Thursday, January 29, 2009

Drywall!

 Kevin called on his way home from work yesterday to see if we wanted to go to the house.  Of course we did!  We were shocked at how fast the drywall went up!  It is ready to be taped on both floors.  Some of you may remember that before Emma was born we created a bedroom for her at our wonderful but very small, one bedroom house.  It required one wall to close in a small space.  This had to be dry walled.  It was the perfect nursery and I was so grateful for the help we received but thank God that crew is not drywalling this house or we'd move in once the girls are both in college!  By the way, our master closet which seems very large to me, but our architect said is on the small size for most new homes, is larger than Em's nursery was! 
What a mess!  They will clean up today.
The kitchen.
 Emma was not impressed with the color of the drywall, except with the blue moisture resistant variety in the bathroom.  "What happened to me having a pink room?" was her main concern!   
Each one of us was covered in dust.  In the background you can see Emma trying to look at the siding.  It has all been delivered, we just need to have some nice weather so that it can be put up.  Who knows when that will be!


* The drywall inspection is scheduled for tomorrow.  This means taping and mudding can begin on Monday.  A propane heater will need to be brought in to keep the house above 50 degrees.  The joys of building a house in the middle of winter!  

*Clint, the fantastic brick layer who led the crew on our house, has come back with an estimate to resize the columns.  It seems reasonable.  We are waiting on the final amount for the flooring (they also doing the tile in the baths).  Once we have that number we'll be able to make a decision on the columns.  

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Happily stuck at home!

Today we captured the winter portion of our seasons out our window photos!  Emma woke up and shouted "Mom, your dream came true, you can take our picture in front of the window with snow"!  Her enthusiasm reminded me of last week when we were at the store and the girls asked if they could have Pop Tarts, I said --- much to their surprise- ok.   Their surprise turned into utter delight, they  danced and sang in the aisle.  Another shopper chuckled and said "Man, that's some joy I want".  
So, I guess today my dream came true, I got to take a picture of the girls in front of the window with snow, but the dreamy part was, I was stuck inside playing games, reading books, baking, sewing just a little, drinking hot tea and generally having a day full of joy!  


November


June


April

It doesn't hurt the joy department that things are progressing at the house! The second floor drywall was hung yesterday.  The first floor was going to be hung today but with the weather I'm not sure anyone made it to the house.   I'll go over tomorrow--I have cookies to deliver!  I can't wait to see what the house looks like.  

Sunday, January 25, 2009

SNOW!!!!

Grandpa Bill and Kyra were here for the weekend.  Today the girls and Grandpa made the best out of the little bit of snow and made a snow baby!
The fireplace!   Things are really looking different.  The insulation is finished .  

More insulation pictures.  The drywall will be dropped off tomorrow.  They should start hanging it by Tuesday.



Thursday, January 22, 2009

Another week closer!

Here are the front porch columns.  They will be finished with a piece of limestone and then a white post will complete the column.  Ok, so this is the first thing that I'm not thrilled with.  They are HUGE!!!!  I think they're too big.  They were built as the plan called for but they really cut into the front porch--which is already pretty small.  
Here is a picture that gives a better perspective of how big these things are! I think I'm going to have to forgo the adirondack chairs in favor of a porch swing!  Oh well!!
The girls had a great time running around the basement this afternoon.  They didn't want to leave!

Laclede Gas was here this week.
More running--this time in the backyard.

The inspections this week all went well.  Tomorrow morning the insulation is going to begin.  It will take a couple of days and then the drywall will begin.  By the end of next week we should have some real walls up.    

Oh yes, this is how we closed out last week!  I was so against it until I had looked at dirty dishes on the counter and in the sink for a day and a half!  I couldn't stand it any longer.  Thankfully the sink was back in order Saturday morning.  

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Today is Kevin's birthday!!  We had a great dinner planned but for the second time in as many weeks, our kitchen sink is clogged.  The apartment repair crew (they are beginning to seem like part of the family) was over earlier this afternoon and tried to replace part of the pipe under the sink that had a rather large hole in it.  This didn't solve all of the problems so instead of the steak and risotto we had planned, we ordered Chinese food and ate off of leftover Abby Cadabby plates from Ellie's birthday.  I just couldn't see washing all of the dishes in the bathtub like was suggested to me by one of the guys working here this afternoon.  Oh to have a dishwasher!!  
Although it has been freezing cold and a terrible time to work on a house without walls or insulation, this has been the sight at the lot ---except today of course!  
Here is the outcome of all of those trucks!  A ton of work getting done!  
On the left side of this photo you can see our neighbor's brick is really coming along too.  It is very nice as well and the two colors really look nice next to each other.
We took Ellie over today.  This is at the front door.  You can see that once again the front porch is covered with a tarp.  The brick layers were over today prepping for the columns.  I don't know how they did it!!
Our fireplace is at the house!   I hope we get in the house in time to use it just once!

Our attic fan!  The electricians are finished with the rough in.  The HVAC crew and plumbers need one more day.  Looking at the forecast for tomorrow it looks like it will be next week before they get back to the house. All three must be completed before the framing inspection can take place.  Hopefully this inspection will happen on Wednesday and insulation can begin on Thursday.  

Sunday, January 11, 2009

I finally went inside!

Yesterday Kevin and I met the flooring rep. at the house to make some choices on hardwood and tile.  I had not been inside the house for over a week. I was so thrilled to see all of the progress I'd been hearing so much about.  We now have stairs into the basement 
This basement may not look like much to you, but to this mom, who for the last 9 months has been living in a second floor, sub 900 square foot apartment, with 2 wonderfully energetic kids and 1 equally happy dog, this looks like heaven!  I can just see all the running around and silliness that is going to be happening down there in a few months.
The egress window.
The framed in fireplace.  
The joy which the sight of this tub brings is certainly on par with the basement.  Truly it can only be understood though if you've seen where we are currently bathing!    
Emma and Ellie's shower---this is where their tub toys will live---somewhere other than where I'll shower !!!!
The plumbers and electricians have been hard at work.

Kevin met with the HVAC crew last week to figure out where all of the vents will go.  He also met with the electrician to talk about outlet placement and light switches.  I am so glad he was in town and able to do that, it's important but not something I really have an opinion about- until there is one in a place I don't like :). Here is one of the vents!  

Thursday, January 8, 2009

A lot has happened....

It has been a busy week.  The most important and exciting thing to happen was that Ellie turned 3!
The temperatures have not been very conducive to brick laying but the brick layers have worked through the weather!  They covered the porch so that they could work "inside"!
We are very happy with the end result.  The side lights were installed as well as the temporary door.  

The North side is getting close to being completed.  Depending on the weather (we are really hoping to get the 50 degree day that is forecasted tomorrow) it should only be a couple of more days until the brick is finished.  Then the siding crew will come and finish up the exterior.
We have a back door.  Now that we have a front and back door, the house is locked up after the crew leaves each day.
Here you have the most exciting part of Emma and Ellie's week!  The Clayton Fire Department arriving at our apartment building on Sunday,

along with 3 police cars!  The apartment below us is vacant so when we found out that it was flooding and leaking into the basement we called the EMERGENCY number listed for our building. No one answered, we left a message, no one called back.  We then called the police, who checked out the scene, called the fire department and broke in through the front window.  The girls LOVED it!!  Ellie now pretends to call the police and ask them to please help her friends out of the flood!