Day 137 - Cars Are In The Garage!

After 120 days of parking outside, our vehicles are tucked neatly away in the garage. We would have been able to park a few days ago but a certain phenomena happened this summer. I believe it had something to do with the Law of Empty Spaces. Shortly after the pile of lumber arrived and we could no longer get into our garage, every single toy, piece of garden equipment and just random crap found it's way into the large vacant spots where our vehicles once were. It's amazing how much space all of our summer toys take up! Ordinarily, our garage is a real life game of Tetris that results is plenty of space for the toys, equipment, vehicles and the rest of the crap out there. We now have it cleaned out and re-organized. Welcome home mini-van and car!

Today the bathroom was finished and our stain glass cabinet doors were installed. We also got the call that our door hardware is in. I'm planning on picking it up Friday afternoon. Maybe next week it will get installed,

Day 127: The Ranch Plays Host to Family

Tonight we hosted my parents, brother, aunt, uncle, two cousins and one soon to be cousin-in-law (is that what you'd call them?) for dinner. Patrick was in town for just the weekend so we all got together for dinner.There really are six people around the table and plenty of people to move around (just a crummy picture). The boys got a little table this weekend. It's actually the same one that Patrick and I had when we were little. Brian and I have began a quest to find little chairs for it.

It was awesome. Of course the company was great; I always really enjoy getting together with this side of the family. Our house was awesome. My mom, aunt and I were able to hang out in the kitchen and get dinner ready without tripping over one another. Everyone else was downstairs being entertained by the boys. People could have been in the living room but chose not to be. Six were able to sit around the kitchen table, four at the card table and the boys sat at the kids' table. It just felt good to be able to have 10 adults and two children in the house and NOT feel crowded. I never would have said that 127 days ago.

Me, cousin Eric and Brian. While we still needed a card table to seat everyone, we all sat in the kitchen. No one in the living room or in the basement!

We are on the home stretch now, here's the list of things left to be done (as best I can think of):
1. HVAC...sometime this week
2. Bathroom tile
3. Railing on back porch
4. Installation of hardware (10-14 days my order will be in)
5. Fix very small water leak in basement

Here are things that we want to get done:
1. Get microwave fixed
2. Area rug for living room
3. Shelves for cubbies in mudroom
4. Bench or chair for mudroom
5. Landscaping outside...will do next spring. I have the plans and it's going to be a beautiful butterfly garden.
6. Really, are houses ever done?

On Day 125, We Reached "Substantial Completion"

According to our contract substantial completion means that the new space can be used for it's intended purpose. On Friday the back splash was completed and our stove moved back into the house from it's summer home in the garage (I predict it won't be much longer before we are highly motivated to get new appliances so we can get rid of the white). We celebrated by heating up a frozen pizza for dinner.

Since last week when I ordered the pulls for the cabinet I've had a little sick feeling about them. The price just seemed crazy high but Brian was okay with it so I was trying not to get too antsy about it. Once our dishwasher was installed I decided that what I ordered really wasn't what I wanted to today I went back to inquire if I had any options in regards to the other order (which was for $510...or so I thought). They canceled the order with no problems and it turns out the amount wasn't even close. My real bill would have been $220 something!

Having gone through this once before, I had a little more knowledge about what I wanted. A very nice woman named Sue helped me this time and provided catalogs and a price sheet to take with me. Then, she started to figure out some amounts and I noticed I was getting a substantial discount...the coveted, "builder's discount." I love this discount! To sum up, the new handles will be in 10-14 days. Our stain glass will be in any day and sometime next week our little deck/stairs in the back will be completed and the bathroom will be done too.

In other news...our addition is going to be featured in M Magazine! How cool is that?

Day 123: The Microwave Saga Continues

What is it with us and microwaves?

Last night Brian was heating something up and the *new* microwave just died. It's like there isn't any electricity going to it. Oh but there is, the outlet was checked today. The Sears repair guy will be here on Tuesday afternoon.

Our slate back splash was started today, the gas lines were installed and upgraded so as not to "starve" our appliances of fuel and the dumpster has left the property! As soon as the stove gets installed and we put everything away we can move the cars back into the garage. WOO-HOO, just in time for frost in the morning. (btw, it's cold now. The temp has dropped 40+ degrees since the blistering heat on Sunday. Too bad Brian's marathon wasn't this week!)

Yesterday, I met with a landscape designer for the backyard. She designed a butterfly garden and has incorporated plant material that will provide some blooms all spring, summer and fall. I'm pleased and look forward to moving forward with my yard in the spring.

Other than that, I don't think there's too much more to report other than I want my house back, which I think you all already knew.

Day 118

Friday was Day 118 and this is where we are now. A working sink but no garbage disposal yet. It doesn't even matter right now...I didn't do dishes in the bathtub all weekend. What a great feeling that was!
After all the fretting about sinks, this is the one we got. It's a solid surface product, that can be installed above counter tops (which we needed) called SwanStone. I think we are going to be VERY happy with it.

On Friday the carpenter took our glass doors off so we could go shopping for glass and get it installed. I'm sure Rick will be pleased I picked something out but will be annoyed that it's going to have to be ordered (he will be happy to hear that I FINALLY picked out and ordered the cabinet hardware). Here is a sheet of the glass I picked out. While my china dishes are very pretty, I don't feel like I need to display them which is why we didn't go with clear glass. Since I don't intend on having the light on inside the cabinets I made my decision on what glass looked pretty without light behind it. I think this is going to look awesome. Brian is going to place the order on Tuesday and hopefully we'll have it by next weekend.

We Get To Move In!

Counter tops were installed today, we have a sink and all the shelves have been installed. We have to wait until Saturday evening to use the sink while we wait for all the adhesive to dry so tonight was our last night of doing dishes in the bathtub.

I finally found hardware that I liked this afternoon. We are paying a fair amount more than I was hoping, but they are PERFECT. I had come to the realization that there really is a difference in the less expensive pulls and knobs compared to the ones found in designer showrooms that need to be special ordered. I had not found anything that really "grabbed" me at Home Depot, Menards or Lowe's. The place I went to today was awesome. They were so helpful and friendly, I'd absolutely go back (although we won't be needed hardware anytime soon!).

Tomorrow I'm going to pick out and purchase (I'm so optimistic) stained glass for our glass faced cabinets. We debated briefly about putting clear glass in but then opted for something funky. Really, it's easily changed if we want a change sometime.

Monday or Tuesday the plumbers are coming back to finish up the water and get started replacing our old gas pipes and installing the new gas lines. We were told that our gas pipes don't have a large enough diameter to be effective with our appliances. Funny, we've always been mildly disappointed with our dryer because it seemed like clothes took a really long time to get dry. Maybe this will make a difference.

This weekend, any spare time will be spent moving in to our new kitchen and putting our house back together. wha-hoo!

Finally, pictures of everything that's new

Ok, so now I do believe everything is going to happen. I believe that because so much has happened. We've gotten all of the molding in place and all of the window trim. The floor has been installed and "thank the maker" we have lights. Not only do we have lights, but we have under the cupboard lights, in the cabinet lights, and lights upon lights.

Tomorrow, the counter top, sink and plumbing is supposed to be installed. I think we jinxed ourselves, but we didn't do dishes tonight because we're gambling that we're going to have a dishwasher. Fingers crossed!
This is the new mudroom. The back door will be the last thing painted. Hard to believe that the bulk of our old cabinets were exactly where the new closet is now. You can see the old windows that used to be above the sink.















New kitchen prep area with just the flood lights.


















Same area with just the under cupboard lights on.














New floor. Do you notice that white thing with handles sticking out? That would be the refrigerator not in the middle of the floor, but rather exactly where it's supposed to go. You'll see more pictures of that tomorrow most likely. Also they'll be putting up the blinds in the windows too.

Day 115

Attribute it to laziness but I don't want to hunt down the cord to download pictures. I have a general idea of where it is. It will show up - eventually.

Lots of exciting things have taken place here in the last two days. First of all, we have lights - lots of them! There are three zones of can lights, pendents, a chandelier and under the cabinet lighting! The under the cabinet lighting was somewhat a surprise to us since we didn't remember ever discussing it (but really, why wouldn't you want it?). Then, today the electrician was back and started installing a plug in the island and put lights in our china cabinets. It's all beautiful.

The electrician might have finished his job except he got kicked out by the flooring people! I couldn't even remember what the flooring looked like since I picked it out months ago. I love it, it's beautiful. We went with a linoleum for many reasons, but mostly to save money. In the grand scheme of remodeling, flooring and counter tops are easily changed. Cabinets and square footage are not and that's where our money has gone. When we need a change in 10 years we can upgrade the flooring. Until then, I'm liking my pretend tile print with the grout that already looks dirty. This will work very well in our home!

Flooring continues Wednesday, counter tops on Friday morning and the plumber is coming Friday afternoon. I don't know how realistic it is to think I might have a sink or dishwasher for the weekend but I like to dream! We are so tired of doing dishes in the bathtub!