The Final Touch

Our happy home got a facelift last week—the final touch in our summer of renovations. Just as the summer came to a close, we had our house painted. We're grateful that the sun lasted through the end of September, because this week, it's rain central.

Check out the Post-Constructionism photo set for some shots of the new color. It didn't photograph that well; the colors are a light gray/blue (looks pretty blue in the sunlight) and a deep, dark purple for the trim.

This is likely the last time we'll update the blog. Thanks for reading along and sending commentary as we made our way through the maze of construction.

Project Redux

The project is pretty much complete. It's been more than a year in the planning, but less than six months since we "broke ground" on our construction project. The house is in the process of being painted (it's blue. no, no, it's gray. or blue) and we should had pictures of that in just a few days.

This process has taught us a few things:

1. Trust your intuition. If it feels like you'll like a piece, design, idea or color, it will probably suit you. And that's all that matters.
2. Cats always find new nooks to investigate. And they look damn cute snooping around.
3. We can do some of this stuff all-by-selves. I mean, since April, we've repaired a garage door lock, built a garden box and landscaping step, replaced a few light fixtures and spackled & painted up a storm. Even watching other people construct things can be empowering.

Here's a final photo set. For more details, you'e just going to have to come visit.

8*P

Murky Glass

You know what's funny? About a month ago, I actually believed we'd have a shower door already. It's Sep 18th and we finally have our shower door installed after 6 visits, two glass mistakes and one bad idea of customer service.

Let's see how this reporting people to the Better Business Bureau thingy works...

Moved in

At long last, our shower door is being installed tomorrow. After that, it's time to FINALLY call the inspector. 141 days after we began, we will have a stamp of approval (hopefully). We have loved this project; we loved inspecting the construction every day and even had fun down to the little details thanks to such an amazing contractor. Pat Casey, Brock, Cliff the Carpenter, Todd & Steve the electricians, the Drywall Finishers Tweedledum and Tweedledee, those Crown plumbers, even Ernesto and about 9 unnamed installers—we salute you.

Here are some photos of our move-in weekend: At Last

By the way, NO thanks to our hall of shame vendors: Customline Shower Company, Lamps Plus (Should be minus) and the fine folks at A-Boy Supply. Ok, thanks to that one guy at A-Boy who has his stuff together.

Almost Home

It's been a wild ride, folks. We scored a great contractor and team, amazing sub-contractors (see Cliff's many examples of fine woodworking) and some bad, lazy vendors (ask someday about the tub saga or our disaffection for Lamps Plus).

This Friday, August 3, marks day 101 of our happy experience of growing our home. Now we can have a few visitors, say, from the East Coast (hint hint) and have them comfortably stay in our house without fighting for bathroom time. Now, our local friends will jump at the chance to watch our kitties (and bathtub) when we head out of town. Now, we can proudly boast 4 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms if we ever decide we can part with this awesome house. This is all good news, because, aside from a trip back East here or there, we're never going out again!

Humor aside, check out what a difference a week makes in our almost final photo set. We'll likely share another one once we're all moved in.

Thanks everyone for your support and listening to us drone on about how awesome Pat Casey is these last few months. Now, c'mon over!

Rounding Third

Rounding Third is the name of Ben's softball team. I think the name fits for how we are feeling this week--we're almost home. We are getting *so* close; a little bit of construction ennui has set in (Are we THERE yet?). Most of all, I think we're just pleased as can be.

Thus far, our biggest complaint is with the lighting store and their unusually inept staff. Pat installed a shower shelf today that was meant for a 7 foot tall person but in the scheme of things, it is a minor detail. We are so grateful to have found such a great contractor and construction team, we cannot wait to celebrate them with a post-project party in a couple of weeks.

This weeks's updates include:
1. Final trim
2. Painting touch-ups
3. Finished cabinetry
4. New old carpet! (We're able to re-use our nice, relatively new carpet)
5. Plumbing??

Enjoy the latest set of photos here: new photos

Time Flies

It's summer. Summer is filled with things to do, weeds to pull, flowers to deadhead, concerts to play and yada yada.

The great news is that Pat & Brock are rounding the last lap and hope to have things wrapped up in the next two weeks. We're giddy (and jittery) about our decor choices and checking them out to see what we've mish-mashed together.

Check out the new photo set, weighing in at over 30 lbs of light fixtures and 100s of lbs of tile, all during a heat wave in our fair city:
Week 11