Loan Signed

No photos today. We did sign the mortgage papers on Tuesday, December 22nd though.

We'll post some photos once we're a little more moved in and have the internet up and running.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Garage Siding

One thing shared by last Saturday and today: Siding the garage.

Last Saturday, the appliances were delivered by Lowe's. All of them are black.










Michele is getting good at putting on even more door hardware...










Justin learned to caulk cracks tonight.

Thanks again to everyone who helped:
Brett Kenyon
Randy Kenyon
Steve Saltzman (both weekends)
Justin Conroy (both weekends)
Jon's Parents
Michele
Jon

Thursday late night...

We quit much earlier tonight than Thursday a week ago. Last Thursday, Steve worked on the trim until well past midnight. Fueled on by his not ready to quit for the night just yet attitude, Michele and I kept finding things to do as well. After I put the 2nd coat of varnish on the exterior doors - which I thought was my last activity for the evening - we hung all of the things in the Master Bathroom: mirror, towel bars, etc.



On Friday, Steve worked on getting ready for soffit and siding work for the next day. Here is some of the siding progress.

Little Behind

Our Blog posts are a little behind because we were hitting it pretty hard, and took the last day and a half to recover. Here are some photos of the progress from work from a week ago (12-2-09) at least we took photos.

There is no way that we would be where we are today (with the house or in life) without the help from our family and friends. There is no way we can thank any of them enough.

A week ago, my Dad stayed home and finish graded our yard. Then it froze that night. The plumbers also put in the septic system and kitchen sink.



The carpet was installed and some more wood trim went in. Thanks Steve!

Cabinetry

The kitchen cabinets are mostly set.


One bathroom has a toilet that flushes - and there is a septic system too. Mirrors are safer when they are hung on the wall than in a box on the floor.


Michele has put in all of the interior door knobs and strikes. See?!

Hooray for Sunshine!

Today was a beautiful day. We got a lot of the grading done yesterday morning and this morning while the mud was still kinda frozen and stiff. Here is a picture of what is done between the garage and the house and one showing what is left of the big pile of dirt from the basement.



The interior swinging doors are all hung, and the closet doors are started. Oops, no photos of those yet.

The kitchen cabinets are coming along - further along than this picture shows. Trim will start soon. The countdown is on - about 8 days left...

Flooring Progress

The flooring is almost done. All that is left is the transition strips and carpet in the NE bedroom. The carpet for that last bedroom was given to us, and we'll pick it up this weekend. Let us know if you know a good carpet guy who wouldn't mind a quick side job.

Here's a picture of the stairway carpet, bedroom, and master bedroom.

2 Weeks Left... ?

A lot happened today. Not as much as I wanted, but there are only so many hours in the day.

The garage is ready for the roofing, siding, and overhead doors.

The laminate wood flooring is probably 20 minutes away from done in the Dining/Living Rooms, in the small hall in the corner. There is probably about 1-2 hours left in the Master Bedroom/Closet.

We even got 3 door frames set.

Thanks to all of the help today. Everyone who worked in (approximate) order of appearance:

Brett
Zach
Michele
Jon
Dad
Mom
Justin
The Bakers
Steve
Matt

One task at a time...

Some things happened today, but it started out pretty foggy.

More garage framing happened, and the roof is about half sheeted.

We cleaned in preparation for flooring tomorrow.

Stained the exterior doors.

And set the West countertop.

Progress

The progress has been very visible lately. All of the tile is set, and only the Master Bathroom needs to be grouted. Picked up the Kitchen countertops this afternoon. It is Formica, and the color is Jamocha Granite.

All Tile Set

The tile is now set in the bathrooms as well. It really is done in the Master Bath, just no photo yet. Not sure why the tile looks so dark in the bottom photo, it is nearly white.

Grouting in the North Entry tomorrow night.

North Entry Tile

The tile is now set in the North entry. Bathroom(s) tomorrow night...

How do you think the pink looks with the tile?

I'll put up a voting thing when I figure out how.

Garage, etc.

After a week of prep work, we poured the garage floor on Saturday morning. Most of the work was hired, but I helped some.

Then, one of my cousins came with help this morning to start framing the walls. All 4 walls are up, and 2 are sheeted.

Michele and I have been working on the tile for the North entryway. The backerboard is down and almost all of the tile cuts have been made. We should set it tomorrow night.

Quite a bit of backfill has happened, and a lot of topsoil has been spread in place. Those pictures are hard to show anything.

Fast and Furious (Somewhat)

Since the last posting, the wall painting is basically done, other than some touchups and the trim, which has started. Light fixtures followed the ceiling paint. Floor tile is in the kitchen, and ready to be done in the bathrooms. Cabinet lowers have been delivered and set, and countertops ordered. Outside, the garage is coming along and so is the backfill. Even the massive pile of dirt is going away.

This weekend, the garage floor should be poured and the garage wall framing should be well under way. And, more flooring. Wanna help tile? Laminate wood flooring next weekend.

Painting is Fun

Quite a bit of paint has gone on in the last few days. We started spraying primer on Thursday night. More primer Friday night and a few ceilings got their first coat sprayed over the primer before the sprayer had a temporary breakdown. Saturday morning, Debbi showed up early and started helping paint the laundry room pink. Michele demanded one pink room, and this is it. The walls in the rest of the house are all the same color, but not pink. The title is "Patience", and has been compared to a vanilla milk shake. We also completed building the short retaining wall on the SW corner of the house. It still needs to be backfilled when the weather allows.

On Sunday, we attempted to move some dirt into and around the garage footings that were poured last week. It was fairly muddy still after the 3"+ of rain that we have received in the last week. We worked on the short retaining wall off of the NW corner of the house today also. It too is ready for backfill. Painting continued inside the house. The 2nd coat is on in many places, and the first coat is on everywhere.

Special thanks for the last week of work in approximate order of appearance:
Caruth Construction for making quick work of the garage footings.
Jon's parents for help with cleanup in preparation for paint.
Michele for all of her hard work: taping off windows, painting, cleanup, etc.
My Dad for running my many errands and picking up several things on Friday.
Debbi for high quality painting work and for bringing her own painting tools.
Anthony Moeller for his work on COMPLETING the basement patio pavers.
Myra for bringing tools and painting for hours on Saturday and coming back for even more on Sunday.
Laura for painting and cleanup on Saturday.
Justin for doing a better job than me at spraying the ceilings and help on the retaining wall.
My Dad for all of his hard work and heavy lifting on the retaining walls. And mini dumptruck.
My Mom for painting well past her desired stopping point today.
Steve for moving a lot of dirt through the impossible muck.
Jana for painting. (Like a madwoman)