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!