Curb appeal improving

We came "home" to find they had finished the front siding, started on the front stairs, and nearly finished the railing on the back deck. Tomorrow we meet with the heating guy to talk about ducts :o) Should be fun.

Concrete pads poured

Today the concrete truck was at the house again and the guys poured 6 concrete pads/landings for the stairs, patio, and in front of all the exterior doors. I brought the kids by and they just loved it! Now that the pads are poured they can begin the steps up to the house! Along with finishing the front siding, they'll be working on the stairs, and railings on the deck and porch. We got held up on finishing the south side siding because the right sized sliding glass door hasn't arrived yet :o( I guess we're bound to have a few hang ups. Our contractor Trace says things are moving so smoothly because of my organizational skills. I'm glad all the work and preparations are paying off. My boss was telling me today that building a house doesn't usually go this smoothly and quickly. So we feel really blessed. --Jenny

Progress on the front

The guys only worked a 1/2 day on Friday but were able to get more of the siding up on the front of the house. They're waiting on the right size sliding glass door and the new window for the dining room to arrive before they can finish the other side of the house. If they come in Monday's shipment, then the whole house should be sided by Friday!!

Can't wait to see the front done!

I'm getting a little tired of our shabby curb appeal ;o) They've only got the windows over the garage to frame, and then the siding can begin on the front of the house. Yay!! I see they are trying to figure out the whole stairs down from our "balcony entrance." Poor guys! It would've been a lot easier if I had gone with a split level entrance like they all suggested, but I just didn't want that, so we'll see how it all turns out. I'm sure once there's siding and stairs the front will look fine, but right now it doesn't look so hot. Merry-I'm glad you're enjoying the blogs. I know it's changed so much just in the few days since you saw it! Stay tuned....

Back side of house

Today the siding on the back of the house was finished. More of the plumbing got done, and some more windows were framed on the side and front of the house. It wasn't as dramatic as yesterday, but its progress. I have a feeling that as time goes by the work will take longer, ie all the finish work--sheetrocking, floors (all of which we're doing with the help of my family), fixtures, cabinets, etc. I'm just so incredibly exhausted. Poor Marty gets me at the end of the day when I'm totally worn out. I'm sure he can't wait for the house to be built as well. I've got to get going. Usually the guys only work a 1/2 day on Friday so we'll see what gets done.

Bay window in living room

Being that this is the first house I've designed, owned, and really lived in since my family's home growing up, I've made a few mistakes along the way. This bay window really should've been 5' instead of 4' tall, but oh well. Down in the basement, I also ordered the wrong kind of window, a slider instead of a crank type casement window. At least it wasn't too late to add another window in the dining room, though I hope it comes tomorrow, because I can see they can't go any further on that side of the house until it gets here. Have I mentioned how stressful building a house is? I've definately earned the 30-40K it would've cost to hire an architect or designer. At least things are going so quickly that it will all be over soon, and I can finally relax. Is it any wonder that I can't get pregnant?

Still smiling

We're smiling here, but its been so stressful lately. I'm constantly having to make decisions, meet with the builders, plumbers, Heating guys, and soon the electricians. I've had to get the tubs and shower there so that all the plumbing gets put in the right place, and just ordered all the faucets for the showers and sinks. I also ordered all the exterior light fixtures, since we had to decide on their size and location for making the "light boxes" that they mount to on the house. I know they won't go up yet, but its just one less thing to think about. --Jenny

Basement framed

Looks like Marty's going to have his basement sooner than we thought. At least the sheetrock will be up whether it will be finished or not, we'll see. At least there will be lights down there, and it will be wired and everything.

Siding, moving along...

Today so much happened on the house. I guess that's what happens when you get 8 hard working guys together on a project. It was pretty cool to see that many people working so hard on their individual projects--siding, trim, framing over the concrete walls in the basement, building forms for patios and landings, putting in the bay window, installing the rough plumbing, and some other framing in the bathroom for the tub and shower. It was really amazing to see the results after work today. We did our usually, paint the ends of trim that went up, pick up scraps and debris, and sweep the house. We find its easier to just do it everyday than just wait until the weekend. We've accumulated quite a few bags of garbage that will need to be taken to the dump this weekend. It's nice to feel like there's something we can do to help, and that way also they can spend their time doing the things we can't.

French doors go in

Yay we have doors to the deck! Guess I better start picking out the door handles. Hope the new window comes soon!

Siding goes up

Today the house is really being transformed, we finally got to see the siding color and picture what the house is going to look like. After all the worrying I did over the color, its EXACTLY what I had imagined and wanted. I'm soooo relieved! The guys even got me to go up on the scaffolding to touch up paint on the trim. Dave came up with me. Let me tell you it was high! After a few minutes of painting, I was ready to come down!

A basement window

I really like the trim on the windows. I didn't tell them how I wanted it but this is what they did and it came out perfect! I just love these guys! They're really great. They are waiting on the foundation for their next project, which works out great for us, because we get 4 guys at our house instead of 2, which means the siding and doors should be up by the end of this week :o) yay! Today we found out that we'll be mostly finishing the basement. Its cheaper for us to have them do it while they're already here than to come back later and do it. They'll frame out and insulate over the concrete and then put up sheetrock. We'll see whether we have the money to hire a professional to finish it, but at least it will be nearly finished. Though I said I'd never finish sheetrock again after remodeling the cabin last winter, maybe I'll give it another try. We'll see. --Jenny

Last minute addition

Today they started wrapping the house for the siding, doing the trim around the windows, putting in doors, and cutting out the hole for the window I wanted to add in the dining room. This is the view of the house from the deck.

As of Saturday June 14, 2008

Well Merry said I don't post enough so I'm going to post more often. Since I take pictures every day, it shouldn't be hard (by the way it was soooo good to see you Merry!!). Last week was a busy one as you can see. Next week is going to be even better! I can't wait. The siding has arrived, and though its lighter than I thought, it will certainly look better than the plywood. I'll write again soon.--Jenny

Eaves painted

When Trace needs something done, he gets it done! It was going to be good if the eaves got painted before the trim and siding went up next week. I didn't think it was a job I could handle (just check out the length of that ladder!) So Trace said he'd see if he could get a painter to do it. The next day, there's a painter, and now the eaves are totally done and ready for the next step--siding! Today Marty and I spent this sunny day out on our deck that's now complete. I was complaining that we don't get enough direct sun in the house, but on the deck its plenty sunny (I even got burnt). My mom suggested that Marty build be a glass house that I could go out and sit in when I needed more sun :o) I've also moved on to thinking about the landscaping plan. Merry was over on the island this weekend and she was telling me how I should put in sod, since its instant lawn. Then she saw the size of the lawn and changed her mind. There is just so much space! I've got some good landscape and gardening books that I'm going to read and see if I can't figure out a plan to have a vegetable garden, a play area for kids, an orchard, fire pit, flower gardens, horse shoe pits, wood storage, and don't forget grass for badmitton and croquet! Its almost as overwhelming as designing a house! Since it was our first really sunny day in a while, I could watch what the sun was doing most of the day to determine the best location for things. We'll tackle projects one at a time as we have the money, but its good to have an overall plan so we can get things like grass in right away, or use landscaping cloth to prevent unwanted weeds from taking over an area. I think I'm going to miss the simpleness of life at our little 350 sq ft cabin with our two small yards to care for! I'm excited to learn how to garden though, and have even been thinking about taking some hordiculture classes. Well I better get going. Stay tuned for this weeks progress! Can you believe they did all this in a month? It just blows me away! --Jenny

Can this really be happening?

Yesterday Marty and I celebrated 3 years from our first date, we planned on doing something really romantic, but instead we got a call from Trace, our contractor saying that he got our trim boards delivered early, and if we could get them painted (our way of saving $) then they could start putting up trim on Monday. SO, we painted until 10 pm last night. Yesterday they also finished putting in the windows, finishing the deck and the roof. The siding has also arrived and that will go up next week. Its so crazy! We feel so grateful to have the crew that we do building our home, they are phenomenal!

Roof decking up

This week the roof was being put together, piece by piece, until now the whole thing is covered with a layer of plywood, and the skylights are all framed out. Today the roofer will be installing the shingles. Its really feeling like a house, and I can finally imagine what it will be like living in the space. I can't wait to finally get all the plumbing and light fixtures that I've spent so many months choosing. We visit our house nearly everday after work, sweeping it, and picking up scraps of wood. When its taking an hour or more to sweep and pick up, is when I realize, "yes, its plenty big!"

Fascia up

Marty really liked this picture of the south side of the house with our deck leading into the family room and the lines of the roof accented by the newly installed fascia boards (which were a pain to paint, since we had rain all last week) Luckily we have the covered back porch at the cabin, so we could get them painted, however we only had room for 1/2 the boards. One of the builders who is also our neighbor volunteered to paint the rest in his shop which was so nice. What a blessing at such a stressful time. I started to question our decision to do all the painting ourselves. Luckily the siding all comes prepainted! The windows also arrived today, and I can't wait to see them go in. The roof will be the next thing to go up, yay!! We're going to have a house!! We can't wait!

They did this in a day!

I was going to wait until the roof went on to post again, but decided to post this one today of the house because I can't believe they errected all those trusses and built the support for the front porch all in one day! A lady down the street stopped by today to talk to us, she says she's never seen anything like it, with the whole house being built in just a couple of weeks. She watches the progress everyday and says she feels like its her house being built because she's so excited to see the progress. Its pretty funny. We get a lot of "lookers" driving by checking out the place. We're already planning where to plant privacy trees. I'm exhausted, we painted all the fascia and trim boards, after work, so they can be put up next. So I'm going to go now. --Jenny

Upstairs framed

Progress seems to be happening at a remarkable rate. In just a day all the upstairs interior walls were framed. This view is of our great room, stairs down to the basement and entry. Behind it are the bedrooms and baths. Yesterday the roof trusses arrived and today they should all be up and it will really look like a complete house. The lead builder said I couldn't hold him to it, but he thinks they'll have us in by Thanksgiving! We'll see. That would be so great though. I can't wait to have friends and family over to visit. I'll blog again once the roof is up. --Jenny