day 152

1. It's quarter end and I work in accounting.  Enough said.

2. The condo sold.  We found out Monday night when our landlord called to say there was an inspection scheduled for Wednesday.  The sales contract says tenants have to be out 15 days prior to closing, which means we're supposed to be out on April 15.  10 days from now. (insert mini panic attack)

3. Our Construction Manager's last day with the company is this coming Monday -- April 8.  We found that out on Tuesday. (insert second mini panic attack)

4. On Wednesday, we had a painter come out to paint the master bedroom, powder room, living room/foyer and E's room.  I'd intended to do it myself, but we're running out of time. With the condo selling, I won't have a gap between the house being done and being able to move, so we just hired it out.  I was unimpressed with the work.  (insert third mini panic attack)  He's coming back tomorrow morning to finish touch-ups and clean up his lines.  Crossing my fingers he's able to meet my expectations.

5. We found out Thursday that the hood vent we received (which was actually an upgraded newer model) does not currently have an extender being made for it.  And, without the extender, it's not tall enough for our ceilings.  After lots of back and forth with the appliance company, they found us a new hood (which is the older model) out of California, along with an extender.  Hopefully it arrives next Thursday (April 11) as expected.  The installer is slated to be there first thing Friday morning to get it in.

[36" Stainless Chimney Hood by Best]

6. Our new Construction Manager continues to assure us we'll be in by April 15 (the completion date per our contract and now the day we have to be out of the condo we're renting).  He's tentatively scheduled our occupancy inspection with the Village for next Thursday.  Like 6 days from now.  Day 158.  I'm not totally convinced it's going to happen.

7. W'e're hoping to be able to do our final walk-through and punch list on Friday (day 159) and then be able to move over the weekend.  It gets us out of the condo on time, but it also means we'd be living in the house while they're doing the finishing touches.  Not ideal, but it's going to have to work.

8.  Speaking of the painter coming, I had to pick out more paint colors.  Because of the craziness at work, it involved my Hubby grabbing paint samples from Sherwin Williams and me spreading them out over the kitchen table at 10 pm, trying to pick paint with tired eyes via poor overhead lighting.  While I didn't like the paint job, I like the colors.  One small victory!  Our house palette now looks like this:

Master Bedroom - On the Rocks

Main Bath - Nantucket Dune

E's Bedroom - Versatile Gray

Master Bathroom - Perfect Greige

Kitchen/Dining Area - Gray Clouds

Living Room/Foyer - Gray Clouds

Powder Room - Copen Blue

9. Our master shower is finally tiled!  I love the tile work.  But I'm not sure how I feel about the granite seat and ledge.   I thought it was all going to be tile.  At first I was insistent that the granite come out but the Designer talked me out of it.  He assures me I'll be happier with how the granite holds up in the long run.  I still don't like the look, but practicality wins out again.  I really hope the granite grows on me once everything else starts to be added to the bathroom.

The missing tiles have since been installed but I haven't taken a photo for some reason.

10.  The fireplace tile has also been installed.  I like the wall tile, but I'm a bit undecided on the floor tile.  Does anyone else notice the front right tile?  I know it's natural stone and the colors will vary, but it's the only tile that light.  And I think it looks odd.  The tile guy's solution was to pull a few of the darker tiles out and replace them with a couple leftover tiles that were lighter.  But, because the tiles were wet when I went out to see if I liked it, it still looked the same.  The replacement (and larger) mantel has also arrived and been primed.  I believe it will be installed by the trim carpenter tomorrow.

11. The electricians came out and installed a few more of our lights.  They'll be out again tomorrow to wrap up.

12. Our appliances were delivered last Saturday (day 146) and were installed on Monday (I think?).  The pictures below were taken on Easter, pre-installation (and mid egg hunt!).

13.  We celebrated Easter with an egg hunt at the house.  E was glad the Easter Bunny found him!  And we were thrilled to start making family memories in our new home.

 

14.  Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day!  The painter, electrician, trim carpenter and plumber will all be there.  I think the biggest items left to complete are: paint touch-ups, finish trimwork, install mantel, finish hanging lights, hang mirrors, install carpet and transition pieces, plumbing, complete front porch columns, rough grading, put in temporary driveway/sidewalk and then CLEANING.  It's a tight timeline!  Hopefully more updates tomorrow once everyone has gotten in there and worked their tails off.  I stocked up on Gatorade, water and am baking cookies to drop off in the morning.  I'm hoping a little bribery will go a long way!

day 102

I feel like we should have had a big 100 day celebration... but I totally missed it.  Ooops.  Instead, want to see what has happened up until day 102?

Here's the high level summary:
Day 96/97 - drywall work - taping and mudding
Day 98 - rest day!
Day 99/100 - drywall work - sanding and touchups
Day 101/102 - stone work and cabinet delivery

And the proof is in the details:

[master bedroom - see the boards on the floor?  they're hiding a hole.]

[pretty purple master bath]

[nice and smooth kitchen and living room]

We had been to the house on Saturday (day 97) and were aware that the drywall work had been started.  I was awarded a (much needed) fun day with one of my girlfriends on Sunday and then I spent Monday through Wednesday avoiding/caring for the sick boys in my house.  Staying away to avoid sickness yet being around enough to provide care is an interesting balance.  The good news is, everyone seems to be healthy now!

So, all that to say - I hadn't been to the house since Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to see a crew out laying stone this morning.

I like the stone in person much more than I do in these photos.  Let's blame the iPhone camera?  I think I'll like everything even more once the front door is stained to match the garage doors.  And once the posts are finished.  I have the worst timing imaging how everything comes together.  Usually, I find a photo of what I like and then try to replicate it (e.g. our master bathroom).  For the exterior of the house, I really haven't been able to do that.  It drives me crazy.  But I think it drives my Hubby even more crazy.  If he hears another "I'm not sure" or "I don't think I like it anymore", I might be looking for a roommate!

The real reason for my visit to the house this morning was to accept delivery of our cabinets.  Aren't they pretty?

I'm super excited for them to be installed.  But first - priming, paint and floors.  We're getting closer!  I dropped off our paint samples with the Builder this morning and am told painting is supposed to start next week.  Then, some more magic and hopefully we'll be moving in towards the beginning of April.  My patience is getting thinner...especially as we start to get calls for showings again on the Condo.  As unready as I am to pack up and move again, I seriously can't wait to be in our house.  Our home.  This Condo still doesn't feel like home and I truly miss that feeling.

In the mean time?  I'll continue to love on the cuties I get to call my Valentines.  Aren't they sweet?

day 80

I'm in a little bit of disbelief that we're on day 80.  11.5 weeks.  2.5 months.  In some ways, it seems like forever.  Afterall, we've really been working on this project for 8 months or so.  In other ways, another 80 days does not seem like enough time to get everything done.  But, I'm totally ready to be done.  Ready to move in.  Ready to decorate.  Ready to throw a housewarming party.  Ready to be out of this drafty condo.  The only part I'm not ready for is the packing up and moving again.  Any volunteers for that task?

It's cold in Wisconsin this week.  Not "Los Angeles cold" (see clip below - it's worth a laugh, especially if you hail from a state that actually gets snow or ice), but truly cold.  I think my car said -6 yesterday morning and we were up to 16 this morning.  Anyway, the cold means two things.  1) We're lining the walls of E's current room with blankets (see above).  I have never seen/lived in/experienced such a drafty place.  Especially one that's only 23 years old.  The wind and cold air is gushing through the electrical outlets and seeping in where the floor and walls meet.  It's crazy.  2) There hasn't been any progress on the exterior of the house.



I absolutely do not blame the siding guy for not coming out this week.  My fingers turned red when I ran out to the house for a short five minutes today at lunch.  While I was not surprised to see no work going on outside, I was completely surprised to see that the insulation was done inside.  Well, stage one is done.  The walls are insulated and plastic is hung.  I assume they'll be ready to do the ceiling insulation once the drywall is up.

[kitchen corner]

[dining area ceiling]

[master bedroom corner]

[living room]

[bedroom 2]

Nothing too pretty to look at, but we are beyond excited to see progress again.  I tried to peek through the plastic on the window to see when the inspection had been done and it looked like it had just been signed off on this morning.  The crew must have been on stand-by to come complete the insulation as soon as the inspection was signed off on.  I believe, at this point, they need to start warming up the inside and will then begin drywall.  The furnace is installed and hooked up to a thermostat already so I think everything just has to be fired up.  I'm not looking forward to paying two heating bills in this weather.

In other news, it was crazy windy on Saturday (day 76) and we lost some shingles.  It hasn't been hot enough for everything to properly adhere to the tar paper, so the 40 to 60 mph winds were able to do a bit of damage to the roof.  Not exactly what you want to see when you walk up, but the Construction Manager is aware and assures us everything will be fixed.

And, we received news late last week that the tile we'd selected for our fireplace is no longer available. I'm a huge second-guesser of decisions and was actually quite confident in my fireplace tile decision.  So, the thought of having to select something else wasn't very appealing.  Luckily, the Designer seems to understand by taste pretty well at this point and I was immediately on board with his recommendation.

[tumbled Torreon by Daltile]

Next up?  Ordering cabinets.  Finding a kitchen sink faucet.  Picking a paint color for the master bath and main bath.  Picking a paint color for the kitchen.  Maybe picking up a different post light (still not in love with the one we bought).  Picking out a lamp post.  And???  Anything I'm missing?

day 74

Two things.

1 - Work is kicking my derriere this week.  Scratch that, this month.

2 - Progress has slowed down, which makes me sad.  The siding has been going up for almost two weeks now.  It warmed up just enough for the ground to become a huge, muddy mess.  And, then, we got just enough freezing rain to make everything a slippery ice rink.  The joys of Wisconsin in January! 

I dropped donuts off last Friday morning (day 68) to try to motivate the crew a bit.  I think it would have worked, had they shown up.  Instead, the box was a soggy mess that got tossed in the dumpster that night.  Thinking about it now, maybe I should have left it on the stoop until they showed up again?  I suppose that completely contradicts the nice gesture, though.  Instead, we made the trek to DD again on Monday and dropped off a fresh box.  Nothing says 'thanks for freezing your rumps off in below freezing weather to hang my siding while I sit in a semi-warm office with my space heater' better than sugary, chocolatey goodness, right?

 The siding crew did show up on Saturday (day 69) to hang our shake.  I love it.

And the carpenter showed up on Sunday (day 70) for the last time to get our front porch posts put in.  I was seriously impressed with this guy.  Besides being easy to talk to and super helpful, his construction "uniform" always cracked me up.  I don't think I've ever seen a carpenter work in sweats.

They finished hanging the siding on the side of the house Tuesday (day 72) and today they wrapped up the front (day 74).  I'm pretty sure the only thing left is the side of the house with the garage.  I'm also not completely sure if the soffit under the front porch is finished. 

We've been waiting on an inspection all week (and part of last week, too).  Once it's done, I think they'll start hanging insulation.

In other news - I finally broke down and purchased the oval pivot mirrors from Restoration Hardware that I've been coveting.  They arrived in the mail today and I'm in love.  If anyone else has been eying them, they're still on sale.

[Vintage Oval Pivot Mirror from Restoration Hardware]

Our local-ish Restoration Hardware brick and mortar store is going out of business, so we hit them up on Saturday hoping to find some good deals.  Everything was 50% off, but most things had already been picked over.  I did manage to pick up some towel hooks for our master bathroom, though.

[Gilmore Hook from Restoration Hardware]

We also hit up our local Restoration Hardware outlet to see if they happened to have any mirrors in stock before we ordered.  I debated over one but it didn't have the exact finials I loved and it was a little more dented than I would have preferred.  We ultimately passed on it but did end up falling in love with a bed.

[Chesterfield Upholstered Sleigh Bed from Restoration Hardware]

Isn't it gorgeous?  The one at the outlet was a king and missing a connector for the cross boards.  When combining multiple markdowns, it was down to about $800 (from $2700).  The connector seemed easy enough to fix and it took everything I had to do the responsible thing and walk away.

In other news, there was an appraisal on the condo we're renting today and we've been told they have an offer.  The bank hasn't accepted it yet, but we're crossing our fingers, toes, arms and legs that it's a drawn out process.  I'm quite confused by the need for the appraisal at this point, though, and I'm hoping it's not a sign that our landlord is holding back information.  I'd really hate to have to move again since our house completion date has been pushed out to the end of March.  It's always something.