August 22, 2008—Finish details: grading, electrical trims and more
The other glass shade was put into the guest bath and the chrome is kind of obtrusive here. This concerns me because the sconce in here has a brushed nickel finish. Before we install it, I am going to take good look at it and make sure it isn’t a mistake.
Here is a closer view of the shade. You can find these shades at salvage places for not too much or reproductions at a few places online. I particularly like these shades though, because of the opalescent finish. Plus, they remind us of Jim’s grandparents, to whom he was very close.
The guest bath faucet is still not complete. It needs the shorter spout and also a new cylinder inside it, since one lever of the faucet constantly drips. The plumber did install the chrome cap over the other hole in the marble, though.
The light fixtures were installed on the veranda, but when I got home, I realized that you couldn’t see them very well in this photo. Look toward the end of the veranda for the hanging cylinders. They are punched tin in oxidized finish. We found that we needed one more fixture which I have sent for.

The wiring was done for the exterior fixtures in the courtyard, but there is only one installed. The electricians are supposed to be ordering these fixtures and they say they have done so, but I wonder. . .

I think this one should be hung just a touch lower.

Here is a better photo of the front door, this time with the door knobs installed. How handsome is that!

Kai had to take off some of the center style (the piece of wood you see running vertically between the two door knobs) to make the hardware work. Frankly, I didn’t like it the way it was before anyway, and breathed a sigh of relief that he cut it down a bit. Now, wait until we get the clavos on, it will really look great then!

Here is the giant hole that my assistant and a helper dug for the plant bed. It was really hard work—even with the help of the electric jackhammer Kai lent us—because it was basically bedrock.

We will bring in soil and mix it with some of our black clay—which is full of nutrients but impossible to work—and fill this section in.

The track lights for Jim’s office were installed and are just what he wanted.

Somehow, our saloon doors also migrated over here. My guess is that the painters wanted to give them a final coat of sealer and chose this room as someplace that would be out-of-the-way to do it.

For those of you who have been following the construction from the beginning, you will remember when these manifolds for the radiant heat were installed. I looked at the archives and found pictures of them starting on September 21st of last year.

This one is in the wall in my dressing room. A dresser will sit in front of it, but Kai was wondering what I wanted to do to close it off. He suggested a piece of plywood, painted out, for the manfold in the foyer closet, but that would not look very nice here. We decided that he will get some pine tongue-and-groove and make a little door to match the regular doors and we will stain it green. It will look like a cupboard.

These are our solar panels, waiting for installation. A frame needs to be built for them on the roof and then they will be set up and hooked into the electrical system.
Here is another view of the grading between the verada and the Teeth. That orange stuff is all that is left of the hazard fence we had across it to keep people from going down below or damaging the rocks. The graders are the last of the heavy equipment to go through, so we don’t need it anymore.

I have been working on getting a screen made for this opening. Currently, I am considering a screen made from two kinds of copper mesh (one fine and one coarser) bound in bronze or a stainless steel flat basket-weave screen which would have to be powder coated. I am leaning toward the stainless steel basket-weave because it is much tighter and sturdier.

I went to a powder coating company today to see what colors they had. They have quite a few different fan decks of colors, so I am going to bring a plaster sample and also the window frame color down and try to match them. We will see what they can come up with.

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