Sandblasting and Stucco

As I noted yesterday, the sandblasters arrived yesterday morning...

And so I took one last picture of a "yellow" garage:


By the time I swung back around last night, the garage was no longer yellow (or lumpy):

though the alarm box that we wanted removed (since it hadn't worked in the 13 and a half years since we moved in)... is still there...


Kinda cool how the new stucco's base layer is rougher than the existing garage's blasted-down layer...


So this is what the base layer looks like:


They've left a hole in the wall for fire sprinkler control access:


I headed around the house to check out the stucco work:











Where's that hood vent???





So the house does look different... can't wait for color:


So I headed inside and took lots of high res pics of the drywall (low-res versions are in Sunday's entry... the ones Lisa sent to me when I was in Chicago)... I've posted them up in the Photo/Progress Viewer... but here are a couple of note:

The entry and breakfast nook look really cool side-by-side:


They've started work on the kitchen soffit

(but not the hood vent)

The breakfast nook is shaping up

Lisa and I have been prepping ourselves to not have the built-in nook, and just move a small table into the area (who knows if this will save money or not be covered by "Fred's plans"... who knows, indeed)

The rooms looks so cool with walls (check out that Photo Viewer!)

The deck is looking cool with the solid walls to the west (the eastern portion will have a railing):


It looks like there's been another deviation from the plan:

The attic ceiling access was supposed to be behind the mini-wall-structure unit (where it would be hidden), but here it is in the family room itself. Oh, well.

I'm loving the built-in soffits above the boys' desks

They look really cool.


As do the closets:


If I sound just a little reserved in my enthusiasm, it's because all of this is taking a toll. On my patience, on what had been pretty solid agreement between Lisa and me on how we view the progress (she's still looking at the positives, where I can only see deviations now), on restful sleep, on communication between us concerning the project (I think neither one of us is excited to bring up the topic in conversation anymore). Look, I'm not usually a cheery guy to begin with... and of late, our interaction with Fred (or in my mind, his interaction with the plans) ain't helpin'... Hopefully, we can get some of this resolved (and if not resolved, at least, spoken) in our meeting with Fred Monday.