4 to 6 weeks out...

We went out to the house tonight and they had gotten almost all the drywall up on the inside of the house! Things are moving so fast, we can barely keep up...and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed with it all...they told us that once the drywall is up, we're about 4 to 6 weeks out from moving in. HOLY COW! We better start packing and I mean, like, LAST WEEK!!

One thing I noticed about the drywall being up - the kitchen looks A LOT different because you can't see through to our bedroom anymore! Always before, we could see through the kitchen studs into the master bedroom/bathroom area and that always expanded the kitchen. That's not the case anymore (as you can see from the photo - that is our kitchen) and while we obviously have PLENTY of room in the kitchen, the drywall really makes it look different. Every room looks different, of course, but the kitchen is where I really noticed it.

I said they'd gotten almost all the drywall up; they've still got the spare bath and a little bit in the hallway to get up, plus the garage (none of that was done). Once they get it all up, then they'll mud and maybe I'll do another video then...what did we EVER do without all this technology we have now??!!

I'm a "shutter" bug...

We (finally) got out to the house today after almost a week of not being able to get out there...we were going into withdrawal! We went after church and when we got to the house we noticed our shutters are up! The navy blue just looks so nice with the savannah blue on the siding...very sharp. We also noticed that the entire house had been insulated with the exception of the ceiling (I guess they do that after the drywall goes up). As we were walking around taking photos (and a video), we noticed that the sound is very different now within the house - nothing echos anymore. Our conversations don't echo, our footsteps don't echo...there's NO breeze blowing through anymore...it was a little warm, to say the least! But it was really neat to see the insulation up...the next step will be the drywall. It's really coming along fast...we're less than 2 months away from closing!

"shingled" out...

We headed out to the house tonight and they had all the shingles on the roof. So the roof is complete. It sure makes the house look sharp, doesn't it? Jeff also took lots of detail photos inside the house because this will probably be one of the last nights the studs are still showing...they'll be putting in the insulation around the house and then after that comes drywall.
Jeff wanted to take photos of things like the outlets, where the wiring runs through the walls and up over the house through the attic, etc. We'll be using ALL the space we can find in the attic for storage once we move! Knowing where the wiring runs will be helpful.
We went to Dairy Queen again after looking around at the house...it's not a good thing that we're going to live so close to a Dairy Queen when we move...I just love ice cream, though!

color my world...

Went out to the house tonight & we were greeted with a "world of color"...our siding is up! The whole house had siding on it - my savannah blue. It's so pretty...I just love it. We had our friends, Joey & Amy, with us so they were able to see the house for the first time. Don't you think the blue is just right? With the navy shutters...just imagine it!
We did eventually make it inside the house after the "oohing & aahing" ended. They had wired the house for cable & such. The next step will be shingles on the roof...we're getting closer!

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
--Hebrews 3:4

important stuff today...

We didn't have too much to see tonight when we went out to the house, but something very important, none the less...our bathtubs! You gotta have those! Both of the bathtubs were installed and the second phase of plumbing had been done. Jeff and I both stepped into the shower in our bathroom (they're both the same size) and we went, "Whoa...this is really small!". We've been used to a garden tub size for the last 3 + years in our current place so that's a distinct difference to us. But we'll get used to it and we're even looking into the curved shower curtain rods as an option to open it up...

we have windows! (& hvac...)

We have windows & doors! We have hvac! We have house-wrap! I can't b-e-l-i-e-v-e how fast our house is going up!
When we turned the corner today, it looked so different. All the plywood sheeting has been completed & the house had been been wrapped. They also had all the windows & doors (except for the garage door) installed. Most of the hvac system was in place - the main line was in but not the branches in certain places.
While we were there looking around, a couple was out walking & stopped to chat with us for a minute. Mike & Valerie, a super-nice couple. They just got married in March (perfect for our SS class!) & they live right down the street. It was cool to meet someone in the neighborhood & they were excited for us about the house.

tar paper...

Back out to the house tonight (I told you, we'd be making nightly trips from here on out!) and they had finished the plywood sheeting, making the roof complete and the house look sharp (if I do say so myself!). They also rolled out the tar paper on the roof - that's in preparation for the shingles. I believe this is the first photo I used from the front of the house, so it will kind of give you an idea of what it looks like straight on from the road. It's bee-uu-tee-ful!!

I took another couple videos tonight; one is a walk-through of the house and the other is the view from our front door. It's really shaping up...

plywood...

We went back out to the house tonight (from now on,things will move FAST & we don't want to miss a thing!). They had put up the plywood sheeting on the whole house (with window & door openings) and on almost all of the roof. Now it's starting to look like the Baywood we walked through the day we decided to buy one (it wasn't much farther along than ours is now). Because of that, it kinda doesn't seem like our house...right now. It still seems really big to me -I love it!

we've been framed!

This is by far the biggest "progress" day so far - they practically framed the whole house today!! When Jeff went by this morning, he said there were a few pieces of the framework laid out flat on top of the concrete slab. When we went tonight, they had almost ALL of the framework built & standing, as you can see from the photo (that STILL makes Jeff & I giddy!). It makes the house look HUGE to me! It was really exciting tosee the house from down the road instead of having to drive right up to it (obviously everything has been flat on the ground up to now). The rest of the photos I took came out really cool, like this one, and I also took a 75 sec video.

So neat to stand in the middle of our "framed" house...