Bricking around the front

I'm anxious to see the house all bricked up with the front porch, and the masons are making their way around to the front. I have a picture but cannot get it to load for you tonight for some reason. It's looking good though, so I'll have a new picture soon. They are very close to the front porch now, so my hope is that by the end of the week I'll have a good idea of what it looks like and can post better pictures than I'm trying to post tonight.

Brick well underway

Well, the brick is well underway, with one whole side of the house completed so far. And the sheetrock is moving right along. It's been mudded and sanded at least once as far as I can tell. That's the greatroom in that top pic.

We chose a light brick, so I'm getting a little paranoid about that red dirt and the light brick. We're using sand right now to help keep it clean, but I can't get grass planted quickly enough, I'm sure.

Now that the first move is over, I hope to take more pics and update the blog a little more often. Very soon I hope to be able to post pics of cabinets, flooring, etc. Wish me luck!

Sheetrock and Brick

The sheetrock and brick were delivered this week, and the sheetrock team is moving quickly. When I got there tonight around 6:00, they were still working and didn't appear to be slowing down. Walls were up in almost every room except the great room. It's funny how having walls really makes some of the rooms much smaller. Closets that I thought would be huge just aren't so large anymore, but it's still wonderful!

The masons have started prepping for the brick. They had laid some additional cement block today where the dirt will fill in around the front porch, and I assume I'll start seeing real brick go up by the end of the week. I'm obviously more than excited about that.

I didn't take new pics tonight because there were a bunch of strange men I've never seen before working all over the house, so I didn't want to get too much in their way. But I'll take new pics before the week is out and get them posted asap. We're moving this weekend, so that may not be this week, but it'll be very soon.

New Windows and a Front Door!

I was excited when I pulled in to the lot today to see my front door installed. Yahoooo! They have also finished installing and switching out the small windows that I just couldn't handle. I really am pleased with the decision to switch some of them out. Philip thinks the window in our bathroom might be too big, but I disagree. I think it's perfect now--lots of light and easy to see out. I also switched out the windows in the tiny powder room and the laundry room and am much more pleased. You can see in this pic above that we also replaced the single window in Braxton's bedroom with a double. Again, very happy with the way that has turned out.

I don't have the best angle right now to get a good pic of the front door, but at least you can see most of the glasswork in the top pic above. It really is pretty and will be stained probably in an oak grain.

As far as the schedule....we are waiting for the plumber to finish the rough plumbing. He should be done in another day or so. Then Brad can order the rough inspection and the exterior inspection. Once that inspection is done, we can begin bricking and finishing the interior. Yay!

Plumbing and Electrical

They have been working in the last week or so on getting the plumbing and electrical roughed in. The first pic is one of the switch boxes in the kitchen, and the second pic is the view into the master bath. There are so many light and fan switches that I'll never keep it all straight. I'm sure it'll take me 3-4 months to halfway remember what switch hits what light.

We weren't happy with the drawings for the master bath all along, and we knew that once we began building, we would figure out how to rearrange it then. So I think we've finally got it all figured out. We ended up separating the closet from the bath, which makes the bath a little smaller, but it still fits the tub, large shower, and vanity with double sinks just fine. And the closet is huge. I've never had a closet this big before--I think it's larger than Braxton's current bedroom. Oh yeah!

Other progress? The front door is on order as well as the replacement windows for the ones that were too tiny. The rest of the doors were sitting in the garage when we were out there this weekend, so they should be installed this week. I think he's pushing to get the rough-in done this week or next and get that inspection done soon. My experienced eye tells me that the electricians have another day or so, and the plumber probably needs the same.

This is the point where Philip wants me to take a virtual photo tour of all the walls with the electrical and plumbing, so if there are any questions later he can refer back to the "rough-in retrospective." Those aren't the most fun pics to look at, but I agree it will be useful, so I'll probably be doing that this weekend.

Roof complete--Tiny little windows

Sorry it's taken me so long to get a post up here. I've been sick with a miserable summer cold/sinus thing, been working like a dog to get the current house ready to sell, and been fretting over the windows in the new house. As you can see from the above (very bad cell phone pic), the windows are really tiny. Granted, when the dirt comes up to grade, they won't look as small, but I pretty much decided last week that the windows have to be replaced. Yes, that will cost me, but no, I cannot live with them the way they are. These windows are much smaller than what I have now, and truly much smaller than depicted in the plans and elevations. So yes, I should be arguing with my contractor, but really, I just want them gone.

I have come up with an ingenious plan to move some of the windows around to save replacing all the windows in the house. The new windows have been ordered, so I cannot wait to see what it will look like in a few weeks with the real windows. I've been kind of sick looking at these the way they are.

I was very worried about the roof color, but I really like the driftwood that we chose. I think I'm really going to be happy with it. Other updates? We have the kitchen laid out and are waiting on drawings from the cabinet guy. We have the interior part of the A/C installed complete with ductwork and returns. We have just today determined the final layout for the master bath, and I managed to eek out more closet space for me (yay!) and a mini linen closet for the bath. They are separated now. The closet is no longer accessed through the bathroom anymore, which I'm fine with. I had no opinion on that either way.

The garage floor is ready to pour, but that may be another week or two before that's done. The plumber and electrician are due out any day. Oh, and I think we've sold our current house after just a couple days on the market. Yep, that means we're gonna be homeless for a month or two. Now the panic about the house not selling just turned into panic about where we're gonna live. Oh well, better to sell early than not at all, right?

I know there's a lot more to update, but it's late and I'm achy, so I'm headed to bed now. I won't keep you hanging as long next time, I promise.

Almost ready for shingles

The roofing is set to begin today I hope, and the windows should also be installed. The plan is to have the house "in the dry" by next week. They should have finished getting the sheeting done by Monday, which is why I'm expecting the real roofing to begin today. Choosing shingles was difficult, and I'm still not sure I'm getting what I wanted. I see the color I want on other people's houses, but I cannot determine what that is in the little shingle brochure or with the little 2-inch samples you get. So I did a girlie thing and told my contractor to go look at such and such a house and match that. He loves that. Luckily, one of the sample houses is near my new house. So who knows what that homeowner thinks, but apparently he has been by there several times trying to match up shingles for me, and he's even taken the shingles out there and had the shingle salesman out there. Those poor homeowners must think we're stalking them!

Anyway, I'm afraid what I'm getting is a little more gray than I like and less brown, but regardless, it will be fine. Philip likes it, and poor Brad has tried his best to match the house I pointed out. And really, I'm at the point where I don't really want to think about brick and shingles anymore. The decision has been made, and I'm sure I'll love them cause they're attached to my new house.

Hmmmmm....the house does get bigger and smaller depending on vantage point. Usually it seems so big, but in this pic it seems a little small. Nah, I guess that's just the optical illusion of the various stages of building.

Enjoy. I'll post a pic with the real roof as soon as I can afford to drive out there again. Haha!