Let it Snow!

(oh please not literally!)The insulation installation started today, and it just looks like upside down snow up there! We weren't here at the same time as the installers, but we had to crawl through a plastic lining to get up the stairs and check it out. They still have to come back on Monday to finish. These views give an idea of what the cut outs will be for the 3 windows in the master bedroom, 2 smaller ones on either side of the big one, though the sizes here are only approximate..

Here's a view from the top of the stairs, looking from the hallway into the master bedroom:

We'll also have some rigid board insulation over this, giving us an insulation of nearly R40. Sweet.
Also, the frame around the skylights are in, here at the top of the stairs

and in the boys' room, obviously both before the sticky snow was put in. The skylights will have a little shelf below them, though I guess it's difficult to see at this angle:


In other news, yesterday was a very productive day - picked out tile in the morning, carpet at noon (ultimately decided to go with different carpet in the hallway than the boys' room) and looked at plumbing fixtures in the afternoon. I was starting to get very frustrated with our builder's "allowance" for these things - he supposedly gave us the "top of the line" pricing, but we're finding that we really have to do more sleuthing and bargain hunting to find what we want and stay within our range. Overall, though, I think we're doing a good job of finding good quality things that are interesting, but still affordable. Part of it has to do with the 'showroom' concept - where the public can go and look for what they want, but only the professional can purchase the item. For the plumbing fixtures, at least, the prices they charge at the showroom seem to be considerably higher - with not all that much more selection - than one can find at Home Depot, for instance. Supposedly the quality of the merchandise is the same, so I'm not sure how it all works....but it looks like we may be skipping the plumber's paradise showroom and finding our fixtures elsewhere.