Looking for doors for the house, maybe a pedestal sink for the main bath, and anything else that will suit the house. Even thinking about replacing the full size cast-iron tub with a smaller slipper tub (antique bathing but more in scale for a small bath).

Caravati's is great, floors and floors of all sorts of salvage goods. I could spend hours there. We bought an old church pew to use in the house & spotted several really nice slipper tubs & sinks that are strong contenders for the house as well.

the plan

Our first working trip down.

The plan at this point is to head out on Thursday morning, the 29th, loaded up with supplies, K (daughter), & Blue & head to Cape Charles. A Home Depot stop in Virginia Beach for more supplies & paint. We also want to get a contact name at HD for when we're ready to order fixtures & appliances.

On to work. Our goal is to at least get two coat of paint on the lavs (so we can make those useful), sweep the drive for nails (so J doesn't have any more holes in his tires), connect with Steve (to settle on floors & carpet), and finally to touch base with the tile people at Clay Werks.

first things first?

So much to do. I'm a lister so I want to list out the steps & cross them off, but haven't gotten there yet.

First thing is to get the interior painted (it's been primed)...so we can install the floors, then the fixtures (kitchen & baths). Once we get at least one of the lavatories installed we can start staying at the house instead of the Best Western Eastern.

Best Western Eastern is your basic hotel room, nothing fancy, but there aren't a lot of choices on the Eastern Shore of VA (ESVA). It's in Exmore, approx. 20 miles from Cape Charles. Good news is that the hotel sets out a buffet kind of breakfast & allows dogs, so Blue (our 15-yr old Aussie mix), can stay with us.