Moving in!

Well we finally moved in this weekend. We actually started Thursday night. Then I took the day off Friday and my Aunt Cherie and Jen helped us move. We got most of it moved to the new house on Friday with just a few big items left at the old house. Of course nothing is unpacked but at least it is there.

The only thing left inside the old house is the fridge. The garage is still full of garage stuff but in order to move that I need to unpack more boxes at the new place to make room for the stuff in the garage.

We also had our first snow on Sunday at the new house. I just wish I would have had time to just sit and enjoy it more but with all those boxes and absolute mess staring at me I couldn't just sit. I also managed to put up a few Christmas lights on the outside and we got the Christmas tree put up with lights on it. No decorations yet, but we are working on that. I also got the blinds that I had ordered put up. I purchased 2 slider window blinds and 3 honeycomb blinds for Trevor's room and the guest bedroom and I was actually impressed with the ease in which they installed and of the quality. Delivered to my door it was just over $400 so if you are in the market for blinds you should visit www.blindschalet.com.

So yes it was a very productive weekend and I am exhausted. Trevor started the weekend with a fever but recovered by Friday night but then Ron came down with a terrible cold, and unfortunately I think I might be getting the cold also. Oh well, forge ahead!

We did have a bit of a problem with the fish. They were one of the last to move and we had turned the heater off, well apparently the heater in the tank wasn't enough so they didn't make it through the night. Sorry fishies! Luckily though Spike, the bearded dragon made it, his heating pad must be stronger or something, he was sure glad to see us come through the door!

The rest of the animals all but Ernie are not adjusting nearly as well as I had hoped. The older cat, Lightning paced and howled all night wanting out. I normally don't let him out for at least a week in a new place but by the second night I couldn't handle it so he got to go out. He has come back and is heading into his normal routine of out during the day in at night, thank goodness. The dogs on the other hand are driving me nuts with the constant pacing at night. They seriously take turns! So tonight they get to sleep in their crates. Not to mention Chester christened the pergo with some vomit this morning and Roo christened it with pee last night along with the xmas tree. Thank goodness for laminate floors!

All in all things have gone well and we are slowly getting settled in.

I will try to post some pictures soon!

Sooooo close!

The first fire in the woodstove. Mind you it stunk like crazy and we had to open all the windows and doors because the smoke alarms were going off, but it sure was pretty! I am hoping to have a couple more fires in it before we move in to get rid of the smell some more.

Ron got the pump installed in the sewer tank (force main for those of you wondering why we have a pump). He also was able to get the asphalt down over the sewer line and he had a little left over so he made a really nice parking spot for his truck in the back alley.

We also got the top caps put on the retaining wall, and I must say it looks very nice. We have a few left over so I think he is going to do something in the back yard with them for the veggie garden.

So this week he has been working on the driveway and getting it all framed up and ready to pour Friday. It is suppose to be somewhat nice Friday, although it will cold so he will have to use blankets on the concrete, but none the less, we are hoping to call for final inspection on Monday! YEAH!

Oh yeah, the plumber is all done so we have faucets, toilets and the "cuzzi" tub can actually be filled now.

I will work on getting some more pictures soon. My mom is coming tomorrow to help clean the place and Aunt Cherie is coming Friday so that we can tackle the Roman Shades! YIPPEE!

Windows done!

Well I was able to finish up all the window cleaning! YEAH! I was so excited to have all the windows done! I was also able to start dusting the walls and all the trim work and vacuum once again. Ron also got the rest of the gravel spread out and he will start forming up the driveway this coming Saturday and hopefully pour it on Monday.

We helped the builder place the woodstove on the beautiful granite hearth today and he will hook the pipe up tomorrow. So with any luck we will light a fire in it this weekend to start burning off the "new woodstove smell"! We will have to see if the builder is okay with this, there is probably some stupid rule about no burning in the woodstove until final acceptance. Who knows! Also the plumber was there today starting to install the rest of the plumbing fixtures and Bart was installing the towel racks and toilet paper holders.

I just want to say thanks again to all who have pitched in and helped us on this project!

a few more...

Messy kitchen...
Messy living room, woodstove awaiting install. The hearth turned out really nice!
Stairs...

more

Master bedroom...notice the cornice?
Master bath, "cuzzi" tub...notice the cornice?
Master bath shower...
Tracey's room/aka den...notice the cornices?

Can you tell I am proud of the cornices? HEHE!

More pictures

Lorenzo placing a corner block, soaking wet, of course it rained most of the day for them.


Hallway...
Trevor's room...notice the cornice?
Guest bedroom/office...again notice the cornice?
Guest /main bathroom...

This week/weekend has been very busy and Ron has made huge progress on the retaining wall. The carpet, vinyl, and formica has been installed along with the range and microwave. The plumber will be in on Tuesday to put in the toilets and the "cuzzi" tub (as Trevor calls it).

Ron took 2 days off this week to work on the wall. The blocks that we used are 80 pounders, and believe it or not I can pack them around but I am not very fast and was slowing Ron down substanitally. So we decided it was beneficial to hire a few guys from work to help pack the 400+ blocks instead of me today. Thank you guys soooooo much! Ron had the first course done by this morning and a few more rows that I helped him with but the guys were able to just hammer it out today, it looks great!

My WONDERFUL friend Jen came over today and cleaned half the windows! They look awesome and I hope she does know how greatful I am. While she was doing that I was running around vacuuming the carpet, vinyl and trying to get all the cabinetry cleaned out with the shop vac. Things are really starting to sparkle in the house. Tomorrow we will be back at the house working on more cleaning and Ron and Trevor will be working on the top caps on the retaining wall and spreading the rest of the gravel and compacting it.

I will try to get some more/better pictures of the wall tomorrow, but when we finished today it was dark and the pictures wern't turning out very good.

Sewer is in

Well after 2 full weekends working on the sewer system the tank and pipe is in! The first weekend was spent setting the tank and hooking the tank to the house. Then Ron started down the alley installing the sewer line toward the manhole. All went well the first weekend.

The second weekend was little more interesting. This is the part where he had to cut the asphalt and put the pipe in the middle of the road. He made sure to give everyone in the neighborhood warning (letter on doorstep) that there would be possible delays getting in and out of their homes. All but one was understanding a cooperative, she was ranting and raving at Ron about how she was delayed and it was rediculous she didn't receive warning, which she did. The sad part was is that the longest she had to wait was about 90 seconds, yes, 90 seconds. I felt bad that someone would get so worked up over something like that. Maybe I just have a different point of view being in construction, but geesh, settle down! Oh well, the rest of the neighbors were great.

Ron, his dad and a guy from work were the ones working on the line. They were crusing right along Saturday and looked as though they would even finish that night until the hit a water line! Yikes! It was unmarked, eventhough Ron had called to have everything located. So we didn't have to pay to repair it, but it delayed them enough that they didn't finish until Sunday around noon. The utility guy was apologetic and got it fixed within a couple hours so not a huge deal, it could have been a lot worse, but still a bit of a bummer. The other lucky thing is it was only a 3/4" copper line and not a main or anything like that! Phew!

So now we are just waiting for the pump to come in and then the elctrician will come in and wire that and then the plumber can come in and finish his work!

The carpet guys are at the house today installing the carpet, I can't wait to see it.

Tom and Cherie also came up this weekend and helped me make and install all the cornices. In my opinon they look awesome and give the house a very taylored look. I of course have no photos as I keep forgetting the camera. Sorry, I will have some soon. The next project for Cherie and I will be to start making the Roman shades, yippee! I am looking forward to them being done but not looking forward to doing them.

The next major project for the house is the retaining wall. The blocks are being delivered tomorrow and Ron will start on it right away. Then once that is complete (hopefully in a few days) he will get the driveway formed up and then pour it within a few days after that. I will keep everyone posted.

More pictures

Master bath

Master bedroom
As you can see the pergo flooring is all in. We had them install it everywhere other than the bedrooms and bathrooms. The vinyl for the bathrooms and the formica on the counters will be installed on the 12th of November and the carpet for the bedrooms and the stairs will be installed on the 14th and 15th of November. The woodstove will also be delivered on the 12th and the applicanes are ordered and I am just waiting for the delivery date!

Ron will be working on the sewer this weekend and the blocks for the retaining wall are to be delivered sometime this week. So this weekend I will either be stacking blocks, picking up the brances from the tree that is no more, making dump runs with the construction debris, etc. Busy, busy busy! Very excting! Oh yeah the gutters were installed on Friday, yippee!

More pictures

PIcture of the kitchen from the entry from the garage. Laundry room is on the right and pantry is on the left.

View of kitchen from family room

Hallway
Trevor's bedroom
Guest bedroom aka the office/computer room

Over due update!

Cabinets were delivered early last week and this is the start of the kitchen...
More cabinets waiting for install...
Outside front of house. We had a logger friend come in and drop the fir tree that was in the front yard. Eventhough we were trying to revive it after it was choked out from the blackberry bushes it just wasn't going to make it. good thing we did too, because it had a ton of rot in the trunk down low and the logger said that if we would have cut it down that it would have come down on its own probably within a year.
Tracey's room aka the den all done. I know I should have turned the lights on, but I wasn't used to that option yet.
Cabinets in laundry room. The washer and dryer will obviously go where I am standing to take the picture.

There has been a ton of stuff happening since my last post. Sorry, as you can imagine I have been busy! Anyway, enjoy the latest pictures. Oh yeah, we finally have power after I think it has been almost 6 weeks waiting for PUD. Long story short our paperwork got lost while the person in charge of it at PUD was on vacation. So they finally were out today to hook us up, but the downfall was one of the guys backed into our deck off the master bedroom and busted the 4x4 that holds the thing up! The builder was there and asked the guy if he was going to fix it and as he was driving away he said "just send us a bill"! Nice huh?! Oh well the builder will fix and PUD will definately get a bill! Luckily there was no other damage to the house so that is a good thing.

Exterior paint

Here is the "Anonymous" grey with white trim! I personally love it, good thing huh? The brick/windows/porch/etc. is still covered with plastic so once that is all off I will take another picture or two. YEAH!!! The cabinets and mill work are scheduled to be in on Wednesday. We are also currently shopping for lighting fixtures. Woohoo!

Ron, Jen, Tracey and I spent Friday and Saturday painting the outside of the house. Ron did all the spraying and us girls did the taping and back brushing. Jen also did some of the trim today. She worked her tail off! Thanks again Jen and Tracey!

THANK YOU!

Wow! I had the most wonderful paint crew this weekend! We were able to get all the interior painting done in 2 1/2 days and that included priming all the walls and ceilings. You guys are the absolute best! So thank you: Cherie, Tracey, Rob, Jen, Dave, Tiffany and of course Trevor! I could not have done it without you!

Interior Paint

Den aka Tracey's room has Warm Nutmeg walls and Macadamia ceiling


Master bed and bath has Green Tea walls and Macadamia ceilings

Every other room in the house, including the garage has Macadamia walls and ceilings

Here are a few shots of interior paint.

more

Picture of stairs to basement.

This one is of Trevor's room.

More progress

Picture of front of house with brick and siding done.
This is the color that we will be painting the exterior next weekend. If you are available and like to paint please come join us. We will be painting inside and outside (weather pending).
Inside is all mud and taped. This is me standing where the woodstove will be looking into the dining room and kitchen.
Me standing in the corner of the kitchen looking into the family room.
This is the office/den, aka Tracey's room.

Wow!

Sorry for the long delay in posting to the house blog. Wow, what a difference a couple of weeks make! We now have real brick on the front. Apparently when he went to buy the faux brick the real brick was actually cheaper. It looks so cool! We also have siding on all but the front of the house, and the house is insulated and sheet rocked! The mud and taping of the sheet rock will occur next week. WOOHOO!

siding/brick

We made the final choice today for our brick facia stuff. The siding was also started today. We are putting on an Antique Red Brick on the front of the house hopefully it won't look to "'70's" I guess we will find out.

We also picked out our cabinet colors this evening. Apparently the interior doors will be the same stain as the cabinet doors, cool! I learn something new everyday!

while I was there today the house was bustling with heating guys, plumber guys and my contractor and his brother putting on the siding! YEAH!

I will post more pictures soon!

Windows

All the windows are in other than the one we added on the main floor all the way to the left. If is exciting to see it almost buttoned up. We just need doors and the garage wall sheet rocked and it will be all closed up! YEAH!

The furnace guy was also at the house this week and the furnance is there and the vents are installed but not the duct work yet. Also the plumber was there this week and all the sinks are plumbed and the tub and shower are almost plumbed. The frame work was also finished this week for the jacuzzi tub. Very exciting.

Today I am heading to Olympia to Cherie's house and I am forcing her to help me pick out the fabric for the windows. Jo-Ann's is having a 50% off all home decor fabric so I figured it would be a perfect time!

To answer Tiff's post about how often I stop by. I stop by at least once a week, but lately it has been more like 3 times a week. I am only 2 miles from the house from my work so it is very convenient to stop by on my way to or from work. I try not to stop by everyday though because I do like it when I haven't been there for a couple days and I pull up to see that a lot of work has been done!

Roof

The roof is done!

Update

Front of house with roof sheating all on and waiting for roofers are are scheduled for Tuesday!

Inside of garage, you can see the windows stacked to the right just waiting to be installed. The man door on the right is the "workshop" or Tracey's room and the room I am standing in is the kitchen.
STAIRS! We have stairs! YEAH! I know sounds like a silly little thing but it is so cool to be able to "go downstairs" instead of having to walk around the outside.
Back of house, me standing in the living room window, and Trevor is below me playing with his excavator.
The front porch. The importance of this picture is that Ron has now decided that my "endless" fountain in the corner was not sufficient and has decided that a Koi pond would look much better there. I have always wanted a pond with a fountain so I am game I just know how much more work this will be. So I am looking for any input, words of advice, etc., on ponds with waterfalls and fish. I do hear that keeping the racoons out is really difficult so here is to hoping we just don't become the local hang out for the neighborhood racoons. Ron is thinking the pond will be a shape of a peanut and be around 5' x 8'.
Lots and lots of stuff happening at the house. I am not sure if you noticed in the pictures above but Ron spent last weekend regrading the front and getting it more level and also did a little regrading in the back. We decided that we need more fill in the backyard and that we will for sure do the retaining wall on the garage side of the house so that we will have more parking. I think we have also decided that since we walk be "walking" through that side of the yard that is where the vegetable garden will be in theory. We will see how that all works out though because I have never had a veggie garden but Trevor really wants one so we will give it a shot.

As I mentioned before the roof is scheduled to start being installed on Tuesday. So the builder needed the flashing for the woodstove chimney so we had to make the final decision on the woodstove.
My first pick was a Jotul F400 see this link...http://www.jotul.us/content/products/ProductArticle____3107.aspx If we would have bought this stove I would have gotten the blue/black enamel with the fancy front door. But we didn't buy this one.

The price on the Jotul was a little higher than the one we went with which was my second choice okay really third choice. We bought a Lopi Leyden...http://www.lopistoves.com/product_guide/detail.aspx?id=240
This is a really nice stove we had Lopi stoves in the Camano house. The reason it was my 3rd choice though was becuase I don't like cast iron, it always looks dirty to me. So I had originally picked out the red enamel one, well that adds $500 to the cost so it looks like I will have to live with a dusty looking stove. I am sure there is some trick to keeping them looking clean so if you know please share! Ron has from the beginning wanted this stove so it was an easy choice for him, but for me it just came down to the dollar. It wasn't worth the extra cost to have enamel or a Jotul stove. I figure I am too early on in the process to start busting the budget already! That will come later...HAHA!!!!

I will keep everyone posted on the progress. We will hopefully be having some work parties soon so stay tuned for my begging for free labor! =) We will need help with painting, landscaping, pouring the concrete for the garage floor and driveway/sidewalk and all sorts of other fun stuff!