So far we have finished the guest and master bath, finished the painting in the office, assembled the dresser, hung the mirror, leveled the W&D stands, taken the freezer to the basement and installed all the blinds and some of the curtains. Here are a few pics to help illustrate the babbling.

That color on the curtains is close. Between the sunlight, room light and flash, it was pretty hard to balance the color on this photo. The dresser is a deep brown. We have the matching night stands and continue that color in the living room with the TV stand as well as the dining table.

Again, the color is tough to balance. Lori and I are both used to having a medicine cabinet and towel bar handy right next to our sinks so we did a little shopping and came up with these guys. They’re not the exact same series as the other hardware in the bathroom, but you have to really look to see that they are different. It’s kind of hard to tell, but that greenish line above the towel bar is the glass shelf.

Here is the guest bath. It’s basically finished, I think. We added the towel rack / hand towel bar thingy and Lori found those cool towels that pick up the gray and the browns in the counter and floor.

Here is the paint work that my Dad, Lori and I did. We’re really happy with the color (think Butler and the Bears) as well as the almost perfect line that we managed to get. I’m going to freely pimp a product called Frog Tape. It kicks traditional painter’s blue tape’s ass when it comes to leaving a crisp edge. We have a bunch of those tables (mostly larger ones) that we will each use as desks in there.

So that’s what we’ve been doing for the last couple of days. We hope to get all the pre-move projects finished by Friday and do all our heavy lifting over the weekend.  Be sure to check back to see it get closer and closer to ready to live in!!

Yep, that’s my hand, and those are my keys. On Thursday March 31st, I sat down with George from First American Title and signed a giant stack of papers. I got the jist of most of them . Something about a deed and a loan and a promise to pay back that loan. As George put it, “No pay – No stay!”  Most importantly, however, was the sheet that I signed stating by signing below I affirm that the signature below is mine and represents my name.

Overall, it was a wonderful process and I think I would do it again. Having some idea of what is going to happen would make it a lot easier, but not nearly as much ‘fun’. We had our share of missed deadlines, lost papers, math errors, broken light fixture covers, incorrectly installed hose bibs, bad weather, porch steps either too high or not deep enough, picky inspectors, really bad loan officers, muddy footprints on the new carpet, doors that wouldn’t close, doors that wouldn’t open, doors without knobs, frogs in our basement window well, and ninja network jacks that still don’t work – but, we also had fantastic sales reps, construction managers, construction phase supervisors, warranty representatives, really good loan officers and lending team, builder reps and a real estate agent that were all willing to jump in and get all those little things taken care of so that the overall experience was definitely positive and the end result is a fantastic place to live and call home.

Now the fun of moving, decorating and finally unboxing all the cool stuff we bought begins. I’ve already completed my first 2 home improvement projects and am ready for more!

This isn’t the end of the blog – only the beginning. Stay tuned for future updates!!

The builder offers Whirlpool appliances, so that’s what they are. They also had a “special” going on at the time we chose them so we went for stainless steel – and I’m glad we did. They look pretty good.

Here’s the dishwasher. I have no doubt that it will be a) quieter b) more efficient and c) overall waaaay better than the dinosaur we have now.

5 days from now is closing!!!

I do have a few pictures to share of some new stuff so…

Here’s our air conditioner. They finally had a chance to set the initial grade on the yard which was required before setting the air conditioner in place. I don’t know anything about that brand – I hope it does the trick!

Here’s one of the hose bibs. We have 3 – 1 on each side and 1 on the back of the house. Nothing fancy, but they should do the trick.

And here are the stairs off the sliding door. Building a real deck off the sliding door will be one of the early projects – at least I hope. These will serve to get us to ground level, but that’s about it!

We’re getting really close. The next update will likely come after the punch list is complete and the appliances are installed. We’re also waiting for the interior of the garage to get paint and finishing touches.

Stay tuned!!! Only 10 days to go!

Here’s the living room with the completed network wiring. Four jacks in this room. I wonder how long until we’ll have to put a secondary switch in this room?

Here’s a closeup of the ninja’s work. It’s not too bad. I did notice that 1 of the closet jacks had been finished so I tested it, and sure enough, it works! I just hope the ninja gets back in there tomorrow to get the closet finished and everything tested.

We stopped by tonight to take some pictures of the work that has happened over the past couple of days. Please forgive the strange orange glow in many of the pictures. The perimeter of the house is still surrounded by the day-glo orange plastic fencing and on a bright day like today, it casts an orange reflection into the house.

Here’s a look toward the kitchen at the final paint, trim and carpet colors (except the orange, of course.)

This is the shelving that has been installed in the master bath linen closet.

The shower door and drain fixtures have been installed.

Here’s looking toward the master from the kitchen. There’s still a little trim painting to do here and there, but we’re getting there. You can also see the ultra bright orange fencing through the window.

We got our mailbox today. I wonder how long it will stay clean and “unweathered.”

This is the kitchen. All we need now are the appliances!

This weekend I plan on spending some time doing the finish work on the network cables that I installed so I’ll get some more pictures then and get another post up this weekend. Until then…

And a driveway:

This week’s update should include some cool stuff like finished paint, closet shelving, outdoor electrical fixtures, a graded yard, the back steps, and other little tidbits. Stay tuned as we get closer and closer.

The living room area has 4 recessed lights and a ceiling fan. Hopefully the fan will help regulate the temperature differences that the vaulted ceiling will create.

Here is our bowling pin pattern kitchen lighting. OK, that’s a bit of a stretch, but hey I don’t remember what I said the first time.

We also got a lot of plumbing work done this week. Including the shower fixtures and:

Toilets!

Not as cool as toilets, but just as important is the hot water heater, the sump pump, the basement bathroom waste water ejector system and the furnace.

On the left is the main 200 Amp panel which is stuffed to the gills – which is why I ordered up the extra 100 Amps (little box on the right) to use when we finish the basement.

Along with all the other cool stuff, we got a kitchen sink – and, apparently, a maxwell house coffee can of wire nuts.

A lot has happened since the last post. Let’s take a look:

Our basement has received insulation. This stuff is pretty cool. It’s nice puffy insulation on the inside and vapor barrier on the outside. We can frame our walls right up against it. Until then, it really helps keep the room bright.

Trim paint has started. The doors and trim work has all been sprayed and is looking pretty good.

Here is our freshly poured garage floor. I’m not sure what they sealed it with, but it sure did make the whole house smell! It looks good though.

ADT was in and installed the alarm panel and finished the siren, motion detector, smoke detector and door contacts.

And last, but not least, we have our vinyl flooring installed. I really like the color and pattern. I can’t wait to see it next to the carpet and finished paint.

First, we have both of our shutters – finally a couple of days above freezing so the mason could do some work. Eventually, the door will match the shutter color, but that is one of the last things they do. They have also finished the exterior trim work. It kinda looks like a house on the outside now.

Someone, probably Super-Dave our construction foreman, noticed a squeak in the floor. I can confirm the squeak did exist over the weekend and that as of this evening, it has been fixed.  Yay for fixing stuff!

Here’s a shot of the kitchen with all kinds of new stuff going on. The drywall has been mudded, sanded and hit with a prime coat of paint. Trim has been applied and interior doors have been hung. The plans on the wall are for the cabinet installers.

Here’s a closer shot of a couple interior doors. They have all been hung and are awaiting paint and hardware.

Boys and girls, we have ourselves the making of a kitchen here. The cabinets and counter tops are in place. The trim is in the box sitting on the counters. While our walls are not quite primer gray, they will be a light gray so you can actually start to get an idea of what things will look like.

Here you can start to get an idea of the pattern and color of the counters. There is a layer of dust on them so they’ll be a touch darker, but the basic color and pattern is there.

Here’s side view of the snack bar top so you can get an idea of it’s width. Now if only we could find some bar stools to slide under there…

Here’s a look at the guest bath counter. We chose something different there just to change things up a little. The vinyl flooring will be different than the kitchen area as well.

And here is the master bath marble double vanity. Me likey! I wanted to tear the protective plastic off to get a good picture, but I thought better of it. I can’t wait to see it when everything is finished (including straightening of  the cabinet doors and inserts.)

Next update should be in a couple of days after they have finished the interior painting!