Our house is coming along nicely!  Both Eddie and I are very pleased with the progress and the quality of the work.  These past two weeks the guys have been working on leveling the interior floors and the pool deck, sanding the tablilla (wood paneling for the ceiling and under the outer roof), fixing the front entrance, and finishing up the windows and doors.  The electrician’s crew have been doing more electrical work.  The cabinetmaker who is going to make the kitchen cabinets, all the interior doors, front and side doors came by to measure the openings, and the window company stopped by to take their measurements as well.  In addition, we have another cabinetmaker who will make the closet doors, bathroom cabinets, staircase railings and furniture for us.  So, there has been a lot of activity at the house.

A few weeks ago, our friends Tia and Mary Carmen were visiting and  Tia suggested that we visit Eugenio’s wood workshop in Playa Hermosa, which isn’t far from Jacó.  The drive is about an hour and 15 minutes.  Last year, Tia bought all sorts of gorgeous wood for tables, bases for tables, pieces for the wall and had it shipped to her home in Florida.  She thought we might find a few things at Eugenio’s for our house and she was right!  Tia and Mary Carmen, who is a former interior designer gave us some wonderful ideas.  We had a fun day looking at the wood pieces at Eugenio’s “shop.”

Last week, Eddie and I returned to Eugenio’s.  His son Andres who speaks English and runs the shop for his father found a nice piece of wood for the shelf needed to hang the pendant lights over the bar in the kitchen.  He also found a slab of wood that will work for one of the bathroom counters (the sink will sit on top of it).  And, we bought the gorgeous piece of wood (cross section of the base of a 500 year old tree) that Tia and Mary Carmen suggested we hang on our big living room wall above the shelf.  It took a few days to sand and varnish the wood, so we had to make another trip to pick it up.

In addition, we have been shopping for tile for all of our bathrooms – for the floors, walls and showers.  We spent hours in a store in Santa Ana (near San Jose) picking everything out.  It wasn’t an easy task to pick out colors and style for everything at once.  We wished that Tia and Mary Carmen could have been with us to help.  The house isn’t ready for the tile just yet, so it will be delivered beginning of December.  It all added up to 4 tons!

While in Santa Ana, we stopped at a place called Cerámica Las Palomas that our friend Chris told us about.  We bought a painted sink there for the half bath.  The one on display in the shop was too big, so a smaller one is being custom made for us.  It should be ready in a few weeks.