Archives for March 2017

The bulbs that I planted in pots are patiently waiting to be planted in a forever home. The bulbs that I planted in the ground have yet to come up- maybe next year?!

Sooooo, this is one of those weeks that was painfully slow. TGIF, but I wish we had a little more to show for it. The crew is still finishing up the interior paint. Finally, the tile is complete, so the bathrooms and laundry room are in tact. We had a major hold up this week- one of those moments on the home improvement shows where they would make a big dramatic scene- da da daaaa… the trim molding for our wood floors, which was a special order, and which took OVER the full 21 possible business days for delivery were a completely WRONG flooring material. Not even close. What will happen???? cut to commercial…
I immediately called the flooring store and they had me return it. After a hefty discount and another long (but hopefully not AS long since it is now a different vendor) wait, we will be back in business. All things have a solution, but even in real life, this is a pretty super big deal! When I arrived at the store, it was a stressful point in the week, and although they did everything they could to make it right, I still wanted to break down to the lady- “but you don’t understand, we’re living in a trailer. we’ve been living in a trailer for EIGHT months… yes! though this winter!! yes, it sucks!! but we’re so close and now we are delayed, all because of some flooring trim. ugh!!” no one wants to listen to that, so I kept it together and just waited to shed some tears in the car ;(
SO, back to the progress. The pool had a bit of work done on the grading, and they will be back tomorrow to finish framing. Supposedly we pour concrete on Monday (but I don’t really expect things to go as planned anymore).
My countertops arrived today. I made a quick switch on my material decision when I went to order the slabs. All along, I was planning to use a granite or quartz that resembled the look of marble. I didn’t want to worry about the porous-ness and stain-ability of the marble when I tip over that glass of red wine (yes, you have all seen me do that). Since I’m budget-minded, I’m getting my countertops from a large discount warehouse and I wasn’t happy with any of the granite or quartz products that they had in stock (of course there were plenty of options a couple months ago!). But what I really loved, oh yes, was the marble! The carrarra was a dream, but then I spotted a jadeite (from China). It was a gray striated pattern that I loved. All along, I thought I wanted white, but in the end, I fell for the touch of color- gray and caramel tones. Hopefully these will outlast the “gray” fashion trend and back into the warm tone trend, plus, it lends a touch of contrast from the cabinets. Plus, I just liked them- sometimes, it’s on a whim.
The gutters were started today, and really, that’s about it for the week. This weekend, I get to paint cabinets, island and furniture.
Remember the part in the movie “Money Pit” when Tom Hanks would ask the contractor how much longer and he would always reply “a couple more weeks” or maybe it was a “few”? Either way, that’s what I’m reminded of whenever people ask me- for the last 2-3 weeks, my answer has been; “we’re really close, just two or three more weeks!”. I might be saying that for a while.

Deadlines? what are deadlines, really, but moving targets- approximations- goals, right?! Our official deadline for completion was last Thursday, but a bit more paperwork and money, of course, buys us a 2 month extension. I HOPE we will not need all that time, but it’s there. I’m not sure how much more of trailer living any of the family can take. The closer we are on the house, the harder it is in the confined space. And we are close- painfully so!

Here’s the progress from last week:

• Cabinets delivered and hung
• Tile guys were there all week completing the shower and floor tile for bathrooms and laundry. They are almost done- grouting today.
• Interior trim and some walls have been painted
• New garage door is on
• The ceiling and kitchen beam were repaired and patched
• We painted the living/kitchen tongue-and-groove ceiling (Thank you- Jill, April, Annette and Steve!)
• Stained the wood interior french doors for the office and laundry room
• Re-stained the front porch columns to gray (we thought they were a little too yellow agains the white)
• Ordered carpet and scheduled for next week (bedrooms)
• Some furniture was delivered- yay!!

What’s left to do? Wood floors, finish interior paint, lighting and electrical finish work, plumbing fixtures, countertops (ordering today). Just a couple minor things, right?! Stay tuned!

Wow, things have been busy. crazy busy. So this will be a short update to get you caught up on all the exciting happenings here.
First- my dream of a white farmhouse has come to fruition. In just a few days, the exterior of the house was transformed with white paint and dark gray trim. Reaching a decision on which “white” to use took some doing, but in the end, I am very happy with the color.
Also, on the exterior, the pool was gunnited on Friday, so it’s starting to take shape. They are installing the tile today, but the crew showed up with the wrong color tile- thankful my husband was on site to catch it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the interior, things are also rockin’! The tile crew started last week on the shower tile. Hopefully, they will be finishing up this week with both bathrooms and laundry room tile. The doors, trim and texture are all finished, so they are prepping for a busy week of interior painting, wood flooring and cabinets, which will be delivered tomorrow. New garage door comes on Thursday.

THE BEAMS ARE FINISHED! well, at least the bulk of them. I still have a little bit of finish work in the corners, which will have to be hand sanded, but they are almost there.

I’m not sure how we got so lucky on the weather these last few weeks- it held out long enough for them to paint and work on the pool. Now with the upcoming storm, they’ll be able to concentrate on the inside. As for the deadline, it’s technically only FOUR days away. Of course, we will not make it. But I think we are close. I’m trying to be positive and hoping for two more weeks, but it maybe be 3, or even 4, depending. After this week, they will have the finish electrical and plumbing fixtures, the water/hvac/and electrical systems to hook up, and the countertops to install.

We are beyond excited, and beyond ready to get out of the fifth wheel. I’ll try to keep posting more frequently as we race to the finish line!

I haven’t posted a good sky shot in a while- I’m so grateful to see some some sunsets for a change! The last week of weather renewed our spirit, and spring seems finally within reach.

got your attention, didn’t I?! yes, we’ve moved, but it’s not into the house. The fifth wheel has relocated to the driveway area (along with the two utility trailers, gigantic storage box, our 3 cars and all of the crew’s vehicles- oh and the porta potty). The benefits- much less mud now that we’re on blacktop and everything is a closer walk- cars, house and refrigerator. It’s literally one step closer to moving in to the real thing.
It was a fun week– the pace is picking up. The house is completely sided, except for the chimney (remember that budget thing? I had to forgo rock on the chimney- I hope it’s a someday thing). The interior drywall texture was started on Saturday, so we have a couple more days for that “imperfect smooth” hand finish.
And a large “ground-breaking” on the exterior landscape; the pool was dug on Saturday! That crew was in and out in less than 5 hours- amazing! Even my son admitted they put his tractor driving skills to shame. And then, of course, it rained and hailed so hard over the last night and day that part of the pool wall already caved in. yikes!

Over this next couple of weeks, things like cabinets will go in. The window trim and baseboards. They will prime and paint the interior once the texture is dry. The tile will be started in the bathrooms and they’ll be prepping the floors for the wood and carpet.

Update on beams- almost done sanding! Just have the bottom parts left, which are the hardest- of course I saved that till last. ;(