I drove down to The Container Store today to check out their closet shelving solutions for the kids' bedroom closets. A couple of days ago, I had looked at the ClosetMaid products at Home Depot, but they were too flimsy and cheap. The elfa system from The Container Store is about twice as expensive as ClosetMaid, but the quality is about 10 times better.

Back at the job site, Leonard from J B Ornamental Iron removed the railing from the balcony. He's going to redo the railing and make it about seven inches taller.

Phil's crew from Tercero Painting was spraying primer in the eaves. The weather is supposed to be nice for the next several days -- Brad said they'll be painting the exterior tomorrow.

Troy is almost done with all the molding on the first floor. He started installing the wood for the wainscot in the dining room today.

When he's finished with the wainscot, he also has to build the fireplace mantle and install the exterior columns.

The tile installers were continuing their work in bath #2 and bath #3. And they started applying the grout in bath #1 and in the laundry room.

Here are some pictures of the colors we've chosen. We're still finalizing exactly which color goes in which room or on which accent wall. But at least the colors have been chosen!

We met with Brad at the job site this afternoon. We talked about the downspout for the roof over the back patio and decided to use the chain.

Then we used spray paint to mark a possible driveway and walkway design. Brad thinks there's too much hardscape. He gave us the name of a landscape architect so we'll probably give him a call and have him help us with the design.

After our meeting with Brad, I picked up the Warm Tile Floor material from Quality Discount Tile.

I talked to Brad this morning about the railing on the balcony. I felt it was too low especially since the lower courtyard is located directly below that side of the balcony; if you leaned too far, you'd fall about 20 feet down to the concrete courtyard below! He called Leonard from J B Ornamental Iron to let him know my concerns.

Brad brought up an issue with the downspout for the roof over the back patio. There isn't a good place to put it. We could either attach it to one of the round columns (which might look funny) or hang a chain from the gutter opening and secure it to the ground (might also look funny...). We'll have to think about this one.

We also talked about the driveway and walkway layout. We'll have to put some thought into that too.

Sunnyvale Lumber delivered the wood for the dining room wainscot and the exterior columns this morning.

Linda from Quality Discount Tile called to say the Warm Tile Floor material had arrived. I'll pick it up tomorrow.

I ordered some more home automation supplies from SmartHomeUSA.com, including expansion modules for the Elk Products security controller.

I also ordered the Advanced Starter Kit from Simply Automated.

And finally, we just happened to see that Costco.com started carrying the Grohe kitchen faucets we like, so we ordered a Grohe K4 for the main sink and a Grohe Ladylux Pro for the island sink. What a great deal!

A contractor from Bonanza Heating and Air Conditioning continued his work fabricating the downspouts.

In the basement, Phil's painting crew was spraying the mouldings.

And the tile installers were continuing their work on bath #1, bath #2, and bath #3.

I finally ordered the Warm Tile Floors material and thermostat this afternoon. I found a nearby shop, Quality Discount Tile, that carries the product (so I won't have to drive all the way down to Bedrosians again). They said it should arrive tommorrow!

This afternoon, I also ordered some Aprilaire communicating thermostat equipment for the home automation system to control the furnaces and air conditioners. These I purchased online from SmartHomeUSA.com to take advantage of their free shipping and sale prices.

Earlier I had applied for an installer's Product Evaluation Kit/Advanced Starter Package from Simply Automated. They supply the UPB products I'm planning to use in the home automation system for lighting control. They approved my application this afternoon. I'll order those products in the next day or two.

This morning we made our way down to see Mike Rorie at Floors To Go in Campbell. We were looking for a berber carpet for the basement, 2nd floor and stairs, so we talked to him about carpet choices. We found a Stainmaster carpet with Tactesse fiber in a berber weave that we liked. Mike's coming out to the job site tomorrow morning to take measurements, and from those he'll be able to give us an exact price. We just need to pick the color and he'll check on availability and lead time.

We're going to paint samples of some of our other color choices, so I went to Home Depot this afternoon to pick up some more sheetrock.

On my way to the job site, I found that the street was blocked. The city utility department was out there digging up the street to install the sewer line.

Some of our railings were installed this morning. Here is a picture of the railing for the lower courtyard.

And here is one on the side of the balcony.

Other things going on... One of the contractors from Bonanza Heating and Air Conditioning was starting to work on the downspouts. The tile work was continuing in Bath #2 and Bath #3 upstairs. The painters were spraying the mouldings in the basement. And Brad said he was going to order the wood panels for the dining room wainscot.

This afternoon we stopped by the job site to see if anyone was working. Sure enough, Carlos' crew was there backfilling the trenches and grading the front yard. Phil was also there doing some prep work in the basement before painting the mouldings.

Rudy, from Marblus, was at the job site this morning creating the templates for the granite slabs. Using thin strips of wood, he stapled them together to form the outline shapes of the slabs. On the templates he marked what type of edging we wanted, and he also marked the center lines of the sinks.

Phil's crew also showed up today. They started in the basement, masking off all the molding.

Ernie was there talking to Brad. He already has three tile crews working our job and will be adding a fourth one soon. They are finishing the basement bath #1, and they are starting work on bath #2 and bath #3 upstairs.

Here are pictures of Bath #1 (top) and Bath #3.

In the afternoon, I painted another sample color, Skin Light, which we will probably use in the craftroom and the kitchen/family room.

By the late afternoon, Carlos had not yet been there to backfill the trenches. Maybe he'll be doing that tomorrow.

When I arrived at the job site around noon, Dana was finishing up the last two wall cabinets. In this picture, he's already scribed the cabinet, and now he's trimming it to match the contour of the wall. He said he likes to get it to within 1/16"!

The tile installers and finish carpenters, Troy and Rob, were also still hard at work. Troy had drawn a template for a fireplace mantel on the wall. It looked great, but we felt it was a few inches too tall, so he'll lower it by about four inches.

Brad was also there, meeting with Daniel Mendoza from Mendoza Landscaping. Daniel will be installing the driveway and walkways.

While we were talking an inspector from the city stopped by to look at the trenching for the underground electrical conduit. Brad said he will be backfilling tomorrow and scheduling a mandrel test next week.

Also this morning, we called Michele to order our master bathroom tub, a BainUltra TMU Amma 7242. There's a three-week lead time on that tub, but hopefully it won't hold up the granite work.

This afternoon I brought all of our sinks to the job site and put them in Brad's trailer. Marblus will be there first thing tomorrow morning, to start templating the granite slabs.