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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.

Over the last week or so the house is starting to look like a house. They took off the siding and added contractor wrap. For some reason, the consistency outside makes the house now look like a house. Exterior siding will go on soon. We really wanted to do some brick on the outside originally, but the budget just wouldn’t allow for it so we are doing concrete siding all around. I’m just excited it won’t be wood we have to stain every 5 years.

On the inside, we did a walkthrough to catch any last minute changes to HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. We noticed a few things that needed to be corrected such as moving vents, missing smoke detector wiring, a bit more demo, etc. Nothing huge, fortunately. Mike also took pictures of all the rooms and walls before they Sheetrock so we know where all the wiring, vents, and plumbing are if we ever need to know in the future. After those fixes, insulation went in. Then, the next day we got a giant sheetrock delivery. They had to take out a basement window to get some of it downstairs. Darwin was SO excited about the crane!

We are missing one exterior sliding door, but once that arrives (hopefully this week!), the house will be dried in and the furnace can get turned on.

The only real problem we’ve had lately is the rain. The house doesn’t have gutters so the roof is basically emptying into the house through the basement door. We’ve had some very heavy rain so it’s been quite a bit of water, but the contractor took some scrap gutters off the house and we should be a little better off moving forward.

After sheetrock, there will be finish work, paint, and flooring. We are still hoping to be in by Christmas, but I’m trying not to get my heart set on it in case it doesn’t happen. The thought of us all waking up on Christmas morning in the new house makes me giddy.

On the landscaping front, it’s clear we’ve missed our opportunity to do it before winter. We’ll have to put the funds in escrow, deal with the muddy yard this winter, then put the sprinklers and sod in come spring. Not ideal, but it’s not the worst thing that could happen.

I think that is all the updates. Pics below.

TL;DR House is ready for siding, Sheetrock, and looks much more like a house!

 

 

I get it, I’ve fallen off the posting wagon and you all aren’t happy about it. I hear you and today I’m willing to spend my laundromat time updating the blog.

I can’t even remember what was and what was not done last time I posted so I included a ton of pictures. HVAC is in, plumbing is in, electrical is almost done, and the finish concrete is in.

Electrical seems to be the thing taking the most time. Trying to sort out the old electrical hasn’t been easy, plus, they have to bring the line from the street to the house up to code which means trenching a huge section to put in conduit. The joy of a remodel is that if you touch something you then have to bring it all up to code.

We also have windows and window wells throughout. The only window missing is the patio slider we had to order late.

From what the contractors have told me, they should be doing exteriors soon after that is here, then hopefully landscaping and fencing to put the outside back together. I’m a little nervous about sprinklers and sod so late in the year, but it will get sorted out. They have literally hit every single sprinkler line in our yard at some point during this project so the entire system needs to be replaced.

Inside, we are close to sheetrock. The contractor says if everything goes as planned it will be 2 months from there to finish everything. I would LOVE to be in by Christmas, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up.

All the finishes are finally selected. I’m anxious to see it all come together.

This week we had to turn on the furnace in the trailer after a few nights in the 40’s. It works well and keeps the place rather toasty.

By living in the trailer and paying ourselves our mortgage each month, we’ve been able to save up some money for new furniture. I ordered Trixie a new bedroom set that arrives next week. I need to figure out where the heck to put it! We also have a new patio set and picked out a new couch. Something I learned in this process is that if you buy something at RC Willey during a sale and don’t have it delivered right away (they will hold as long as you need!), you can keep adding to the ticket at the sale price of the day the ticket was opened. That means I picked out my couch weeks later, but I got Labor Day pricing. It’s fantastic and a good reason to put off drivery until the house is completely done in case I decide we need something else.

My current project is also going to be figuring out how to finish out the mud room. We originally wanted cabinets in there, but after the bid was $3-4k, we decided to have the finish carpenters just put something in which means I need to figure out the layout.

Darwin loves all the construction . Every day when he gets home he needs to go check on the house. At school he asks all the teachers to play excavator with him.

The kitties are pretty sure it’s done enough to move back in, especially with the colder weather! Plus, all the exposed framing is good for scratching.

TL;DR Boring progress, no crises, end is in sight… in a few months.

 

If you want to hear all about the house terribleness from last week when the floor was caving in, scroll down or click here: Do You Have A Big Jack?

This week was insanely normal, thank goodness. In fact, I only have one picture of the house and it’s of the new furnace that appeared one day.

All the work being done right now is HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical so not a lot to see. We also have a new roof, which I don’t have a single picture of… sorry folks.

We needed a week like this and it meant we got to spend more time worrying about normal things and less time worried about the house. The only real issue that came up was fitting a tub downstairs. We were 1/2 inch too short, but we solved it with a smaller tub.

Here are some pictures of the kids to make up for the lack of drama this week. And I swear Trixie sometimes wears clothes, I just apparently don’t have pictures of her wearing clothes at home.

 

TL;DR: It was awesomely boring at the house this week.

 

Today our wonderful friends and family helped us move out furniture and take down some cabinets we’ll be reusing in the basement. Going from a house where everything had a place and was appropriately baby proofed to a house that is completely torn apart is just the first step in living conditions getting very uncomfortable. We’re lucky, however, to have a roof over our head and even be on this journey. It’s all about perspective.

Our stuff is all going in our detached garage for the duration of the project. We’ll have access to everything we can get to -which has required some very complicated planning. This will help make up for how little we can fit in the trailer. It’s not a weekend camping trip, it’s 6-9 months.