California new house project report

This ladder converts to a stepladder. Very cool.
My neighbor needs one of these to loan out.

We're installing a backsplash and painting the walls in a friend's brand new house in Quail Valley, California this week and next.
She hasn't moved in yet so we're taking the opportunity to upgrade the property before the end of September.
We were flown here on Bare Essentials Spirit Airlines which means Stan only took his laptop and a week's worth of changes of underwear and socks. He's sleeping on an air bed in the "Junior Suite" furnished with a lovely cardboard box end table. The local Target supplied bed linens and other personal items, like Advil. The laptop doubles as a lamp. There are steel folding chairs and the huge granite kitchen island for furniture, so it's pretty basic. Our empathetic host bought in a nice lawn chaise for idle moments.
There's no cable, just high speed internet. There's a huge tv, but only an antenna so far, which means just two PBS stations and an American Indian channel. "This Old House" was playing on PBS last Thursday, but since then it has been a steady diet of cooking shows on the "Create" network. The food sure looks good though.
Last night we watched Alfred Hitchcock on streaming Netflix to get to sleep. Haven't seen the news in days. Have we bombed Syria yet?
There are gorgeous stainless steel appliances available, but we're not cooking much. Subways and tacos and the famous In and Out burgers. Plenty of California fruit and vegetables in the fridge.
And the washer-dryer upstairs? The installer delivered it. Didn't install. We were Californicated. We'll have to hook it up before we can wash our undies. Stan has one day's worth left. It's either fix the washer or go back to Target.
Today we painted a 22-foot high hallway using a dandy brand new Werner convertible ladder purchased for the occasion.

We have no Band Aids.
A nasty cut on the forefinger from a jagged glass
tile is well protected now and has begun healing.

Tomorrow Sol and his Gang are going to start the patio and sidewalks out back while we're painting the dining room in three shades of gray, then we'll install a nice crown moulding. It was ordered on line and is supposed to arrive tomorrow. So are four pallets of tile. Hope they can find the new development. Google hasn't mapped it yet.
The most complicated backsplash we've ever attempted is soon ready for grout. We'll feature the final reveal here soon. It's pretty nice -- thirty feet long with a sexy dip around a window frame.
On Wednesday Russ and his crew show up to put down 1,600 square feet of 1x2 tiles. We hope to be done painting the main floor by then so we don't have to use drop cloths. Painting goes quick when you can drip all you want.
There's a lot going on. We'll try to keep you up to date.