Cement work was completed this week. As it turns out there was a reason that the garage steps were not centered on the door. Per code if there are more that 3 steps there has to be a railing. So, the area offset from the door is the space dedicated for the railing.
Holes have been drilled through the base of the home to allow the crawl space some ventilation. The plumbing work actually runs in the crawl space. I questioned our builder about freezing water lines. Fortunately, all of the piping will be insulated.
Painting is basically complete. There are some areas that need touching up, but that will be completed following all of the flooring installation. During the course of the week the painters went through a lot of masking tape and paper isolating out the different areas to be painted different colors. We chose a flat white for the ceiling, and egg shell brown for the walls and an antique white semi-gloss for the trim. The painters call this a three tone paint job. They started by completing all of the nail hole patching and then placed silicone at every corner and joint in the trim to smooth out all of the transition points and fill in any spaces. Next they primed the trim with an oil based primer and then primed the whole house with a latex primer. They used the oil based primer initially on the exposed wood trim pieces as water based primers would have caused the wood to swell a bit making the surface rough to the touch. That ends up being my cool learning experience about building for the week.
This is a picture of the bonus room "Viki's Space". She chose to keep the room light in color to keep it from feeling like a cave. She had it all painted antique white, the same color as the trim in the rest of the house. I find the color a bit yellow, but she finds it just perfect. The trim will then be the brown that makes up the walls in the rest of the house making the bonus room exactly opposite in color arrangement compared to the rest of the house. This pretty well highlights the opposite yet somehow linked relationship that Viki and I have. 
This is the upstairs family room showing the brown wall color with the accent trimming around the doors.
A painted closet. The paint sure makes that area look sharp. I am trying to imagine the color with crayon, pencil, and scuff marks. I am worried about how I am going to react when the little "accidents" start happening around the house.
Landen and I were able to begin installing the recessed can trims and light bulbs. He asked if he could try and install one of the trims. After working together on the first one he was a pro and helped to complete two full rooms. 
We decided to go with two styles of trim. Inside we chose a baffled trim, a trim that allows the light bulb to sit recessed up in the ceiling. Outside the trims used are called "snow cones" because they allow the light bulb to stick down below the trim and ceiling about 1/2". Contractors tend to use the snow cone trims because they are the least expensive. Lighting professionals, however, feel thay are evil and to be avoided at all cost. In fact, Viki and I took a verbal beating from a lighting "professional" this last week for even considering the snow cone trims. They feel that with the light bulb exposed your eye is naturally drawn to the bright spot rather than to what it is you are trying to light up. The baffled trims looked better to me but were nearly 3 x the price compared to the snow cone trims. As I battled wants, needs, and costs for several days I took a lashing from Viki about being "baffled" about whether to use baffled or non-baffled trims. Real funny! Fortunately, I found a deal where I got the baffled trims at a good price.
Outide the bulbs are tucked behind a support beam so having bright spots were less of an issue for me.
The three girls in the family highlighting the doorknobs and lights that they have chosen for the house. Both Sadie (7) and Maelynn (12) celebrated birthdays this week.
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