June 19, 2009

We've had the trim up around the windows and doors for a couple of weeks now but, I'm just getting the picture up. We hope to get the siding installed sometime within the next two weeks. We love our garage door. I plan to paint the side door the same color brown.

I absolutely love our front door after mom and I painted it. It matches our roof perfectly.

The focus of this weekends work was getting our water line installed. Dad rented this bobcat/ditch witch. We have over 3,000 feet of water line to run and therefore lots of digging. Well, dad and Eric didn't exactly know what they were doing but, they did try their best. They got about 120 feet of the line in, in 7 and 1/2 hours. They ran into a lot of rock, which makes for extremely hard digging. We have called several "professional ditch diggers" to get estimates and no one has called us back. So, we're not exactly sure what's going to happen with the water line. But, dad and Eric did get in our power line and now we're just waiting on the power company to do their job!

Windows...June 6, 2009

Awwwhh...8 beautiful windows. We love them!

Eric on the Kubota Tractor, he loves getting his picture taken!

Here is a great foundation for our stairs that lead to the kitchen.

Teddy, Brantie, and Eric sawing out the stairs.

This is the brainstorming session on "how to do the stairs."

Here is the view of the windows from inside.

Here is the first window that was installed and I have quite a funny story to share. The 2nd window to be installed was opened from the cardboard and the plastic was taken off. Just as they were getting ready to install......I noticed it was BROKEN. OMG....we couldn't believe the window was broken. We (dad, Teddy, Eric, and Brantie) opened another one, it was broken too. Then we opened up another one....It was BROKEN too! We couldn't believe it, 3 out of 4 windows were broken. I frantically tried to get ahold of the distributer, no one was in the office and I left a message on the reps house phone! Eric was worried to death that they wouldn't replace the broken windows b/c we had them in our possession for 2 months. I assured him that I would have everything taken care of. Well, we decided not to open anymore windows until we heard from the distributor and knew how they were going to deal with our HUGE problem. So, in the mean time, Teddy & Brantie worked on building our stairs, Eric, Dad, and I worked on filling gravel around our drains and prepping for the backfill. So, we worked for several hours and then after lunch we were upstairs checking out the 1 window that was able to be installed. THERE WAS A CRACK IN IT AS WELL! It was very small but, sure enough a crack.......Well, after a few more minutes of panic, my dad decided to feel the crack with his finger nail and it was glue that looked so much like a crack, it fooled us all. We proceeded to check the rest of the "cracks" and they were glue, very deceiving glue. WHAT A RELIEF! Our windows are fine, we still had the afternoon to get them installed and so now we have windows! Crazy & Funny day!

Mom and I gathered some scrap material and made this wonderful dining table.

This is our shower in the master bath.

This is the shower/tub in the guest bathroom.

It's a Wrap

Exactly 1 year prior to when this picture was taken, Eric and I were standing very close to this exact spot, exchanging our wedding vowels. We spent our anniversary working on our house but, it was still a good day.

Mom and I swept out the whole basement. It's still not very clean but, way better than before. Eric helped a little but, him and dad worked really hard putting the house wrap on the outside of the house.

May 31, 2009

Lowes should be paying us for this advertisement!

We have a door

Thanks to Mrs. Erin E-C, I got the adirondack chair fever. Eric and I lucked into these babies. We watered proofed them and they go great with the bench that we used in our wedding. In the future, they will become deck chairs.

Eric, dad, Teddy and Grandpa installed this french door in our dining room, which will eventually lead out to the deck. I will probably pain the door burgundy to match the roof.

The job wasn't as easy as they hoped it would be. The door fit tightely in the hole.

TIN ROOF....Burgundy

RB Roofing and CN Contracting was kind enough to lend a helping hand in putting the tin on our roof. If anyone needs work done, let me know and I'll get you their phone numbers. Business advertisment is the least I can do! Also, Frankie's bf, John helped a lot!

Of course, Teddy, dad, and Grandpa Branti helped.

Eric is trimming the tin and doing a great job!

Gracie, Casie & Diana came to sneek a peak at the progress. Mom, Frankie, Gracie and I took a walk to the top of the mountain. Mom and Dad have a swimming pool where they are digging the basement for their house.

Here Eric & Teddy are taking a sit down but, work is going on in their head....The work on our house really has just began!

The view of our roof from above.

We have a house....almost.

They all worked to almost dark. I think it's beautiful! Stay tuned....we're hoping next weekend that we will be able to get our tin on! Then our house will be "dried in".

Over half of the roof trusses are on. I love the tree, but its top needs cut badly.

Tony Massey, Clinton, and Scott waiting for the next truss. I know these guys are working hard but, I think they truly enjoy being up on top of a house, especially with the view that they have up on the farm.

Eric is walking out the front door and down our, hopefully, temporary stairs.

Here is a ladder standing in my walk-in-closet.

Teddy, Scott and Eric.

There were 3-4 guys on the ground lifting the trusses to about 4-5 guys on the roof. Then there were a couple of guys on the house floor with a 2X4 to help support the truss. They are so big and heavy!

Here's Scott nailing on a roof truss. It is so awesome that we are getting a roof!

Eric and one of his bff's, David. David lives in Ohio but, travels to WV often for hunting and just soaking in some good ole' WV good livin!

These guys needed a lunch break. Thanks to mom for making food and Diane for sending food. We had plenty to feed these hungry workers. Even the first watermelon of the season! YUM!

Our friends were so much help. Eric's uncle Clinton, who has his own contractor's business helped out a lot and our brother-n-law Scott was just like a monkey climbing around on top of the walls....well, a monkey who knows how to hammer!

Grandpa Brantie, cutting a board.

This is the front of the house. The front door is in the center, the 3 windows will be in the living room and the window on the right is one small bedroom.

When I left the house site, we had a floor. The next time I got there, it looked like this. Eric and his friends from Ohio got together in the mornings for a nice turkey hunt and then came to work on our house in the afternoon. I really appreciate all the hard work everyone put into our house last week! THANK YOU!

And there is our floor, the hole is for the stairwell to the basement. I think it is beautiful!

Everyone is getting a close look at the floor.

Almost finished with the floor

Dad is making sure the trusses are nice and level.

Eric's grandpa was a big help, even though is was going through a cancer treatment on his face and had to keep it covered from the sun.

Here is a shot from the basement floor.

Here Eric is nailing the floor truss to the top plate of our basement wall.

Almost half of the floor trusses are on!