ALL MOVED IN!

Well, it took 191 days but we got it done! They finished up on Tuesday, November 25th, we moved in the day before Thanksgiving and had the closing on Tuesday, December 2nd. It has been a long process with way too many decisions to make...but it was well worth it.

It's nice to be able to put up the dishes without tripping over the open dishwasher door, or take a shower without worrying about leaving enough hot water for the next person, or walk into the garage to get a tool intead of going outside to the storage shed. Not to mention that we now have DSL which wasn't available at our trailer! All the little things sure do make it nice. Michelle is also having lots of fun experimenting with her new oven and Josiah is really enjoying his new bed. He has slept on the top bunk, trundle bed, and a storage/cubby area that he calls his "Bat Cave". Anna is happy to actually have play area in her room and they are making good use of their new Play Room.

We are still in the process of hanging pictures and decorations, but other than that we are pretty well settled in. Michelle has worked very hard!

DAY 191 - GOD is good!

With all the crazyness going on in our financial world, interest rates have been all over the place this year. Our construction rate was 5.75% but we couldn't lock in the permanent rate until we were about 20 days from closing. We have been watching the the past few weeks, but they have been hovering between 6.2 and 6.3%. Historically that's not a bad rate, but in the current conditions I was looking for 6% or better. This morning it dropped to 5.75% for a few hours and we locked it in!

As of this morning, we still had one bathroom to be finished (faucet, shower door, toilet), the kitchen sink drain and dishwasher needed to be hooked up and several odds and ends to be tied up. They are supposed to be finished today and we plan to start moving tonight.

I haven't posted any updated pictures because all the tools have been in the way. We plan on taking some before we move anything in and I'll try to get them posted soon. (maybe this weekend if our DSL gets installed).

DAY 186 - PUSHED BACK

So we are not going to make it by friday..but we should still make it by Thanksgiving....BARELY!

The appraiser is coming on Monday morning and they should be thru with the final touches on Tuesday. Our new plan is to move in on Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving).

The tile and wood floors are in, phone is hooked up, propane is in, faucets are installed, dishwasher, kitchen sink, lights, smoke detectors are installed (did you know that Home Depot has a whole isle of different types of smoke detectors? ugh). The garage door is in and they are starting the carpet this afternoon.

After much deliberation, we decided that the kitchen just wouldn't look right with our old white refrigerator in it, so yesterday I stopped by Sears (they know me well by now) to order a new one. Well, it was on sale so we got a good price on it, but as luck would have it the one we want won't be in until December 2nd.

These pictures are from a few days ago when it was pretty messy. I'll get some new pictures this weekend.

DAY 183 - FINAL SPRINT

We finally found the travertine (tile) on Friday and he got it installed yesterday! I would post a picture of it, but I left my camera at work yesterday :(

I'll try to get a picture of it tonight.

The tile guy showed up on Sunday afternoon. He should be done with the tile today and hopefully start on the wood flooring either today or tomorrow. We also got our electric pole up yesterday so we have power to the house now. We also got the cabinet doors in and he got all the wood beams up in the Dining room. There is still a lot to be done, but we are sprinting to the finish line.

The appraiser is scheduled to come out on Friday, and we are hoping to begin moving on Saturday. It doesn't seem like enough time to get it all done...we will see.

Day 179 - PRESSING ON

They got our laminate installed yesterday and finished up the stone. Now we are in the middle of a fiasco with the Tavertine Michelle had picked out for the backsplash. We weren't originally sure if she was going to use it, or how much we were going to need, so we just bought a sample of it. Well, as luck would have it, now that she has settled on what she wants we can't find it again! I went into Houston this morning to pick up Josiah's new bunk bed and stopped at a Lowes and Home Depot and couldn't find it. I have one more store to try before they begin installing the Tile on Monday.

DAY 173 - Stone Started

I picked up Michelle's stove and dishwasher this weekend and ordered my Christmas present.....a 50" Plasma TV.

After three weeks of hearing "I'll be there next week" the mason finally showed up on Wednesday afternoon.

By the end of the day Friday, they were almost finished with the garage wall. He should be completely finished by midweek.

We now have our septic installed, water line connected and countertops built. This week should prove to be very busy ans we are looking to see the electricity connected, propane installed, lights and outlets installed, attic stairs installed, faucets installed, cabinet drawers and doors installed, cedar trim installed on porch and beams installed in the Dining/Play room.

That will still leave the outside A/C unit, kitchen laminate, tile flooring, wood flooring, toilets, carpet, appliances, garage door, touch up painting and cleanup to be done before the 21st.

DAY 165 - Marble

We got the marble in last Thursday. They still have to finish the guest Shower and will have to come back after the Tile and faucets are installed to finish the surroundings on the Master Bathtub but it's finally coming together.


On a seperate note...we are still waiting on the Stone to be installed!!! He was supposed to start today, but now it's tommorrow...

I spent most of this morning trying to coordinate with the bank, builder and Appraiser. Our hope is to move in the weekend before Thanksgiving. The house is supposed to be finished by that friday (November 21st) but we have to get the appraiser there before we can move in, and the house has to be very close to finished before he can do the appraisal. The trick is giving him enough notice that he gets it done before the 21st without showing up too early. I'm loosing the rest of my hair :)

DAY 159 - CABINETS

The bathroom cabinet frames are all built and he's working on the kitchen cabinets. The picture to the left is of the kitchen cabinets from Friday. The picture on the right is of the cabinets in the master bathroom. They measured for the marble last week and should have it installed by the end of this week. We will have marble vanities in all 3 bathrooms, marble tub and shower in the master, and a marble shower in the Guest Bathroom.
We also settled on a countertop color of "Deepstar Bronze" .

DAY 148 - Nice View

I went by the house yesterday after work, as I do most days, to check on the progress and give it my "once over". I stepped out on the back porch to look at the first coat of stain they had applied to the back doors and as I turned around to head back into the master bedroom there were 2 deer looking right at me. I had my camera with me so I just started snapping away. They stood there for several minutes until the sound of an obnoxious diesel spooked them away. I guess that will be a problem regardless of where you live, but it's one I look forward to hearing much less of once we move.

The picture on the left was taken from the back porch. The one to the right was taken from our master bedroom window. Looks like I found a perfect spot to put up a feeder!

DAY 142 - Trim & Stain

It's been crazy around here lately! Our stone was delivered last week, though they haven't started installing it yet. They got about 1/2 of the doors stained yesterday and should have the window trim in very soon. I'll post some new pictures in the next few days.



Shown above: Living Room, Josiah's room, Master Bedroom.

DAY 131 - IKE

This picture was taken on Saturday the 13th. The day after Ike made landfall. It's now been 2 weeks and we are finally seeing some progress again! Thankfully, we made it thru IKE with no damage whatsoever. We had several trees down in the yard, but none on the house.

Our builder got started back to work on Tuesday (Sept 23rd) and got the interior painted and the interior doors up this week. He would have started earlier, but his paint supplier was out of power and couldn't mix the paint until Monday.

The interior paint color is called "Chalkware". Here is a sample of it .

He should start on the trim work on Monday and hopefully we won't have many more delays.

DAY 110 - Walkthru

Whew...I had no idea how long it took to finish sheetrock. He has been working on it every day, but it's just one man so he is still going at it. He should be finished by Tuesday of next week. Here are some "profesional" :) videos of a walk thru the house. They take a while to upload, so i'll add more next week.

DAY 104 - Learning Patience

I have discovered that this is the time when God teaches Justin patience. No doubt I have more than I did before having kids 4 years ago, but I am discovering I have a LONG way to go.

After waiting on him for more than a week, the sheetrock finisher finally showed up on Wednesday. He worked thru Friday and is actually making fairly quick work of it. However, I was hopeing we would be ready to paint and get started on the trim & cabinets by the first of September. It looks like it will be the 2nd or 3rd week instead, meaning that we are unlikely to meet my goal of moving in by the end of October. We should be on track to be moved in by Thanksgiving however.

Josiah checking things out

Josiah & I went by on our way home from work yesterday and took some pictures.

Looking @ Living room from front door (left). Looking @ breakfast room from Living Room (right)

Sitting in his Bathroom (left). Standing in the Master Bedroom (right)

Looking @ Dining/Play Room from the Living Room.

DAY 89 - PICTURES COMING SOON!

I promise I'll post some new pictures tommorrow.

The sheetrock is all up and the finisher should get the tapeing and floating done this week. It feels like we are on the down hill side now, but I hear this stage can feel like forever. I started counting up all the "little" things that still need to be done and they add up to A LOT! Painting, trimwork, cabinets, outlets, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, appliances, tile, carpet, counter tops, closet rods & shelfs, septic...and i'm sure thre is plenty I left out. It's exciting to see it all come together piece by piece.

DAY 88 - SHEETROCK

I know...i've been a little slow on the updates lately. They have been working steadily every day, and I can see it evolving little by little. The past few weeks are a little hard to document by pictures (wires here, plumbing there, dryer vent, caulking, touch up paint, etc, etc, etc).

They finished up the insulation on Tuesday, and started the sheetrock yesterday. One guy was there until about 8pm last night and making pretty quick work of it. In just one day he had almost 1/2 the house done! I went by and added insulation to some inside walls last night and he left about the same time I did.

My truck is in the shop with my camera in it, but I've got some pictures of the insulation all installed. I'll post a couple soon.

DAY 79 - WIRING & PLUMBING

They got started on the wireing friday and should finish it up today. I went by after work yesterday and it looks like a spider web. I dont' know how any of it makes sense to him. I guess that's why he is the electrician!

Lamar also got started on the plumbing yesterday. He already had all the vent pipes in but hadn't started on the pressure lines. That part makes a little more sense to me. They are scheduled to insulate Wednesday and sheetrock Friday or Monday.

DAY 69 - ON TO STAGE 3

We are now all dried in and have shingles on the roof. They finished up about 10am on Saturday morning.

He also got started on the plumbing Friday afternoon. Hopefully we will see the plumbing finish and the wiring begin this week. I got my network cable in today.

(if you look closely..you will see Josiah writing on the front porch with chalk)

DAY 66 - Dolly

We made our first interest payment last week and paid the contractor his second payment on Monday. I think the red is looking much better, now that the trim work is taking shape. I was a little worried, but once the stone is added, it should look really good from the front. Plus, Michelle still loves it.

They delivered the shingles on Tuesday, but with the rain we are getting from Hurricane Dolly they won't be able to start installing them until Friday or Monday.

We should also see the plumbing & wireing go in sometime next week. I ordered my network cable today. I'm going to wire it with Cat6 cable to each bedroom & the living room.

DAY 64 - PHASE 3

I know...we haven't posted an update in 2 weeks! They got the doors in last Tuesday (July 8th) and then we didn't see anyone for over a week! I called the builder on Thursday and they showed up again Saturday and Sunday. They got all the mess cleaned up so that I could mow & got started on painting.
I keep saying "it's really red!" to which Michelle says "I like it!". I think it will blend a little more when all the trim work is done. But even if it doesn't, you know what they say about Momma being happy.

DAY 46 - Changing Slowly

I stopped by several times this weekend and ran into the painter twice. He spent most of the weekend caulking the eaves and hardie seams. Tedious work, but you dont see a lot of changes from day to day.

They got the ceiling stripping in last week and finished all the siding except right around the back doors. As soon as they come in we should be "dried in"

Looking into Living Room from Entryway

Kitchen & Breakfast Room from Living Room

Guest Room & bath Behind Kitchen

DAY 43 - DECISIONS...DECISIONS...DECISIONS

OK, so I finally got around to posting an update.

Our Exterior base color will be "Brick Dust" and the trim will be "Camel" .

Our stone is called "Chippewa Falls" from Lonestar Stone .


We also picked out a "Timberline" shingle called "Shakewood". If we picked it all out right our color scheme should look something like this when we are done.

Believe it or not, the hardest part of the whole day was deciding on the faucets. It wasn't hard to find a style and color we both liked within our budget. But it took forever to find one where they actually stocked a matching tub, shower, & sink faucet. I'll post a picture as soon as I can find or take one.

Oh...and the almost have all the hardie on the house. The Back doors should be in today or tommorrow, but we are still a few weeks out on getting the front door.

COMING SOON

We spent all day today picking out our Stone, Exterior Paint, Shingles, Marble Tub & faucets. I'll get some new pictures and samples posted soon. Michelle was out of town for 4 days last week so I didn't get anything done other than to make sure the kids were still in one piece when she returned yesterday!

DAY 30 - PICTURES

Looking into the kitchen from Living Room.

Josiah by the windows in his room.











Front of house on Day 30

Rear of house on Day 29

DAY 28 - Windows & Walls

Evidently I'm not as smart as I think I am. I can't seem to get my facebook album to share correctly so I'll try and post all the pictures I can on here.


They started on the windows and wall sheathing yesterday and had two stacks of Tech Sheild roof decking on site. Michelle is getting scriptures ready that she wants to write inside the walls in the kids rooms.
The photo to the right is of the Living Room, taken from the front entryway.

DAY 25 - Just Pictures

DAY 24 - Rafters

It's looking more like a house every day. We had most of the rafters up yesterday afternoon. They should finish that stage today in the next few days. It's still hard to believe it's actually our house. Michelle is becoming anxious about picking out all of her colors and decorations. I'm becoming anxious about paying for all of the decorations she wants to pick out! ;)