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.