Almost There

We're getting close! The floor protection came off today and the cleaning lady is in. Everyone has been on the push this week to wrap it up and they've made a lot if progress. The carpet has gone down, appliances are in and painting is still going fast and furious. By this time next week we hope that the house is ours.

Original Doors

The last of the doors finally arrived at the house. These are the original doors in the house before we tore it down. Matt had them stripped down and we will put a clear coat on them for a natural finish. The original glass knobs will go back on them. We are tickled with how cool they turned out!

The carpenters are also working on casing in the vestibule entrance. Thanks to the Fears for letting us copy their vestibule layout!!

Outside Railings

Sent from my iPhoneThe outside railings also went in last week.

Stair Railing

The main interior stair railing was completed last week. It looks fantastic!

Stair Railings

Made some more progress on the stairs this week. The railings really look great at the top turn of the stairs. And they are solid, absolutely no wiggle in these guys. Can't wait to slide down the main railing once it's complete!

The best progress this week was having the lights installed. Daylight savings time helped force the issue. We wouldn't have been able to hold our weekly Friday night meeting without some additional lighting. The porch lights up nicely and was of assistance last night when Matt and I were sound yard work well into the dark.

Stairs

The stairs started going down on Friday.

Cabinets

The rest of the cabinets have come. The bathroom vanity in this picture is sitting in the office because the bathroom wasn't ready. The cubbies in the mudroom turned out great!

Flooring

The tile in the vestibule is complete! We absolutely love it!! It will definitely be a conversation piece when we are moved in.

The hardwoods went down thus week as well. I am not too happy as there is still a lot of "dirty" work to be done inside. I fear the floors are going to get scratched. They look great though. It's an ash, and we really like the color variation.

Master Bath Tile

The wall tile in the master bath is now complete. It turned out better than I thought, although we don't like the paint and we will probably change.

Porch Soffit

The porch soffit and gable we installed today. Siding is now complete. Our siding man Chuck was slow as molasses, but he did one hell of a job! We have gotten SO many compliments about the siding for walkers passing by. To out knowledge, he has not used any caulking yet. He thought through each and every piece before he put it in place. I wish everyone was this thorough!

Cabinets!

Cabinets unexpectedly arrived today. The tile guys much have grouted over the weekend so that the kitchen cabinets could go down. They got the base and wall cabinets in the kitchen hung today.

Wow! It changes the whole feel inside! I have to admit, I was checking them out from all angles.... What do they look like from the living room? Okay, how about when walking in from the carport? And standing at the counter, can I see the TV? So cool! It feels like its coming together...finally. :)

Tile

We have officially started the finishes. The tile guys started on Thursday and knocked out laying all of the tile except for the vestibule in 2 days. They have done an excellent job! They are not very happy with our pattern at the vestibule. Each piece is individually laid. Luckily the guys don't speak much English otherwise I think I would have gotten an earful from him on Friday!

Our ash wood flooring also came in. It is stocked inside the house and has to acclimate for 2 weeks before it can be laid.

Drywall

Things have been progressing nicely at the house. The crew has been hard at it with hanging and finishing drywall. It looks great! We are very pleased with the work and continue to be tickled with our contractor.

We (I) have been overwhelmed with the "picking finishes" stage of the project. There are just too many decisions to make and nothing on the first try is within budget. Thank God I chose construction and not architecture for a profession. I couldn't survive in that world! We are slowly but surely plugging away at paint colors, cabinet selections, tile picks, hardwood flooring picks, etc. The next major task is lighting...ugh.

Siding!

Looks like we have finally been able to start siding at the house.  We went through a difference of opinions with siding contractor as to how the windows would be trimmed and what color schemes to use.  I really like how it is coming out.  Glad we went with our gut!

Insulation

Sent from my iPhone
The house is for the most part dried in right now. Rough-in is complete and inspections have passed. The insulator made his first rip yesterday, applying the spray foam inside of the exterior walls on the second floor. It is amazing how much it has dampened the noise throughout the floor.

Matt and I have been making preparations for Hurricane Irene's arrival today. Not too worried about the main house, but the porch is not currently fastened down. We'll get a fantastic uplift test today - free of charge!

Aerial Photos

Not much progress in the house over the last two or three weeks.  Paul has been waiting for the metal roof to be installed to complete the dry-in in order for other trades to begin.  The metal roof installation began on Friday.  On Saturday, my friend Danny was flying over the house and was nice enough to think of us and take photos.  Very very cool!!  It’s a good thing he did because otherwise you might never see the actual metal roof.  Not much is viewable from the street level.

Windows & Doors

The framers have wrapped up their work this week with the installation of the windows, doors and prep for the siding. It is nice to finally have an enclosed house!

Porch

We hosted a porch warming happy hour last night to break in the recently built porch. It was very spacious and so nice to sit out in the neighborhood.