Monday, November 4, 2002

We are SO ready to move in. We're living with my in-laws now, having closed on our old house last week, and something about living out of a suitcase adds urgency to the already-pretty-strong desire to move and get it done with. We're fortunate that we have a comfortable place to stay (dogs too!), and the commute downtown from the in-laws is a breeze. And ready access to my mother-in-law's cooking is a real treat. But we're ready to be in our house now.

Shep's working on our master bath now, building the glass block shower and the tile that covers two walls of it, plus the tile around the tub. Our bedroom is painted, and looks stunning. It's a dark khaki/tan kind of color (although it came out a little more yellow/gold than I originally thought it would). It looks fabulous though -- especially set off against all the white trim. The "bone white" we chose for the rest of the interior (except the dining room, which will be red) looks great too.

We decided kind of last-minute to add French doors to the wide opening between the study and living room. Those came in and look really nice. I intended for them to open OUT (into the living room) instead of in (into the study) but they were installed the wrong way. We opened and closed them a few times and decided we didn't mind it that way, so we left it alone. Every change we request at this point slows things down, so unless it's major or something that would drive us crazy down the road (like the shutters, which still need to be replaced with the correct non-louvered kind), we just live with it.

Carpet and hardwood should start going in this week. Both fireplaces need their surrounds and mantles built. Countertops should be in next week or the week after. The chimney outside needs its brick surround on it. And we haven't even talked with Shep about landscaping, but there's some grading to be done, a retaining wall or two to build and some grass and shrubs to plant. Some of that we'll have to roll over to the spring, probably.

Monday, November 11, 2002

Our stair railings are going in and they look really nice! The glass block shower still isn't finished -- our bath seems to be taking a long time. The dining room is RED. And I mean a really dark RED. I think it's going to be beautiful. The bottom half of the room will be white with a chair rail and wainscoting, so the red won't be so dramatic then.

What else? No changes outside -- still have the wrong shutters, no brick facing on the chimney. We have padding for carpet in some rooms, but no actual carpet. Mike (framer and all-around-everything guy, our hero) started the hardwood in the upstairs hallway though. Shep and Mike and the rest of the "regulars" are working extremely hard, but there really needs to be a bigger crew. They can't be everywhere at once.

Friday, November 20, 2002

Countertops are IN! They look wonderful. The kitchen is just amazing. I was so uncertain about it for so long -- we had to choose the cabinets in one place, the countertops in another place, the floor in another place, the paint somewhere else, and the lighting fixtures at another place! Unless you're a Martha Stewart type I don't know how you make it all come together and look nice, and I'm NOT a Martha Stewart type at all, but somehow it worked out. Everything looks fabulous.

It turns out to be a good thing the granite countertops are such a dark, stunning green. The cabinets are very reddish (red birch) and the floor tile we chose has a reddish-cream kind of color. And the walls are bone white (which is actually kind of a cream color). So if we'd gone with a countertop with more than a hint of red, I think it would have been entirely bland in there. The green countertops depart from that reddish tone enough to balance everything out perfectly. It looks as though it was all designed with the end in mind -- I can't believe I stumbled stupidly through the whole process and it came out so polished looking!

We haven't even seen it with the appliances or stainless steel drawer knobs in yet -- I can't wait.

When we visited the house Wednesday night, nearly all of the lighting was in for the first time. Bill zoomed off to the post office to collect our mail before they closed, Shep was outside supervising the grading of the front yard, and Mike was finishing up the chair rail in the dining room and then left. So I went upstairs to look around and realized I was completely alone in the house for probably the first time. I went from room to room turning on the light switches, seeing what went with what -- this one does the hallway, this must be a closet, wonder what this does. Something about flipping those switches for the first time and seeing the hallways and roooms bathed in light, with the darkness gathering outside, was really magical.

Wednesday, November 27, 2002

If you had said to me back over the summer that we wouldn't be in the house before Thanksgiving, I wouldn't have believed you. Sigh ...

But, like it or not, we won't be in the house before Thanksgiving. We almost made it -- the house is very nearly done -- but despite a lot of frantic last-minute flurrying, it isn't happening.

So ... one more week. Bill and I are both exhausted by this whole process. The house is now six weeks behind our original close date -- by the time we finally DO actually close next week, it'll be seven weeks behind. We've been living out of a suitcase for the last five weeks.

The house looks beautiful and Shep and his crew have done a nice job. We just wish we could live there!

It'll come ... next week sometime. We're more than ready.

We're having quite an experience with Light & Leisure -- I'll share the whole story soon. I want to give them a chance to resolve the situation first.

Thursday, December 5, 2002

Well, we're in. We closed on the house this morning. This is where the construction log comes to a close, and the business of unpacking and living in our new house begins. Thanks for following along with our story -- hope you enjoyed the ride!