Fire and water

So it's been a little over a week since I last posted, and a little update to our pool story:

As many, if not all of you, saw last week, we are SWIMMING in the pool! We got the OK to dive in last Wednesday, the 26th. It's been so blasted hot down here that it's awesome to jump in after a long day at work. Very refreshing, and it's been helping with getting the boys to sleep in the evenings because they're so tuckered out. #winning

Dave received a call from the stone place that our fire bowls were ready to go last Thursday, and BAM, like cavemen, we HAVE FIRE! I have to admit it, the whole thing is just spectacular.

To celebrate Reef and Naish's birthdays, we held a big party last weekend. And where else but in the pool? Of course we had a few rain delays throughout the day, but that allowed us to do massive amounts of cannonballs to get the excess water out. *grin*

Sheer Joy

Even Alani got her wish: to go swimming!

Happy Birthday to you....

No clue why the pouty face!

Dreamscapes is still in charge of maintaining the pool right now. Who knew we'd not have to do a thing for the first month of operation? Rock on!

There's still a few small things to finish- jets, firing up the salt system, etc. But that's pretty much gravy right now. We're able to swim and enjoy what's left of summer, and it's pretty awesome! Until next time, friends. xo

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

I got home tonight and looked out over the back yard. Nothing different. And then I looked a bit closer.... The waterfalls were running!!!

Our builder, Dreamscapes, came out today and started up the system. They will be maintaining the pool for the first two weeks as the chemical levels normalize. Even though our chlorination system is a salt generator, for now, we have straight chlorine running through it. Don't ask me why, that's just what Dave said they've done. They're the experts, I guess.

We also had to add a bit more water to bring the water level a bit higher for optimal flow. The waterfalls on the pillars are running, and they are really neat! The travertine on the top of the pillars is still yet to be fixed, and I'm hoping that happens tomorrow.

The sod company came out today and leveled the ground in anticipation of the new grass. As nice as our back yard looks, I can only imagine how nice everything will look once the ground is green, not dirt! They are to be coming back out either tomorrow or Wednesday to finish up.

Now it's just a matter of waiting until the chlorine levels go down enough to be able to swim. There's rumors that will be Wednesday evening, just 48 hours away. Stay tuned for that! xo

My girl just can't wait to get her paws in that water!

Fill 'er up!

Hello again friends! Most of you have been following the progress on Facebook and you know by now – by my incessant string of posts – that the pool is now filled! Thinking about it on Friday when they started the water loading process, it had been eight weeks exactly to the day since they started work on the backyard.

Tanking started Friday at 1pm and continued through Friday night. For those of you who have been patiently waiting to find out how long it took… I officially turned off the hose at midnight on Saturday night (or is that 'officially' Sunday morning?). Regardless, it took almost 36 hours to complete the process. Carla Niosi, you win the poll! She guessed 8 PM on Saturday as the cut off time, and that was closest to the pin!

The pool has already been broken in by Dave and our neighbor Tom. As you see in the picture below, these two knuckleheads just had to jump in last night. The pool company told us that we'll have to wait 72 hours after we put the initial chemicals in. And just so you know, the chemicals are NOT in yet! But the water is a 'perfect' temperature, at least according to Dave. But I beg to disagree. After I was thrown in last night, I experienced that the water is still a little too chilly for my liking.

 CANNONBALLLLLLL!!!!!!!

When we went to bed around 10 o'clock last night, we knew that the water level was a couple of inches from where we wanted it to be. Knowing that it would most likely overflow overnight, I set my alarm for 12 AM and got up, in a fog, to turn the hose off. And promptly fell back to sleep amidst the symphony of frog songs. Have I told you how much I hate frogs now?

What's next? There's a whole punch list of items to complete: sod is expected to be in early this week, the tile on the front of the fire bowlks has to be fixed (long story), a section of sidewalk concrete has to be replaced and so on and so forth. 

Dave and I expect to be going through "pool school" this week so learn all about the system. Stay tuned friends, the fun has just begun! xo

Quick update

Hello all you Wahoo Friends of the Feather!

Ok, sorry, I'm in a movie quote mood this morning- who can name that movie? Just a little test to see if anyone is still reading these things?

But I know there's at least 2 people reading them because I've gotten asked a few times in the past few days for an update. And here it is:

There's been little work here and there since last I posted a week ago. We're at the finishing stages of the pool, and it seems that this is ALWAYS the part of ANY project that seems to draaaaaaaaaaag on forever. Am I right!?

Anywhoo, we had all of the electricity hooked up last week as well as the gas lines run to the fire bowls. We ordered the fire bowls, and unfortunately they won't be ready for another 3-4 weeks because the place we got them from actually hand pours, cures and stains them. But I think we've picked something that's going to be gorgeous. They're bronze and we're still TBD on what kind of glass rock we'll put in them.


We got our brand new vinyl 6' privacy fence installed last week as well. It's absolutely gorgeous and really makes the back yard look more finished. Take a look!

On Tuesday of this week the City of Maitland came to give us our final inspection. This included getting all of the electricity inspected as well as the safety inspection to verify our back yard fence and safety measures are all up to par. And since they're all NEW, how could we not pass!?

Have I mentioned lately that we've had a hell of a time with FROGS in the pool!? Oy vey. Of course Florida in the summer is filled with many daily storms and showers, we we had accumulated several feet of water, and it's been a breeding ground. Every night around 11 or so the orchestra would get started and all night long it was frog song in G until the song came up.


The water and frogs departed yesterday in anticipation of getting the final coating of the pool done. I've got my paws crossed that it happens today so we can be in the pool by the weekend... Stay tuned my friends! xo

Child's play

I think that there are only a couple more pre-pool posts before I switch to blogging about how life at Casa Johnson has changed after putting in a pool. We got confirmation from Michael, the owner of Dreamscapes, that if all goes to plan this week, we'll be swimming next week. YAHOO!

Today's job was putting in the baby fence and gate. As per law here in FL, any new pool construction must have a fence around the doors that lead to the pool deck in the case of young children get out of the house. I was thinking that this may make our big deck look really disjointed, but maybe it's not as bad as I was thinking it was going to be. And, once the boys are old enough and we trust their swimming skills enough, this can be removed (there are caps to put in the permanently drilled holes in the pool deck).

Someone's testing his fences...

The view out of our bedroom sliding glass door

Tomorrow will see the arrival of the gas man to finalize the gas lines for the fire bowls and the irrigation man will return to re-zone our back yard irrigation. One sod company came out today to give us a quote and we're waiting on a second quote to come in. The Bobcat guys should be here one day to do the final land grade, and all we'll have left at that point is electrical, interior coating and the back yard fencing. 

For now, I'll leave you with this thought.... Thinking of the *BABY* fence has me singing my favorite parody song. Enjoy friends. Until next time. xo

Baby, baby, baby! Baaaaah!

Pavers. part two

This blog update will be mostly photos over words, because, well.... Let's let the completed paver work speak for itself!

As with anything gorgeous in life, photos really don't do our back yard justice. Y'all will just have to come see it in person when we have the pool warming party!

Until next time, lovelies. xo's

PAVERS!!!!!!!

Reef is so excited he's showing his muscles!

Just a quick update with some new pictures. Mother Nature *finally* let up on her relentless pounding of rain today, which allowed the work crew to begin paver installation. And can I tell you how gorgeous our back yard is beginning to look?

Oh my goodness, the photos don't do it justice. But I can tell you that our back yard is starting to look like something straight from the property of the Ritz Carlton. Check it out below:

Alani approves

Ugh, the mess left by the lazy paver deliverymen 

I would say be ready for a couple of updates this week, looks like they could be done with the deck by week's end! Until then, my friends. xo

Yeah, we're coping

Not much to report on work last week, as it was pretty much a washout of a week. Those of you reading the blog who live in Florida will completely know what I mean. Will it EVER stop raining in central Florida??

In looking at the radar this morning, I can assure you that the answer to that question is NO. Which will most likely push back work this week again as well... *pounds fist on table*

Anyway, the coping (the edge of the pool) was supposed to be installed last Monday but didn't get in until Friday of this week. It's travertine tile and is looking really nice:

Fire bowls are framed in

Word on the street is that the paver installers will be here today, but we shall see how much work they get done before the rains move in.... Until next time, my friends. xo

We REALLY need to add some chlorine!

Plumbing and pavers, oh my!

This past week was mainly a week of finishing the tile- yes it's totally gorgeous- and installing all of the plumbing.

When we left off at Casa Johnson, the tile had been completed but not grouted. The grout is done and has really made the blue tile 'pop'. That same day, the plumber also started to install the jets and the lines that run from the pool to the side of the house, where the controls/pump/filter live.

Thursday was a big day. Our plumber finished all of his work, which meant we were ready for an inspection by the city of Maitland to make sure that there aren't any leaks and that the system is fully ready to be buried in preparation of the decking. After all, you wouldn't want to bury your entire plumbing system only to find you have a leak that ruins your pavers, right!?

Dave and I were inspecting the equipment on Thursday, and we noticed 2 leaks at the controls at the pump, as the whole system is already pressured up and running water through the lines. *GASP* We called Mike, the company owner, who actually came out himself to inspect and fix it. A few turns here and there, and he had the leaks gone. Although, we noticed that there's a small pinhole leak near one of the hot tub jets. We were told that shouldn't be a failure on the inspection, and the plumber will fix first thing on Monday.

Oh yeah, the pavers got delivered on Wednesday!!! Uh.... well, let's just say that Mr. Johnson is not happy. Nothing to do with the pavers themselves, but do you see where the company dropped them!?!?! More ruined grass! When Mike was out on Thursday, he and Dave talked about it- and Mike said that the paver company was supposed to drop them on the side of our house, where the grass is already going to need replacing, not on our nice tree lawn. Hopefully we'll get some money for this sod replacement.

Travertine tile coping. Yeah, it's DELUX

What's next? I never heard if we passed our plumbing inspection, but if we did, the trenches will be filled, and the coping along the edge of the pool will be installed on Monday. The back yard will be graded, and paver installation will begin Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm hoping that makes the back yard look less like bombed-out Beirut!

Piped for gas in the fire bowls

Until next next time, friends. xo

In the trenches

Just when we thought the back yard couldn't get ANY MORE ugly and ripped up.... They started to install the plumbing. WOW. There is sand everywhere and more mounds of dirt/sand. Yeah, it's f-u-g-l-y.

Good thing that they're working on the tile of the pool, which gives us something pretty to focus on! The tile guys (remember the shirtless, sun-weathered men from last week? Yeah, it's them) are apparently the plumbers too. The filter, pump and heater are all now on the side of the house, and the basic lines are now trailing from the pool to the main systems.

And, while it's ugly, I'm happy to see progress yet again. We had little work done last week, so I'm hoping they're going to knock a ton out this week. Check out some of the tile work, it's pretty impressive!

Hot tub is fully framed

Where do we go next? I'm guessing they'll finish the tiling (grout, etc), hook all of the plumbing up and then move onto the decking. Stay tuned, my friends! xo

Frame for one of the fire bowls/waterfall spillover

Multi-color LED light in the deep end. I think we forgot to add algaecide again