Hard Times

We went by the house earlier in the week. It was the first time going to it since Monique had passed away. Roger and I both couldn't hold back the tears. Something that had been so exciting was somehow not as exciting anymore. The whole reason for buidling the house was for Monique. Everything about it was centered around her and her care. The floor plan, the openeness, the many windows looking out back, all the bedrooms downstairs centered around the big open family room. Her special bathroom, the covered patio with a ramp out back, the ease of coming into the house from the garage with no step. The widened door ways. This is Monique's house and so it will always be.

Next Week

Here is next weeks work...

Electrical finishes and Light fixtures

The electrical finishes were done yesterday, 3/18/2010. We have PLENTY of outlets, more than we have plugs to go into the outlets. I will have to get a bunch of childproof covers for those outlets so that little fingers and toys don't end up in them. I was supposes to meet Cameron and Brennen on Wednesday (3/17/2010, Roger's 32nd birthday) to pick out light fixtures. I ended up needing to take Monique into the hospital (where I am typing this from, Room 789 in the PICU...familiar room). I told Cameron I trusted his judgement and to go ahead and pick the fixtures. He said "no, no, you need to do it." Instead I headed out and met them yesterday. I got to the store a half hour early so I could look around and pick out what I needed. I thought I needed to pick out 3 bathroom light fixtures, and a few surface mount fixtures, which would all be the same anyways, so that was easy. I had it picked out so when Brennen and Cameron came I thought it would be done within minutes. Then Brennen said okay you need to pick:

7 single light surface mount lights
5 two light surface mount lights
3 bathroom light fixtures
Exterior front lights
Exterior back flood lighting
Dining room light
Entry way light
and 2 wall sconces

That was a little more than I thought I needed to pick. I can see why they didn't want to do the picking for me. That much to choose could take some time, not to mention all the chooses. All I needed to know was the budget. They told me and within a half hour I had it all picked and was under budget! I like being under budget. Roger is letting me pick everything for the interior, I do ask if he likes it but he has said he trusts my judgement and knows I will make it look like a home. Not that we would really disagree since we have the same type of taste and ideas.

The fixtures:

Entry way light


Girls Bathroom fixture


Master Bathroom Vanity Fixtures:


Jacob/Hall Bathroom vanity Fixture

Canned lights in areas throughout the house:


Exterior front


Backyard flood light


Dining room


Sconces along stairwell:

Some of the Electrical finishes:

Texture and Paint

They finished with texturing the walls in the house last week. I didn't think it would look that much different walking into the house from it having been drywalled, mud and taped but it did. I walked in and it felt like a real house. The texture on the wall makes it look different. Not sure how to explain how but it really does. Come step into our garage which is not textured and then walk into the house where it is, it just different. Next was the paint. This was a little difficult to decided on. I wanted a color that would feel warm but not overbearing. I wanted something warm but not something that was to 'somber' or dark of a color. Seeing as we live in the Northwest were it can be grey I didn't want to the color to 'feel' grey. There were so many colors to pick from and only a little swatch. How can you really get an idea of the color from a tiny piece of paper. The color always ends up looking different from the swatch. I ended up deciding on something neutral, warm and not to dark. It looks great. It feels creamy and warm. You can't really tell from the pictures what color it is, not sure the name would really give you any idea either-limestone ridge. How do they come up with names for a paint color?

Dry Wall

The dry wall is up. Its been mud and taped and sanded. Things are coming along.

First Three are of the dry wall before it was mud and taped.
The Laudery Room

The Upstairs Bonus Room

Kitchen/Family Room


These were taken today (3/5/2010) It has been mud and taped and sanded down several times. Standing in the entry way looking in.

Front Living Room.


Eliza in the front coat closet just down the hall from the entry. To the left is the front bathroom.


Looking into the family room.

Another view of the family room. Fire place and the door into the master bedroom.


Looking into the kitchen from the hall off the garage.


Looking into Monique's room from the kitchen.

Looking into the master bedroom.


Another view of the master bedroom. Door to right leads to master bathroom and closet


Fireplace



Upstairs looking toward the stairs. Doorway to left leads to attic space and future additional room.

Looking down the stairs

Looking into bonus room from the top of the stairs



Insulation has been blown into the attic space.

Insulation

The week before last (February 8th-12th) the house was insulated. They did the entire house except the crawl space. They got down into the crawl space and there was some residue water from the plumbing test, so they decided to let it dry out for an additional week. We were blessed with a beautiful dry sunny week last week which made for good drying weather. The remainder of the insulation went in on Monday and is now complete. Its so thick. Very different from insulations we have in the rafters in our attic here at 3615, which is the only area of the house that has insulation. I think the new house will be nice a warm and more energy efficient.

G is for Gutter

The rain gutters were put on today. It's a little thing but another step to building a house.

Wikipedia's definition for gutters:
"A narrow channel which collects rainwater from the roof of a building and diverts it away from the structure, typically into a drain."