Special Christmas Edition – Vanha Talo Suomi

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Greetings and Glad Tidings from Vanha Talo Suomi!  <3

December settled down and renovations have stopped for now, so we all can enjoy the holiday with friends and family. Pete returns the 29th to get the last bit of work in before the new year commences.

Precipitation moved into our area of Uusimaa late yesterday which resulted in 12+cm of fresh new snow covering everything in sight! We had snow in November, but it melted away leaving everything looking rather brown and ugly for most of December. Getting that snow yesterday was a pleasant change.  And it will be here a while as temperatures are sinking tonight thru Saturday with lows of -6 to -18c (27 to -1f) brrrrrr…

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Over the last couple of weeks, more insulation was added throughout the ceiling of the master bedroom on the new construction site. As well as continuation of plumbing works and tiling the upstairs bathroom.

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setting the 1st travertine floor tile.

 

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Pete setting the wall tiles in place
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Things were looking pretty good at this point, but I failed to notice how close the vanity cabinet was to the door frame and how this would prohibit the eventual placement of door trim!! This became clearly evident when Pete had drilled holes already and mounted the cabinet! 🙁   ugh…   and that red thing is the toilet connection… and yes, it is awfully close to the cabinet, and it’s going to get even closer now that the cabinet must be unmounted, re-drilled and re-mounted when Pete returns.  Sigh…it looked good there for a while! 🙁

Luckily, the toilet was connected to water yesterday so we have an inside toilet finally! We are really living the high-life! Yes, indoor plumbing!!!!

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There are a few places that need some extra grout, etc., but Pete did a good job using two different grout colors on the different tiles.

We are using Italian travertine tile, with a fancy brownish-grey travertine as an accent in this bathroom. The rooms downstairs will be getting a dark cream Capri and the same light-colored travertine pictured here.  The eave side wall remains open as we ran out of time to get a built-in or ready-made cabinet installed, but I continue to hunt one down. Finishing the room off does not need too much work at this point. Just some tweaking to get everything nestled in. Yippee!!

Downstairs has seen some progress also. We’re still adding insulation on the new construction side of things, but the framing is finished for the bedroom down there.

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Cutting the opening from the old house to the new construction was a big step in the right direction!

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The new side has become the catch-all for the construction supplies and some of Pete’s tools. Imagine trying to work in here!

 

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Water lines… things look okay.
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But this ..hmm… me thinks the small blue airline hose to the compressor shouldn’t be sandwiched between the water lines to the wall 🙂 oops. Plumber where art thou?
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A snowy morning looking out of our upstairs unfinished bedroom window… but now it’s 16:30 (4:30pm) and dark, the sun went down more than an hour ago.  Sunrise Today: 09.25 Sunset Today: 15.14 courtesy of Timeanddate.com

<3 From Vanha Talo Suomi, we wish you all a:

Merry Christmas, Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah, Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan, Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo, Feliz Navidad, Srozhdestvom Kristovym, God Jul, Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom, Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom, Buone Feste Natalizie, Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!, Froehliche Weihnachten, Joyeux Noel, Kala Christouyenna!, Mo’adim Lesimkha. Chena tova & Hyvää Joulua!!

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8 responses to “Special Christmas Edition – Vanha Talo Suomi”

  1. Merry Christmas! love Rudolph’s flashing red nose 🙂

  2. Merry Christmas to you Soumi 🙂 House is coming fine I see and the view outside is amazing 😀

  3. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND Happy Holidays from Canada!

  4. Everything looks spectacular compared to the days prior to your trip to the U.S. and completion can’t be that far behind. Indoor plumbing, well now, that’s really special. I love Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer along with the entire content of your missive. Merry Christmas – we’re thinking of you and wish you were here. Love, Mom

  5. Now that you’ve indoor plumbing, I suppose Pete is off the hook with having to get you an actual present for Christmas 🙂 I must say, the tiling is looking great! The garden looks lovely under snow, but gosh those days are short…here winter is 7.00am – 4.50pm, and I struggle with that! Have a great Christmas!

  6. Wonderful progress on the house — you can’t beat indoor plumbing!!! Looks like you will have a white Christmas and that is something we can’t experience here in Florida. You two will certainly be in our thoughts over the holidays. Have a very Merry Christmas & a healthy New Year!!!!

  7. I have nominated your blog for a Liebster Award. If you accept, please answer the questions on my post and nominate 5 other people. Best wishes!

    1. Matt, I’m delighted! Thank you 🙂

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