We Have Drywall!

When we pulled up to the house, we were excited to see we have a front walkway!  We were not happy that it dried and we couldn't put our initials in it!

Here's a view from up on our hillside in the back yard.  You can get an idea of the yard space from this.


When you walk in through the garage, you pass through the laundry room (pictured here on the left).
 Across from the laundry room you can see the view down the stairs to the basement (on the right).

When you come through the front door you see the stairs, and to the right is the view down the hall to the family room.

Here is a view of the family room.  With the drywall hung, it really looks roomy!

Here's a view of what will be our kitchen.  Once the counters and island are in, you'll get a better idea!

 From the kitchen you can see the morning room and the half-wall that will separate the two rooms.

This view allows you to see the extra windows we added on the side and the vaulted ceiling.

This is the living room.  In the Victoria Falls elevation B, you can see there is an additional bump out in the front that gives this room a little distinction.

And to round out the main floor, this is a view from the living room to the dining room.  This opening is one of the casings Pat is going to do for us.  You can see the tray ceiling we upgraded to in the dining room.

Oops!  One more room on the first floor... the half bath!  There's a pretty big window in here, so we'll have to put blinds up as soon as we move in!  On the right is the kids bathroom upstairs.

Here is the bathroom in the master bath.  We have a nice garden tub with corner windows (which will also need blinds immediately!).  Next to the tub is a separate glass door shower, a linen closet, and separate toilet room.

Here is the guest bedroom.  It has a window facing the back yard.  To the right you see the view from the hallway looking down into the two-story foyer (the railing will look a little nicer when finished!).

Savannah's room will be over the living room, so she will also have the benefit of the "bump-out" space.  The picture on the right will be Logan's room.  His room will face the back of the house, over the dining room.

Here is a view out Logan's window.  I think we will own to the corner of the hillside, but I'm not really sure.

These series of pictures show a crack in the floor of the basement that runs the full length of the house.  I am very concerned about this.  I've e-mailed Pat to express my concern, but have yet to hear back.

Pre-Dry Wall Meeting

On Friday, we had our pre-dry wall meeting with Pat.  He walked us through the whole house, and we took a look at all of the wiring.  Everything was in place exactly where we wanted it, including the additional outlets we added... some forward thinking by Anne for Christmas decorating!  He explained a few things to us and we discussed a final walk through and closing date.  We will go through the house one last time on Friday, June 8, and then close on Monday, June 11.  Below you will see some highlights of our journey through the house before the dry wall was hung.  He said that he planned on putting the insulation in on Monday, so he was counting on the roof to be shingled by then (I am typing this on Sunday, and with the weather the past two days I can tell you that did not happen). We took the kids up late Friday, and there was no additional work done.  Anne stopped by on Saturday (in the pouring rain) and still no shingled roof... there were a lot of puddles in the house though.  I'll have to ask Pat if that is going to be a problem.  I feel like the floor boards behind the walls should not be wet or else we could get mold.  I just hope they get it shingled and insulated soon, but probably not tomorrow... calling for 6 inches of snow.  I guess that could be a little set-back to the June 11th closing.  Who would have guessed snow in late April!!?

Speaking of insulation, these are two pictures of our basement (which is huge and will be awesome when we finish it... in 20 years).  Pat said the insulation here is upgraded from the normal pink fiber stuff that normally goes in.  I think codes have changed since we started this process. 

 Since we were with Pat, we felt safe going upstairs (unlike when we sneaked in the day before).  Here is a picture of our Master Bedroom.  The two windows are on the side of the house.

Walking out of the master you can see the stairs going down to the left and straight ahead will be Savannah's bedroom.  To the right is first the guest bedroom, then the bathroom, and finally Logan's room.  His room will be in the rear of the house this time.

Here we will have a railing along the second floor hallway.  It will have an amazing view of the two-story entry.  In the picture you can see one of Anne's "Christmas" outlets between the two top windows ("in case we want to hang lighted wreaths there").

Bricking Complete

These pictures are actually from Wednesday... I've gotten a little behind.  All of the bricking on the front of the house is complete.  They even have the porch built up.  You can see the shingles stacked on the roof, so they still have yet to do that.  They also have our driveway poured... well, I guess not poured but black-topped.

The girls at Ryan homes were out in the neighborhood and they said we should take a walk in and look around.  I just wanted to make sure the place was sturdy first!

This will be the view from our family room into the kitchen/morning room.  You can see the framing of the counter that will separate the two rooms.  The morning room has a vaulted ceiling and a lot of windows for great light.

This is the fireplace in the family room.  It will be on a side wall.  It actually has a light switch to control it!

This is just a view from the main hall where you can see down into the basement and also our stairs to the second floor right around the corner.

This is a view looking up from our entryway.  I thought all of the duct work in the attic looked pretty cool from this view... almost like a big spider sitting up there.  I was worried about the gap in the roofing boards, but Pat told us it is not a concern.  He said it is actually better to have some gaps to let air circulate and let the house breathe. 

More Bricks

We stopped by today (Sunday) and they almost have the whole front of the house bricked!  The color looks a little duller than we thought when we picked out the bricks, but we're hoping maybe it just needs cleaned up from the dirt and cement.  We won't really know until we see it all together with the white trim and black shutters.

Here's a nice look at the front entry stairs.  I sneaked a shot through the front window when no one was around!

This is the framing of the inside of our garage.  To the right, you can see the extra storage space.  It's about a 5x5 space, so we won't get a ton of stuff in there.  But at least it is a place for the garbage cans and lawn mower (which really get in the way in our current house).  Through the door on the left will take you from the garage into the laundry room... then into the hallway/kitchen.  The area behind the garage will be our family room.

Bricking and Roofing

The bricks have arrived, and they started laying them on Friday.  They also put down the tar paper on the roof, and should start the shingles on Monday.

The guys were actually working when we stopped by at 6:00 PM on Friday!

We've got a roof!!!

Yeah!  It's starting to look like our house.  We have a roof!

And they put the windows in!  We don't have to worry about anyone coming a long and taking them any more.

You can finally tell that we have a front porch!

And even though we don't have a door hung yet, that's okay...

Because you can get a neat view of our slanted staircase!  Hopefully in the next post we will have some bricks on the front!

2nd Floor

As we drove up to the house, we were excited to see they started work on the second floor.  You can also see where the front door will be now, and how our elevation (Elevation B) has a little bump out in the front entry and carried through the second floor.



This is the view through the front door.  Soon we will have stairs to the second floor!

The morning room is getting a roof... and the whole first floor is getting its "baked potato" wrap!

They've filled in the hole for the fireplace, and up top is our master suite with a huge bathroom.  Okay, so it doesn't look like much now... but wait until it's finished!