Unexpected Blessing - I Think

Unless we are friends on Facebook, you wouldn't have seen my post yesterday.  Originally, we rented this house until May 31.  When we decided to build, we knew we'd need the rental until at least July 31.  It turns out, our new home is not scheduled to be complete until about mid-September.  

Scooter called the rental company and asked if we could extend our rent through August. They said they would check with the owner.  School starts in late August and they really like to have the properties rented by then.  I opened the mail yesterday to find a Renewal of Lease through August 2014.  Yeah, that is not going to work.  We will need to move out probably late July, then do the clean up and carpet cleaning so it will be available August 1st.

My plan has been to go through the boxes we have not unpacked and re-examine the "stuff" that was unpacked and decide what to put in a yard sale and what to give away or toss.  The procrastinator in me just knew I had lots of time to go through all of those boxes and containers.  The unexpected blessing would be that I need to get started on it - soon.  Today.  Ugh.  

It will be nice to have it done.  And we already have a storage unit for the boxes (that right now has other boxes in it that need to be gone through).  We'll store everything there until we can move into the new house.  





This is my make shift office right now.  The stuff I use for my photography, making calendars and papers that seem to reproduce on their own.

This is in the house office.  I have so much "stuff" in the closet that I really need to sell. I figure about half of what's in the closet can go.  And this is only the half you can see.  

Same closet, different view.  Yep, boxes under the table and beside the table.  And I can't  begin to talk about the reams of paper to be shredded.  

These boxes are in our bedroom.  I already went through these boxes once.  I need to re-evaluate what I kept.  I really doubt I'll be wearing pantyhose anytime soon.

This is all Christmas stuff.  How did that happen?  And I went through all of this two Christmas' ago to get it down to this.  I know I don't want to take up valuable closet space with all of this.  I hope I can be objective and throw sentimentality out the window.  This will be hard. 

There is storage under the garage and these are some of the boxes there. 

And here are some of the boxes to go through that are downstairs.  Oh my gosh.  Did I say blessing?  I'll need to keep reminding myself.  To the left, is only part of the ski stuff Scooter has downstairs.

These are the empty boxes we kept so I can refill them.  

After I go through our (my) stuff, I should have extra!  Right?  

These are garage photos.  

I need to go through everything that is now in a container!

These shelves are awesome, but deadly.  I've filled it up since we moved in December.  MORE things to evaluate.  

All in all, I'm calling it a blessing.  I might make a little bit of money, I'll be donating to charity and we'll have more space.  It's all good, right?

Tar Paper. Yes!

Only have one photo from Friday night to share.  I took a couple from inside, but you still can't tell much.  The good news is that all of the supporting 2x4's inside have been removed. Now it doesn't look like a big ol' spider web.  

It's nice to have the tar paper on; it means the roof is not far behind.  They also were getting the house wrapped.  All of the windows except one, have been installed.

Mimi and I will go up this afternoon to see what happened on Saturday and today.  

I have been trying to think of what I'm going to do for landscaping.  I have been looking at magazines, books, other yards, nurseries.  There is so much to do and I have so many ideas.  Putting them into action and paying for what I want...we'll have to work on that I think.  

More to come...

Tap on Your Window, Too

No door to knock on, but we have windows!  Not all of them were in when mom and I were there Thursday (6/13), but they were installing them quickly.  

The fascia and the soffits are mostly done.  The front and back porches need to be completed.

The windows somehow make the opening seem bigger to me.  The fireplace is going to be see through so we can enjoy it on the back porch, too.  My guess is they will not cut the opening until the fireplace is ready to be installed.  

 

These windows are in our bedroom.  I won't have to worry about enough light!  I'm going to love having all that light and the view of the back yard.

Almost done installing the windows in the back.

Here you can see the the curve of the backyard.  It will be cut back to the tree on the left and the tree will be removed.  That will give us 25-30 feet of back yard.  We'll be putting in a rock wall on the curve.

The tool room is framed in now at the North end of the garage.  Even the lawnmower will 

have it's own room!  I'm anxious for all of the gardening tools to be in one area.

Another shot of the front.  

A view from the front door opening.  The doors are supposed to go in Friday.

I don't know how long it will be until we have neighbors across the road, but I plan to enjoy this view until we do!

The septic tank is in the ground.  They also put the downspout drains in and have them directed toward the road in front.

I love the wildflowers growing in the common areas.  This is part of the view from the back windows.

I always need a flower shot.  

Today's forecast called for rain, thunder and lightening.  The storm passed over the house before we arrived with just a bit of rain.  I took this looking North.  Those are some menacing looking clouds!

Up on the Rooftop

Wednesday, the trusses were all set.  It is amazing how quickly they get things going!  And the framers walk those boards like they were strolling down the sidewalk.  I get dizzy thinking about it!  

This is from the East side looking at the spare bedrooms and Jack and Jill bathroom.

The front porch and front bedroom.

The view from the back shows the progress they were making on Thursday.

This is also the back, but from the West side of the lot.

The garages from the road.

From the East side.

The other side, from the West.

The front porch.

These were taken Wednesday and Thursday.  We went up late yesterday, Saturday, and I took these:

 It was so hot up on the roof!  We took up some PowerAde for these guys.  They work so hard!  

Inside the house it looks like a tangle of spider webbing.  When they are done with the roof, they take out all of the support boards.

It is amazing how fast they work.  Once off our job, they will move to the house down the road to frame it.  Then there is one more going right now in our development.  I hope the weather hold for them.  They move across that roof like mountain goats!

From the road.  They finish up this next week.   Windows and doors next week, as well as the rough plumbing.  I love that we were able to keep the trees in the front.  The wind mostly blows from the West, so we won't be worrying about them falling on the house.

I love the detail of the front porch.  My office/craft room will be the window on the left.  I plan to spend lots of time on the porch (front and back) and looking out that window!

More detail.  This is one of the two spare bedrooms and it is next to the porch.  







It seems to be going quite quickly now.  But there are still 2 1/2 months before we can move.  Probably not many photos for a while.  There will be some once the sheet rock goes up and the rooms are more defined.  And when the details are coming together. 

I can hardly wait.  

I look at all of that land with no grass or flowers and dream of what it will be. I know there will be peonies like the one below.  How many?  Where?  What other "deer resistant" flowers can I find?  I have some ideas, but details, well, not yet.  It's a bit overwhelming!  

Thanks for checking in.  I hope you are enjoying the progress.  

If It Looks Like a House...

My mom and I went by the house on Tuesday and the contractors had received the building package.  The piles of lumber were there just waiting to be made into a home. 

Our home.  

We didn't make it to the property on Wednesday.  What a wonderful surprise when we got there on Thursday!  It actually looks like a house.

Our front door.  To the left will be the office and to the right is one of the two spare bedrooms.  Room for family and friends to come see us!

This shows the two spare bedrooms with Jack and Jill bathroom in the center.  I'm standing in one of the bedrooms.  

Moving to the left, I'm standing in the foyer; this shows where the great room and kitchen nook will be.  The fireplace will be straight ahead between the two windows.  

From the North side of the great room, farthest away will be the office.  Or, as I like to call it, my craft room.  I'm excited to have a place for my photography and crafting stuff. 

The "box" laid out this side of the office is the pantry in the kitchen.  I'm pretty happy to have lots of storage in the kitchen!  To the right will be counter space with the stove top, oven and refrigerator.  The kitchen island is to the left of the counter space and will hold the sink and dishwasher.  It has an eating space, too.

Moving from the kitchen, this was taken from laundry room looking at our bedroom.  The powder room is where the left framing changes its line toward me.

Turning around, from our bedroom, this is looking back toward the front of the house.  Straight ahead will be the laundry room and in between will be the powder room.  Where the board on the floor is at an angle is the kitchen.  

I am shooting toward the shower in the Master Bath.  We opted to only have a bathtub in the Jack and Jill bathroom.  We are shower people and chose to use the space need for the tub for living space.  The framed rectangle to the right will be the water closet.  

Standing in the shower, this view is into the walk in closet.  Oh my gosh!  I'm going to have to buy more clothes!

Out the back, Scooter is standing where the covered deck is.  You can see the fireplace box.  The fireplace will be open to the great room and the covered deck.  We'll be able to sit out there and stay warm in the cool evenings!  The door you see will be a Dutch door.  

THIS is Scooter's shop.  We have a four car garage; two bays are for his shop.  It is 22' x 36'.  It will have a 10' ceiling. He's pretty excited about having a place to work and store his, uh, toys.  

This is my side of the garage.  I think this side is 22' x 22' and is 9' high.  The door leads to the laundry room.  

Scooter is standing where the deck will end.  The area to the right will be our backyard.  We are going to have it bladed to the right for more space. 

We will be cutting the bank to the center tree and taking that tree out.  There will be about a three foot rock wall there.  The area above the wall will probably be left natural, at least for the time being, anyway.  

It's so fun to see it all coming together.  We went yesterday and there are more walls up, but the framers were there working and I didn't want to get in their way, so no other photos.  

I believe we have chosen most of the interior items.  I spoke with the soapstone guy on Monday, the lighting lady on Tuesday and yesterday, Friday, we talked to the flooring guy.  We have not talked to the cabinet man yet.  Pretty darned exciting, for sure!

Thanks for checking in and sharing this with me.