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This is a sampling of one of the many style boards I have for filing all of my final finishes. The master bath will have a vintage spa feel (did I create a new category?)

I’m just now feeling like it might be safe to come out into the light. After a few days of sun (two of which spent sick in bed- bleh!), the ground is finally drying enough to get to the car without my shoes getting caked in mud. yay!

Geez- I am seriously slacking! I didn’t realize it’s been almost 2 weeks since an update. Of course, when it rains all day and you’re in a trailer, the days kind of meld into one another. Thank goodness this month is almost over, because for being the shortest month, February seemed to drag on for an eternity. The weather was gloomy, and dark, same as it feels for the world around me. I try to run (literally, because it’s always raining and I never have an umbrella) between my car and the trailer, or my car and my little office cave, and then just bury my head in the task at hand, or under the covers.

My creativity, in both home and profession, tends to reflect the inspiration I have around me, and right now, it’s a wee bit lacking. I live inside my head because that’s where the new house resides- does that make sense? It’s almost funny to me when people ask about what things will look like or if I’ve thought about how to decorate yet (I mean, only like every tiny minuscule minutia of detail), because in my mind, I’ve been looking at a very clear photo in my head of the house and yard for almost a year. I’m sometimes puzzled when people can’t see the picture in my head! And because of that, it can create some issues when it comes to working within the restraints of reality. Things like…. budget. or building codes. or time. or budget (cannot stress that one enough).

I haven’t really talked a lot about these restraints, but they have had affects on every aspect of the build. However, in the end, everything will end up in it’s place, and no one will be the wiser (well, I guess, you, the reader, of course, since you are getting the inside scoop), and if not…we upgrade later, right?! Some of the things along the way- so far- that have had to be eliminated off the list were; the gable (tragically), black window frames, metal roof, window trim in all rooms (although we’re spending some extra to have it done in the front living spaces)- just a sampling. Some of the upgrades, or um, surprise expenses we’ve decided on; new furnace and ceiling ducting, pricier garage door opener (to fit the existing garage), extra insulation, pricier water heater, and the list goes on. It will all add up to a few pretty pennies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But now on to what you’ve really been waiting for. The progress! The house is sheet rocked. What a difference walls make! Suddenly, the rooms take shape and people see the layout and the space. A few coats of tape, mud and texture and they should have it wrapped up by the end of this week. Thank goodness we have some dry weather- the mud takes a long time to dry between coats. The siding should be complete in a couple of days and it is looking fabulous. And the contractor punched the kitchen cabinet order today.

Also, tons of shopping is being accomplished. Have no fear, the furniture and decor are coming together. For now, I’ve run out of storage space- we are up to FOUR storage units (our shed included). So shopping will have to wait- at least on the large stuff.

Technically, we are less than four weeks till completion due date. As much as the crew is trying to meet that goal, we all know that it will take a miracle to make it. And even if we obtain sign off, there will still be many details to finish up after. But now that it’s sunny, and the fun part is beginning (finishes and decorating), things are starting to look up. March is my month!

Last week was one of those weeks that progress seemed very slow-going. There weren’t a lot of noticeable changes because most of the work was on the systems for hvac, plumbing and electrical. Plus it was raining, of course, which never helps. But the weekend was a huge improvement- beautiful and sunny, we took full advantage of the nice weather to get some outside projects done.

We purchased a garden shed and it was delivered on Monday (finally, after weeks of delay because of the mud!), so we spent many trips with the wheelbarrow hauling rock down the hill. My husband, son and I got a work out with that job- the boys especially. I also planted 210 bulbs- because I had to get them in the ground so they didn’t go to waste (it was a late night groupon purchase by my husband).

And lastly, I put in some serious hours on sanding the beams, and I’m actually making some progress. Thank you, Natalie, for helping me in our sip and sand session 😉

Kudos to the construction crew for passing the big inspection! And today the insulation was delivered and installed by early afternoon. We ended up spending a little more to insulate all of the interior walls so it’s the first time we’ve seen “walls” in the house. No more walking in between the framing!

The sun restored my mood, but now we anticipate another long round of rain. Hopefully, within the next week, we will see the entire house sheet rocked and taped and the siding complete. We’re getting there!

There are at least 8 or more sweet little calves in the pasture across from us that I’m happy to call our new neighbors. They were all born in the cold January storms, and now at least four weeks into their life, they’ve still only felt the rays of sunshine for a few sparse days. The wind, mud, and wet are getting a little hard to take- for us more than them, but at least we get to watch these cuties grow up (which to a 4-H girl who raised them, is a fun perk). 

The progress on the house seems to be at a snails pace when it’s storming out, but in actuality, a lot is getting done on the inside. They are hoping to have a frame inspection this week, which is a big deal because it covers not only all of the framing, but also the systems (electrical, plumbing, hvac). Fingers crossed that inspection goes well, and they’ll be drywalling by next week. The sheetrock all arrived today in the rain, on a big truck, which was sort of a fiasco to get into our narrow roads with gushing water in the ditches on each side. They got the job done and we are so excited to see it piled in the house and ready to go up.

On a different note, I found a beautiful wooden louvered door on a local yard sale site (I’ve been collecting a ton of great items!) and drove to pick it up from the seller. The lady was also remodeling their house and we had some stories to swap! I love the door, which will be a pocket door between our bedroom and bathroom.

Lastly, the “blasting” of the beams did not go so well. I think it would have worked, but the hassle involved in set up and refilling the tank would have taken a lot of time. Just when I thought we had the kinks worked out, there was a clog in the hose nozzle, and I finally threw in the towel. I think it will still be fun to use for other projects, like furniture, but for the beams- it’s back to sanding!! ugh. I will definitely have to schedule a “sand and sip” night so I can get some help!

One of the many things I love about this location is watching and hearing the flocks of Canadian geese that stop in this valley for the winter.

This last week was busy! The crew started on the siding, which we are so excited to see go up. We are using concrete board siding with board and bat in the top gables. Once it’s all painted white, it will give a nice contrast of textures, adding interest and character. The trim will be painted black and there will be light wood accents (front door, porch beams and office trellis).
The electrician started installing all of the can and fixture lights and setting the switches and plugs. I’m a big fan of less can lights and less light switches, so I minimized both as much as possible. Our last home had can lighting everywhere and I always said our kitchen looked like an airport runway when lit up. Plus, it gives me a chance to order more fun light fixtures, since there are so many I’m in love with, it’s been hard to narrow down the selection.
This week, they should be finishing the siding, electric and hvac. They will have the framing inspection and next week we start on insulation and drywall. Wow, this feels a bit surreal- like it really might be happening!
We also did some major shopping over the weekend, purchasing most of our interior doors, and hardware, and ordering our hardwood floors. 
And, taking advantage of the sun, I was able to sand and stain all of the front porch beams. It’s not every girlfriend that will help you when it comes to power tools, but thank you, Ally, for lending me helping me with the sanding process- it’s an arm and core workout!

Lastly, this morning I received sad news that my Mémé passed away peacefully at the age of 94. My grandparents were immigrants from France who came over to Canada and then the U.S. after WWII.
From my grandmother, I inherited my French heritage, as well as my love of all things home; entertaining, cooking, gardening and decorating.
This photo is of a plant that Mémé dug up for me, years ago, to transplant to my last house. She gave me violets, peonies, ferns and these little pink flowers, which I still don’t know the name of. I dug up some of each of these plants (they are all multipliers) to take with us to this new home and they are planted in pots waiting for their home here on the property. They are special little plants that will always makes me think of her.

The life of my dog and cat during the last few weeks of rain- it’s rough. 

There’s so much going on around the job site. The weather is proving difficult to contend with, but the bright spot is when we see the daily progress on the house. The crew has been working through the torrential downpours of back to back storms and much of the time they have been under the house, working in the damp, cold basement.
Here are some of the highlights of their efforts:
• Exterior is completely sheared and ready for siding (when we have a longer dry spell)
• Interior is completely framed
• Windows and exterior doors are in (except for front door)
• Plumbing, electrical and hvac are being installed
• Hoping for drywall in approximately a week

In other news on the property:
• My husband has put in the cross fence for the animal “pasture”.
• He also rented a tractor to pull out the old fence on the street side, dig the fence holes and tear out all the trees, including my beloved persimmons, apple and cherry. (sad)
• He has been working with the pool company and we will be ready to start construction on the pool as soon as we can move the fifth wheel, which will be as soon as we can tear down the carport, which will be as soon as we can move all of our stuff out of the carport, which will be as soon as we can move it into the storage box, which is scheduled to come tomorrow. (process)
• The bottom section of the fence was installed.

Shopping Time!
It’s time to get serious about making decisions. I’ve purchased all of the shower heads, light fixtures, and bathroom vanities. I plan to get the kitchen sink, bathtub and hot water heater this week. UPS is a frequent visitor and storage is becoming an issue!

Another big purchase was made yesterday. The kitchen island! I wavered on this piece, but I think it will be perfect once I add new stone and butcher block countertops to it. It’s the right size, hand-made from reclaimed wood, very sturdy, and best of all, my husband was able to negotiate a pretty good deal on it! I’m very excited to see how it works out.

More to come soon, the pace is picking up!

 

These four little lemons are a bright spot in my day. This pour little tree still produced these beautiful fruits, even though the deer and goats have munched away every single leaf. At my last house, it had leafy foliage, but never any fruit!  #couldbealifemetaphor

I get a lot of questions about how life is going in the trailer. Up until about the beginning of December, things were totally bearable– heck, sometimes even enjoyable, but as I entirely expected would happen, the weather has thrown us a curveball. I’m not a big fan of the winter months, but the last few years of drought had me questioning why it was that I dreaded it so. Now I remember.
mud. cold. wet. more mud. wind. hauling firewood. (ok that’s a throwback from my youth, but still)

• Sounds in the night– squirrels running across your roof, pecans falling on the roof, branches scratching the roof. When the pounding rain and howling wind really pick up, it sounds like a freight train is outside our door, and you’re pretty sure we’re going to tip and roll down the hill at any moment.

• Yoga-like flexibility required– but you still end up with a lot of bruises. crawl over the bed to reach the phone on your nightstand. duck under the cabinet when someone opens it at the wrong time. Ask my husband, it can get downright treacherous at times.

• Worst Chore– for me anyway, making the bed. It’s a monumental feat to climb from side to side of the bed over mounds of pillows and comforters (see above), pulling and tugging on sharp corners of plywood. ugh.

• Biggest Challenge– besides space, which is obvious, is juggling the hot water for a family of four. There’s just enough hot water for two quick showers, or half of one my kids normal showers. (this has actually been a good lesson for them to cut down on their shower time!). Then there’s always a load of dishes waiting for it’s turn with the hot water, which unfortunately doesn’t always get used when the kids do the dishes (ewe-greasy! also a good lesson for the kids)

• “This would never happen in a house”– we catch ourselves saying this sometimes because truly, there are many discussions and tender/funny/memorable moments that we would otherwise not share simply because we wouldn’t be within ear shot of each other at all times. In our old house, we spread out, everyone in their corner or room of the house. In our new house, I hope we remember the importance of sharing close proximity conversation with each other.

• Let it go, Let it go– the trailer is always messy. It seems like we’re constantly cleaning, but it seriously only takes about five minutes to mess it up again. There’s no space to put anything, so it’s cluttered. We have a total of 16 muddy feet tromping through a very tiny space, so the floor is always dirty. Dishes pile up quickly. Laundry overflows from the basket. Life is busy, and at times, we all just have to let it go.

So would I do it all over? heck yea! We made the right choice, but we also knew it wouldn’t be easy, and sometimes it’s not. But that’s ok, we are more blessed than we could ever hope for and we know it will be worth it in the end!

LOTS OF HOME PROGRESS… STAY TUNED!

The last few weeks have flown by in a flurry of holiday and trip preparation, followed by a long visit to Wyoming and Montana to visit my family for Christmas. It was a wonderful, albeit quite frigid, trip.

We’ve returned to the homestead (we’re still working on a name for our home) and have spent a quiet New Year’s weekend in the trailer. It’s supposed to snow tonight here, which is very unusual, as we’re only at about 1000′ elevation. It’s a good thing it’s a cozy trailer, complete with fireplace.

I have a lot of updates to tell you about the house. Even though things feel slow, the crew has been working hard to make progress.
• Roof shingles are complete
• Subfloor is filled in
• Front porch has been torn down and rebuilt
• First interior framed wall has gone up for my office

We’ve also made some design decisions on the following:
• Window grids (windows will arrive on Thursday)
• Dormer or no dormer? No dormer. Sadly, it’s something we can’t fit in the budget right now. It adds a lot of character, but for the added cost, we’d rather spend it on something that functions. We can always go back to add a feature to the roofline at another time.
• We will add a barrel ceiling to the dining room nook and match the curve with an arch between the kitchen and living room.
• The contractor showed me a very cool treatment for the front porch beams, which is a metal-based wash that will give the wood an aged patina. I think we will use this on the wood beams for the front porch and office trellis.

 

The neighbors’ free-range goats love when we pick our persimmons for them.

The drought in California should be officially over now, courtesy us… remodeling a house. Rain, rain, and more rain. Our shingles were delivered this week. The exterior is sheeted and they were able to roll out the paper on the roof, but that’s where the weather-proofing ended until the weather lets up. The progress seems slow, but I know that’s due to living in a small trailer when it’s dark, cold and wet outside.

Last week we also ordered the windows, which meant making some final decisions on shapes, grids, and sizes. Soon there will be a lot more choices to make. I can’t wait to start the big-time shopping in January. Right now, we’re just trying to find room in the trailer to stash Christmas gifts, and keep everything under the carport dry. The crew disconnected our carport, which is nice because we can keep it for storage for a bit longer. They added some extra bracing, but we’ll see how it fares through this storm, which is supposed to have huge wind.

Here are a few photos of the progress- I know it looks rough, but it’s starting to take shape!

’tis the season for shivering. ’tis the season for merriment (aka stress). ’tis the season for decking the halls (unless you live in a trailer and have no halls). Something’s definitely different this year. I think it might be the decorating. Hauling out the boxes of Christmas decor and inhaling the fresh pine scent… that’s my favorite day of the YEAR! But this year there is no room for even one small tree, and that’s ok, because it will help free up a lot of my time.

What I did instead of decorating my own house, was to volunteer on the DeLights of December committee. I still got to decorate a TON but it was all for this wonderful, magical event, which takes place before and after the light parade at the fairgrounds. It’s in it’s second year, so word is just getting out, but this team of volunteers was fun to be a part of! After a couple of the peppermint hot chocolate adult drinks, I was starting to get into the Christmas spirit.

On to the house progress. It’s coming along. The roof is almost complete and they plan to put on shingles next week (after the two large upcoming storms). The exterior walls are almost all framed. We ordered the windows, so we had to decide how all the grids will look. I couldn’t decide between white or black window frames. I preferred the black, but my contractor talked me out of them, probably for good reason. He said they tend to scratch because it’s black paint over white vinyl. Plus, they cost a lot more, so you know, that helped make my decision. The exterior colors will be white siding, black trim, with white windows.

People keep asking what our move in date is. The deadline for construction is six months from closing, which will put us at the end of March. As far as I know, we are still mostly on schedule, but I don’t think you really know until much closer till the end. It will depend on how fast the subs are scheduled and the finishes are installed. I cross my fingers that we do not have to extend our deadline. Trailer living is a little cramped.

There are so many things to be thankful for, as I sit here in this cozy (8-bedroom) cabin with my cute little nieces and nephews, and all of my husbands family. This is a tradition now- all of us together on Thanksgiving in a Tahoe cabin, making memories, relishing the kids all spending time together and of course, stuffing ourselves silly with food and drink. This year, I also relish having a real oven (actually two), a bed that doesn’t rock your house with every movement, and plenty of room to spread out. These are things I might normally take for granted, but when your “tiny house living” in your fifth wheel, you definitely learn to appreciate the little things (or actually, the bigger things… you get it).

Many people ask why we chose to take on this house project. What were the benefits that made it worth the expense, stress, and time that will go into making it our home. Well- here are a few of the “pros” that swayed us:

• The view and location, unbeatable
• The size of the house- even though it all came down, the square footage was already permitted, and that meant that we didn’t have to pay for the permit cost of adding more square footage, or the upgrade to the septic system that would have been required for more bedrooms or baths. We actually took away a bathroom and turned one of the bedrooms into an office.
• Position of the property- south and west-facing, perfect light
• Friendly neighbors
• The position of the house, which at first I did not like, but now I think is ideal. The house is placed in the farthest northeast corner of the lot, which actually allows for maximum benefit of developing the entire property. When I say “farthest”, I mean our house is literally about two feet away from the neighbors property line and also within at about 10 feet from the street. Clearly, there were no setback restrictions back in the 50’s.
• The well and septic were in good working order.We have spent some money on inspections and repairs, but overall, having those things in place has saved a lot.
• Believe it or not, we have solar! The previous owners had installed solar panels and they still have at least 10 years of life left in them, which will really help save on our energy bill.
• Did I mention the view?
• The house has a garage, a front porch, a fireplace, and the beam and board ceiling
• We are just barely outside of city limits- this is both a plus and a minus. I can’t vote for my friends running for city council, but on the plus side, I can also never run for city council 😉

This week was short, but the crew made great progress on the roof.

And finally, my husband was busy with the burn piles, and got to play with his chainsaw. He got rid of those pesky digger pines- some of which were pretty large! We have plans to plant many more trees; evergreens, maples, birch and dogwood on the north and east side, fruit and citrus trees on the bottom of the west side. We’ll keep the huge native oaks, and hope to build a nice treehouse for the kids in one of them.

On that note- I wish everyone a very blissful Thanksgiving!
Thank you for keeping up on our progress- it’s always great to hear from people that they are reading the blog!

Also, a couple of plugs:
Happy Birthday to the love of my life!
and How ’bout them Cowboys!!