New Home

The Countertops Are In!
They finally arrived!!  Our Silestone quartz countertops have been installed in our new kitchen and I couldn't be more pleased with them!  

The perimeter is a marble-looking 'Alabaster' and the island is a dark gray with veining 'Calypso'.
Read more about it here.

Slow and Steady
We've been making slow and steady progress on the new house.  I've been lax on posting these updates but I've been a bit busy trying to sell our current home, packing, moving boxes, attending Precious Daughter's showers and keeping up with the rest of our lives.  

Truth be told, the adding of trim and baseboard wasn't too exciting.

Now that those are finished, the last coats of paint are being added and we are expecting the counter tops to be installed 
the middle of this next week!

I do have some photos to share.

The concrete flat work for the patio and grilling porch was finished.
Read more HERE.


A Little Drama and A Whole Lot of Progress!
These last two weeks have been eventful and a bit stressful but we continue to make good progress on the new house.


We had a bit of drama this week.  I received the updated counter top bid after the final measurements.  The price literally doubled from the original bid in January!  We hadn't signed a contract and it wouldn't have been valid after so many months, however, I was shocked the increase was so dramatic!  We spent the next day finding a different supplier and the new Silestone quartz choices are quite similar to my original choices.  The perimeter counters will be Arabesque 
and the island will be Calypso.


Read more HERE.

Brickwork Complete and New Stained Floors
Our new house is really starting to come together.  This past week, the wood floors were installed and stained and the brick and stonework was completed. We hated to say "goodbye" to the masons as they have been working on our home for almost a month and J has enjoyed chatting with them.  Everyday, he would come home with several interesting tidbits they shared.  They have done a beautiful job, too, and we just love the exterior of our home!

You've seen the front but here it is again.
Read more HERE.


Garage Door and a New Floor
Progress continues on our new home.  Late last week, the garage door installer did his thing and here's the finished product!
Read more here.

A Leak?!
Last week started with a driving rain storm.  It hit in the wee hours of Monday morning and sent Wonderful Hubby to the new house making sure the doors were secure.  While there, he noticed a small amount of water in one of the craft room corners.  He called the roofing man (yes, at 2:30 in the morning!).  Roofing Man came right out and they figured the water must have come in through an unsecured piece of flashing.  He came later in the morning (when it was light and not raining!) to add more flashing.  We are so fortunate to be working with good people who stand behind their work!  There was no damage to the drywall or paint and, thankfully, the wood floors won't be installed until next week (August 8).  
Read more about building our new home here.

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!
Read more here.

Decisions, Decisions
It's starting to become crunch time as far as decisions are concerned.  All of the 'Pins,' notes, discussions, etc. are all adding up to final decisions!  Here's a picture of my dining room table as I write.
Read more here.


Flatwork, Ductwork, Brickwork, Oh My!
I'm sorry it's been awhile since I've posted an update on our house construction.  It seemed we had been moving along at a good clip once the initial work began but then several of our contractors had scheduling issues and that backed up everyone else.  Our plumber and electrician were both unaffected and continued their work but that wasn't too fun to photograph!  (*Extremely important, as far as home construction, though.*) 
Read more HERE.


Saying Goodbye to My Gardens
This spring is a little bittersweet.  We are so happy and excited to be building our new home and yet we still love our current home where we have shared many wonderful times.  One of the things I'll really miss about this home are my gardens.   

Our current home sits in the middle of our property.  We have a large field in the front and woods in the back.  We have landscaping at the front of the house with shrubs and flowering bushes
Read more here.




We Have a Roof!
The last two weeks have been a little rainy here and that's complicated our building progess a bit.  Not only has it made everything on the inside of the house wet but it's also made the ground around the house muddy.  

Our trusses were scheduled to be delivered late last week and we had to order more gravel for the driveway and surrounding area so the truck wouldn't get stuck.  J was also available with his tractor, if needed. 
More here.



Let the Framing Begin
It's been about two weeks since I last posted and things moved along at a crawl for awhile.  We had some rain and our framing crew got behind on their other jobs.  In the meantime, Wonderful Hubby, also known as "J", (he's been reading my posts and has decided he'd rather I refer to him as "J"!) did the back filling between the concrete basement walls and the soil with rock. Here is a shot to show you what that looked like.
Read more here.


Concrete Is Poured!
Things are slowly starting to move forward.  Late last week, the excavation began on our new home and the basement walls were poured today!
Read more here.


The Digging Begins...Finally!
Have you heard the saying "The watched pot never boils?"  Well, that's what this Spring has felt like WAITING to start digging our basement! Today, we FINALLY have soil moved and the beginning of our new home has commenced!
More here.




Cabinet Shopping

I recently shared about our new house plans and now the bids have started coming in.  Wonderful Hubby will be the general contractor and is handling this part of the process.  We are blessed to live in a community that is still small enough that we either personally know many of the builders/contractors or know someone who has used them.  We know their work and their reputation and feel fairly confident with whomever we choose.  I'm sure there will be a few hiccups, and even a misunderstanding or two but we will work through those as best we can.  

I've put together a notebook with all 'New House' material we are accumulating.  I'll share it in a week or two.  It's helped keep us organized and focused.  I started this notebook about a year or so ago to save ideas and photos that interested us.  It's grown from a 3/4 inch binder to a 4 inch one!  I've also been using Pinterest and Houzz.  
We have LOTS of ideas!

Earlier this week, WH and I went to a kitchen and bath store to look at cabinets and counter tops.  WH has been ALL ABOUT the foundation/concrete work.  NOTHING is as important as this, as he says.  And while I agree, I'm more interested in the things I can see (and will see for many years to come.)  I guess it's just a woman thing!
my favourite kitchen ~ traditional shaker style cabinets, white marble island, black countertops glass warm wood floor:
Read more HERE.


Our New House Plans Are Here!
I've haven't posted much in the last several months because I've been busy tidying up our current home preparing it to sell.  Painting, deep cleaning, and other domestic chores didn't seem too interesting and frankly, after long days, I didn't feel like anyone would be interested in reading about it!  We have moved to the next step in our 'relocation' process and it's much more interesting...at least to me!!

Wonderful Hubby and I have always planned to build a ranch-style home when we retired.  
I took the plunge first in June of 2013 and he joined me in May of last year.  
We had the first visit with our architect in June.  Although we had LOTS of ideas, we didn't have a firm floor plan in mind.  

Our architect listened to all our 'wants and needs' in this new home.  And we had plenty!  

He worked on the plans, sent his sketches for revision, met with us several more times and FINALLY delivered what we hope will be the perfect retirement home for us!

Read more about our wants and needs HERE.

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