Building Update and How We Stay Organized

The drywall men have been working hard the past week and a half and are just about finished.  The paint was delivered yesterday afternoon and they will start painting the walls later this week!

Here are a some pictures of the house with WALLS.  You'll see piles of drywall scraps in the first two pictures.  Hubby and yours truly cleared that out.  We consider it our aerobic workout!

Great Room

Master Bedroom

Better!

Standing in the kitchen, looking into the dining area.  

The great room is to the left.

We're pleased about how much light there is in the two basement bedrooms.  The first one will be 'Favorite Son's

and this one will be Precious Daughter's and Handsome Son-in-Law's when they visit.

J's Lodge area is roomy and filled with lights.  No 'man cave' in our house!

He will be adding the reclaimed barnsiding from an old building on the property to the unfinished walls.  A more sturdy wall board will be added prior to installation.  

(That's why there is no drywall on those walls.)

Even the lower level bathroom is coming along!

Once the sanding from the drywall process is completed, the HVAC guys will come to hook up the air conditioning/heating unit and we'll see how the geo-thermal experiment works. Keep your fingers crossed!!  The wood floor installers need the air conditioning on to remove the humidity from the house.  We live in Missouri and we have TONS of humidity in the summertime. 

I've made some more decisions this past week.  They include the garage door, shelving for all of the closets and pantry and railings and banisters.  We've also ordered the hard wood flooring.  I've also set up a schedule for flooring installation, cabinet delivery and installation and the finish carpentry work.  J's done a wonderful job on his responsibilities (gravel, concrete, framing, brickwork, etc.).  I want to make my part run almost as smoothly.

Before we began this new home building project, I was worried we might be overwhelmed with the bid process and keeping everything organized and easy to find.  
When I taught school, one of the best organizational tools I used was a simple binder. I still have a bunch of them so I got out the biggest one I could find and set up an organization system that made sense to me. 

I made tabs for all the different types of contractors we would be needing (i.e. concrete, framing, plumbing, HVAC, painting, etc.) and added plastic page protectors. As each bid came in, I printed it off and slipped it in one of the protectors.  

 I also created an Excel-type sheet on Google Docs with pertinent information for the contractors we contacted including phone numbers, addresses, emails, amount of bid, if they were given a set of plans or sent them via email, etc. This was updated each time we received a bid and was a handy way to see them at a glance.  The binder allowed J to compare each bid, analyzing each component.  

Once each contractor was chosen, both he and the other contractors were notified. That way, they knew if they were hired for the job or not.  I discarded the unused bids which, at this point, was a good thing.  Our beloved binder was starting to fall apart!  We took it everywhere from the STL Home Show to the lumberyard to order material.  The lumberyard manager attends our church and ask to look at our 'well-used' binder.  He teased me about being too organized but had to admit it was quite helpful.  There was a concern that a specific truss hadn't been ordered and I had the (ten page printout!!) truss bid and, yes, it had been ordered! 

Once the binder contained only bids for hired contractors, I placed signed contracts, specific orders like faucets, appliances, light fixtures, etc. with that particular contractor. When the plumber asked if I had different faucet choices than his included in the bid, I simple found his section, pulled out the updated order and made him a copy.  When our appliances are delivered, I will double check each is the exact model I ordered.  The receipt is stored in the binder.

I've also included a few other things here, too.  As I mentioned in another post, I'm not very good at using vision boards so if I see something I like in a magazine, I tear it out and slip it in the binder for future reference.  

Earlier this year, before we actually started building, I took the plans and tried to envision how each room might look with furniture.

It's been fun to rework the rooms in different configurations with different pieces of furniture.

That's the update for now.  I hope to show you beautiful painted walls next.  Right now, I'm off to start sweeping up drywall dust.  I can't wait until the air conditioning is turned on!!  Thanks for stopping by!  
                                                                      Zenda

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