It's looking good...

The electrician and a couple of carpenters were at the house today putting in lights and doorknobs. The cleaning crew was also there making everything look nice. It certainly makes a huge difference to get all the plaster dust off of everything, especially the wood on the stairs and the floors. The wood floors had been given another coat of sealer and they are looking gorgeous. I believe they are doing the final coat on Tuesday or Wednesday.

We came up to the house through the field today so that we could check out what the septic guys have been up to. From the patio side of the house, we could see that the support columns are finished. DH was surprised to see that they were square, as the plans had called for round ones. I like these much better...they still need to be painted. The patio columns match the columns on the front porch (which are almost done).

The bricklayers had finished up the brick over the concrete pad and up to the step near the mudroom door. I'm not sure why they didn't have the brick in there before the pad was poured.
I was also very happy to see the bathroom fixtures installed! And they even work now - the water was connected to both. And judging from the partial roll of toilet paper sitting there, the ones in the powder room have also been broken in. :-D
My fear that the refrigerator was still in the garage because it didn't fit in the space turned out to be unfounded (phew!). It was in place and running, as were all the other appliances in the kitchen...
The fireplace hearth is finished - the triangular pieces were not in place the last time we were out there...
I had taken lightbulbs out to the house today so I could see what the kitchen pendant lights look like when they are lit up, but we found when we got there that someone had put bulbs in them yesterday after I left. I like these better now that they are lit up...
I still like the blue ones too!
DD's window seat looks really nice now that it is clean and shiny! I bought fabric for the back of her window seat pad yesterday so now I can finish making the pad (and she can cover up all that gorgeous, shiny wood with her seat cushion)!

This is the leech field for the septic system...
It looks like they had to cut down about 4 small trees to get the septic system installed...
The septic tanks are now in the ground and connected to the plumbing in the house...
Here is one of the outdoor sconces...

Items completed as of today are marked in green...

septic tank - almost done - probably 1 more day of work
gas lines - still need to be connected by the gas company
furnace
A/C
painting
kitchen - granite, finish work, vent fan, pulls, granite backsplash, appliances
plumbing
electrical - lights/fans, valance lights (probably going in Wednesday or Thursday)
gutters
brick/stone/pillars
driveway - concrete, gravel
grading - rough, topsoil
sewing studio - knobs/pulls, upper crown moulding on cabinets
master bath - grout, finish shower, cabinets, glass doors, baseboard stone, granite
stained woodwork on great room walls
closet shelves/rods
pantry shelves
stain front door
paint garage doors, install gaskets
grab bars on guest tub
shower curtain rods in 2 bathrooms
stairs
fix vanity granite backsplash in kids' bathroom, recess medicine cabinet?
top for windowseat
doors on bookcase shelves in great room
doorknobs
carpet (going in on Monday)
fireplace granite surround

Countdown to move day: 10 days and counting!

Who likes a bright kitchen?

So, in case you haven't figured it out yet from other kitchen photos, maybe this one will help you to realize just how much I like a bright kitchen... ;-D

The drywall people were there today, finishing the ceilings. This is the office ceiling - it looks so much better without the drywall and tape and mud showing! I'm a bit worried about the paint in this room and the music room. I thought that the last time we were out there the paint on those walls was the actual paint color, not just the primer. It turns out it was just the tinted primer. The real paint color seems very dark and I'm not sure I'm crazy about the color (the very top of the wall in this photo is the real paint color, the lower part of the wall is still the tinted primer).
The drywall (or fireproof board of some kind?) is getting put up around the fireplace.
The underlayment has been put in the rooms that will be tiled. This is the guest bathroom...
DD's room is painted with the tinted primer only so far. The window seat will have a stained board on top and I will eventually make a cushion for it.
It looked like the brick was finished on the back of the house, but I forgot to take my boots with me, so no photos of the outside today. I think the bricklayers are working on the windowsills now.

So, the builder's assistant has been searching for our LG refrigerator and is not having any luck. It seems that there is a new model out now and no one (at least locally) has the old model in stock. The biggest problem with getting the new model is that they changed the door handle style and the old model had handles that matched very well with all the JennAir appliances that we are putting in the kitchen. The inside of the refrigerator had minor changes also which I didn't care for as well. The 2 large bins are now 2 medium bins with a small can-size bin in-between and the large drawer under the bins where large trays can be stored opens differently and I don't like it, either. My guess is that we will try to find the old model online, but I wonder whether that makes repairs difficult if you buy it online.

We have paint!

We met with the builder last night to go over some details. He isn't so sure that the house will be finished when he thought it would be. The weather isn't cooperating enough to get the wood floors installed, which will hold up some other things. We told him the closing date on this house, so hopefully he can get us in the new house by then.

The painters have started on the inside of the house. All paints are Duron (Sherwin Williams). The great room is Vesper Violet below where the wooden valance will be and Starry Night (2 shades lighter) above the valance. The sewing studio is also painted Vesper Violet and the laundry room is Starry Night. Here is the great room, looking toward the entry and the music room is way in the back of the photo. (The paint might show up better in these photos if you click on the photos to enlarge them.)

The entry, hallways, stairwell, mudroom and garage are painted Wool Skein...
The office and music room are painted Universal Khaki...
The kitchen, family room, and powder room are painted Oyster Bay. Here is a shot of the kitchen with an inset photo of the granite to show both at the same time. Once the cabinets go into the kitchen, not much of the paint will even show. The kids' rooms are painted Honest Blue and the hallway is Wool Skein.
The kids' bathroom and the guest bedroom are painted Believable Buff.
Our bedroom and bathroom are painted with Quietude. We currently have this color in our bedroom -- depending on the light in the room, it can look very blue-green, or very green-blue.
The bricklayers are back. They've done more on the angled walls in the back of the house and when finished they will start putting the stone on the fireplace, on the chimney, on the posts near the front door, and on the posts on the covered area off the back of the garage.
Here is the light for over the cooktop and bar area (penisula). There will be 2, placed mirror-image to each other with the arch in the center.
And there will be 3 of these pendants over the island...
This is the master bath light, although we plan to hang it upside down so the bugs don't collect in it (I forgot to rotate the photo - you'll have to turn your monitor upside down or stand on your head to see it in the correct position). :-D

Spring is in full bloom around here - you can tell whenever you talk with someone who has allergies! Our lilacs are past their prime and are quickly fading. It was nice to have them at their peak last week while we were showing the house. I was able to put fresh-cut lilacs on the kitchen and dining room tables before people came to see the house, and they are my favorite flower so I thoroughly enjoyed them also. We'll have to plant some at the new house.

Which do you want to hear first?

OK...first, the bad news...

We headed out to the house tonight to meet with the landscape designer. The plan needs some more work...

The house looked a lot like it did when we were out there on Sunday. No more brickwork had been done and the painting still hasn't been started. It did look like the floors had been cleaned up a bit in preparation for painting, but there are 3 or 4 areas where the drywall still needs to be patched before the walls can be painted.

And now the good news...

We found out today that the cabinet installation is scheduled for May 22nd, 2 weeks from tomorrow! Before that happens, the floors and painting need to be done, so hopefully things will start moving along again soon.

On the current home-front, things are going well. The house was officially listed on Monday evening and we've had a few showings already. Maybe we can quit making our beds every morning pretty soon! LOL!

Not much done on the house, but the Pens won!!!

The painters were supposed to start on the interior of the house this week, so we were surprised and a bit disappointed to see that they hadn't even started. We also figured that the brick would be finished, but they still have quite a bit of work to do.

The fireplace is in, however, and they ran the pipe up the chimney.

They had to cut into the drywall in order to put in the chimney pipe - curious that they didn't work on the chimney before the drywall went in. This hole was cut in DH's closet...
And these holes were cut in DD's bedroom walls...
DD still has a view of the river from her bedroom, but it is quickly becoming blocked by the leaves on the trees.
It looks like work was done on the roof over the front door this week and that will hopefully stop the leaks that had developed inside the house.
Here is the office/guest room end of the house. The outside is actually coming along nicely...
The back still isn't finished. The area over the garage and the upper 2 floors of the angled wall still need to have brick added...
The patio side of the house and the back of the garage are done...
And here is a shot from the end of the garage looking toward the patio area...
We've been working our tails off on this house so that we can get it on the market. I finished DS's room, the guest room, all the bathrooms, the dining room, and the laundry room. I still need to dust and make sure the beds are made and dishes all done in the morning before our realtor brings the other agents from her office here on their "caravan". On Thursday, she will have an open house for agents from other real estate offices. The only room that still needs work is the playroom in the basement. There are some bookshelves and game shelves down there that really need to be straightened up and packed up, but that can wait a couple of days.

I haven't figured out yet where we'll go when someone wants to show our house. Perhaps for a walk? Or maybe to hang out at Ice Cream World? Hmmmm....maybe both of those!

I just finished baking chocolate chip cookies to mail to DD for finals week - can you smell them?

We have leaks and the mud is back!

The brick and siding are almost done on the front of the house. There are just a few more spots that need work. It was extremely muddy out there today. It was definitely a boot day if you wanted to walk around the back of the house.

On the inside of the house, it looks like the drywall is completely mudded and sanded. This is the opening in the great room wall for the projector.
We have a few areas that are leaking water. This is in my sewing studio. There are some very strange roof lines over the front door which are probably the cause of this leak.
And this one is in the music room, right under the one in the sewing studio. There are also leaks between the entry and the guest bedroom and near the chimney.
The brick is all the way around the garage now and they have started the angled walls where the kitchen and master bath and kids' bath are. Most of the siding looks done on this side also.
The covered area on the patio side of the house now has the ceiling installed up underneath the roof.
Here is a closeup shot of the installed ceiling. It is a stained beadboard, I think.
I ordered the pulls and knobs for my sewing studio cabinets today. They are Atlas Modernist pulls and knobs in a brushed nickel finish.

Left knob...
Right knob...
Left pull...
Right pull...
I did a mock-up of the sewing studio cabinets using the actual chestnut stained maple slab of the Kraftmaid cabinets and shrinking the cabinet pulls and knobs down to the right size (or at least close). It isn't perfect, but it gave me an idea of where to use the left and right knobs.