We See Tile!!!

As  the house continues to move along, the treads are being put on the stairs, the mantle is about to be put on, and the bathrooms are tiled and grouted. We met with the granite guy this week, and he is going to start getting things ready for the kitchen, game room, bathrooms, and wine room. The house is actually looking like a house. We are really excited!!! I don't have a lot of pictures this time, but I have included some of the bathrooms.

 Master bathroom shower

 Master bathroom shower floor

Girls' bathroom tub/shower (those are flower tiles in the middle) SO cute!

PRAAAAISE JESUS!!!

Each time we go into our house, something new is happening. Cabinets are up, tile is going into the bathrooms, and before we know it, the painters will be painting the house. Praise our Almighty God that the roof is FINALLY finished!!! Yes, you read that right. After 4 months, the roof that was supposed to take 3 weeks to do, is finished!!! Today, I'm posting pictures of what has been done up to date, and hopefully, in the next few days, I can post a few pictures of the tile work.

 Hallway w/ stone around cedar

 My kitchen drawer for utensils!!

 Game room cabinets

 tub decking and shower

 Finished fireplace

 Master bathroom cabinets

 Master closet

Cabinets/Storage @ garage and kitchen entry

Don't Stop Believin'.....

I believe the roof will finally get done. I believe that the roof will finally get done. Maybe if I say it plenty of times, it will eventually happen. Now, I will say that 98% of it is finished, but we are going on 4 months of this roof being installed, and it was only supposed to take 3 weeks. The southern redneck in me just wants to yell at the roofers and say, "Just finish the @#$%^$# roof already!!!" This is ##$#I@ ridiculous!!"

On another note, the rest of the house is moving along. Garage doors are installed, the cedar posts are being wrapped in stone, cabinets are being built (and hopefully delivered soon!), the decking for the tub in the master bathroom has been partially built, and the drywall is in and just about ready for tile, and the pantry shelves are almost complete. Once all of these things are installed and complete, it's time for paint. Then, the floors will start going in!!!! I'm also excited because I helped to design how our fireplace hearth and shelving would be installed.

I have to admit, I am more than ready to be in this house. I love seeing the process, but I'm ready for us to start the new process of being a family in our forever house!!!

 My shoe shelves :)

 Master closet

 Master closest

 Master closet

 1/2 of the pantry

 Front Porch

 Entry

 Cedar posts inside

Tub decking and shower

Are We There Yet?

It's actually been about a month and a half since I last posted about the house. Things are rolling along, except 3 months into putting the roof on, and the roof still isn't completely finished. The work the roofers are doing is impeccable and very intricate, but it has taken way too long. So, when I was out of town, and Travis was still in Tyler, I would ask what was getting done on the house, and he would tell me all these great things, then end with "well, the roof still isn't finished", all I could do is laugh. It has become fairly humorous.

The builder has let us know that the tentative finish date range is the end of September to the beginning of October. Although I would have liked for things to be finished this summer, in all reality, this house hasn't taken that long. They started in mid February and will be finished 7 1/2 -8 months later. That's really not too bad.

A few weeks ago, I met with our interior designer along with the tile guy. For the most part, all of the tile work, granite, paint, flooring, etc. is already picked out. The trim work is almost finished. It looks so good! The stone is 99.9% complete on the outside of the house. We have to decide on the framing and built-ins we want around the fireplace, so we will work on that today. Some of the doors that were ordered weren't the right doors, but that's no big deal. We just order the new doors, and the company helping with that absorbs that cost. They are great company. The texture is also on the walls. The wood paneling that goes on the ceiling in the game room, the living room, and the front and back porches is complete. They are working on the cabinets right now. We had the meter set for the electric to the house last week. Like I said, things are coming together. It will all be worth it in the end.

Lizzie's Room

Luke's closet

Gun Safe Closet

Back of the house

Front of the house

Cedar posts in the living room (they will be surrounded by stone on the bottom)

Dining room

Dining room into the living roomLiving room windows

Downstairs hallway

The Drywall Happy Dance

Over the past couple of weeks, several things have been happening with the house. The roof is close to being finished, but only after our good friend (who works in construction) chewed a few people out. We are very thankful to have friends who work in different aspects of construction. It has really helped to move things along, but it has also helped us not to be taken advantage of during the building process. Also, on Thursday night, Travis told me that they were going to start installing sheetrock on Friday morning. Well, I really wanted to write scriptures on the framework in different parts of the house, so since it was nearly dark, I took my phone flashlight and wrote scripture that fit all of the different rooms of the house. It was a lot of fun! So, on Friday morning, the people who are installing our sheetrock, were there and ready to go. They finished a majority of the downstairs. Everything is starting to come together, so I'm excited to see what the next couple of weeks bring. Although, the Weather Channel says that it's supposed to rain a lot starting around Wednesday. And that makes me want to cry....

I'm adding a few more pictures of the progress that has been made. I hope this is all helpful to those of you in the building process or thinking of building a home.

 Guest bedroom/closet entry

 Hallway beside living room

 Kitchen area leading into the game room

 View from the downstairs hallway into the living room and kitchen

 Master bathroom shower

 Master bathroom: door leading from the closet into the bathroom (so we can throw our laundry into the washer that is in our closet. We put a washer and dryer in our closet and the kids have a set upstairs).

 Master bedroom closet/ washer and dryer will be where the green sheetrock is

 Wine Room

 Game room

Front of house with a majority of the roof put on

"Singing In the Rain" or Screaming in the Rain?

A couple of weeks ago, I was complaining about the rain. Well, today, I'm still complaining about the rain. We have been trying to get the roof put on the house, but it's been hard because every time it gets scheduled, it either rains, or there is a very high probability that it will. It has been very frustrating for other reasons too. Our builder should have ordered the roofing material a couple of months ago, but he didn't. If he had, the roof could have already been put on, and then we wouldn't have to worry if it was going to be done by Wednesday, which is the day the insulation is supposed to be installed. Oh, and in construction, if there's a chance of rain, sometimes, the people who are supposed to show up, don't show up. Like what happened this past Friday. Some guys were supposed to show up to work, but because they "thought it was going to rain", they didn't show up. But on a positive note, we do have half of a metal roof put on, and it looks awesome!!!

The stone looks amazing!!! The masons are doing a great job!!! We can't wait to see the finished product. The stone is a natural stone, which means it's pretty heavy. So they have to put a few feet of stone up, let the mortar dry, then add a few more feet, and so on and on and on. I'm really excited to see how it is going to look on the fireplace!

The overall project looks great, but we have been in an apartment for over a year now. That's right, five of us in this little apartment. The girls and one of their friends have made up a game called hallway soccer. I'm pretty sure we are not going to get a deposit back. Not one cent! With them playing soccer in here and Luke just being himself, they are pretty much going to have to replace  everything. And although this place is nice and gives us a roof over our heads, I think we just try to stay gone doing other things so we don't have to be here. It's also a month before school gets out, which means the "busy" season for me. Since I teach PE, I have district track meet coming up along with our school's field days the following week. Soccer season is still going on and will continue throughout the summer, but we have tournaments coming up, so things are about to get crazier!!! But, with a lot of prayer, coffee, and screaming, I know we can get through this just beautifully! ; )

Here are the newest pictures of what's going on right now:

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!!! We Need to Finish this House Today!!!

Well, not today, but soon. No, we aren't close to finishing the house. As much as I wish we were, we have a few months left on this project. People are working hard to get things accomplished, but rain and storms keep moving in, which prevents a lot of things from happening.

Since I last posted, we have two living room walls, and the fireplace has been installed. The mason has also been working to frame out the fireplace. When the mason is finished, it will be 6 feet across and 20 feet high of stone. I can't wait to see the finished product. Also, all of the electric and plumbing has been installed, along with the wiring for our satellite TV. Yes, we have to go with satellite, because we are so far out of town that cable does not run out there. That's exactly like it was where I grew up. Or maybe my parents just told me that so they wouldn't have to pay for cable. Either way, we only had regular TV at my house when I was little.

The outside doors have also been put in, which looks great! And, we are waiting for insulation to be installed soon. Things are starting to come together! Although I wish it could come together super fast, like tomorrow, I know that good things take time. So, again, I have to practice patience, which I really stink at doing. For things like this, I'm pretty much an instant gratification person. This is a huge downfall at this point of the building process. I know the wait will be worth it in the end, but it's a hard wait!!!

Now, the rain....it's supposed to be sunny on Thursday and Friday of this week. Then, it's supposed to rain Saturday to Monday. Can we handle this? I don't know. I feel like at this rate, it will be next summer before we even get into the house. Today, I was asking Travis why we couldn't go ahead and put the actual roof on the decking, and he told me because if the decking wasn't dried out and they put the roof on, mold and mildew would grow under there. So now I'm wondering when the roof will finally get to be put on due to the pending rain. I also found out that if the decking for the roof gets wet too many times, it will have to be replaced. That's not an expense that we need to incur at this point. So for all of my friends who are building or thinking of building a new home, please build in a buffer zone for extra expenses that could pop up at any time. Don't think that it won't happen. It will because it has already happened to us. For example, we were getting the Direct TV people to come wire the house so we wouldn't have to cut into the drywall later. The install is no longer included in that. Because AT&T bought out direct TV, they now have to sub out installation work. Sooooo, Travis texted me as I was getting home from work, and said, "I need you to run out to the house and write a check for $900." $900!!!!!!!!!! I'm not going to lie. I just about threw up. Thankfully, we have been saving money for things like that, but that STINGS!!!! We might not have furniture in the house, but by god, we will have Direct TV.

I'm posting a few of the latest pictures, and hopefully will have more really soon of other things that are going on...if the rain will just stay away for a little while (like a couple of months).

Framing in the fireplace for stone

 

Front Entry

 

Looking down the stairs to the front door

 

Luke and Lizzie in the fireplace :)

 

Front Doors (I absolutely LOVE them)

Thank you East Texas Doors!!!!

 

Fireplace before framing