So Much Done; So Much To Do

With any luck, we'll have our final credit union inspection in 11 days. Eleven days! Hard to believe we've been at this for the better part of four years, but construction on our site only about a month. So, where are we?

The wall oven and backsplashes were installed this week

The house and garage are essentially built. The porch and balcony decking and permanent steps will be installed after the exterior is caulked and painted; that work starts Monday. There's a bit of wallboard finishing still to be done (we had the doorbell chimes moved up the hallway wall to near the ceiling). The kitchen and bathroom counters have been installed and look great; the cooktop and wall oven are in place and will be hooked up when the electrician and HVAC guys come in next week.

Dave Pielaet lays travertine tile in the powder room

The plumber comes tomorrow to install the tub and sink hardware, the dishwasher and refrigerator; also, tomorrow, the excavator will be in to trench for power, water, propane, and septic. The finish carpenter comes Wednesday to put in the remainder of the doors, cabinet hardware, baseboards and other trim. Once the propane tank is delivered, the fireplace installer will finish the trim and hookup the fireplace to the tank.

The stack of hardwood in the living room is dwindling as
it's installed upstairs

As for what we've got left to do, it's just flooring and stairs. We decided from the beginning to put some sweat equity into the house by installing the wood floors ourselves (as we did at our home in Laramie) and by having our neighbor Dave, a carpenter by trade, install tile in the bathrooms, mud room, kitchen, and foyer. Dave just finished his work today (though we're also going to have him install tile stair risers). This week I finished flooring the master bedroom and closet, and today I finished my closet. Donovan, my stepson, who has done construction work, has done some of the complicated cuts and has been working all day on his bedroom. I'm hoping to finish that room tomorrow (if he hasn't), and start on Karen's study and the living room tomorrow. I should be able to get that done within 11 days.

The first finished wood flooring - complete with
Pepper's paw prints

Pepper, our Brittany, has been having a great time with the house project. Some days I'll drive him up in the truck, and on other days he'll run up through the woods as I go up to the house site on my ATV. He spends most of his time nosing around in the brush, disappearing for trips down to the creek, coming up muddy and full of burrs. He also loves going up and down the house stairs to lie on the cool master bathroom tile; if you look closely, you can see Pepper's paw prints on the hardwood leading in and out.





Karen's started going through our storage unit, identifying things to save, to sell, to donate to charity shops, or to haul to the dump.

There's a very real possibility we'll be in the new house by Labor Day. Fitting, since this house has been a labor of love and, well, a lot of labor.