I can see clearly now, the rain has gone....

We had record rain for the month of March. The framers have been working at a snail pace in the cold and rain. Not to mention unable to work on the roof because of safety issues.
With a few days of good weather and long hours they have definitely made some progress. 

Grandma Donna came to visit this weekend and to see how the house is coming along.

The roof is on and will hopefully be felted early next week.

We met with the electrician this week for our walk through. It's pretty exciting and a little stressful to be starting on these new tasks.

Our plumber, Brian, was here this week and roughed in most of the plumbing.

We also saw some progress on the fireplace. This thing is huge but I think it will look really great when it's done.

Finally....I just have say how thankful we are for the wonderful contractors that we have working with us. From the moment we started this project we have been blessed with the best people to work with, starting with our loan officer to our building suppliers and contractors. It has made this difficult process much easier knowing that we have great people guiding us.

Disappointed

Well it's been three weeks since my last post. Not much has changed,  except our expected move in date.

 The front porch did get covered...

and the upper deck on the rear of the house is getting framed.

Another picture of the upper deck....this is Avie's future balcony.

The tubs were delivered this week. The delivery men left them at the bottom of the driveway. Thomas had to get them into his truck by himself and then into the house. Too bad we don't have a picture of that. Where's Dustin when we need him?


Hopefully by the next post we will have a roof!?!

Getting there!

Quinn is "so excited because this is so awesome".  I guess that means he's ready to move into the new house. We've had enough of our cramped quarters and all of our stuff boxed up.

The house is moving along...lots of changes this week. The stairs are now in and the trusses for the house have been set. They also used the crane to set the large beams in the back of the house.

Stairs are now roughed-in

Front of house with eyebrow roof line

View from upstairs family room

The large beams were set for the upper balconies/porch roof

We need a roof!

It's been a good week for progress on the house. We've had some snow this week but not enough to slow down our two man crew.

 

Trusses are on the garage

Second floor is framed

Front porch is started

Large 10x10 beams were set for the upper balconies

Another picture of the back porch beams

Here is another view of the room above the garage. It will be a 1 bedroom apartment in the future but for now we are just planning on using it for storage.

The last picture is Quinn playing the water. We have had a few inches of snow the last two days and as it melted today it was dripping onto the bottom floor.

We are wishing we had a roof as it proves to still be winter around here. But...there was lots of progress this week and if all goes well the framing will be done in about 3 weeks.

The snow is slowing us down!

Another crazy week of weather for us. We worked last weekend on getting a retaining wall around our lower power vault. The retaining wall is required by Pacific Power so we have enough cover over the power line. 3 inches of rain in one day followed by 4-5 inches of snow was a little too much water on our freshly moved dirt. I wish I had remembered to take a picture after it was done last weekend...it looked so nice! But here it is now....

 

Oh well...I guess we have something to do this weekend. So the progress on the house was pretty limited this week due to weather but they did start to put up the second floor walls.

Here is the front view....

And here is the back view.....

The kids were enjoying the most snow we have had all year. Avie thought it would be a good idea to throw a snowball at her sister. Taryn in turn thought it would be a good idea to rub Avie's face in the snow. Just kidding but I know she was thinking it....

This is just a picture of our deck supports. When the crane is here to set the trusses they will also set the large beams for our back decks as well.

Last but not least, Thomas got one of his speakers for the home theatre system. He is going to be doing all the wiring for the phones, cable and media.

So next weeks forecast looks like lots of rain again. Since the interest rates are going up we are getting even more ready for this house to be done. Hopefully next week we will have some trusses up...

We've got power

Another week down and lots of changes to the place.

Doesn't seem like much but it was a lot of work to get power up to this house. This held up framing for the day but it's one more (expensive) step taken towards final completion.

 

Here is the house today. Does it look different?

The kitchen has a roof now! This week the upper floor joists were placed and sheeted.

 

Quinn didn't want to take the time to put his shoes on this afternoon. Of course his big sister always happy to oblige meeting his every need. Yep...he's spoiled.

 Here is another picture of the garage with the trusses placed and ready to be set on Monday.

The posts were also set for the future front and back decks.

Finally...this weeks design dilemma.

Concrete sink vs. stainless steel


I really like the traditional ceramic craftsman tile but it's a little dark...what about tumbled marble subway tile?

Walls, Walls, Walls!

Well in two weeks the house has really started to take form. It's great to see it come to life. I have to admit I've been a little disappointed about a few things (size of my pantry) but pleasantly surprised about others. We are now in the midst of picking out windows, doors, and plumbing fixtures.

Here is the before and after of the garage. Although this is only the first floor, the transformation is pretty exciting. This is one of those pleasantly surprising moments. The garage is much bigger than I had originally thought.....my mud room is too!

Here is the house last week-

And here it is today. All of the walls on the main floor are up....

And the I-beams were set today. This will be wrapped in fir in the future.

Our goofy kids are loving the building process. It was Pajama day at preschool. Avie also goes to Quinn's preschool and packed jammies to change into after school. This is the living room french doors and side windows.

Here's Thomas checking out the view from our bedroom.

I turned my back on the boy for 30 seconds and he was halfway up the hill.

Quinn saying "save me"! He could climb up but was a little scared about the coming down part.

Here are the interior doors....I think.

These are the emtek knobs that I'm thinking about...would love any feedback. I'm also contemplating crystal handles even if I just do them on the bathroom doors. Thomas isn't crazy about the idea but this is a new/old house and I like them.