Back home.

Well, we’ve been home for about a month, now! I have several reasons (err, excuses) for the delay in posting.

1) The amount of stuff we had amassed at the in-laws, was staggering. Just ask them. Getting it all back home was a multi-week affair.

2) Add to the moved-back stuff, that which was (and much still IS) in boxes during the construction, we have ourselves what feels like a year’s worth of weekend projects. How can that BE? I thought we got rid of a ton of stuff… and we only emptied a couple of rooms!!!

3) NO INTERNET. You heard me. We had no idea where we put the box that had all of the routers, etc. A friend said, “You might as well don a bonnet and start churning butter!” Indeed. I limped along checking email on my 3gs iPhone, but it was painful. Just this weekend, things are back to normal, in this department. (whew.)

So, in the last month, we had a successful 6th birthday party for Tess and several get-togethers with family and friends. Each occasion, I’ve found myself planted behind the island, exactly where I had envisioned myself throughout this entire project. 🙂 Life. Is. Good.

I have a few photos of the new portion of the first floor. The second floor isn’t quite ready for prime time…but we’re getting closer. (Did I mention that we have a lot of STUFF?)

 

 

As you can see, all of the bar stools are different. Eventually, we’ll probably strip the light-colored one to the bare metal. It was purposeful that they not match, but I would prefer it be a more similar hue. The stool on the far right is the one that started it all…I bought it at least 10 years ago at the Garrison Sale in Beaver, thinking what a great kitchen/bar stool it would make. Not-so-lucky-for-me, Restoration Hardware decided to reproduce that exact model of drafting stool, so finding authentic old ones quickly became a more expensive prospect.

The dining room came together nicely. We bought this huge photograph last summer. It was one of those things that neither of us could walk away from. We got it, with this very spot in mind. It’s an old tourism photo from an old train station in Idaho, advertising Shoshone Falls. I hope it likes its new home.

So far, I really can’t think of too much that I would have done differently. I would have loved to have worked a rolling library ladder into the kitchen design, but the space just didn’t allow for it. That’s about it! I think that I will survive. (But how AM I going to get into those upper cabinets??????)

Nearly there.

Well, we were hoping to be moved in this weekend… but we’re not there just yet. This is ONLY due to the fact that our final scuff and finish of the floors occurred Friday afternoon, and they advised not to walk on it until Sunday, and no furniture of any kind for 72 hours. Bummer.

The soapstone arrived on Wednesday morning, and they took most of the day to install.

The finish on it is a beeswax/carnuba wax/walnut oil combo. It just gives it a nice matte look which I love. The stone itself is beautiful. I’m sure that my photos won’t do it justice. The veins have both white and green…it really is stunning. Jason had the opportunity to go back to the shop to place the templates where he wanted on the slabs, so he chose the piece for behind the range. (He gets a big ol’ high five for that one!)

Upstairs, we’re equally close. The glass shower screen also came on Wednesday. We still have several “little things” to square away. The long wooden crate you see on the bathroom floor, is the replacement marble for the vanity backsplash…the original arrived cracked. The black things are pieces of our closet components, which we worked on a good bit today. Hopefully Jason and the guys from Best can wrap up the rest of the closet tomorrow. It will be so nice to move the clothes, stacked 4 feet high on our old bed, into their new, permanent home!

We did have one major bump in the road this week with the second floor laundry. The washer and dryer kind of- sort of don’t fit in their intended spot. Let me rephrase…they FIT…but you can’t open the drawer for the detergent OR the dryer door fully. It’s just one of those things, I guess. The space wasn’t built exactly to the plan, because we didn’t want to lose the existing hallway wall. Add to that, the space crunch that a bi-fold door creates, and voila. No fit. There is a pretty good solution, though. Because the controls are on the front, and the washer is a front-loader, we can stack them. It will actually give us better access to the shelves back in the little nook, and some space for laundry baskets, etc. The pain-in-the-butt part, other than the stacking maneuver itself, is that the dryer vent has to be moved. The builders didn’t seem TOO bothered by that, thankfully.

We have a really jam-packed week, ahead. I took some time off Thursday and Friday, but mainly because Tess’ birthday party is at the house on Saturday. Yes, you heard me right. Party. Our house. THIS Saturday. Jas will be there off and on throughout the week. We’re both going to work in the evenings, placing some furniture, rugs, etc. Our new bed is being delivered on Wednesday morning, so we just might be sleeping at the cottage on Wednesday night. Hooray!!!!

Wish me luck on being ready for the party. I do tend to work better under pressure. 🙂

Closing in on it!

This post is all about the photos. 🙂 I’m elated to report that we’re getting very close…and you know, the closer we get, the tougher it is to be patient!

Mama got her shiny new fridge. 🙂

Blue Star range- 22,000 btu's and wiiiiiiide open burners. Look out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s a microwave drawer to the left, and the dishwasher is to the right, on the island.

I try not to squeal with excitement every time I walk into the kitchen. Heck…every time I THINK about the kitchen! If you had the chance to see actually stand in the kitchen as it was, and if you know how much I love to cook you’ll understand why. This excitement has been building for more than 11 years, folks.

Dining room

Upstairs, we’re having equally good progress.

Looking into the master bath from the bedroom

The vanity is in and plumbed and the fixtures have been installed, both for the sinks and shower. The pocket door has been installed, and just needs some pull hardware, that we have yet to order. EVERYTHING needs paint…what you see on most of the trim is primer. The painters clearly have the most left to do. A few more days should wrap up their work.

Master closet

Closet lights

We had an exceptional meeting with Mike, from Best Builders early Thursday morning. We reviewed our credits and debits from the original contract, and talked through the remaining punch list before we call it a wrap. If I haven’t said enough, what stand-up operation Best Builders is, I’ll say it again. ALL the horror stories that you hear about with these large scale projects…couldn’t be farther from our reality of the last 5 months or so.

In the coming days (probably weeks, realistically), we have the following to get through:

• Soapstone templating (I’m thinking that’s not an actual word, but you know what I mean) and fabrication- the former is Monday, and the latter will be about 8 days following
• Paint- lots and lots of paint, including our existing living room.
• Electrical- a few more lighting fixtures left to hang, and the ceiling fan for the vaulted ceiling in the master. (Glad someone else is doing this)
• Bath- the commode needs to be set and accessories like the mirrors, towel warmer, etc. require installation. We also have the glass shower screen on order, and expect to have by the end of next week.
• Floors- our guys will come back for a final scuff and finish once the site is cleaned up of all equipment
• Carpet- I got a call that our carpet order is in (this is a runner for the stairs, and wall-to-wall for the landing and upstairs hallway), but we’re waiting for this installation until the builders are completely out.
• CLEANING- last and least. I do plan to get some professional help for this item, though. 🙂

The real “before”

Progress right now is painfully slow. Our first floor electrical fixtures are in, and the kitchen install and hood are complete…but we’re waiting on some key pieces before the rest of the kitchen appliances and counters can ensue. Final finish carpentry is slow going…but the painters are ready to go, as soon as that is complete. Once the paint is finished, the electricians can return to complete the fixture installation on the second floor. These are some slooooooow-falling dominoes. Now the light at the end of the tunnel is shining bright, it’s tough to go even one day without noticeable progress. Deep breath.

January, 2000

Although I don’t have any updated photos downloaded, I thought it would be fun to document the house as it was when we bought it, back in January of 2000.

In the 12 years that we’ve owned it thus far, it has changed quite a bit.

We painted the house in 2004, once the existing paint started peeling. I harped on Jason pretty incessantly about wanting to change the color. If he said it once, he said it a million times….”We’ll paint when the house is ready for paint.” Mr. Pragmatic was right…no sense in wasting years of the life of the existing paint. I just knew how good the house could really look, so my impatience was palpable.

The blue kitchen

Renovated kitchen (first pass and pre-addition)

 

Here, we have versions 1 and 2 of the kitchen. Along with a much younger and thinner me. 😉 To say it was small would be an understatement, but somehow we managed. Jason’s great aunt Martha, whose family we bought the house from, was quite content cooking in that kitchen for more than 50 years. It certainly served us well for 11. To the left of the sink was the extent of our counter space. Wow, huh?

Dining room

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the dining room early on, and just after we started to get the house stripped down a it. We had the carpet pulled and stripped the wallpaper. Not much else was done, here.

This photo of the same room was taken just a few years ago. This room is in the front of the house. Once the addition is complete, this becomes the piano room.

 

Upstairs bathroom

Yes, this is the same bathroom

The upstairs bathroom was quite the project. Jason, with the help of our neighbor Carol’s skilled brother Jack, stripped this room down to the studs. Funny, that the renovated version was more in line with the period of the house than the gray swirly plastic tile. Man, that bathroom was awful! We didn’t get to this little gem until just a few years ago. Now that we have the master suite, this is the kid’s bathroom. There is a nice big tub in here, so it’s perfect for them.

I don’t have really any other before and after shots, but will add some of what I have of the original house that I have on hand. I’ll be sure to get some similar shots once everything is done for comparison’s sake. Here’s to hoping that my next post has some “final” pictures and an operational kitchen. Hmf.

Living room- looking to the back where the addition now is

Living room- looking towards the front of the house

We have a KITCHEN!!!!

…and what a kitchen it is. Installation was moved from Tuesday morning at 7 am to Wednesday at noon, but at this point, I figured I could wait for a day and a half, or so.

January at my job is especially crazed, so it was difficult to not be close by when the cabinets were delivered. Poor Jason got texts about every hour demanding updates. “Do you like them? Do you love them? What do you think?” But those of who know Jason, understand that he is not really excitable…except when it comes to walking on newly finished floors, I guess. All I could glean out of him was, “They look nice.” REALLY??????

So, despite having a conference call at 6pm on Wednesday night, I raced home right at 5, so that I could see for myself what “nice” really looked like. The installers were still there, and were working hard. I walked into the kitchen from the new mudroom as gasped when I saw the new cabinets. After having dreams about mismatched 70’s cabinets slapped together (nightmares, I should say), I was elated to find that they looked better than I even thought they would. (I might have even shed a tear. 🙂 ) I went back to the in-laws for my 6pm call, had some dinner, and then went back to take it all in a little more.

The island- awaiting the microwave drawer, sink and dishwasher, from left to right

Obviously, you can see the transformation of the space, which is pretty awesome in of itself. As often as I’ve tried to visualize the space throughout the project, it’s hard. It’s not so hard, now!

For now, the upper cabinet above the hood (which WAS delivered, as promised on Tuesday morning, by the way) is off the wall so we can get the hood installed. That has taken on a life of its own over this week. The position of the hood and range on the outside wall, doesn’t leave much of a distance for the duct run, which apparently is going to affect noise level for the 1200 cfm blower. As a result, we’re going with a 600 cfm blower…thankfully, it was available without an issue. Matt at Don’s Appliance made that happen for us, and we should have it by Tuesday. Our HVAC guy said that we overshot it a bit with the bigger blower. He installed a restaurant kitchen recently, and they didn’t have a hood that intense. Whoops.

Fridge wall- pantry cabinet

Pantry cabinet- other side

The guys from Best Builders are now back, working on the baseboard installation, some additional trim and a few more doors. They’re also the ones who will be doing our appliance install. They were able to get the vanity upstairs (whew.) without TOO much difficulty. All of the plumbing fixtures are also on the docket. The electricians are coming back Tuesday, for the outlets and switches, and I presume the lighting fixtures. After that, the painters will be back for a final coat, and the floor guys, for a final scuff and finish coat.

The counter template for the soapstone can happen once we get the sink in place, and probably after the hood is up. I’m not sure how long the fabrication will take…a few days, hopefully?

Island detail

All in all, a super exciting week for us.

Hardware detail- cabinet latches

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawer bin pulls

Floors are in! Kitchen to follow…

So, after nearly five months of seemingly endless work, one wouldn’t think that I would be caught off guard with the kitchen installation. Sure enough, I was…and am. Our floor guys are done, as of yesterday, with at least as much as they can do before the kitchen is in. Two coats of finish are on, and they’ll come back to a repair, scuff and final coat once the kitchen install is complete. It is beautiful.

Quarter-sawn ray detail

Ray detail without flash

I tried to capture the grain/ray detail of the special quarter and rift-sawn cuts in the photos, above. It is very subtle, when you look at the floor, overall, but really, really spectacular when you take a moment to really examine it. I’m finding myself wondering if we’re actually going to be allowed to walk on it, though. Jason had a complete bird when I was walking on it in clean socks today. (Seriously???? Are we supposed to levitate once we move back in? ;)) The finish coat was completely wet yesterday, and he was concerned that it still may be tacky. Come ON. I did check before I walked on it. All kidding aside, there is a whole lot of gratification that comes from how much Jason loves those floors. (Just don’t ask him to choose, me or the floors. I’m not certain I’d win) Ha ha… 🙂

I don’t know. Maybe it’s the timing with the holidays and such, but I completely snoozed lining up the appliance delivery for before the kitchen install which is…TUESDAY. In my own defense, I only learned this past Thursday that they would be ready on Jan 3. I did, then, make the necessary calls. It turns out that the cabinet guys need to have the range hood onsite in order to hang the wall cabinets. (I’m amassing quite a list of “who knews” for this project) I guess it makes sense. Duh.

In an effort to quickly rectify my lack of preparedness, I got in touch with Don’s Appliance, but my salesman was out on vacation. “Can’t do a delivery for Tuesday morning,” I was told. Well…it was my fault, to try to arrange it so late, so I offered to come pick it up. The woman working with me in Matt’s absence was nice enough to offer to at least have the item moved over to their Cranberry sister store, Hillmon. It was a heck of a lot closer, and sounded great to me. So we worked out the details, and I was to pick up the hood and a few other things- dishwasher and microwave drawer, before 1pm Saturday, since they would be closing up early for NYE. “Nooooooo problem,” I said. So, Jason and I hopped in the old green Chevy truck, battery freshly charged (it tends to go dead if not driven, um, EVERY day), and headed to Cranberry. Only, there were no appliances there to be picked up. The guys were very nice…as nice as you can be when you have absolutely no idea what an escalating customer is saying they should know about. Now that I think back, I feel sort of bad. I was very nice about the whole thing, but did show my frustration. They were equally frustrated, I think- they tried to call at least a half a dozen people…delivery drivers, warehouse managers…and all were off for the holiday. I don’t begrudge them taking time off, really. It was just a case of bad timing for us all. I fired off an email to Matt, knowing full well that he wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) respond until back in the shop on Tuesday, but he actually got right back to me. He apologized, said he didn’t know yet what went wrong, but assured me that he would have what we needed at the house on Tuesday morning. “We’ll make it right,” he said, which was all I needed to hear. It is so nice to work with a family-owned business, like Don’s. Mistakes happen, yes. How they’re corrected, makes all the difference.

This view, is going to look really different by Tuesday afternoon. Again…how it feels like a surprise, is beyond me, but it feels that way. A KITCHEN!?! Wahoo!!!!

Pat and Mark, our tile guys are also nearly finished. We had to choose a material for both the shower curb and the corner shelves, so there will be just a bit of finishing once the solid surface come in in about another week.

Shower

View from where the vanity will be

It’s going to be a crazy week. The first week of the year is hands-down, the most hectic and demanding at my job. Looks like I’ll be out of pocket for the really exciting stuff at the cottage, but I’m not all too concerned. Once the kitchen cabinets are in, the rest of the appliances will be installed, baseboard throughout, bathroom vanity and fixtures, and the final paint coat as well as floor scuff and finish.

Holy cow, could this thing be almost done???? <big smile>

Patio and tile

Forms ready for the concrete pour

Not much to talk about, but certainly some good progress to show in pictures. Willy, the concrete guy, did all the work you see to left solo. Impressive. He did bring a crew of 2 back for the actual pour.

Finished product

The concrete has a pea gravel aggregate and a brown stain. A close-up is below.

He really did a great job. The plan is to have evergreen hedges planted around the perimeter in the Spring. I’m hopeful that my dear friend Karen Atkins of Proper Gardens can help me with picking out the right specimens for the site. 🙂

Backyard view

As Willy finished up the multi-step concrete project, Pat the tile guy got started inside. He’s been on the job for only a couple of days, but is making good headway.

The 2nd floor laundry has its tile set…just need to pick out a grout color.

Laundry

The bathroom has most of the floor tile set. Pat wanted to do the the tile “rug” in 2 days, to ensure that the pattern set appropriately.

He’ll be back early next week to finish the floor and set the subway tile on the shower walls and ceiling, and then grout everything, once that is complete. (Three more days with Pat, I’m thinking)

Master bath floor "rug"

We’re expecting our wood to be delivered Monday or Tuesday. It’s going to have to acclimate to our house for a few days before it gets installed. Apparently, since humidity can vary so much from location to location, the wood has to have time to adjust before it’s fastened down…otherwise, it could warp. Who knew?

Jason was the one to pick the wood. It’s his “thing,” being that he’s a self-proclaimed wood guy, and all. So, as one might imagine, we didn’t go with your standard oak or pine. Not even Brazilian cherry. Nope. We had the flooring made. A special cut, from very specific logs, mind you. 

The species is white oak, and the cut is quarter and rift-sawn. A nice representation, to the left. I’m sure you’re thinking, “My God, that must be super expensive,” but it’s not. At least not much more so than your standard Lumber Liquidators mid-range pre-finished oak. (Isn’t that mind boggling???) Kestner Wood Products in Portersville, PA is doing both the milling and the installation. We visited the shop, and wow, is it an impressive operation. I marvel at how many cool guys that we’ve met throughout this process. If you need doors, moldings, FLOORS, or any and all things wood…pay Bruce a visit.

Geez. I guess I had more to say than I thought I would. 🙂

Still plugging along.

So, we’re back from a glorious vacation to the Virgin Islands over Thanksgiving. How nice it was to spend more than 2 weeks away from the renovation process!

Dining room

Yes, there was definite progress. And even though our arrangements with our in-laws has been awesome (if you know them, you understand…), I really think that they are very much looking forward to having their house back. Seriously. Can you imagine having an entire family of four plop down in your very settled (read: QUIET) home? So, while we vacationed at the beach, Jim and Sarah vacationed from Jason, Buffy, Tess and Jack. 😉

Kitchen- color is Croquet from Benjamin Moore (Affinity)

Things are definitely moving along. As the pictures show, the interior painting crew has been at work. It’s really looking like a finished space which is quite refreshing.

 

 

 

View from the living room

 

The crew from Best Builders is working on a lot of the detail and finish carpentry for now. It’s nice that they’re not feeling rushed for that kind of work…there’s no need for them to be. Our floor is still a few weeks out from install. The tile guy is on about the same schedule, it seems. Once the hardwood goes in, the kitchen will follow. Still waiting to hear back from them for a delivery update, but I’m hopeful that the timing will work out well. We’ll be a few weeks beyond the 9 week lead time that they had indicated upon order, so my fingers are crossed.

Trim detail

The trim looks really great. It matches up beautifully with what is in the rest of the house. Jason is happy with it, which says a lot. He did sand and putty a bit last weekend, but in the grand scheme of things, he’s very pleased. (In case you’re wondering, the final coat on the walls will go on after the floors are in)

Upstairs, similar work is going on. We are reusing 2 doors original to the house, so a good deal of work has gone into hanging those. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the carpenters when we told them that we had our own doors. Made me get the feeling that they don’t much like that. In all seriousness, they were very gracious about it, and did an outstanding job.

New doorway (old door) to the master

Not quite complete trim on the window. Wall color is Frappe (also Ben Moore Affinity)

The color upstairs is very neutral. We have kind of a crazy Persian rug for the bedroom, so I didn’t want anything to compete with that. We have and ivory and gold-ish marble for the master bath, so we carried the same color right on through. Our trim color is (or will be) consistent throughout the house.

Stained glass window trim

Today when I stopped, there was a guy working in the backyard laying out the concrete pour for the patio. He’s hoping for weather in the 40’s on Monday to do the pour. Let’s hope the weather man gets it right this time.

The end is in sight, but it’s not necessarily close. We DEFINITELY will not be in by Christmas, in light of the floor install. (And we will NOT move back in without a kitchen). If the cabinet maker is ready to go immediately upon the floor’s completion, I’m thinking the second week of January is probably a realistic goal. I think that the builder was relieved that I wasn’t hell-bent on being in by the holidays. Honestly, that would just mean that I would have to have the entire place cleaned and ready-to-go, and that’s just too much stress. So…Godspeed to Jim and Sarah, for the will to put up with us for one more month. 🙂

 

Walls!!!!

This is one of our most exciting weeks yet…at least for me. The inside-the-walls stuff, which is obviously so important, isn’t NEARLY as fun to watch go up…and subsequently no fun to blog about. All inside of the 2 weeks since my last update, we’ve had completion of the HVAC work, all of the electrical, speaker wires, insulation, and now (drum roll, please…..) DRYWALL!!!

Stained glass in the upstairs bathroom

This is a stained glass window that we picked up at an antique show at least 6 or 7 years ago, knowing we could use it somewhere, someday, maybe. 🙂

 

 

Mudroom

 

The photo to the right shows what will be the mudroom. Hard to believe that this is what used to be the entire kitchen, isn’t it? The door straight ahead is the first floor bath. Incidentally, it needs some serious attention, and we’re hoping to work that in while the dust flies. Might as well, right? (We’ll see how the budget holds out) The opening to the right of the bathroom door is a little broom closet that we added. It has an a/c outlet inside, and will be a perfect little spot for a dust buster and the Swiffer collection. I’m also thinking of adding 2 custom lockers for the kids, on the other wall. LOVE having the idea of the kiddos having their own space to drop stuff EVERY day.

Kitchen- from dining room

The kitchen view here, shows the wall where the fridge and pantry cabinets will be, on the short wall.

Another kitchen view

 

 

 

 

Here, there’s a better view of the wall that the range will be centered on, with the island (and sink) just across.

 

 

 

Dining room

 

And here, the dining room, from about where the side of the island nearer the refrigerator will be.

 

 

 

 

Master bedroom

And then upstairs…to the right, is the master bedroom. We never had really planned on having a vaulted ceiling, but it seemed to make sense as the framing was going up. It really looks cool.

 

 

 

Master bedroom- looking toward the doorway

 

 

This view is looking toward the doorway from the existing hall. There is a linen closet, which you can’t see, that we were able to keep. (Hooray) The opening to the left is the new laundry room. (I figure that laundry on the second floor…where it SHOULD be…is pretty much going to be life-changing).

Laundry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is the master bath.

Here’s a closer look at the stained glass window. And below, a view of its orientation to the vanity wall.

Vanity wall

 

 

 

We bought a big ol’ double vanity from Restoration Hardware that will fit nicely here. How it’s going to get upstairs? Not so sure about that.

 

 

 

Master bath- view toward shower, w/c

 

And here Vanna is demonstrating where the shower will be. Under the angled roof line behind her, is where the commode will go. Speaking of…$600 for a TOILET at Lowe’s? It was special order, because we wanted bisque and not pure white…but come on! (We found a stock version that will be just fine for its intended purpose. Sheesh.)

 

 

 

 

Closet

And finally…the closet. You’re only seeing about half of it here. (I know it’s ridiculously big, and we don’t even have that many clothes…) It was the way the architect designed the space. They’re a very symmetrically-biased bunch, you know. One of the builders commented a LOT on why in the world we would want windows in a closet. I see his point, as we’ll just have to cover them, but I can’t imagine the exterior without them. Isn’t that a problem with newer homes these days? There are entire sides of houses without windows!

Drywall tape and mud is next. I was pleasantly surprised at how little mess the sheetrock crew made in the 2 (read TWO) days it took them to hang the wall board. Oh, and did I mention that they were about 21 years old? Impressive. Beyond that, in our near future, there is exterior and interior trim to be completed, exterior paint (before it gets too cold), and soon enough, the floors. The floors that we have yet to select. Guess we had better get busy. 🙂

 

Sorry it’s taken me so long!

My lack of updates doesn’t exactly have a proportional relationship to the amount of progress on the project, so forgive me. Life (turned upside-down, mind you) does get in the way.

Almost every day after work, I swing by to check out the latest. Two Mondays ago, the Amish returned to start the exterior work, so I stopped in well after they had left to have a look. We’re very much natural material-type-of-people, so it was with a leap of faith that we decided to go with a Hardie cement fiber shingle instead of cedar.  I needed to see it on the house. So, imagine- I park my car, walk back the driveway over and around the various construction shrapnel, look up, and…. “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!” I say out loud. What I was looking at wasn’t shingle at all. It was plank siding. Clapboard. Lap boards. Whatever you want to call it, it was completely and utterly WRONG. So, with a punch in the gut, I grabbed a piece of the material, and headed “home” to the in-laws to fill Jason in on the nightmare. (It went over about as well with him…that’s all I’ll say about that)

So, early the next morning, I called our construction manager, and managed to ruin several people’s days in one fell swoop. The one good (or not horrible) thing, was that only the first floor, of the least complex side was completed. But there were materials onsite that had to be sent back AND lost material that had already been installed. When I talked with Mike, he took it as well as one could, but had in his notes, “Straight-sided” and truly thought that he ordered what we wanted. I had said straight-edged, but SHINGLE, in contrast to staggered-edge shingle. How about this: MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE REST OF THE HOUSE!!! Ugh…it makes me shudder to think about it again.

The lower portion on this side, is what was incorrectly done

Well, that’s all behind us now. I didn’t take any photos of the wrong stuff, but you can see the correct material in the photos.

Inside, the interior framing is complete, as is the HVAC and the main plumbing work. Our kitchen cabinets are in production. We met with the electrician last week to determine where we want to have lights, outlets and switches, and which switches operate which lights and outlets. THAT was a bit overwhelming. Even the things that you THINK you have thought through, take on a whole life of their own when you really start to plot it out.

We’re going to have new carpet installed on the stair landing and in the upstairs hall, so that measurement is going to take place on Thursday. I think we may go with having a stair runner made, as well…we shall see. We’re still waiting on some prices for quartersawn white oak for the first floor and flatsawn red oak for the bedroom and closet, to know exactly what we’re going to do in those spaces.

I talked to Mike yesterday, and the exterior paint should be getting started very soon- they can’t allow it to get too cold. After the electricians are there this week, drywall is not far behind.

We’re really moving! I’ll try to be better about the updates. (I was doing SO well, too!)