Bleach, soffits and magic markers

Plumbing update
We now know which celebrities to thank for the delightful bathroom fixtures.  The condo was owned by Dwane Casey (coach) then later rented to Al Jefferson (player), both of Minnesota Timberwolves fame.  While these names mean nothing to me, based on the reactions I have gotten, I believe I will bleach the tub with much gusto.  I will also lie to myself that the tub only served as the beer cooler during the NBA parties often held at the condo.

Soffit trouble
Smooth, painted soffit was always the plan especially since we will have 3 foot overhangs staring down at us.  Unfortunately through a misunderstanding, we only budgeted for aluminum soffit.  We thought long and hard over the budget increase and ended up sticking with the aluminum option.  Oh, smooth soffits, the dream of you will be missed.

A sense of the size and visibility of the soffits.

Cabinet meeting
We met with Brad, the cabinet guy today.  We stood in the kitchen as he drew out the cabinet plan with marker on the floor.  It was surreal!  With a few rejiggers of Brad's draft, we are looking forward to an incredibly coherent kitchen plan.

Looking good in the kitchen.

A trip upstairs

We had the chance to see the upstairs since it was framed.  Things are coming along great!  

My closet is so big,  I can't reach both sides at the same time. 

Lucy's room has a small walk-in closet complete with a window!  Gonna need a shade on that.

  

Home decapitation

Yesterday, the carpenters started putting up the roof trusses.  Today, about half of the roof was covered with plywood.

A peek at the side.

A view of the hip roof from below.

Then we discussed a situation with the roof over the single story section in the back.  The walls were mistakenly framed 1 foot too high.  This was discovered when the roof trusses overlapped a window opening on the 2nd floor.  To solve the problem, the guys are going cut the roof off of the entire back part of the house, cut the walls down a foot, then put the entire roof back on.  They didn't seem to think that decapitating the house was a big deal, it might take them a day.  Thankfully the entire 10 day forecast still shows mid to upper 30s!

Progress, Shock & Awe

With Friday's progress, we are definitively not building a double wide.  Andy climbed up to get a first hand look at the upstairs.  It will be great when there are stairs to look around, Lucy is getting a little emotional being left out of some of the exploration.  This week should see the roof go up!  

Andy standing in Lucy's future room - which she claims will be orange.

The temporary stairs...  not a long-term solution.  The window to the right is in the Master Bathroom.

The window above will be in the Master Bedroom - same view as the living room.

Shock and Awe 

There is an event on the horizon that will take the Craig-o-Meter to unprecedented heights!  A deal is in progress that will tie up many items on our list in a single purchase:  the final toilet, the sink for the kids' bathroom, the 3 remaining bathroom faucets, the powder room mirror and lighting, and all bathroom accessories (towel bars, etc.).  The spectacular part of this deal is that most of these items weren't listed in the add - we were there looking at a bathtub!  I will share details once the deal is finished, hopefully tomorrow :)

Surprise, it's a double-wide

I quickly stopped by the site around 5:30 today.  The fact that there is still a sliver of light is very good for my psyche - and means we can start to see the progress without flashlights.  Finishing touches were being put on the subfloor on the 2nd floor joists, enclosing the first floor, and getting ready for going even higher.

Looking a bit like a double-wide from the front right now... 

The living room/mudroom that remains open to the elements are waiting for a roof, there will be no 2nd floor over that part of the house.

Tomorrow, walls start going up on the 2nd floor.  Next week we should have a roof!  In other news, the new owners of the house next door have two young kids - great news for us!  The carpenters are getting all of the neighborhood dish.

Lights!

No work happened on Thursday or Friday because of the low temps.  I just checked the 10 day forecast and it's looking like high 20s to high 30s every day.  A couple of the days show snow, but nothing significant.  Thank goodness!  I'm getting nervous with the insides of the house being exposed to elements for so long.  HOPEFULLY the 2nd floor joists will get installed early this week now that the weather is cooperating.

The luxury of daylight on the weekend allowed us a few more pictures.

Back of the house, you can see the back door on the right of the photo.  The adjacent wall should have a window framed in it - hopefully that will be fixed soon.

View out of the big back window.  The 2x4 is not part of our plan.

The powder room - it's a bathroom.  Powder is optional.

View from the back of the house to the front.  You can sort of see the framed opening between the living and
dining/kitchen area.

Other stuff - Dining Room Chandelier
Craigslist is just not delivering on a few items.  The dining room chandelier is one of those items.  We really like drum shade chandeliers.  Room & Board has some great print ones, but they run about $500 for the largest sizes.  I found a designer on Etsy (JesseLeeDesigns) who custom makes the entire fixtures with your own fabric.  She suggests a site called spoonflower.com to chose your fabric, we have decided to go with a large scale, bold tangerine print.  It was a toss up between lime green and tangerine.  Stay tuned for lime green elsewhere.

Our first trip in

We're in!
Perfect timing.  Andy and I were both doing drive-bys on the project at the very same time.  So we decided to unbuckle Lucy and go into the house for the first time!  This will be much easier once there are front steps, but we got up with a little oomph.  Being in the space was a bit of a relief that we weren't crazy with our design, but it actually does flow well.

Lucy and I standing in the kitchen, in front of the window that made me so happy yesterday.  Still smilin'!

Here is a view from between the kitchen and dining into the living room.  The opening on the left is the triple window, the opening on the right will be the fireplace flanked by 2 high windows.

Lucy and Andy standing between the entry way and the door to the kitchen/dining.  

PANTRY!!!

While it might appear that we are standing in a meteor shower, it's actually snowing really big snowflakes picking up the flash on my phone.  We'll see tomorrow if the 2nd floor gets put on!

Q&A:  What's the deal with a batch disposer?  Say more, please.

Here's my analysis from what I can gather online and in Consumer Reports. 

• Turning it on - you turn on a batch disposer by flipping over and turning the special drain stopper.  This trips a magnet switch and turns the unit on.  This means that you don't need a switch wired on your wall or drilled into your counter top. 
• Safer - nothing can fly out and take out your eye because the stopper is on.  Also, no way to get your hand caught since it won't turn on with the stopper in place.
• Super grinder - They appear to do a better job of liquifying the food, probably because they use more powerful grinders... something that wouldn't be safe without the stopper in place.  They claim it is better for treatment of the sewage.  They also claim you can stick anything in it like bones and celery (I didn't realize they were on the same plane, but indeed.)

Right down the middle

Sorry.  Yes, more darkness.  

It appears that the first floor is framed for the most part.  The 2nd floor joists arrived and await whatever crane/levitation machine that is coming tomorrow.  Each of us stopped by the site.  We have promised not to go "inside" until we're both together.  However, I did stand and the front door and looked down the center of the house and out the back window.  

This view down the spine of the house was an important view to us.   If any of the doorways or the windows were off center, we felt like it would feel out of balance.

The view from the street.

Does it amaze anyone else that this part can go so quickly given that there are only 2 men on the crew?

Walls in the dark

Even with the darkness, I have seen my kitchen window for the first time.  I am so excited I might pee my pants.  Things were looking a little sketchy at the end of last week.  Xcel still had not connected the power so the carpenters were using the neighbor's temporarily...  and then their circuit blew.  The guys quit early on Friday because they had run out of "unplugged" work to do.

To our surprise, walls appeared today!  I'm guessing they used power and didn't hand nail each 2x4 into place.

The kitchen window is in the center, powder room to the right.

Barely visible view of the entire first floor.

Word is the second story floor joists arrive tomorrow.  I can't wait for the opportunity to walk around in the space and get a feel for it.

Let the framing begin!

It truly has been quiet - nothing to report.  After a week waiting for the delivery of the framing materials, then there was a delay while our carpenter recovered from an injury.  Finally after 2 weeks of quiet, it's time for major progress!  Terribly unfortunate that our house couldn't be the one that got framed by toasty, warm carpenters during the 50+ degree weather.

Yesterday, the carpenters spent the day planning, measuring and installing the sill plate.  That's the wood frame that is installed directly on the foundation walls.  I stopped by the site around 7:30 this morning and the first floor joist was in place.

As of 7:30 this morning.

I stopped by again after work around 5:00 and found this!   

At 5:00, all the joists are in place - I pray that floor won't squeak like our current floor.

And the bearing wall in the basement is framed in.  This will be the stairs to the basement which will someday be a family room.  

The only bearing wall section in the basement, otherwise it's wide open.

I was asked by the carpenter - in a nice way - if I was going to stop by every day.  I said I would want to visit if cool stuff was happening.  I didn't have the heart to tell what I think qualifies as cool.  We shall see each other often.

Craigslist Update

While it's been a bit of a dry spell, Craig finally came through this weekend.  I have been watching for a new garbage disposal.  Our contractor had 2 stipulations, it had to be an InSinkerator and it had to be 3/4 horse power.  He had spec'd $150 for one.  I was able to buy a new InSinkerator Cover Control (a batch disposer model) which retails for around $300 for $80.  Never knew that there was such a thing as a batch disposer, but per Consumer Reports, the only downside is the cost...  <smug grin>