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We have had some wonderfully warm and sunny days and too many cloudy and chilly days. Everyone is ready for spring. It is Mardi Gras time here but we are way too busy to get involved with the frivolities.

Originally our ceiling in this room was chamfered on the sides and it was a few inches higher. I said then that I wanted max height and to arrange the Evoba ceiling so that it was as high as possible and to cut smaller mini-panels to fill the sloped area on east and west length of the room. Well, we had a problem due to the area where the DAC-ART blocks met the wood bands that were part of the roofing system. We just couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted with out great expense.  It would only have added about 6 inches to the ceiling height and I told Dan to just forget it and make the ceiling straight across and it would be a zillion times easier. Do I wish the ceiling were higher, sure, I love 24 foot ceilings. But since cost is a big factor, I am dad-gum happy to have these ceilings as they are !

Rather than use the ACP Evoba Maple Coffered Ceiling furnished clips to mount the maple panels directly to the magnesium oxide ceiling above, Dan and Aaron used a drop ceiling technique to hang the cross members of the ceiling using wires and turnbuckles.

They did most of this while I was in Memphis visiting my Momma. Dan says he has some useful tips and info that might benefit others when hanging an Evoba coffered wood ceiling and I hope to add them here.

The 2 ft x 2 ft panels come already made up and ready to drop into the grid framework. Where we needed a custom size along the wall edges, Aaron tried breaking apart an already assembled panel to cut it to size and re-assemble but he found that very difficult since the panels mitered frame edges had been glued as well as stapled. We emailed our contact at Acoustical Ceiling Products and our needed un-assembled panel kits were sent asap. These guys are great.

Look at this huge tower of boxes of Evoba maple ceiling panels we have whitewashed. They are stacked up in the guesthouse on the kitchen counters. The maple panels were so beautifully packed and I have saved every single sheet of the great foam hat protected each layer of the wood parts to use for shipping my tile samples. I am a recycle nut when it comes to building materials and packing materials. Plus it was nicer foam than I could afford to buy right now so I am very glad to have it.

Our chief painter, the boss,  unfortunately ran into a fist and maybe a foot or two at a local 'social club' so while he is having surgery to rebuild his face, his older brother and faithful helpers have been here to prime and paint the woodwork, MgO walls and the ceilings. I decided that I wanted oil based paint on everything. They did a good job of color matching the slightly off white that is in the cement tiles and that is what everything except in the master bedroom is getting painted.

All the men on the job are begging me not to paint the doors. It is true that they are beautiful wood, but the rooms are so mixed looking already with block walls, painted walls, jazzy floors, dark hinges (a mistake on my part) and painted door trim and painted baseboards, that I just think it looks too hodge-podge to leave the doors unpainted. The men say, Heck you could have used Masonite doors if you were gonna paint them but I disagree. A masonite door looks and feels totally different from a real solid wood door whether it is painted or not. They are making me at least wait till the very end to decide. The men like my white-wash finish on the coffered ceiling, so they think I should also white wash the doors. What do you think... email me and say so.

We have had continued problems with a leak in the guestroom bath. Right now the water is turned off. Our plumber came out once and worked on it but it still leaks. I called him again and again to come back and he said he would but he has not been seen. He has yet to hook up the dishwasher and disposal.  We are very disappointed in him and will go with someone else for all other plumbing needs.

And speaking of disappointments, we had a major problem over the setting of the tile on the landing in front of the door. The contractor for the magnesium oxide wall board hanging and tile laying called and asked if I would sell him some of the left over sheets of wall board, he wanted to put in a porch ceiling at his home (it is waterproof) but I said rather than sell it to him how about a swap. I thought I had enough slate left from the construction of my parents house to do the landing at the top of the front stairs. It is a small area but I couldn't spray the waterproofing sealant all around the front door area until we got that job done. So he says great... I tell him that the value of the wall board is between 35 and 50 dollars a sheet and that comes to at least $350 for 10 sheets and that is what the cost to lay the tile there would be exactly. So we make this deal on the phone. Roberto comes and gets 10 sheets of magnesium oxide wallboard.

When he shows up to do it, first off I find that the slate on hand is not enough to do the area, so I decide on the spur of the moment to use some of the tile that is suppose to go into the foyer on the landing and order more for the foyer.

So he gets busy laying tile. When it got late I came over to the Hardwood Drive house. Dave was at the jobsite and came over here saying that we had a real problem. He says that Roberto is done and wants to be paid. Roberto insists that I owe him $390. He claims that I owe him because he claims that Dave told him that I'd give him the wallboard AND pay him $390. Dave denies it totally. He keeps repeating what he knows he said to Roberto. I told Roberto that he was wrong, our deal was a even swap, but he kept saying in broken English "But that is what Mr. Dave said"  and " I don't want no trouble" ...I asked him why on earth he thought that I'd pay him full price AND give him the wallboard in a swap and did he not remember me on the phone saying "This is great because it is a good deal for both of us"...he replied talking about "Trouble" in a threatening sort of way. I called Dan and asked his advice. He and everyone thought I should just demand that Roberto return the wallboard and pay him and be done with it so we didn't have NO Trouble. So he returned the wallboard, next day I paid his wife when she showed up for it and will never ever use his services again.

The whole first floor still needs the tile laid, but it will not be Roberto "Roy" of B&R Contractors, Inc. doing it.

You MUST protect  cement tile until you can get a sealant on it.  We were having rain right after it was laid, so we needed to grout it and let it dry out before we applied Miracle 511 silicone based sealant to it. Muddy footprints could cause stains that go into the top layer until it is sealed.

In the last photo, it is all grouted. Dave did the grouting in a buff color. We laid this tile with larger grout joints that indoors. We have to make sure that the grout joint is well filled and sealed along with the tile esp. since it is out doors. If water could run between and up under a tile and we had a freeze, it could damage the tile.

On certain days we have condensation on the main bedroom windows. I knew that it was one of the trade-offs for using single pane glass. I have impact glass, like car windshield and it can come with a non-impact outer layer of glass but if you have a hurricane and the outer pane of glass breaks, you still have to have the window fixed even if it doesn't shatter the inside part.

Lots of times hurricanes push on the glass enough to break the seal and moisture gets into the inner area between the glass and you have permanently fogged windows. Had it in condos before and I don't like that.

It gets crazy expensive anyway doing impact glass windows and doors so I had to draw the line somewhere. This was early morning and facing west, I am sure the condensation was gone in a little while. Usually we have a strong breeze and I figure it will evaporate quickly.

I have been covering the inner arms of the lighting fixture that is to hang in my bedroom with brass fan pull chains. I thought that the scale of these arms was out of proportion to the scale of the outer pieces of the fixture. I thought and thought about what to use to visually beef them up a little. I didn't want anything that could collect dust or get yucky looking.

The nice thing about fan cord chain is that it is the same on all sides, no right and wrong side to it and it is very flexible.