House Purgatory

Well, we are no longer Falcon Heights residents.  Saying good bye was kind of hard, our little house saw us through nine pretty great years.  The move was complicated first by torrential rain, then by an almost broken toe (Andy's).  Thankfully, the doctor said today that it wasn't actually broken, which shocked the doctor.  He said, "when it looks that gruesome, it's broken."  

Anywho, our stuff has moved to the new house.  We technically have not.  Thanks to our new almost neighbor who reads this blog, we were offered sleeping arrangements in the house next door!  How is that for welcome to the neighborhood?!  (Seriously, thanks again, guys.  Lucy wants to know where the boys are.)  In the mean time, we spend our waking hours unpacking and moving in, but sleep next door and plan to shower at the health club.  Dear St. Paul - this is inconvenient.  

Pantry

Oh goodness, we love having storage.  The pantry has been wonderful as we unpack boxes from our previous "pantry" which was a cabinet in our basement bathroom.  

A work in progress - two shelves already dedicated to beverages.  We must really like beverages.

Mudroom

While it's hard to appreciate yet since we have yet to enter/exit the house as we would if everything were done, the mudroom is definitely proving it's worth.  The shoe shelves are finally up and boot trays in place - bring on the shoes!

A jumbled mess now, but I have great hopes that this room will provide much organization to our lives.

Walk & Step

Our front walk was poured today, as was the bottom step by the back door.  Getting closer to mud-less access.

Bottom landing on the back step (sorry for the plumber butt shot, or cement dude butt in this case.  Hopefully your resolution isn't very good.)

Front walkway is kind of super-sized.  Still like it!

Carpet

The kids' rooms and the den now are carpeted.  All of the extra stuff piled in common areas were able to be put in place.  Still looks pretty sparse.  

Den!  Even though this is on the north side of the house, it's filled with light. - though you can't tell here.  Lucy liked sitting in here watching for her Papas (Grandpa).  

Totally can't tell, the kids rooms are monochromatic gray, but the carpet has fun circle & square patterns.  I am so distracted by the shimmery light from the crystal ceiling light.

2 - ish

We shall now redefine what the phrase "moving in 2 days" actually means.  Due to not passing today's occupancy inspection, it means that our stuff will move in. We will unpack all of our stuff, spend all of our time there, eat there, but sleep somewhere else.  It will take the next week to address the crazy, minor issues pointed out by the inspector... we we will be sleeping in a nearby hotel.

I choose optimism!  Let's look at fun stuff and make believe that this little blip never happened.

Shower
Staying at the American Club in Kohler ruined me, I wanted a shower with sprayers shooting everywhere.  Putting in a Kohler package with rain tiles shooting from every direction is awful expensive, and the labor adds up, too.

Enter the pieced-together Moen system.  In order to get a shower rigged to combine a rain head with a body spray, you usually need 2 valves (x2 on the labor).  Moen has the M-Pact 3330 value that is both a main valve and a diverter valve.  That means you can have RAIN + BODY or RAIN ONLY or BODY ONLY.  Then you can use normal fixtures to create a pretty luxurious bath.  Dude, I am going to be so clean.

Can't wait for my first shower.  I did use the toilet for the first time today.  Not as gratifying.

Rain

On another rain-related topic, it poured last night and this morning.  If we don't get our landscaping done soon, it will all wash away and we'll have to start over.  

The walls on those canyons are about 3 to 4 inches tall!

Tomorrow the wood floors get sanded and a top coat applied.  10 hours minimum to cure, just in time for movers on Saturday morning.  Ye ha!

Fore! (or four)

Dang.

Entry
I pulled up to the house today and magically there was a railing!  I had no idea that it was going up this week.

No more worry about falling into the egress window...  of death.  Railings!

Numbers!  Mailbox!

Legitimate front door handle installed - I now have keys!  Once we paint the exterior, the door will be the 2012 Pantone Color of the Year... that's right, Tangerine Tango!

Electrical
Light fixtures are going up right and left.  Ahhh....

Welcome! A couple of Lowe's lights.

To the right is another Lowes light.  To the left this spot over the stairs gave us great concern.  I give you the George Nelson Bubble Lamp - Propeller style!  I wanted so badly to turn it on, but the electrician had the circuit turned off.  Notice the Linen color paint - my mistake from yesterday.  Latte is in the dining room, Linen here. 

Yes, more Lowes lights.  The pendants are now in place over the island and over the kitchen sink.

Hooks 'n Stuff
Door stops were installed today, so no more worry about fly-away doors taking a chunk out of the wood work.  I also worked with one of our carpenters to determine where all of the towel rods, robe hooks, and toilet paper holders.

Finally, the hooks were mounted in the mudroom.  Looking functional!

Take 5

Five days until we move in, but 3 days until inspection to get the certificate of occupancy.  Stuff is flying now.

Paint

The painter worked all weekend priming and painting the 1st floor ceiling.  Today the real fun began - color!  Our first floor colors are inspired by Restoration Hardware, but executed by Valspar.  Contrary to how it may sound, we did not choose the colors based on the names.

The fireplace is painted in Chocolate.  The walls are not painted yet, but will be Latte, see picture below.

More Chocolate in the den.

And more Chocolate in the powder room.  There is a sample board of metallic paint - but not sure that's worth $400 to us.  $40 maybe, $400 no.

Latte in the hallways and stairwell. Seriously, no tasting my walls.

Plumbing

Work on all-things-water continues.  The fridge and dishwasher went in as well as many of the plumbing fixtures.  The tub continues, but that one is going to take a little time.

Backsplash crisis officially averted, the master faucets are in!  Might I remind you, these puppies cost $627 new.    We just spent our allowance based on Home Depot standards.  

Free toilet!  A barely used Kohler Welworth from Anoka.  Super clean and super free.

The Kohler Simplice - same as the one we installed at the house we are moving out of.  We love it, glad we ended up with 2 of them!

Shower door installed!  Tricky to actually photograph...

Grading

Rain would make the biggest mess right now. Although, this is a big improvement from the gravel pile  we had before.  

Perfectly ground coffee for a lawn - it's like my dreams have come true. (It's actually dirt.) 

Slope is now in the right direction.  Time to dig it up and do some landscaping!

N I N E D A Y S L E F T . . .

Tonight was the first night all week that we didn't spend at Home Depot - so many loose ends needing to be tied.  Exhausting.

Light, dazzling light

The electrician has been working in the paint-free zone (the second floor) getting lights installed. It's amazing how simply covering a light bulb seems to finish a room.

Lucy's shiny, girlie light.  Even more fabulous than I thought.  This is the Bel Air Metalic Ceiling Light from Lowes.  

This Portfolio Flush Mount from Lowes was the only decent looking fixture that we found that took a 100W traditional bulb.  AND it was only $25!  Score!

Garage power!

Electric has been run to the garage and now lights have been installed.  

We totally cheaped out on the garage lighting.  Thanks to $5 jelly jar outdoor lights.    Yup, they provide light.  

Oh no!  We built on a fault line!!!  Crap.

Plumbing power!

Also in the paint free zone, the plumber is plumbing away.  Things are coming together, pieces here and there.  

The first piece of the master shower is in place.  

This Kohler Kelston faucet was scored on Craigslist for $50.

Finally ready for plumbing!  The backsplash was installed now that it is thinned down and sinks installed.  

Lucky 13

Thirteen days to go!  Best news is that Lucy's grandparents offered to take her to the cabin over the move weekend.  AWESOME!

Pictorially speaking, there is not much to show this weekend.  Paint is about the least interesting pictures to show - especially primer.  A few random items of interest as we launch into the week. Both items required for occupancy, both install processes start with, "first we drill into your cement board siding." Gasp!

The mailbox
I never realized how boring and disappointing mailboxes can be.  I would be ok with a boring one to be replaced later if it wasn't being screwed into the cement board siding.  Etsy to the rescue again!  We found an interesting, reasonably priced mailbox in British Colombia from Copperdesign, who I guess you would referred to as a copper smith.

The Canadian mailbox, eh.

The house numbers
Made by HouseArt, our house numbers are apparently required for occupancy.  Another thing we would care little about except for the previously stated drilling.

5 inch raised numbers.  Also doubled as Andy's birthday present.

And... that's pretty much it.

Sweet 16

T-16 days until we move in and I had my first if-something-had-to-remain-undone-what-would-it-be conversation.  So?  Where we at?

Appliances

Kitchen appliances and washer/dryer were delivered and installed.  I don't think I will every want to take the plastic off.  I fear the very first scratch.  After the first one, I'm good.

A budget move was to choose an electric stove instead of a gourmet gas stove.  We saved on running a gas line, and of course the cost of the stove.  This one has the highest performance rating for broiling steaks - very important criteria.

I love my Bosch dishwasher now, it was a top priority for the new house.  This one rates even quieter than our current one - it's shocking!

The microwave drawer.  Time will tell on this one.

This one is going to take some thought.  If this is anywhere close to the placement, we are going to bonk our heads big time on part of the furnace.  

Kitchen backsplash

Today, with plenty of tiling drama (the Tile Shop screwed up the order, but fixed it in the end) the kitchen backsplash was installed.  We stewed over a couple of design decisions - first to run the tile to the soffit over the hood, second to run the tile over the window.  So glad we did both.

Hard to see, but the the entire wall under the soffit is now tiled.

This elongated subway tile seemed like a modern twist on the old classic.

Door hardware

We mail ordered all our door knobs from Handlesets.com - I wanted to go with something with a round knob and a square face plate without spending an arm and a leg.  I found a reasonably priced option from Schlage, but I had trouble finding the quantities we needed, so I'm assuming it is discontinued. 

It's the photo, not your eyes.

Here is the pocket door hardware.  Emtek pulls (the oval things) with Baldwin edge pulls.

Paint

Paint is and will remain our critical path.  Bedrooms are now painted - 2 different shades of gray.

A light gray for both kids' rooms.

One shade darker for the master bedroom.

Garage

Windows and service door are installed on the garage.  Siding has begun.  Tomorrow we start picking out the garage door.

The beast upstairs

The tub is in its new home - HUZZAH!

It was a 2 hour endeavor for 4 movers to move it from the storage unit, to its new home in the 2nd floor master bathroom.  Things went relatively smoothly until it was time to get up the stairs - to make things interesting, the stair railings had a fresh coat of paint on them.  Fabulous.

Skirting the freshly painted railings with the 500 lb tub.  All the moving straps in the world won't make it any lighter.

Taking a significant break on the 2nd landing - almost there.

With only a minor ding on the bathroom door, the tub is in it's approximate resting place.  

In other news:

• The kitchen appliances were delivered today.  They are all wrapped up and sitting in the center of the kitchen/dining room.  Tomorrow, they get installed!

Waiting...

• The garage looks like a garage.

I can definitely fit the Golf in there.  Definitely.

• I have found someone to plane the granite back splashes!  Affordable Granite & Stone in Hopkins will be receiving my delivery tomorrow, it should take them about a day.  Soooo glad.