The Drywall Crew

The Drywall crew has taken over the house. They work very quickly and in a few hours, the house goes from looking like a construction site to look more like a house. They started with the high ceiling work in the living room. They started early so get the hottest and hardest work out of the way.

Finishing work has begun

Jim has been cracking the whip on everybody to get them moving on the finishing so we can get back in the house. As soon as the electrical inspection was done the insulation began immediately and is going in fast. It was amazing how quiet it was in the rooms where it had been nearly completed. Sheet rock has been delivered and that will go up this coming week. Jim made sure that the sheet rock folks knew exactly where to stuff and where not to stuff - such as around the windows that will be finished in wood and in the shower shelf nook that will be tiled. Temporary stairs have been built to the guest suite - these will ultimately be done in oak. And Jim showed us around the excavation for the breezeway and garage. We decided to reuse the pretreated cedar decking materials that are in good shape from the old deck (which Jim actually built for the previous owner!!) This will save us money over getting all new materials of course and we feel like we're doing our part for environment as well. Our own field stone for the chimneys and reusing our old decking and flooring where possible. Yesterday we picked our granite countertop - uba tuba it's called. Flooring guys (slate solutions tile and five inch birch wood) are ready to go once the sheet rock is done. We still need to pick all the lighting and bathroom fixtures....but it's feeling like we might actually get back in there within a month!!

Stairway to Heaven

The stairway to the guest suite was cut this week and the custom windows in the great room have been put in. The excavation is in full swing as you can see - foundation will soon be poured for the garage and breezeway and it will be ready for whenever we can afford to build them. The electric inspection is set for early next week and then insulation and sheet rocking can begin. And the propane tank has been delivered looking nice and shiny. Since there's more project than budget left, we're making some tough decisions - we're going to defer the tongue and groove for the ceilings and sheet rock them over to start much to my dismay. But that will allow us to do the deck now so it will look more finished and a nicer place to hang out. Jim has assured us that it's easy to add that later when we build back up the savings. We've finalized the design and material for the tile floor and the wood floor estimate is in. They will start as soon as the sheet rocking is finished. Time to pick lighting and fans and bathroom furniture and fixtures. One of the exciting things that happened was the discovery of the remnants of a fieldstone wall in the backyard which they are going to be able to use for our stone chimneys. That will save us big bucks as the stone we had initially chosen turned out to be very pricey. Using rock from our own land would have been our first choice anyway had we known it was possible so we're thrilled!

Electric and Cement

It was a big family week last week - baby Lucy Keniry was born in Boston and Kathy met all the Southerland clan in Belton TX! Pictures of all of that coming soon. Not too much looks to have gotten done while we were away but really it did. The electrical outlets and recessed lighting boxes are all in, the concrete was poured in the basement and more of the siding got put up. We haven't spoken to Jim since we've been back but are expecting a new estimate on when we'll be finished enough to get the COO (Certificate of Occupancy) and be able to move back in....with or without kitchen cabinets! We might move the deck, the finishing of the guest suite and garage/breezeway into a later phase or David's going to solicit help from the neighbor in finishing it himself. I tend to think we'll be going with the former since David's consulting gigs seem to be picking up but who knows.....anything is possible!