Moving On

Unfortunately, the progress on our home took a HUGE turn for the worst a couple of weeks ago, which explains why I've been absent from the blog. Rainstorms pounded on our home and unfortunately our gorgeous clear siding that clad the garage saw the worst of it. We noticed greenish goo seaping from the gaps in our siding and thru the nail holes that hold up the wood. To make a very long story short, we fired our sider (I will not name names, but if you're ever in the market for a siding company, make sure you check in with me just to make sure you're not hiring the wrong guy) and are moving on with no solid resolution, but with a great team of people who are assisting us.

With that bad experience behind us, we marked a major milestone last week with the installation of our insulation. AND, sheetrock is being installed this week. By Friday, the interior of our will be taking on a completely different life. We should have a good idea of how life will be with solid walls. Amazing!!!!!

Here are a couple of photos with insulation. Check back next week and I'll post more photos of the nailed up sheetrock.

Check out that light streaming down from the skylight

Kitchen wall and corner of loft

Up to our bathroom

Kids' floor

Sheetrock delivery

Past and Present

I don't want you to think that we're not moving forward with success, but unfortunately all that has occured over the past week or so has been un-photographable (probably not a word). We passed electrical, plumbing and venting inspection!!!! Huge milestones! Most of the siding has been completed. Garage door has been installed. Main floor is being prepared for concrete next week. See, things are a happenin'.

Yesterday, I walked inside and was surprisingly confronted by a past and present photo of our home. See for yourselves:

October 2009

May 2010

Nice Spring Evening

As the weather warms, we find ourselves wanting to be outdoors more (rather than cramped in this senior citizen, crabby infested condo community). AND, as progress on the house becomes visually more exciting, we find ourselves wanting to be at the house more. Given the lovely spring day, there really wasn't a question where we would be spending our early evening -- at the house, ofcourse. While the kids raced in the garage, we admired our home and took the following pictures so you too could admire it. Enjoy!

Wide cedar planks on backside of home

Great architectural details

Close-up of the wide cedar planks (stained with a grey wash solution)

Close-up of clear stained cedar on garage

Where the two materials meet (on the backside of our home - Mike's office window)

Basement with doors

Good night!

Just Photos Today

I'm a woman of few words today (bet you can't believe that). Actually, I'm just not feeling very inspired to write, but I didn't want that to stop me from posting new photos. Enjoy.

Stairs (and storage door) in the back of the garage

Cement board siding on south side of house

Cement board siding on front of home (and my little helpers)

Poured concrete in garage

3 different siding materials: Wide knotty cedar (in weathered grey) above + Clear stained cedar on garage + Cement board (Hardie Panel - to be painted light grey) on main floor

Last, but definitely not least....check out all of our lights in the main living area. AWESOME!!!!

A Fantastic View

So much has happened over the last week, I can hardly keep up. Let's see if I can list the progress, in no partcular order:

1) The cedar siding project has begun, and is coming along quite amazingly, may I add (photos to prove below)
2) Major plumbing continues (i.e. installation of significant piping) which includes designing a plan for where faucets, mirrors, sinks, lights, outlets (all the essentials for a bathroom) are located
3) Basement framing was completed, including outside walls, closets, etc.
4) Electrical rough-in continues. Photos below show the installation of loft recessed cans.
5) Our super-dooper heavy duty steel canopy was installed over the front door
6) The last of our windows were installed

I'm sure I'm missing something, but for now this should suffice. Enjoy!

Recessed Cans Rough In in Loft

Welcome to Our Home!

Close-Up of Steel Canopy

Front of Garage in Cedar

Completed Cedar Wall on Garage

View from the Living Room

Ahhhh.....

Windows and Doors

Our home has taken on a whole new perspective after today's milestone. Windows were installed last week which really added some incredible dimension to the space. But, today, probably one of the COOLEST accesories to our home was installed. The Fleetwood Glacier 16' wide x  10' hight (approx) sliding glass door (with an 8' opening) was installed. You can not possibly imagine the impact this door has on the space until you see it in person. Our 6'8" electrician, Brian, seemed almost miniature next to the door. Thank you Steve and Eric for encouraging (rather effectively, may I add) us to purchase this door over the "other."

In the following photos, you'll notice that siding has begun. I don't want to discount that task, because that too is HUGE, but I will pursue that further over the next few days.

Large living room window

Corner window in the kitchen

Completely AWESOME (in size and coolness factor) sliding door

From the back

Major Milestones

It's only Wednesday, and several milestones have been reached just this week.

Concrete was poured in the basement yesterday and will be sealed this afternoon. Windows are being installed today. Wait until you see the corner window in the kitchen. Absolutely gorgeous! And, if that wasn't enough, the exterior of the garage is being waterproofed and furring strips (lie perpendicular to and directly under the cedar siding) are being installed. See the photos below of all of the progress:

Concrete floor in the process of curing

Waterproofed garage exterior with furing strips

Outside of Liv's bedroom window

Children at play (from the stairwell)