day 154

Another quick update...wish I had time for something more lately!

Things were super busy at the house on Saturday.  The finish carpenter was on site to finish up the trim, install the mantel, hang a replacement door, finish the master bath vanity, install the porch columns and hang our bathroom mirrors.  He was all over the place!

 
The new mantel does not have an inset back like the old one did, so we were unable to mount the outlet on the mantel itself.  I was a little bummed, but I've always planned to have a large mirror or artwork sitting in the middle, so the outlet should be hidden.  I feel like our original mantel had a chunkier top, but I haven't bothered to find the photo to compare it.  If anything, we can always add trim to beef it up later.  More than likely, I'll forget I even thought to do that.

Also, while wondering the aisles of Target on Saturday, I think I might have found curtains for the two windows that flank the fireplace (and overlook our backyard/porch).  I want something that will allow light through, isn't horribly expensive and is at least 8' (our ceilings are 10').  Enter these:

[Nate Berkus Heathered Herringbone Window Panels from Target]

In other news - the master vanity is finally done!  I can't wait to see it all cleaned up and with the hardware installed.  The electrician hung the scones next to the mirrors today, but they're currently facing upwards and we'd asked for them to be installed downwards.  It's slowly coming together.

And, you can't really tell from the photos, but the columns look fantastic.  The carpenters did a really nice job.  I think the only things left to complete on the exterior of the house itself are staining the front door and painting the trim.

The electricians were also on site Saturday wrapping up the network connections and installing the rest of our bathroom and kitchen fixtures.  Hubby and I were discussing our favorite contractors the other night and the electricians were easily number one. We're trying to figure out a nice way to let them know how much we appreciate their help.  Any suggestions?  I've only come up with a couple of my very favorite screwdrivers.  But surely they have their own favorites.

Anyway, I'm dying to see the kitchen with the protective paper pulled off the floor!  And eventually with a tile backsplash and crown molding.  It's crazy that the "once we move in" project list has already begun.

But back to what has to get done immediately.

The painter came back on Saturday to do touch-ups, as well.  I'm much happier with everything now that the ceiling lines have been refined, walls have been touched up and the trim is much more crisp.

And the plumbers were also there.  They made quite a bit of progress running pipe in the basement, but were unable to get started on installing fixtures.  Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication with someone at the builder's office and all of the wrong fixtures were ordered.  They straightened everything out today (I hope - the Designer never called me back to verify) and we should now have new fixtures and the correct pedestal sink tomorrow or Wednesday.  Another delay.  

While we were all there together, though, they made a point to bring the tub up from the basement so we could let them know how we wanted it placed.  I'm in love!

And, more than ever, I'm glad we decided to go with the wainscoting around the tub instead of tile.  The tile looks great in the shower, but I really like the mix of materials.

Today, a crew worked on patching the drywall and getting ready for the rest of the touch-up paint.  It sounds like they also started cleaning out the basement.  I'm just glad that progress continues, since we're in such a time crunch to get out of the condo and into the house.  I'm on such pins and needles this week.  Ugh.

In exciting news, my father-in-law is making awesome progress on our dining table.  I can't wait to see the finished product, in person!

Note - I think the table legs are sitting upside down in this photo, but you get the idea.  It's large.  And gorgeous.  And amazing.

Hopefully more good news tomorrow... like painting and carpet and new plumbing fixtures.  One can hope!

day 76

I finally had a chance to grab some progress photos on the real camera.  I've been out to the lot a few times this week to check on things, but it's always been a quick trip at lunch.  The siding guy must think I'm nuts.

Speaking of the siding guy...  He was out working again today - by himself.  The first few days there were two workers, but all of this week there has only been the one.  It just doesn't seem efficient to me.  The good news is that he's just about done.  There is a little bit left to do on the side of the garage and then he'll have to wrap up the trim on the front of the house.  I'm anxious for the stone to go up so I can everything pulled together, but based upon the cold front coming our way, I'm guessing that's still a while out.

We also finally had the inspection on the carpentry, rough plumbing and rough electrical this past Thursday (day 74).  I have no idea what is normal, but there is a list of nine things that must be corrected before they grant approval.  The various crews are supposed to be out there making fixes this weekend so that the inspector can come back on Monday or Tuesday.  Once we get sign off, they'll begin insulating.

The HVAC was installed at some point this week as well (day 73 maybe?).  We've been told it's ready to be turned on as soon as they're done insulating so that drywall work can begin.

And, thanks to a Garden Web forum, we took a second (or one hundred and second) look at our kitchen plans and realized that the pantry door and refrigerator door would have interfered with one another as laid out.  The cabinet guy suggested adding a 15" utility cabinet to scoot the fridge down a bit, so we now have slightly altered kitchen plans.  I also had him make the switches I'd previously talked about -- getting rid of the full-height doors between the oven and cooktop and then switching to three drawers under the cooktop.  The floating shelves aren't shown within the diagrams below, but we're still planning to hang them to the right of the fridge.

 

There were several other changes people suggested, but I wasn't willing to make the trade-off for some of them (e.g. getting rid of our pantry to extend the space to the right of our sink or moving our sink to the peninsula).  I'm sure there will end up being things I want to change later, but right now I'm thrilled to have something larger than our old galley kitchen (which, despite being small, I adored - the before/after photos are worthy of a post... actually the whole house is).

[ignore that there is nothing on the wall - this wasn't long after we moved in]

My dad came up this weekend, so Hubby and I had a chance to get out for a date night tonight.  We went grocery shopping, hit Taco Bell for dinner and stopped at Pier1, JCPenney and Target.  Date nights have seriously changed in the past three years

day 66

Despite it being January 9 (umm - how is it the 9th already?), it's still year-end to me.  In the world of accounting, I really don't get to celebrate the new year until early in February.  And, because I have a stack of papers to get through that's about a foot tall (no joke - I should take a photo for evidence), this  post is going to be short, sweet and to the point.  Mostly.  Sometimes I have a hard time staying focused.  I think Hubby's ADD tendencies are wearing off on me after almost 13 years.

day 62 - Granite day!!  We headed up to the warehouse first and picked out three slabs for the kitchen and drop zone.  I was proud of myself for staying on budget (though I was tempted a few times!) and really like the stone we picked out (Kashmir White).  It's a pretty common color, but the slabs we selected have a little different 'veining' that I really like.  We also headed to the fabrication center to choose our bathroom counters from their remnants.  We ended up selecting a dark brown granite for E's bathroom (Coffee Brown) and a fun cream/tan/grey granite for our bathroom (Vanilla Ice).  A certain someone in this relationship was sold as soon as he heard the name.  Boys.  We're doing a square edge for the kitchen and master bath and a beveled edge for E's bath.  The crew we worked with was great and I can't wait to meet with them again to do the actual layout.

[kitchen granite - Kashmir White]

[kitchen granite - Kashmir White]

[kitchen granite - Kashmir White]

[main bath granite - Coffee Brown]

[main bath granite - Coffee Brown]

[master bath granite - Vanilla Ice]

[master bath granite - Vanilla Ice]

[master bath granite - Vanilla Ice]

[day 62 house shot]

day 63 - down day

day 64 - The siding started going up.  Exciting!!  Hubby ran by Monday night and saw that some had been hung but he really didn't get a good look in the dark.  I can't wait until it starts staying light longer at night.  Also - our big lighting order from Build.com was delivered and our awesome drum pendant from Crate and Barrel came in.  Our condo is getting fuller and fuller by the day.

day 65 - Siding work continued.  My sister came up to visit for a couple of days and I took her out for a quick visit during 'lunch' (which really ended up being pretzels, a Diet Coke and peanut M&Ms at my desk about 2:45 - mmmmm).  It was the first time I'd seen the siding on the house and we also happened to run into the building inspector.  He'd just started taking a look at the rough plumbing and I didn't want to interrupt, so we didn't chat too long.  He seemed nice, though!  Later that night, we picked our tub up from Menards -- finally!  At first they told us it'd already been picked up, but then they were able to locate it.  Thank goodness.  The box was super flimsy and let's just say I was glad it was dark and that our new neighbors couldn't see Hubby and I trying to maneuver it from the truck to the house and down the stairs.  No broken bones and the tub is still in once piece, so I'm calling it a success - no matter how ugly the process might have been.

[main bath tub is in!]

I'm not sure what's slated for the rest of the week.  Other than I joined our subdivision's book club.  We're gathering on Friday night and I haven't read the book yet.  The good news is that I did read it a few years ago.  The bad news it that I have no idea where the book is packed and I can't remember the difference between the novel and real life events.  It could be a late few nights.  Journal entries, balance sheet reconciliations and "Loving Frank" are all calling my name!