House Update

There has been lots of activity at the house over the last month and I have had more than one request from my family members far away to get pictures up.  So, here you go!

These first pictures are from September 30th.  The next step after putting on the floor is to frame it up!  They started with the exterior walls so that Jeremy and I could make the final decisions about doors and windows.  We went out on a Monday evening and things went pretty well.  We only changed one thing...the ENTIRE west side of the living room/kitchen area!

The original house plan called for a breakfast nook, which I was so very excited about.  If you follow me on Pinterest you might have seen several of the things I pinned relating to my breakfast nook.  Here comes the BUT...

But, once they had the walls up and the kitchen lined out on the floor it just looked to me like it was going to be too cramped.  SO, I wondered what would happen if we scrapped the breakfast nook all together, moved the patio doors over and created one GINORMOUS window.  It only took Jeremy about an hour to wrap his head around the change {he's not a HUGE fan of change if you don't know him very well}!!  There were definitely some tense moments and I am fully confident that Kelsey can add marriage counselor to his resume now!  I was on the brink of tears at one point and he managed to talk me down off the ledge, LOL!

By Friday they had all the newly agreed upon changes made and the wall was up and ready for final approval.  One look at this...

and I had absolutely NO doubt that I had made the right decision!  This view is amazing at sunset!!  There will be a covered deck out this window, but I don't think it will interfere with the view, especially if you are sitting down.  Well, that wasn't the end of the decision making regarding that window.  Once we checked with our window company, we were told that the largest they could get in the line of windows we had chosen was 8 ft and this was supposed to be 9 ft.  We could get a 9 ft window in a different line, but it was going to cost $550 more...JUST for 12 inches!!  That came out to about $45 per inch...and somehow the logical side of me won out and ultimately we decided that we probably wouldn't notice those 6 inches off either side once the window was in and we are living there.  WHEW!! I think we FINALLY made it through all of the window decisions!!!

Cambree and Westynn help Jeremy place the tape measure so that we can decide where to put the opening that leads to the 2 upstairs bedroom and the bathroom.  Sounds like an easy decision to make, but NOT the case.  There are a LOT of factors that play into it.  I won't bore you with all the details, but we managed to make the decision...sort of?!

Here's the view of the house looking east.  The front door is on the far left.  The dining room window is in the middle and on the left you can look through the kitchen window and see the other dining room window.  I know, a little confusing, but it will make more sense once you see it from the outside.

This picture cracks me up...I imagine the guys were THRILLED to finally have electricity so they could have a hot lunch!!

Jeremy and Kelsey discuss the options for the railing on the basement stairs.  Who knew there were so many?  I left them to hash this out because this is part of "Jeremy's Room" and I wanted to make sure that it fits with his vision for the room.  {Once they had made a decision, I made sure that it was the same one I would have made...but at least this way Jeremy thinks he is getting some say in things, lol!)

 I drug my parents out to the house this time, because they hadn't seen it since it was just basement walls.  I bet my mom said a hundred times, "This is going to be SO nice."   It was fun having them there...they are excited for us and it is fun to take people like that out to see it.   The best part was showing her my {our} master closet and it's two entrances and she said, "OH MY GOSH!"  Loved that moment!!

Below you can see the stem wall of the garage {Preston is leaning on it}. Kelsey was busy this day filling it with sand and getting it leveled out so that the floor can be poured and the garage walls framed up.

The  next set of picture are from yesterday, October 7th.  The garage floor  and porch stem walls were poured this week.  That's about the only progress that was made because the gold ol' Kansas wind was back in full force this week.  We had gusts of over 50 mph and for some CRAZY reason the boys didn't think they wanted to try and put up framework or trusses in that....whatev'!!

 The parts you can see inside the house are our master bedroom, master bath and the most fantastic master closet...which I might have already mentioned!  There's also a pantry closet but it's hard to see unless you know what you are looking for.  The basement stairs can also be seen if you look closely....sort of Where's Waldo?!

Here's an example of the havoc those winds have created...our basement could now pass for having dirt floors! 

This is a view of the west side.  The far left window is the west bedroom, the large window is the living room, the next large opening {Jeremy is standing in it} is the patio doors, the two higher windows are the master bedroom {designed to fit on either side of our bed and right above our nightstands} and the window on the far right is the master bath {which is right over the tub}.

This is the front of the house.  The Front door on the right and the dining room window on the left.  I love how you can see completely through the house from the front or the back!

Kitchen window on the right, laundry window on the left.

The trusses are here, ready and waiting for the wretched wind to die down!  I CANNOT WAIT to see what the house looks like with these bad boys on it!

This is the view of the house from the first cattle guard.  Hopefully now that it has rained, we will be able to get the road built!

 

If you have ever wondered what it is like to work with a contractor...here's the best evidence

I was really wishing I would have had something to add PU underneath this...but I guess next time I will just go prepared!!  Kelsey must have forgotten that I know where he lives.  Wonder how he would feel about a little Crimson and Cream spray painted in his yard?!!