Moss Green, Tiger Balm, and Prickly Pear.
Drinking establishments? Herbal remedies? Exotic plants? Nope, these are the paint colors Susan and I chose for our bedroom and bathroom, which were painted today. The closet, hallway, sitting area and 90% of the main bedroom will be Prickly Pear. We decided to highlight one wall of the bedroom by painting it a different but complementary color, Moss Green. (This is the wall that I am hoping to hang my plasma TV on - look for a subsequent post on how ridiculously hard it is to research and buy a TV these days, even with the web as research tool.) These two colors are considered cool colors by Kelly Moore. The bathroom is Tiger Balm, a deep warm yellow.
When we got home from work today and saw the painted walls, we both thought the Prickly Pear was a bit too gray and not as green as it appeared in the brochure. Perhaps when it’s completely dry and we can view it in natural light it will be closer to what we were looking for, but it’s not a big deal. The fact that they’re already painting means we are getting very close to being able to move back into our bedroom after living in our dining room since mid-December! Overall, the project is going quite well. (You can follow the progress by viewing the photos in the Remodel gallery, I’ll add photos of the newly-painted areas shortly.)
As you can see in the photos, the presence of backhoes and bulldozers indicates we’re doing quite a bit more than just remodeling our bedroom and bathroom. The majority of the house is currently being supported by two huge steel I-beams which in turn are supported by several massive wooden columns and a system of jacks. Once that structure was in place the whole rear foundation was demolished and 300+ cubic yards of dirt on the down slope behind the house was excavated to make way for a new lower level, directly underneath where we previously had a deck. 
The roof of that lower level will become a tiled veranda at the same level of the previous deck, accessible via the master bedroom, living room, and new family room, yet to be built. We decided to do the master bed/bath portion of the project first so we would have a nice new living space during the subsequent, more disruptive portion of the project. As soon as we’re back in our bedroom they will be literally razing the existing family room to the ground, boarding up the exposed side of the house, drilling 12′ deep pier holes for the new foundation, and starting on the new addition. Retreating to the sanctuary of our new expanded bedroom and bathroom will be most welcome during the chaos of the rest of the project.
And with the paint going up today there is light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday the radiant floor heating was installed in the bathroom and the tile will be installed over it tomorrow. 
The radiant floor is controlled by a thermostat with a timer that can be set so we’ll have toasty warm floors every morning! After the tile all that’s left are the bamboo flooring for the bedroom and closet, crown moulding and baseboards, doors and trim, window trim, trim painting, the cultured granite wall panels for the shower and tub surround, the tempered glass shower door and wall, the new faucets for the sinks in the bathroom, the electrical outlets, switches, and dimmers, and the new ceiling fan. Whew! Maybe “all that’s left” wasn’t the right choice of words. But you’d be surprised how quickly some of these things happen, and other things, like taping and texturing walls, seem to take way too long. But the net net is that by the end of next week we should be back in our bedroom, with the final touches in the bathroom finishing soon after. I can’t wait.