Saturday, March 26, 2011

I took the kids and our dog, Cooper, out to the lot today to catch up on the progress.  The weather has been tumultuous this week ... warm enough for no coats one day, freezing and threatening snow the next.
Today was cold and windy - and even colder and windier once you get out in the open where our lot is - so we didn't take quite as long of a walk as I'd hoped to.

Nevertheless, the basement concrete walls are in.  Now there were nails left out so I had to keep an eye on the kids.  Kai says they may be able to start framing the house by end of next week!  I'm sure once that starts, things will feel like they are moving rapidly.
There are tons more houses around the area that are [all of a sudden] for sale.  I'm trying not to panic!  Brian and his friend took a truckload of boxes and furniture out to storage today - another effort to "declutter" as we get closer to being ready to put the house on the market. 



The kids walk along a truck's wheel groove

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Building has begun!  They broke ground this week (when it wasn't raining) and have the foundation started.  Foundation walls will be poured this coming week as long as the weather cooperates -- which so far the weather looks good until the weekend. 

So we drove up to see the progress this weekend and I think Jacob must have thought that meant the house should have been done.  I think he was disappointed when all he saw was a big hole and an even bigger pile of dirt. Mady was asleep in the car.

We joked with mom that "her" bedroom (the guest bedroom) will be where the ladder and wheelbarrow are located.  Brian told her it would be a "loft" entrance.  :)


We are starting to make selections for the house - we are still working on the "red" factor: I want to make sure that if we pick a red house that it is a good colour, and will not fade quickly (like some cars may do).  We've also selected the black architectural shingles for the roof.  If our scanner ever works again I'll scan my inspiration picture that is the basis for these colour choices. 

Some positive news - the developer was "concerned" that the Left Elevation of the house was 'too plain' and asked Kai to work on it.  Probably he was concerned because the left elevation of the house faces the corner of the street, so highly visible, and we are the first house to build on the larger lots, so perhaps could be impressionable to potential buyers.  Originally he asked us if we would want to change the Left/Right Elevations so that it becomes a mirror of the original plan.  We declined because the plan as-is maximizes the sunlight that would be coming from the south - where all the windows currently are.  So, Kai designed in 3 additional windows for the left side for us at no cost!  Whoo hoo!  I don't think I have the latest design electronically so the drawings I have on this site haven't been updated yet to reflect that.  One window will go on another wall of the stairwell, one that is in the garage, and a third one for the dining area.

However, we've also learned that the developer is also pushing for us to have the yard sodded instead of just seeded, although he approved the original plans.  Sodding, although it would be nice to have, is expensive and if we move in Aug or even Sept, it will still be awful warm out, and we just aren't home enough for watering 3x a day to keep it alive (honestly, about that time of year is when we start to give up on the yard and let it have its way with us).  We may reconsider adding an irrigation system if it's something we have to have, but we may push back as well. 

Further, this week was supposed to be a major step towards getting our current house ready for selling.  We had a carpet replacement for the master bedroom scheduled for Wed.  This was an initiative to start de-cluttering the major pieces of furniture, which were moved out to the office.  Brian stayed home from work during the install, stayed out of the way of the installers while he was working from home, only to discover at the end that it was the wrong carpet!  Right colour, wrong pattern, which was chosen to match as close as possible to the new carpet in the hallway. Ugh.

Turns out that the right carpet was ordered, but the vendor sent the wrong stuff, and no one checked.  So it's a 4-5 day re-ordering and shipping process and then we have to re-coordinate another install.  At least we have some carpet on the floor, but the house is still a mess because we didn't want to move anything back into the room.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Our builder has obtained the permit from the county and is scheduled to break ground next week!