Finishing Touchs

Well it's finally packing time. My goal of packing one room a month was a joke! Why not just wait and pack everything the weekend before you move? A quick break to post some photos before the computer gets packed.
Construction is officially finished and the final draw from our construction loan is being processed. The builder is working on our final punch list of little items that need to be wrapped up. Hopefully they will be done by next weekend so we can move in and enjoy the new place in peace!
The appliances are all in. Everything is so clean and new that I don't really want to use it and get it dirty and messed up! Don't worry that won't last for too long. I want to try out the pizza setting on the new oven.

We've been working on our little projects like hanging mirrors and medicine cabinets.

The landscaper put in several trees (douglas fir, austrian pine, weeping cherry and aspens) to help fill up the front yard. And he used some of the malapai rock to make little walls around the trees to help build up the dirt base. Next will be weed fabric, gravel, bushes and plants.

And then it snowed 2 feet last weekend! We got plenty of exercise shoveling both driveways. The little snow blower doesn't work well on the steep new driveway. I told Andy I'm ready to buy a real snow blower and hook up that driveway heat! We were able to get the truck up the driveway and into the garage after shoveling.

Happy leap year, almost there!

Well we have a mailbox with house numbers so it's officially our address at 2501 W. Lynette Dr. 

 

The flooring project is finally complete! We sanded and oiled the floors and they look great. So much more character and color now. We'll see how durable the finish is... The baseboard is being installed this week. The painters are doing touch up work. The electricians are finishing up the switches and wiring details. The doors and hardware are being installed.

 The master looks almost ready for furniture...

The hallway of doors...

The staircase has wooden treads and black slate risers. The dark slate breaks up the wood look nicely.

Check out the grain and character in the maple. 

The dishwasher was last night's project. Andy did an awesome job and we ran the dishwasher to see how quiet it is. Much better than the one in our rental, but not quite silent. Although it's a really quiet house to begin with since there is no forced air furnace!

The landscapers put in a flagstone patio off the master door in the backyard. We needed a landing for the stairs, so we thought flagstone would look nice. They also continued the river rock trough that is on the side of the house to help with the drainage from the back yard. Under the window they left a little spot for a planter with malapai rock around the edge. The staircases off the other two doors are just temporary until we build the deck!

 

  Here's Andy's part of the house that I never show photos of! The 3 car garage is the spot for most of the work these days as far as tools and lumber.

The central vacuum is in and seems to work pretty well. It is next to the entrance door from the garage into the game room. 

Here is the game room (aka Andy's shop). The walls are all painted and we will have doug fir baseboard as well, although we're going to wait and epoxy coat the floors before we put the baseboard on. 

 

Checking off the projects

Well somehow almost a whole month has gone by. We've been busy tackling our projects and so has the builder. Still aiming for a certificate of occupancy by the end of the month...it'll be close, good thing it's leap year. Here are a few quick shots of what's happened in February.

The garage doors are on and painted. We went with clear glass windows with the thought that they let in the most light and if we're worried about privacy/security, we can always add some contact paper to make them obscure later.

The railing around the stairs is up and stained. Square metal balusters to match the other black hardware.

 We finished the hardwood install by doing the stair treads. The risers will be black slate (the tile guy installed those after we did the hardwood...more photos to come).

 

Plenty more photos on the camera still...will post more later!

Lights, camera...action?

Slowly the details are coming together. Electrical, tile, glass, painting, trim, and plumbing... One more month to go and plenty still to do. 

The electrician is almost done. It seems like we did a pretty good job picking out the lights and locations for the house. The bedrooms seem a bit dark, with just the can lights, but we have switched outlets so we can always add lamps on the nightstands or floor lamps.

 The pendant lights over the island are on a monorail track that is bent to be curved similar to the island edge. The pendants are pretty small so we added 3 spotlights for more light. 

 The front porch coach light and cans do a pretty good job lighting up the landing at night. 

 The foyer chandelier finally has bulbs! And the black slate is in and grouted. 

 

The stair lighting is pretty bright! 

The jack and jill bath has three vanity lights. The big mirrored medicine cabinets will fit between the lights. The look a bit Star Wars like to me!

 The glass shower doors were installed. Changes the look of the shower!

Kip started the railing around the top of the stairs. Square metal balusters for inside since we don't need nearly as many as outside!

The microwave, range hood and cook top are in (still need the finishing details) and most of the knobs and handles are on the cabinets.

Kip connected the solar tube. The penetration in the roof was done quite a while ago, but the tube going through the attic to the closet ceiling was the last step. It add some nice natural sunlight to the closet since there are no windows. (Although it's hard to tell since the photo was taken at night of course!)

 Some more little details like an outlet in the back of the drawer in the bathroom. 

 The laundry sink is ready to use!

Floors and doors

Here's a shot of what the exterior of the house looks like these days. The snow mostly melted so you can see the stairs and deck. The front door is on. It's made for giants at 8' tall, but it looks proportional to the rest of the front of the house. The stained glass adds a nice detail and the two panels match the interior doors.

The outdoor lights are all up.

 

The slate is down in the powder room and the plumbing is all ready to go for the vanity and stone vessel sink.

The closet rods are all up and ready for the next round of painting.

The jack and jill bath surround is grouted as well. Still need one more sheet of accent tiles to finish up!

Dale grouted the floors in the master and the glass tiles in the master shower. The back splash is almost done. You can see the progress from today...just a little more to grout. The plumber started to install the fixtures in the shower...looks complicated!

The cabinet guys were back to finish up the last little details like the shelf and rod for above the dryer and the laundry room counter top.

 

They are also working on hanging the microwave and building the face frame around it so that it looks like a built in microwave. The range hood is in progress as well. 

 

The plumber installed the faucets in the kitchen. No drains or water, yet, but they look great! 

  

The plywood stair treads are on...so now it's up to us to put the hardwood on top.

 Kip and Marcus finished trimming the collar ties with doug fir...now they just need to be stained.