Building a Home: weeks 17-21, the finish!

Whew, the weeks keep adding on. At one point, we were supposed to be in by now. I haven't seen the light at the end of the tunnel, yet. We are trying to be as patient as possible and just don't know what all we can really do. Everyone I talk to says construction is always behind. So we are one in the same. Thankfully, I haven't been too upset about the set backs. It'll happen eventually! ( wrote this part a couple weeks ago from today) Anyway.....


Week: 17
I think the only thing that happened this week was the faucets in the bathrooms being put in. I'm sure there were others supposed to come but the plumbers were the only ones that did.

Week: 18
We were so excited to see the fireplace get put in. It is beautiful and something I wouldn't have splurged for but came as part of a standard with the house plan! The only thing is that I have to figure out how to keep the kids from busting their heads open on it. hmmmm...

Week 19:
This week had a lot of things happening. The light fixtures and counter tops were put in. Tyler got started on the doghouse. Some plumbing work was done. As well as the air seal test which went well. We were finally glad to see more than one thing get done in a week.

 

Tyler and his dad tried to build something big enough that we could keep the dogs in even at night. They have always either been in a basement or garage and we don't have that option here. We have a crawl space plenty big enough but we really didn't want them right under the house this time. So their crate will fit in this and we can close them in it at night.

Tyler and Ansley checking out the faucet and counter tops. Love the pendant light, too. They hadn't been hung yet in this picture but there are two more pendants over the island.

Week 20:
The stairs were started but the spindles were wrong so they couldn't be finished. Some more mudding in spots before a final paint. The power line trench was dug and then line was laid. And the plumbing inspection was done and passed this week.

View of drenches from Layne's window. One is for power line and one for a water line to a shed. And you can see the dog house, not completely finished yet. The water line is an extra his parents want to do because his dad wants to put a garden in near the shed.

Beginning of stairs

Plumbing passed!

trying to get a picture of kids in bay window

Ansley just wouldn't look! Garyn couldn't hold Layne for too long :)

Week 21:
With it being Christmas week, we weren't expecting a lot but had to get some final inspections done and the stair spindles had to be done. And one of the inspections showed that we needed graspable rails on the stairs off the porches. The last coat of paint was done, as well.  If we had gotten all this done in time, we could move in! And it did! However, this Saturday morning (yesterday) when we went to do a final walk thru and paperwork, an upstairs toilet had a loose bolt and leaked through to the living room! There was a large puddle in the middle on the floor on top of the hardwoods. (It is in front of fireplace like in picture above) It got fixed quickly but the ceiling needs repair and a new ceiling fan. The floors may need replacing too but we will be waiting a few weeks to see if they dry out ok. I was already in the tank (as Tyler says) thinking we weren't going to move that day then I heard that and thought we were going to have to wait 3-4 weeks! But no, we will just have to keep it uncovered and let them know in a few weeks if we are unsatisfied. So we will have another week of sheet rock repair and a little electrical work on a breaker that wasn't working. If all goes well, we can move next weekend! We are so ready and excited to be in the house. The kids got all excited yesterday thinking we were moving and then a little confused and upset. So now we have one more week to get more packed and ready. Although, for church this morning, I had to get shoes out of a box. :) We have a lot packed but still more to go. Its hard to pack everything with kids because there are just some things they can't do without.

Garyn in his room.

Ansley in hers ( I thought this displayed how little she is right now)

And there is that smile :)

This was Friday night when we were there cleaning. She liked being able to push Layne around and of course loves wearing her princess dress she got for Christmas!

Garyn had wide open spaces to play with his swords.

And Layne in his room, this was before the final coat of paint....I love his new color.

 

He is holding his head up well when on his belly and even turns in a circle. During these pictures, he flipped over to his back while I was taking a picture.

 

Layne in action, mid roll :)

Can't believe we are finally at the end! I will post pictures as soon as I can of the finished product with our furniture and all.

Building a Home: weeks 11-16

The exciting stuff is happening now!

Week 11:
So we ended with the sheet rock being hung. Naturally, the mudding and sanding happened this week. These guys work so fast! They were there just a couple days and had most all of it done. However, there were some areas that had not been sheet rocked yet. The wall next to our stairs had been framed wrong and needed to be fixed and then an area in a closet needed to be sheet rocked to cover a pipe. Also, three doorways/large openings hadn't been sheet rocked because they thought casing was being put there and it was not. So it was so frustrating and caused a delay in painting. We were having to wait on them to come hang the sheet rock because the mudders don't hang sheet rock. But when the sheet rock hangers were there the areas hadn't been re framed. Then at the very tail end of the week the trim guys came and did about a third of the work on baseboards and doors. Painting and more trim could have been done this week if all the sheet rock stuff had been done.

love the doors!

You can see the added sheet rock that hasn't been mudded yet on right

 

End of week 11

 

Week 12:
  Nothing really happened this week other than the above mentioned sheet rock getting hung. It was rough watching nothing get done. Tyler was really hoping to be able to do the hardwood floors the next week during fall break. So we were stressed a little about when the rest of the mudding and painting would get done.

I am not sure if this happened this week or not but one weekend Tyler and his dad dug a trench for a water line to go out to the shed back behind the house. Ansley had to help, too!

Week 13:
   At the beginning of the week, painting happened! Another exciting detail to see get done. Although, we are not happy with a couple colors. They were so bright and glowing that they were hard to look at even! Not sure what exactly happened when we chose those. I think on the swatch they look more toned down. So we are working on getting those changed and may be doing some painting ourselves! The main color downstairs looks nice, though. I love how clean the floors, trim and doors look with it. Thankfully, this meant Tyler was able to start floors! Along with painting, they came and put up gutters and the new posts across the front porch.

You can see the tan paint here with the beautiful floors!

The other paint colors will be in later pictures.

 

This is Brad that coaches with Tyler. You can also see the white wrapped posts.

   
So this week was busy on our part, as well! Tyler, his dad, his brother and a fellow football coach laid the hardwood floors in the house. Our entrance hallway, kitchen, eating area and family room are all hardwood. Then upstairs we did Garyn's room and the hallway. Garyn has asthma and allergies so we didn't really want to put carpet in there. I personally like carpet in bedrooms so I was completely fine with letting Garyn get that luxury.

So here is the end of week 13!

Week 14:

 
 
 
     Another slow week here, the door knobs were put on the doors inside and halfway on the outside doors. And the biggest thing was that the final grading was done outside. We no longer have a dirt or sand pile! Both kids noticed right away and were sad!

 

 

Couple of pictures showing the grading done, gutters and posts. Still waiting on the shutters for the upstairs windows, as well.

 

 

hallway bathroom door with knobs

 

 

 

Week 15:

    This week we got the carpet and linoleum installed. I was happy with the finished look. I had chose these two items back in May so I had already forgotten exactly what it looked like. We chose to do linoleum to start with for the sake of time and money. Tyler has always tiled the bathrooms at our other homes but with doing the hardwoods and football; we weren't sure he would have time. Also, we would be paying for all the flooring out of pocket if we chose to do hardwoods everywhere and tile, as well. I am so happy with our decision because it looks good and we can change it just as easy in a couple years when Tyler needs something to do!

This is the laundry room with linoleum

This is Ansley's room, paint will be more lavender, like I originally thought it would be!

And this is our room which will be a different blue

They also came and put our heating and air units in. We now have thermostats that tell us how cold it is in the house! I have seen it as low as 41! Needless to say I can't stay long with kids!

And lastly, the gas logs came for our fireplace. If only they worked!

 

And the end of week 15:

 

 

Week 16:

 

We had an exciting week with the cabinets coming and it was on my birthday!! Just loved seeing them in place. With that came the bathroom counters and toilets. We do not have our granite counters in the kitchen yet but will hopefully next week. We have begun packing and trying to prepare to move. I am so ready!

 

Kids bathroom

our bathroom

 

corner area of cabinets

Microwave!

 

Dishwasher

sink in hallway bath

 

And I didn't get an end of the week picture, but I got some pretty cool pictures of the kids in the front yard.

 

 



The scenery is just beautiful all around. I can't wait to be able to sit on my

front porch and watch my babies play.

Building a home: Weeks 6-10

Are you ready for a house update?! I know the few of you who read this are because you have told me in person! I have been dreading updating this because the further I get behind the longer it will take and harder it is to remember! But I primarily write on this blog so that we can look back and remember these days of our life.

So to begin....
In the last post, we had finished Week 5 and there were interior walls framed.

 Week 6:
To the best of my memory, the only thing that happened week 6 was the roof being put on and the doors and windows were delivered. I was so excited to see the doors and windows in person inside the house. You know, every little detail is exciting as you are building! Finally seeing what's on paper in real life!

doors stacked up

 

 

So this was the end of week 6!



Week 7:
This was a busy week with electrical, plumbing, and heating and air guys there. They did a "rough in" of everything before sheetrock was placed. So we were able to see where light switches, vents, outlets, and such were going to be.

return for AC unit

Laundry room plumbing and wiring

Oulets and such

 

You can also tell from those pics that the doors and windows got put in...

 

Bay window/ eating area and the sliding glass door to deck

Outside view of same

I decided to start a little progression photo shot here in the bay window since I already had a couple of the kids in this spot. I know/knew our outside picture wouldn't show all that was transforming on the inside.

 

 

Couple of other fun things this week were the bathtubs and fireplace getting installed.

 

Thought it was fun to take a picture of it out in front yard. One day when we revamp (like 20 yrs from now, hahaha) we can look back at its pearly white beginning.

kid's bath

My larger garden tub.

Fireplace with a view of plumbing above. (and Ansley changing her baby)

 





                                              End of week 7, crocked view of it at least!

Week 8:
Siding!! I was anxious to see this since we made a color change on the fly. The original color we chose was discontinued and from memory alone we picked this new color over the phone. I had remembered liking it but still wondered exactly how green it would look.

I just love it and am glad the other got discontinued!

 

 

The above pic was actually taken towards the end of week 9, the first part of siding was started on a Friday of week 8 and the side you don't see in our picture was done. So we didn't take a picture out front for week 8 nor 9 & 10! We kept forgetting the real camera. But I will be getting one this week for sure!

Week 9:

The next week was inspections for the plumbing, electrical, HVAC and framing. This was the first week that went slow. Everything else had happened so quick that we felt the brakes had been put on or something. It's all still on schedule since other weeks went so quick but its hard to remember that when you see days of no work.

So all I can remember happening was installation.

 

 

 

I know now what my house would look like pink! Tyler also worked on a box above the mantle and behind the TV spot for our DVR/DVD boxes. You will be able to see it in a later picture.

 

 

I wanted to remember some other parts of the building process. Our kids think of the property as one big playground right now.

 

One of their favorite spots is the large dirt mound from the grading work that will eventually be gone. I know Garyn, especially, will be unhappy about that. They like to climb up and feel they can see everything and are on top of the world!

 

Another spot is right next to the dirt pile and its the sand pile. It never fails that they both have their shoes and socks off playing in it, even if I say not to. We are going to have to relocate this sand somewhere else cause it really keeps them busy and happy!

 

 

Another area is, of course, the swing set area, which has been there for awhile. We call it the knoll. Almost every time we are there, we go up to the knoll so the kids can swing and slide. I love that there is nothing else for me to do (normally) but to play with them. We are away from hectic life, i.e. laundry, cleaning, cooking, other distractions and such. And we have a beautiful view all around us. We have a picnic table there that Garyn has done homework at and we have had many picnics on.

 

 

 

Now onto week 10!

 

 

Week 10:

   This week was sheet rock week! The house looked so different after it was hung. We were able to see the rooms as they would actually be when we move in. The sheet rock instantly made everything look smaller! But I was told that would happen.

 

Looking into the family room from the playroom, fireplace is covered.

Box cut out in wall is the one Tyler did for our TV boxes.

kitchen wall I believe......

 

 

Whew! Finally got all that out! And now we are already on week 14 so I have got to update more! Guess I better go get started........stay tuned :)