Month: November 2018

This week we got floors and cabinets. I have no pics of cabinets because it’s dark, but I do have pictures of the floors. We went with wood tile in the main living space since we do live on a farm and wanted something super easy to clean. We then did wood in the upstairs bedrooms. Below are pics of both. The tile needs to be grouted, but all of the flooring on the main level is seemless transitions and it is so nice after living in a house with way too many flooring choices throughout! Downstairs will be tile and carpet.

We also got gutters, so hopefully no more flooded basements!

I didn’t go to the laundromat this morning, but about an hour ago I decided I should wander through the house and take a few pictures for the blog. Thank goodness that I did because I walked into the basement and discovered the kitchen cabinets sitting in water that had come in through the basement door.

This has been somewhat of a problem in the past because we don’t have gutters on the house right now to move the water away from the stairway, but since the door went in there hasn’t been a problem… until today!

I texted the contractors and ran upstairs to grab Mike. We have both of the kiddos, but managed to move a few things out of the way before I discovered the kids out of the trailer and eating snow in the driveway- all the water in the basement is from this year’s first snow that showed up last night. The kids are still very little and it’s hard to leave them for even a minute as the trailer isn’t terribly child safe and they both know how to unlock the front door. They were just looking for us and nothing will make you feel like a shitty parent like finding your kids outside unattended.

I took them in the trailer and now the contractors showed up to help Mike. They only live about 20 minutes away, fortunately. I’m hoping everything was caught in time that nothing is damaged. Most of it was on the cabinet for the double oven and all the trim laying on the floor behind it as well as an old kitchen cabinet that is also now down there.

While we await news on that mess, here is an update on everything else.

The upstairs is all painted and badly in need of some touch ups, but I really enjoy the color. It’s hard to pick a single color for everything, but I like the choice. The downstairs is all primed and ready for paint. Closets are also all in and bathroom tile is now started in the master and kid’s bath. We were told cabinets would go in Monday, but that means the floors all have to be in and there is simply no way that is going to happen at this point.

Outside, it’s completely painted except the doors. We need gutters and soffit all finished up, too. We got a new bid on fencing and that should be done mid-December. Along with window well covers, sprinklers, the railing around the stairs, it feels impossible to think this is ever going to be truly DONE in less than a month.

We’ve been in the trailer 5 and a half months now. It’s starting to seem extremely small as the kids struggle to share space. Darwin’s 3rd Birthday was this week and he got all sorts of new toys that he wants to play with, but so does his annoying little sister. I don’t really have a place to send him to play in peace. I’m thrilled they’ll have their own rooms soon. They will be thrilled once it happens. And I am certain they will miss each other so much they will end up playing together anyway.

TL; DR Basement flooded under kitchen cabinets, paint done outside, floors and paint in progress upstairs.

Just as we were preparing mentally for a January move-in date, we got word that most of the contractors are willing to work weekends (extra holiday money, I’m sure!) to get us done before the holiday. We are trying not to get too excited as a lot could go wrong, but they are going to pull together all the loan docs in case we can pull it off. Either way, I’m pretty sure it will be done enough to open presents in the house Christmas morning and that alone sounds delightful!

There was a ton of work done this week. Almost all the finish carpentry is done and the entire upstairs got a first coat of primer. I measured for and ordered all the blinds we need for the upstairs. We are trying to get anything we could need on sale given the time of year, but I am sure when we move in there are lots of things we will realize we still need and things like rugs that I won’t want to pick out until I see everything come together and furniture moved in.

Outside, all the siding and trim is now on and prepped for paint. The fence guy came and thinks he can get our fence done the first week of December so puppy can have a (muddy) yard again, too. I’m very excited for her. We are also going to try to get the sprinklers in before the end of December leaving only sod for the spring. It’s not clear what money we can or if we can put money in escrow at all to finish the landscaping in the spring, I am still waiting to hear.

We also got all the tile delivered and it’s on a pallet in the front lawn. It’s amazing how deliveries just go wherever the delivery guy decides is a good place!

Below are a ton of pics, mainly of closets because I love them so.

 

This week they’ve been working on getting the outside siding up and doing all the finish work inside- doors, trim, mud room, and closets.

On the outside, we went back and forth a little on finishes. There was some confusion about the shakes we asked for and how expensive they would be for both materials and labor. Since we decided against stone or brick to save some money, we have three different finishes on the outside of the house- siding, board and batten, and shakes. Our contractor also recommended we pick a secondary accent color whereas the siding company only had us pick 2 colors, so we headed back to the paint store. Of course, we then ended up picking all new colors. Our hope is that this week all the exterior will be done. The red is only going on the doors so you won’t actually see it from the street. Darwin picked out the green from the color swatches to show us and it was a happy addition.

On the inside, closets are mostly in, doors are mostly in, but the trim is yet to be started. The paint was supposed to happen Monday, but the finish carpenter got another gig and walked off the job on Thursday. Welcome to the remodeling world. There is a new laborer who worked yesterday, but we’ll probably be about another week behind.

On the interior, we are doing two-tone paint. This means all the walls in the house are going to be one color, all the trim another. This is pretty much my worst nightmare, but having them paint each room a new color is crazy expensive and something we can do over time. Picking a single color Togo everywhere was a hard task, but we went with a color called Accessible Beige which is a grayish beige that the contractor recommended. I just had the paint store lighten it a bit.

On the inside, the mudroom is also in progress. The mudroom is interesting because it’s not an actual room, it’s a corner, but it’s more than we ever had in the past! You can see it from the kitchen and entry, so we wanted something nice, but cabinets were thousands of dollars we just didn’t want to spend. We are working with the contractor to make it look nicer than something in a garage would and I was promised that the solution would “make you proud.”

I will take some pics of closets this week. They make me so happy, this house has GREAT storage. Who designed this house?! Oh yeah, we did. It will be interesting once we move into it if there are things we wished we had done differently and what they are- both big and small.

We also moved the old cabinets into the basement and realized the shorter ceilings downstairs means that none of the uppers fit. Oh well, it is what it is and whoever uses it as a kitchen will have to decide the best thing to do down there.

New cabinets showed up and are stacked in the basement. I snuck a look at the finish and I love them! I was worried they would be darker than I wanted, but they look great.

We were told that there is no way to get done by Christmas, much less close. Mud-January is now the timeline and that was before this paint timeline getting bumped. My guess is it will keep moving. I was pretty mentally prepared for this, Mike not so much. It means 2-3 more months in the trailer. That seems daunting. So daunting. In the cold weather with the sun going down so early, it really means our space is pretty much just the couple hundred square feet in the trailer.

Trixie is more mobile than ever and not particularly interested in toys or TV. Her only interest seems to be climbing, being in trouble, or having me hold her.

Darwin loves TV on the other hand and we struggle to keep him focused on eating, taking a bath, getting dressed, etc. He is smart and a sponge for knowledge. He started preschool this week and is doing well and completely loves it. Trixie’s energy and loudness frustrate him.

The very cold weather has set in and we’ve winterized the trailer as much as possible, well, Mike did most of it. The water has frozen a couple of times overnight which means showers are now an evening activity to ensure they happen. More insulation went on the hose and so far, so good. The furnace works very well and we go through roughly a propane tank a week to heat it. The trailer has 2 tanks, so we don’t have to worry much about running out.

The next few months will be about us getting out of the trailer to save our sanity. We’re collectively getting over a cold and my Rheumatoid Arthritis is acting up, but hopefully, as we are on the mend we’ll be in better shape.

I owe you all a lot of photos!

TL;DR Siding and finishes are going in, next step paint. The trailer is even tinier in the winter, but warm.

 

 

 

 

I know, I know, it’s been a while… maybe you will forget if I give you an actual tour. There are 3 videos, upstairs, downstairs, and outside.

 

TL;DR You are lazy, there wasn’t that much to read! We have sheetrock.