First Railings & Doors

David has installed the upper balcony railng (minus the top piece).  We bought just enough for this balcony so that we could see how the green balusters looked.  David wanted black, but the price for the green was too good to pass up.  They look good, so now we need to buy another 400.  Another ebay good buy, at $1 per baluster and connector.  Normal price is $2.25.

The non-ebay doors came in.  Bobby helped David install 5 of the 7, and David has started the trim.

The wood floors are going in upstairs.  The landing is done, and the game room is half way.
And the shiny new air conditioning units are in place.  Also, David installed the carriage lights.


I keep forgetting to post a picture of the vinyl and lights under the house.

Too much wood?

Looks like we might have too much wood.  We bought the entire lot that was for sale on the Craigs List posting - 1,860 square feet.  We actually only have 1,500 square feet.  With waste, that leaves slightly under 300 sq ft extra.  David's almost done laying the wood in our bedroom and the study - that leaves the entry way.  But there's still a rather large pile of flooring yet.  More than 300 sq ft.  So I'll take inventory today - looks like we'll have more than enough to do that game room (that everyone comments that carpet will be great in because it will muffle the sounds!).  

On one hand this is a great bonus because we'll be able to put more wood floors in for no additional cost.  But it also means a delay in moving in since now David will be installing flooring upstairs that would have been carpeted by someone else.  I suppose we could wait until after we move in, but it would be better to deal with the sanding before we move in.  

The birds found a new nesting place - under the lower section of the front porch.  Their nest is on top of a piling/below the decking.  I was happy since I'll be able to lift the girls up so that they can see the eggs/baby birds.  David's not thrilled since there are bolts and posts that he needs to install here!  

The shower glass is being installed.  This panel was originally two panels, but we asked them to make it out of one piece of glass.  So they installed the frame and remeasured for the glass.  That will keep that piece from being cut wrong. Maybe they should have done the same for the glass between the shower and the bath - it was cut wrong.  Excuse my fingers in the next picture - I was blocking the light from the window so that the camera would adjust the light for the picture of the shower.  Anyways, that's the door to the shower.  
Here's the trim that David made for the upstairs back door.  
While we're waiting for the doors to come in, David has started the porches.  We're using more of that extra hardi for the stair risers.


Here's the deck at the top by the front door.Here's the upper porch.
The plywood is up under the house - just as the wrens were starting to make this year's nest.  The vinyl will go up tomorrow.
David's been whittling down the huge pile of flooring in the study and the master bedroom.  The study is cleared, this is what's left in the bedroom.
David's using the back porch to cut the flooring.
The living room is a third of the way done.

The bath works, but the sprayer leaks so will have to be exchanged. The floor is started, the toilets are installed, the upper deck planks have been installed. The e-bay door order has been cancelled (still waiting for a refund) and the doors have been re-ordered. $350 more, but at least we'll get them this time! The half bath is done, except for the door. Shower glass will be installed this week - 3D glass gave us a great price since David does so much business with them. We aren't getting the frameless glass - can't justify the extra $1K+. But then I turned around and purchased expensive pocket door locks - we fell in love with some authentic reproduction hardware from Charleston. Keith (siding) is coming out next week to put up the plywood under the house. He'll supply the vinyl for under the house - we need to order the soffits for over the porches. Not sure if we'll go with blue or white.

We ran out of money last month - but the loan and grant both came through. The grant went to SBA, so that wasn't an immediate help. We also had some computer problems - I dropped my phone and it died, then the computer motherboard started to go out. So now I'm "mac'd" out - with an iPhone and Macbook. Love the phone - still getting used to the macbook.

Tile is done and paint is close

Purchases continue - David liked a glass marble looking sink at Home Depot. It was black with striking white veining, for $250. I went on e-bay and found one the same or similar for under $100. There were tons of sinks listed. David mentioned that he kind-of liked the sinks that look like there are gold fish swimming in the bottom. A whimsical touch. I suggested this alternative - ok, maybe a bit racy. We ended up buying one that looks like fire in the depths. Shipping costs almost as much as the sink, but it is still under $100. Hopefully it will look as nice as the picture.







And here are the promised pictures:
Half bath tile, base molding, vanity:
Half bath crown molding:Sun room crown molding:
Master bath (dark orange), master bedroom (tan), and study (clover):
Little Roger at the top of the steps:

Master bath tile:
Shower tile:
Bathroom floor tile (dirty) with the shower tile:
$6/ft border (didn't go with the $50/ft one!):

What's Left

We have 2½ months left before we need to be out of the trailer. And 2½ months 'til we'll have been building for two years. So the most common question I get is, "so, what's left". Well, here's the list:

Kitchen Cabinets
Kitchen counters
Porch Decking
Porch Railings
Install wood floors
Finish wood floors
Finish underside of house (plywood & vinyl)
Finish overhead of porches (plywood & vinyl)
Tile in bath/laundry/master closet & shower surround
Carpet upstairs
Interior stairs and railing
Install doors
Make dumbwaiter doors & half bath door (walnut)
Vinyl floor in fish tank room
Finish painting (fish tank room, entry & bonus room)
Bathroom cabinets & counters
Glass in shower surround, glass door in upstairs bathroom
Finish plumbing
Electrical outlets, switches, light fixtures, ceiling fans
Install appliances
Trim doors, base boards, crown molding, windows
Set HVAC condensers and finish returns/thermostat
Closet hanging rods, towel & toilet paper rods, etc.
Phone and cable outlets
Set electrical boxes (breaker and main)

I've probably forgotten a few things, but this is a pretty good list. The painting is almost done - it's certainly a colorful house with 7 colors downstairs, 3 of which are also upstairs, plus the girl's rooms. David laid the tile in the half bath, upstairs bath, and the upstairs kitchenette. He also put in the kitchenette cabinets and the half bath vanity and walnut crown molding. We have hired tilers for the master bath/closet/laundry. The floor is down and the shower walls are almost done. It's nice to see the rooms come together.

We've run out of money (partly because we are finishing the upstairs instead of waiting). We're approved for an increase in our loan, once we get SBA to work up a Subordination Agreement, which could take a couple more weeks. No wood floors until we get more money. Little Roger (David's nephew) is between jobs so has been helping out this week and next. Between having the extra help and having the tilers on site, there's been a lot of progress this week.

I've been searching for good prices on solid core interior doors. Seems like everyone has them for $145. I finally found some on e-bay for $65, but they have not answered my e-mail yet. I have my fingers crossed - even with shipping, they would be $40 less than the local prices - we need seven of them. Our toilets came last week - Toto Drake, which have a great reputation for mid-priced toilets. We saved $100/toilet by ordering them on-line. Our Christmas tree also arrived last week, so I got to spend a good part of the weekend assembling and disassembling the tree. Normally it has a 10-year warranty, but at 80% off it only had a 7 day warranty. (Since it looks like we'll move in this year, I decided to take advantage of the post-christmas sales.)

December was a sad month for us - we ended up euthanizing Kiercey (our Rhodesian Ridgeback). At 12 years, she was the baby of our three dogs - Tigger was put to sleep last spring, at 15 years. We still have Pooh Bear (16), who we think had a stroke last summer. She is blind and deaf, but has learned to stay close to people by using her sense of smell. David has to carry her up and down the stairs every day. Did I mention that she weighs 70 lbs?

The girls are doing well. Claire is thriving in Kindergarten and is close to learning how to read. They are getting a bit tired of us spending every weekend working on the house. I am really looking forward to being able to be a real Mommy once the house is built - at least as much as I can be with my working schedule.

We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel - I will post pictures this weekend. There really has been a lot of progress and it's starting to look like a real house!

Painting Continues

Here's the living room (homestead resort pale olive), the entry way (twilight moon) and the half bath (baked squash). I don't have a good picture of the sun room - well, I have a picture but you can't really see just how bright it is. Consensus is to change it to a mix of white and the living room olive and make it darker. I kinda like the sea grass, but probably will go along with the lighter of the two lighter olives we tried. The sea grass is an island color, and might not go with the rest of the decor.

We got a formal quote for the flooring - $3.64/sq ft for the floor, $3 for installing it, and $3.95 to sand and finish with tongue oil. We have run out of money, so it looks like we will install it ourselves over Christmas break, but will have them finish it. Assuming that the bank will increase our loan amount. Part of the over-run came from missing some major expenses - (stucco for the foundation walls was expensive!), from subs being higher than expected (I still think we paid way to much for framing, and we are still fixing their mistakes. And the electrician finally gave us a bill yesterday - double his verbal estimate), and some is because we are building a bigger/nicer house than we can really afford. On the plus side, we have gotten a couple of grants and still have another $15K coming to offset the elevation costs.