HARDWOOD FLOORS

This week the hardwood floor installation began.  This is what they accomplished on day one.

John retained the existing hardwood floors wherever possible including in the living room, main floor hallway and two guest bedrooms.  His crew will sand them and match the stain color we choose so it all flows.  Pretty amazing what they can do and their attention to detail.

Master bedroom view from the entrance doorway

Master bedroom view from the bath

Today they are expecting to finish the hardwood floor installation and Monday cabinets will begin.  If all goes according to plan, the amazingly gorgeous and funky red countertops will begin on Friday.  Oh happy day!

Shiny, smooth, primed walls, Oh My!

Who knew that there are five categories of walls.  And it was no shock to Keith that I "needed" category five which are walls as smooth as a baby's butt.  But if you're going to have a contemporary house, no other wall but smooth and shiny will do.  Check it out....

This view is looking up from the foyer and soon there will be a funky chandelier hanging down.  You can't imagine how open and bright it is in this area!

This is another view from the foyer but looking upstairs to the landing.  The door on the left goes to the master and the hallway leads to the laundry room and Keith's office.

The final view from the foyer but looking toward the dining room and kitchen

Next week they will be laying the new hardwood floors.  Decisions that need to be made within the next week include tile, hardwood floor color, paint color, stucco color, interior trim detail and door hardware.

OUR HOUSE LOOKS LIKE A HOUSE AGAIN!

When John told us his drywall crew would knock out our drywall project in a day or two, we weren't sure we believed him.  But one thing we've learned about John is that he's a man of his word.  We actually have walls again and our house looks like a house rather than a construction zone.

The view from the far south kitchen wall looking into dining room, living room and basement stairs

Opposite view looking into the kitchen

And another view from the front door looking into kitchen and dining room

This is our master bathroom wall where you can see the faucets will be for the sinks

A view of our fireplace wall and looking into the bathroom

I can't say for sure but I think this is our laundry room wall

A view from the upstairs landing looking into Keith's office

And here is the van of the crew who did this fabulous work.

And finally our house from the outside.  You can see that addition is all prepped and ready for stucco

WHO KNEW INSULATION COULD LOOK SO GOOD?

Yesterday was a big day.  You see when insulation is installed it means that drywall will be next which means our house interior will actually look like a house.  So yesterday was monumental because insulation began and today it was finished.  Tomorrow we do a walk through and Thursday the drywalling begins!  Oh, and our patio door was installed and we couldn't be more happy with the view to our big beautiful back yard.  Check it out!

Looking up to the open foyer area just as you enter the front door

Looking down the hallway just as you walk upstairs.  The view is looking into Keith's office.

A view facing north in the master bedroom

The south master bath wall

Looking down  to the living room from the upstairs addition

And, of course, our new patio door which faces the east and walks out to our patio which will be delightful to enjoy morning coffee in our private back yard.

THINGS ARE SLOWING DOWN BUT WE HAVE LIGHTING AND A MASTER FIREPLACE!

I haven't posted for a few weeks because we're getting to that project stage where things are moving more slowly.  But we're okay with that because attention to detail is paramount.  Our rough plumbing, electric and mechanical inspection passed this week and on Monday the insulation and drywall installation will start.  Yep, it's getting real exciting now, folks!

Keith has determined the low voltage details which was one part of the project about which I just scratched my head and said, "huh?"  I'm so glad we're opposites - it works nicely for us. I love this first picture.  It's Keith in his office checking out the low voltage that he spent hours determining.

We walked up the staircase to our master suite and were thrilled to see that our master bedroom fireplace was installed.

 And this week the canned lights in the master bath were installed

 As were the canned lights in the kitchen!

It's so exciting to think that in two months (or thereabouts) we'll be cozy in our new forever home!

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS

It's the little things like:

- beautiful shingles
- a tiny bathtub for one of our guest bathrooms
- new Anderson windows

When I arrived home from my visit to Minnesota on Sunday, February 17, Keith and I stopped at the house to see what had transpired in the last week.  I squealed in delight when we drove up and saw that the roof was almost all shingled (and as of yesterday it is actually completely done!), and our windows had been installed.  We were also surprised to see that the bathtub had been installed in our main floor guest bath.

Yesterday we spent two house with John and the electrician, Brian, determining where we want lights, switches and outlets.  Who knew we'd have to decide so many things like wired or wireless doorbell.  Luckily I have a husband who knows his stuff and I can defer to him on those questions to which, without him I would simply respond, "huh?"

We also made the final decision yesterday on countertops and - yes - we are going with all RED!  Scary but super exciting.  I hope it looks as grand as our vision tells us it will.

WE HAVE A ROOF!

When the roof trusses arrived we were excited but that excitement pales in comparison to what we felt when a week later, after returning from San Francisco, we immediately went to the house and saw that we have a roof!  Lance and Mark (the two guys who have done the majority of the construction) work so diligently as is evidenced by the pictures below.  In fact, we understand that neighbors were stopping by the house on Sunday asking them why they were working on a holiday.  I guess we have some neighbors who love football even more than we do (didn't think that was possible) because I've never thought of Superbowl Sunday as a holiday.

Behold our new roof!

The framing is pretty much complete inside and the sheet inspection occurred yesterday.  The next step is to start to add the two layers of roofing paper prior to the asphalt and shingles so this week we will select our shingles.

Plumbing and electric will start next week and below are pictures of the framing for our master shower and bathtub.

Today on my way to work I decided to stop by to see any additional work and I was struck at the stature of our home as I turned onto Newport.  These are photos I took from down at the end of the block.

And finally - some shots of the front of the house again with our new little porch roof.  What a transformation!

We're still on or slightly ahead of schedule and John shared on Monday that he is hoping for an end of April completion.  We won't hold him to that because he told us 4-6 months when the project started and April 30 would be 4 months.  But we would be ecstatic if were were cozy in our new home in early May!