Day 162 -- Phase I Complete

Well today, Phase I officially came to a close. By Phase I, I mean that DAYT finished the last items on their to do list from the original contract -- some shingles on the new roof had to be replaced because they were damaged during painting and a new doorbell was installed since our original one was destroyed when they tore the roof off. It plays the Westminster chimes -- pretty swanky if you ask me. I'm used to a good old-fashioned BBBBUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!! The new doorbell might actually put me to sleep.

Things have been really crazy around here so nothing really has happened in the last couple weeks. The light and the drapes in the dining room have gone up. But more importantly -- according to Brian -- the busts and some of the books are back up in the front room. I think Brian may love those busts more than the other kind.......well, maybe not that much.

Next on the list: walnut stairs, October 26th. Then we'll get working on finishing the upper floor.

Day 137 -- Little Things

For the past week DAYT has been wrapping up some of the little projects they've had to do like fixing the siding around the outlet, putting trim here, patching concrete there, weatherproofing doors, touching up paint, etc.

My family came over today and helped do some of the little stuff as well. They helped get the lamps back in the front room and I hung the painting back up. There are still a lot of books that need to be placed and the drapes need to be hung, but we're getting there. We also put all the switchplates back up.

They also helped get the drapery rods hung in the dining room. The drapes are at the cleaners so they'll go up as soon as I get them back. My mom decided to put the tall cabinet back together. That will be nice to have a little more storage space. We also started to hang light fixtures back up. I need to go pick a new one out for the office though...no way that ugly gold thing is going back in there.

Even though these are all "little things", it feels great to be getting things put back together on the main floor. Thanks everyone.

Day 127 -- Helping Hands

I love my job. I love what I do, but more importantly, I love the people I work with. They are amazing. Today, they gave up their lunch break to put on some grubbies and haul our furniture from our garage, basement and wherever else, back to their rightful places. They even managed to do it with a smile on their faces. At least, they faked one for a split-second picture.





Even wives and babies turned out to help.












I mostly did the two things I do best: barked orders and stood there and looked pretty.












After the "fun" was over and we had worked up an appetite, we chowed on some pizza. It was a great time.


The end result was a main floor with furniture that we could actually use. Not to mention a garage that I can actually park in.



We ate dinner on our dining room table for the first time in 4 months. Lizzy thought it was pretty cool to eat at a table instead of the floor in our bed/dining/TV room. Right now, she's in playing with all her toys that have been packed away for ages. She might me more ecstatic than I am!




Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Richard, Sally, Cameron, Ryan, Steve, Kim, Sean, Jason, Kent, Melinda, Carianne, Patrick & the lovely Isabella.




P.S. We'll miss you Sean!

Day 123 -- 4 Month Recap

It has been 4 months since we started. The exterior is almost totally finished...Just a couple touch-up things to do. The interior has gone from beautiful to totally trashed back to beautiful again. Hopefully, in a few days I'll have more pictures with furniture!

Day 0	4 Months

I also realized I haven't gotten a good picture of the balcony with the Trex decking and paint. The panoramic program I have didn't blend the pictures perfectly, but here you go anyway.







I also haven't really had time to take pictures in the morning. I especially love how much light the window at the top of the stairs lets into the hall and kitchen area.

Day 121 -- Driveway Reclamation

Do not adjust your monitors, people! That is my car in the driveway. But more importantly, that is not a dumpster or a port-o-potty. I came home, drove right by the open driveway (even while admiring it) and proceeded to park on the street.....wait....my car goes there!!! I don't know what I'll do when the garage is actually clear of the crap and I can have covered parking again.

A couple other things that went on over the last couple days: The rain gutter drains were put in. We decided to switch the side of the drain off the back porch. Before it was on the left side (if you were looking at the back of the house). This drained all the water right at the spot where the grass has trouble growing which makes a big mud puddle that we have to walk through to get to the dog run. Moving it to the right side will help a lot especially in the Spring.

Also, the electric company came and "fixed" the low wires. I'm really hoping that 2 feet of twine tying up the power lines is not their idea of "fixed". The only thing missing is duct tape and bailing wire. I still have to find out if they're coming back to straighten this mess of wires out. My guess is that they took one look at the leaning power pole and the trees that are literally holding up the power lines with their branches and thought "This will take a bit more than we thought." and are coming back later to fix all those issues.

Day 119 -- Exterior Finishing Touches

Over the past few days, they've been taking care of all the little remaining tasks. Today they got the holiday plugs put in the soffits. They're connected to a switch in the furnace closet which will make turning on/off Christmas lights a breeze. They also put up the rain gutters today.


They have also done a lot of cleaning on both the exterior and interior. Today they cleaned up the porch and yesterday they got all the bricks and other junk cleared out of the driveway. Could this really be the last dumpster load?!?!

DAYT will be done in just a few days.







Also, last week they put the final coats on the floors. Here are a couple shots of how they look with the paint.

Day 113 -- The Painted House

With a few minor touch-ups left to go, the paint on the exterior of the house is largely finished. It pretty close to the picture Ed, our architect, drew up....Except our yard looks much nicer in that depiction. I really like the white and tan and I'm really happy with how they combined the two on the balcony area. I also like how the dark brown windows pop against the white trim. I think it looks great! Cody from Pella was right :)



The electricians also came to put on some finishing touches. I especially like the canned lighting in the mudroom area. We are still on track to have the floors finished this weekend and then a cleaning crew will be here on Monday to wash windows, dust, etc.