Catch-up on our house

In November, we let the family come over and help at the house. They were so excited! Well, they came, anyway. We did some yard clean-up. The sheet-rockers worked all during Thanksgiving weekend and got the house dry-walled and mudded pretty quickly.

The problem then was that we had to get the mud dry before they could come and sand it down. In Oregon, November and December are wet. We were using my Dad's diesel heaters around the clock to get it dry. It still took several days.

So, I am really trying to keep up with the clean-up outside, but we still look like a trashy family sometimes. That has been the hardest part of building for me. I like things clean and organized. Every time I try and convince Kevin or my Dad that a construction site can actually stay organized with a little effort, they laugh at me.

You can see here our great new front porch. We have this great concrete guy who worked on our last house, too. We had no idea what we wanted our porch to look like, so we asked him to surprise us. And, we LOVE it. He did an amazing job.

You can also see here the colors I was trying out on the house. We look like a poorly decorated Easter egg in the front. I have to apologize for the red cross on the front door. I was testing out door paint, and didn't realize that I had painted a cross until after everything was put away.

This is our driveway. I never thought I would get excited about asphault, but it was sooo great to get it in. Building in Oregon means that there is constantly mud in the house, no matter how many area rugs you buy. This definitely helps with the dirt.

This is the view from the front door. We are almost done with the flooring. It is very dirty (see the above paragraph!), but it is so nice to get it in! The living room color is "Uncertain Gray." It is a blue gray, but looks more blue in the picture. I love it withe the white trim and the dark floors. The kitchen is a warm pumpkiny tan, but it looks yellow in these pictures. It's not yellow, not orange, and not tan, but some kind of combination of them all. I love it.


We got kitchen countertops this week. They look so good! We went with a dark brown to offset the white cabinets. It looks really good with the dark floors. It is actually starting to look like a real house! We are almost done laying the flooring in the upstairs bedrooms (there will be wood laminate in the bedrooms so we can do fun area rugs), and the carpet for the stairs and upstairs hallway/landing will be coming on Tuesday. After that, all we need to do is hook up the vanities and toilets in the bathrooms and we are ready to move in! We will finish the baseboard and door trim after we move in. I know, those are famous last words in our family, but I have Kevin's promise that we will do it as soon as we move in.

Updates

Our lot is full of wild blackberries that have been so good! Avery loves to pick them.
Here is my Dad setting up a work table so he and Kevin can start doing the electrical work.

Here is Avery's first lot clean-up. Doesn't she look thrilled!

Unfortunately, this is just the first of many!

Here are the pictures of the construction so far. Since these pictures, though, we have had the garage floor poured, the roof tiles installed, the house is partially wrapped, and we have installed half of the windows. There is a lot of work going on inside the house. Kevin and my Dad are working on the electrical, the plumbing is in, and the heating and air conditioning is in. I will get some more pictures this week. Now we are just racing to be ready for the sheetrockers to come next week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Framed house pictures.

This is the house from the east.
This is the house from the west.

Again, from the west.

From the north.

The roof...just in time!

Here is the biggest machine we have had at the house. This is the crane that lifted the roof panels. It was humbling to watch!

The roof went on just in time. A few days later, the rains started. We are so grateful that we have a dry house!

We have a second floor!

Don't jump! We have had many moments at the house where we will just stare into the distance hoping it will all be worth it. We know it will.

Now it is my Dad's turn to wonder out the laundry room window. (That's right, my dream of an upstairs laundry room came true!)


Avery was the first one to sing in the shower at the new house. She is so excited to have her own bathroom. Well, it is really just the upstairs bathroom for all the bedrooms (aside from the master), but since she is the only one who will be living in the upstairs bedrooms (again, aside from the master), we let her call it hers.

Waving from her new room.

Interior framing and second floor.

Here is the downstairs framed. We have a small front living room, half bath, lost of closets (yeah!), and then one great room with kitchen, dining, and family room.

View of first floor from outside.

Avery is first to welcome any visitors.

Here is the stairwell from upstairs. I was so worried that someone would fall down these stairs before the upstairs walls were up.

Here is the upstairs before it was framed.

First floor goes up!

Here is the truck arriving with all our exterior wall and roof panels. You can read more about the process at the SIPs website, but basically it is two boards with foam piped in between. And, in the foam they have cut channels for all the wiring to go through.

We have had a lot of huge machines at the lot. This bif forklift unloaded all the SIPs panels and stacked them throughout the lot.

Here is stack number one.

Stack number two.

Stack number three.

This is Kevin installing the foundation drains. Again, I am amazed at the things he can do. I wouldn 't even have known that foundations needed drains. This is why he is in charge of the house!

The panels for the outside walls are put up on the lip they attach to the top of the foundation, or to the top of the sub floor. This is a garage wall they are installing here.

They hoist it up.

Put it into place.

Then they sledge hammer it to make sure it is on tight. Then they nail it to the surrounding boards, and caulk everything. My mom says that our house is "tight like unto a dish."

Here is Kevin in boy heaven building his house.