You be floored with all the progress!

We've had a lot done on the house since I posted last.  The stone on the front of the house is completed including the mortar.  Laurie and I are really pleased with the way it looks.  The front stoop has now been laid with slate and columns for the portico are up.



What we started with.



What we have now!



We still have the shutters, outside lights and trim to paint.

The floor tile for the kitchen, foyer, laundry room and powder room is all in as well as the grout.  Both upstairs showers have been tiled.  Light fixtures, switches and outlets have been installed upstairs (how nice to be able to turn on a light again) and most of the first floor.



The new kitchen floor.



The gas has been turned back on and the upstairs furnace installation is complete and the furnace is running to help the drying process.  The attic has also had all the insulation blown in.

The oak flooring is on site and waiting to be put in.

So the question that everyone is asking - When will you be able to move in?  It looks good to be in with  time to spare before Christmas. But we'll keep you posted.

Milestone

This is a post I've been thinking about a lot.  I hope I can communicate what's been on my heart.

You're probably thinking - where do you install a milestone when you are building a new house or what kind of mortar would you use with milestone?  Well, the milestone I am talking about is my 50th birthday.  We passed it last week.  I've teased Laurie that I can officially claim "mid life" now and with that comes my new red sports car.  Right?

The common phrase used at this point is "over the hill".  That usually is translated as "OH MY, you're really THAT old!"  But it can also mean that you're over the hard part and now you can kick into coast on the downhill side.  Pursue that bucket list. You've paid your dues, you've earned your money, go do what you want now. Kick back and enjoy!

But that's not how I want to face this point in my life.  This life is a race (1 Cor. 9:24). I find myself looking back over the first 50 years as a race and praying "Lord, I hope what I've built and achieved so far has been pleasing to you."  As I look forward I see the track lanes in front of me and a finish line still to be achieved and my prayer is "Lord, help me run the remainder of the race with more passion and with You and the Cross more in my focus than I did the former part."

Before you write me off as self righteous please know that I do intend to enjoy these later years and some of the things we couldn't when we were younger.  We waited 25 years to take our long planned trip to England and now we've been twice (what a blessing from God).  And Laurie just got me a sweet acoustic guitar for my birthday (I've wanted to learn for many years).  But I don't want to forget, as a beloved pastor has stated, that we signed on for a battleship, not a cruise ship.

Stone Mortar

It's amazing.  We've spent more time talking about mortar for the stone on the front of the house than probably any other single item on the house.  But each color we looked at creates such a different look that we wanted to get it right.  We ended up choosing a very light mortar that fits "historical" Chester County.  I mean, really. Just mention "historical" and you've got Laurie's attention :-).  Actually, we did make the decision before that factor was brought into the discussion.

So the latest...  All the ceilings have been painted with their final coat.  Lighting fixtures, switches and outlets (Thanks Aaron) are now being installed. All the trim and doors are installed and the first finish coat has been applied.  Today all the hardibacker for the kitchen, powder room and laundry room was installed.  Once the mortar is applied to the stone I'll get a picture of the final stone front (sans the shutters).  The slate has also been installed on the front stoop and awaits the mortar joints to be filled and the columns to support the portico.

We plan to use the "PAX" closet system from Ikea for our master closet.  They have a really nice tool available on-line for you to plan out your closet. Once you have it completely designed you get a complete shopping list printed out along with the price. Very helpful.

Stone and Stucco

As promised, the stone and stucco guys are back this week.  It's really starting to look good.  When I stopped by today the front stone was about half done.  The stucco is also about half done as well.

Here are a couple same photos.

The entire house has now also been primed on the inside.  I love the smell of that fresh paint (thought I am glad it will have time to air out before I have to sleep there).

Erik and I went on a long overdue date tonight (and it didn't involve stopping at the hardware store).  We were talking about all the things we've missed about our old house and the things we look forward to enjoying once we get back there.  We were also talking about all the things we enjoy about our "summer house" and what we'll miss.  I'm going to really miss the view from my chair in the sun room.  We have a wonderful sun room at the old house, but it can't match the view I have from the one here.  On the other hand, I won't have to chase a flock of geese of the lawn either.

House Finish

We should start to see some changes on the outside of the house this week.  The guys doing the stucco will be back at the house this week.  They should be able to do the finish coat on the 3 sides of the house and the stone on the front.  Once it's on then we can match the exterior trim colors.

Car for Sarah

Gen and Aaron are going to keep the car Gen has been driving for the last couple of years. So that left us a car down now that Sarah has her license. Oh, I never said anything about Sarah getting her license.  We had an appointment scheduled for the Saturday after the wedding.  When we got there I realized that I didn't have the most recent insurance card in the van.  The guy doing the exam obviously wouldn't let Sarah take the test without it.  But he graciously gave us 30 minutes to get one.  Well I don't know about you, but I don't typically carry a computer printer with me.  I could get on-line via my iPhone, but he wouldn't accept that.

Well, we headed to the church office.   I was able to get on-line and print out a current card and got back to the testing center in 32 minutes. Praise God. I don't know how I would have dealt with Sarah's disappointment if she hadn't been able to take the test that day. It usually takes 6 weeks to schedule the test.  As you can deduce - she passed the test.  She's been driving herself to work since then which greatly serves Laurie.

So here's what we got. 

We just happened to be talking with the Burke's and mentioned we were going to be looking for a car.  They told us that the Lucas's had one for sale.  We contacted them and their car was perfect for what we wanted. Only issue, Sarah has to learn to drive a stick.  We had already made it clear to her that this was a skill she would be required to learn.

Now the trouble is - Laurie really likes this car over the van....

Painting to start next week

The drywall is all mudded up and ready for the final sanding.  That will be done tomorrow.  Then it's a clean up before the painting starts.  Basically the entire house gets primed (possibly twice) and then all the ceilings get their final white coats.  Then all the trim goes up and then gets caulked and painted.  That will probably take all next week.  Then the following week they start on the tile.  We've picked out all the colors for all the paint (I may have said this in an earlier posting, but I can't remember - sorry for being redundant if I did).  We are probably going to change the master bathroom color now  that we have the tile picked out though.

Speaking of tile -I've purchased most of what we need.  Not particularly exciting choices because we wanted fairly neutral colors that could work with a variety of decorating accents.  I did a Dave Ramsey at Lowes.  They carry a special order floor tile that we wanted for the kitchen.  Typically it's about 45 cents more than what they stock for the same tile in a different color.  I had done research on-line to prove I could special order it elsewhere for the lesser price.  Though it's not their normal policy to match on-line prices they did match it when I appealed to the Manager. Way to go Lowes and score one for Dave.

I also have all the light fixtures ordered or in hand.

Next will be the range hood, exterior trim colors, carpet choices,  closet organizers (we're going with these for the master bedroom instead of multiple dressers) and then counters.  I'm sure I'm missing something there, but I'll remember eventually.

Drywall Up

I stopped over to the house today.  I knew we were going to have drywall up, but I hadn't expected so much to be done. All the drywall was installed and the entire house had been taped and mudded for the first layer.  It feels so different to walk through now.  It's starting to feel like the old house again.

We spent  some time at the hardware store picking out paint colors.  I think we're pretty close to being done with that.  Now we need to pick out floor tiles, shower tiles, kitchen tiles, carpets, etc. It makes me tired just typing the list.  But it's also lots of fun to be able to do everything fresh and new.

And now that the drywall is complete the masonry guys can finish the stucco.  Now you're probably wondering why they had to wait on the stucco until the drywall was done.  Apparently the walls can flex significantly when they "load" the house with all the drywall.  I was over there just after that was done.  Here's the sign I found on one of the stacks.  

After seeing the stacks of drywall, most of it 12 foot in length, I can see why they would wait on the stucco.  One of those stacks probably ways a couple tons.