November 4, 2012
So busy every day, it’s hard to find time to download my
pics and post blog updates. So… where we
left off. Windows – or at least most of
them – have arrived and have been installed.
One window (of course a big one right out front) has been “lost”
somewhere between the factory and the lumberyard. But the rest look great! We caught a break when our window order was
delayed while I was away. We were able
to catch a Jeld-Wen sale upon our return and got upgraded triple-pane windows
for less than the double pane price.
Trevor and the boys kindly remade the front steps for
us. The architect’s design was a little
different than what it turned out to be in real life due to the slope of the
land we’re dealing with. The front &
back door stairs meeting in the middle resembled either a Mayan temple or the
Titanic stairs before. So the main set
of stairs was changed to face to the front.
Changes are costing me a fortune in pizza and beer… Now that’s been resolved they can finish the
waterproofing on the deck portion over the garage roof. Glass panel deck railing system can now be
ordered too.
BEFORE - Stairs from the side
Left set of stairs goes to the back door, right set goes to the front double doors
on the deck above the garage.
AFTER - Stairs from the front corner
Front steps are now more welcoming to folks walking up to the house.
There has been a bit of preliminary work on the siding. Weather delays thanks to Hurricane Sandy, a
few components back-ordered, and waiting for that last window to do the front.
We finally got some basic electric service in. The wiring throughout the house will wait
until the HVAC and plumbing is in, but at least there is construction lighting
and power for the tools. Work on the
furnace has also started this past week.
Adrian was working all weekend installing the ducts. Unfortunately we’ve lost basically one whole
closet thanks to both ductwork and recessing the fridge. Plumber is expected on Thursday. And on Tuesday Nov 13 the propane tanks will
be delivered so we should have heat!
Our cars have now officially become storage lockers. A friend of a friend is helping a widow clean
out her husband’s shed. He had been
saving materials to renovate their house, and left her with many spools of
electrical wire and plumbing pipes. We
bought that as not only will it save us a little money, but also help her
out. Problem is there is absolutely no
place to put it all! Hopefully we’ll be
able to lock up the house soon and put them inside, but until then our cars are
loaded down and the gas mileage sucks.
We also found a laundry tub & cabinet and some lighting on sale this
week. Just stacks of boxes everywhere in
the condo!
So now our attention is turning inwards. We’ve got designs from 2 kitchen planners,
and are about to firm up with one. A
nice U-shape kitchen with an island, dark brown shaker style cabinets. And a great price so we had some money to put
toward appliances. We took advantage of
a sale this week at Lowes, and also bought now so our planner had the proper
fridge dimensions, etc. (“I MUST have
room for my platters!” for all you Sleepless in Seattle fans!) Appliances won’t be delivered for 6 weeks
though. And who knew – they now make
stoves that are called “slide in” that tuck right over the top of the counter and
look like a built in cooktop. Stops
those nasty drips that usually go right down the side of your stove. All the controls are at the front edge. We also got one of those microwaves with the
built in exhaust fan to maximize our space.
The kitchen won’t be installed until January by the time it’s
manufactured, so there is officially now no chance that we will be in by
Christmas. Unless we order in pizza for Christmas
dinner! I’ve been saying all along that
I didn’t want to rush anything and will take the time to do it right now that
we’ve come so far.
And finally, we bought our doorknobs. Which you would think shouldn’t be that big
of a deal. But no, of course we liked
the discontinued style. Although it
saved some money, it’s meant trips to 4 separate Lowes to get all the different
sets we needed. Since they’ve been discontinued,
we had to get knobs for the interior doors and future finished basement now
too. And of course some are outside
sets, some are locking (for bathrooms), some just shut (for the laundry room),
while others are just decorative on one side like for a closet door. Something that should have been simple added
up to hours of running around and $1200 on sale!
Next blog update should see the outside totally finished!
And to all my American friends & followers, be sure to
vote Tuesday!
No comments:
Post a Comment