Blinds and mantle

Everyday I get so excited when something else is completed. They installed the blinds today and they look awesome! Thanks Steve! I haven't been able to sleep for the past few nights just thinking about moving and unpacking and putting things away. I'm like a kid right before Christmas! I can't stop thinking about it. I'm dreaming about how I'm going to organize the kitchen and my desk and unpacking all the stuff I haven't seen in a year. It truly will be like Christmas for all of us since everything has been put away for so long.

Mark Ford (the sup) is doing our mantle himself. We decided to use the heartwood from the pine tree that fell in our backyard. It is going to be really rustic looking. It won't be stained for a few weeks because you have to let it dry out before staining. I don't really care. I just think it's so cool that we were able to "save" part of the tree that has been part of this neighborhood for as long as it has been in existence. We started counting rings and lost count at 60 so that tree has been around for a long, long time. And, I hope that it will be around for another 60+ years as part of this house!

One Week Away

Today was amazing! We are only one week before closing and the house is well on it's way. Paul, our contractor, has done an amazing job and we are excited about the house and cannot wait. While we are very appreciative of our friends Jacque and Terry for renting their home to us, it was a godsend being just four doors down, but man we are ready to be in our own house. We have been in flux for the last 12 months and it will be good to be settled.

Here is what has been done.

• Completed the outdoor lights
• Finished the wood floors
• Put down the floor boards
• Many of the lights have been installed
• The appliances are in
• Fixtures have been installed
• A list of punch items have been done

This week, the appliances, carpet, landscaping and other things will be either completed or started. It is amazing how well this is going. Our closing is next week and we are ready to go. The pictures of the house really say more than any words can.


Master bath detail


Living Room


The stairs

Kitchen and living


Kitchen


Bathroom fixtures


Master shower


View from the front yard


Handmade craftsman exterior lights


Living room floors


Living room with wall detail

Finally, Ike is Gone

So, the last remnants of Ike were gone last Sunday. I am just getting these posted but they are amazing. Heather posted about this earlier.

As Heather said, a large piece of the tree fell into our backyard. We are having the contractor craft our mantle out of the heartwood of that tree.

You should have seen this hanging over our new house! Ugh.

The Appliances Are Coming!

This week is the week. They will start the landscaping, get in all the appliances and finish up all the painting. We close next week! What a time to be doing that. I owe the internet some new pictures and information. I will get that online this week.

Toilets and sinks and faucets, OH MY!

I never thought I would get this excited about a toilet - HA! They have been working fast and furiously over this past week to get stuff done since we need to close by the 15th. Everything looks so good. The kids are so excited to get into their new rooms and I'm ready to have a place to put backpacks when we get home from school. Not having power for 15 days really set us back on construction. Apparently, in a humid climate such as ours, you have to dry out the wood floors for 3 or 4 days before staining them, so we are in the drying out phase. But, other things are happening right now, like installation of lighting, fans, light switches, faucets, cabinet doors, door hardware, etc.

Bo and I went down there last night at 11 pm because they have actually installed a lot of the lighting, so cool!!! It was really neat to see it lit up at night and how different everything looks. We're getting closer everyday!!!

Phone and Internet

Hooray! We have phone and internet back. I have been a little behind in posting because we haven't had phone or internet for 19 days - thanks to Ike! I need to call the phone company and see if I can get a credit. Maybe that will help offset a little bit of the cost of all the gas we had to buy for the generator - ugh!

Things are really moving on the house now. We are trying to beat a rate lock and need to close by the 15th in order to get a 5.5% interest rate on a 3/1 ARM. In this volatile market, we feel like this is the best deal we can get at the moment. We'll be refinancing in 3 years if the rate adjusts too much for our liking. I guess we'll see what this "bail out" does to the interest rates...

A crane comes to our rescue

Sunday was a big day for us, plus a tad bit stressful. The branch that fell off the neighbor's tree into our backyard and took out the power for 15 days, caused the tree itself to go into some distress. It was precariously perched over the neighbor's house. You couldn't really see the "break" from the neighbor's backyard but when you went into our backyard it was really scary to consider how much of the tree was actually gone and understand the enormity of this tree and the eminent danger that that tree has caused. The tree trimming people estimated that the top portion of the tree (from the break, up) weighed approximately 35,000 pounds. It only took a minute for the neighbor's to decide that the tree had to go.

It was SOOOO huge that they had to bring in a crane to take it out. They brought in a 100 ton crane around 9 am on Sunday. It was too small. Then they brought in a 250 ton crane along with another 18-wheeler carrying weights to stabilize the crane while they took the tree out. It was a little heart-wrenching watching this little guy being lifted by the crane and deposited in the tip top of this "broken" tree. He repelled down with chainsaw in hand, all the while wrapping rope around the tree. When he got to the break, he fired up the chainsaw and started cutting. The crane had to lift the tree up to get it off of itself and once it broke loose, it started to swing like a wrecking ball right toward our chimney. OMG!! The crane operator, like a surgeon, simply lifted it up high enough in the air that it didn't make contact - whew! I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest!

With the remainder of the tree, they were going to chop and push in 12 inch sections, however the tree was so big around they couldn't do that so they even had to use the crane to take out the bottom portion of the tree. I didn't watch that part but the neighbors said it was even scarier than the first part being lifted out.

I'll get Bo to post pictures later but they really don't do the whole process justice. You really had to be there. Needless to say, after we got power back late Saturday night, we had more tree debris to get out of the yard, which is still sitting out by the street. Who knows when they'll pick all that up?!? The electric people were great but they definitely aren't arborists. And, after cleaning up the yards (AGAIN!) Bo got poison ivy - ugh!

I am so ready to get settled into this new house and get some sort of normalcy back into our lives. I truly can't believe that it's October. September was a total blur!