Getting So Close to Finish

Here's the kitchen before counter tops.

Here's the kitchen after counter tops. We couldn't get the no drip edge because the back of the counter top wouldn't fit under the rock. The straight edge, though, fit perfectly under the rock.

My lovely walk-in-closet shelves that I'm so excited about!

This is paneling that is on the outside wall of the bathtub, where all the plumbing is.
By the way, we have water running in the house....through the pipes, not the walls!

The upstairs is 99% finished, we still have a few door locks to install, the shelf for above the washer and dryer, and the small bathroom sink vanity needs to be built but, that is pretty much all. Now, it's time to give the entire house a good cleaning and once the house is completely clean, we will start moving stuff in. But, we won't physically be moving in until the back deck is built and the basement is pretty close to being finished. Probably sometime in June, we'll be living there!

Progressing, little by little

Here's dad chopping up a tree root, so that he can get the water pipe hooked to the well. Dad dug the water line ditch yesterday and hopefully this weekend Eric and his uncle, Clinton, will get the line put in.

Eric put these lights on the porch a few weeks ago.

This is a 100+ year old wormy chestnut beam. It was salvages from the deconstruction of his parent's first home. Eric and his grandpa chopped it up with an axe and painted it with polyurethane. I think it adds a lot of character to our ceiling. Notice the new light fixture that will hang over the dining room table.

These lights....I'm not crazy about but, we had a really hard time finding the right lights to hang over the mantle. They'll probably grow on me.

That's all for now.

Doors and More

This is our septic tank. This is exciting because installing the septic is one of the last big and expensive projects. Dad and Teddy worked two days by themselves and Eric took off work on Friday to help them. Then Saturday dad pretty much got everything covered up.
We have 180 feet of leach line.

Teddy and Eric installed all the interior doors weekend before last. I learned the skill of installing door handles, which was actually quite simple. We're leaving everything natural. Stain is pretty but, we like the doors and walls just as they are.
What do we have left before we can move in? Build walk-in closet and over the washer and dryer shelving, install closet doors, run water from well to house, install hot water tank, put plywood up on ceiling of front porch, build back deck, Put insulation and plywood up in basement, poor concrete pad in front of garage, and wire kitchen and basement for electric. I'm sure there is more.....but, give us 2 months and we should be ready to move in.

Flooring Project Complete

Honey Rose colored oak flooring went down in our Master Bedroom, walk-in closet, living room, dining room, and kitchen.Our brother-n-law, Scott really stepped up and was a lot of help. He provided most of the tools and lots of labor.Once the floor is clean, it will be beautiful!Mom and I even helped a little.Here is the finished product. The flooring makes the rooms look huge!

Finally, the french door was painted...now I just have to paint the outside.

Sorry, for not many pics....it's 7:30 and I've got to get to work!

More lights, more plumbing, & FLOORING!

Eric, with the help of Grandpa Branti, Tony Massey, and the Boggs boys, installed flooring in the two small bedrooms. This is hickory....I love it and it will be prettier when it's clean! This is natural red oak...

New kitchen light

Dad has installed everything required to take a wonderful shower.....oh, except the water! But, I'm really excited to take a shower with this shower head.

Grandpa Brantie and Dad have pretty much completed the plumbing. They worked on it last Tuesday and were 5 joints of pipe short of being finished.

I'm not crazy about our vanity lights in the bathrooms. But, I had to choose something and this was the closest thing that I could find to something I like. I'm trying to find some glass globes that aren't $7.00 each. Once they are added, I think I will like it better.

We now have a divider wall in between the garage and the basement. Plus, we got in our first load of fire wood!Eric and his dad built Eric's "hunting room" which will contain all his hunting clothes, his gun, tree stands, etc.They put log siding on the walls....once we get a ceiling, it will look nice. This is my wonderful pantry. The bin on the bottom will hold cans for recyclables and the top shelves will hold whatever I desire!Brantie (Grandpa) spent most of his time over the weekend doing plumbing and electrical work. We now have lights in the two small bedrooms.

This is the ceiling fan in the master bedroom.

Mom and dad did a lot of plumbing, here they are installing the sink faucets.

I took this picture standing in the small bedroom. They could hear us working but, it didn't bother them.

Tile and Tin

Eric is now proud to say that he can lay porcelain tile. Dad showed him the basics and Eric did it. Of course, he had a little help here and there but, he worked really hard and about killed his back. Here is the foundation, hardy backing, that was screwed down onto the plywood.Next step, mortar, tile and spacers.Dad and Teddy had to cut a few pieces to fit in tight places. This is the guest bathroom/laundry room.

Voila.....here is the finished product. I love this tile. The grout was messy but, it was cleaned many times and sealed yesterday.

Dad had to read up on how to install our wood furnace. He did a great job and the wood burner works great. So great that Sunday when we were working, we had to shut it down b/c we got way too hot.

This is the master bathroom.

I love this tile too, it's a basic grey design that looks a lot like marble.

Mom and I did a lot of sanding and staining last weekend.

We have three doors installed on the kitchen cabinets and burgundy tin on the ceiling.

The kitchen is looking a little dark but, we're trying to find a bright kitchen light and also a light colored counter top. We'd like to have something light with burgundy flecks. If anyone can find a counter top that would go great in our kitchen....please forward it to us.

Here we are installing the sink bowls onto the bathroom sink counter tops.