Floors

I'm really tired and sore from working at the house this weekend, so this post is going to be short. The floors are in. That's all you really need to know. After 9 months and 8 days, the house is back to being livable. We don't have an occupancy permit yet (we're going to apply for that this week), but it's such a relief to have the floors done. It was a lot of hard work (mostly done by Jay), but my parents helped, too, and we are so thankful for that. Here are some pics.

The master bedroom and closet with new hardwood floors.

The hallway

This would be why I am so sore... putting this glue down was no easy task!

Jay puts down the FINAL piece of wood. Wahoo!!

The finished product. It is quite beautiful, if I do say so myself (but I'm kinda biased)

House update

Here are a few pictures of what's been going on at the house lately. Enjoy!

Tiling the master shower.

The mess in the bathroom tub while tiling.

Close up of the trim in the master shower.

Guest bathroom surround pre grout.

Shower surround in the guest bathroom post grout.

The finished product in the master bath.

Close up of the kitchen floor, grouted!

Tiling

That was the house project for the weekend, and I am going to be feeling it (quite literally) for the next few days. I knew this was a huge project that we were undertaking, but I guess I didn't really realize how huge. And the amount of patience (something I'm not known for having a lot of) you have to have. I had hoped we'd have more done than we do, but I'm glad (and so thankful for the help) that were were able to get done what we did. We managed to get both bathroom floors done as well as the kitchen backsplash. We had hoped to work on the tub surround in the master bath today, but a couple other things came up, so we weren't able to get to it. Here are some pictures of the work that was done. Thank you mom and dad for all the help. We truly couldn't have gotten all of this done without y'all!!

Bathroom tile (still with the spacers)

Close up of the bathroom tile (Jay came up with the design all by himself)

Kitchen backsplash

More kitchen backsplash

Close up of the finished kitchen backsplash (still needs to be grouted)

The house is coming along

A lot - A LOT - has happened since my last post about the house. We've painted the entire outside. We have electricity. The AC is hooked up and running. The cabinets and trim are installed. The granite counter tops are in (and beautiful!). The cabinets have been stained (gorgeous!). The painters are painting as we speak. The carpet will be installed this week. The plumber will be in tomorow to install faucets, etc. We've picked out the backsplash for the kitchen and the tub surround for both bathrooms. We've decided on hardwood flooring (we just have to go order it), but we still need to pick out the tile flooring. And that should be about it. The light at the end of the tunnel is becoming so much brighter... Just in time for the start of hurricane season, which, by the way, is less than a week away. But who's counting? Here are some pics from the action at the house. Hopefully later this week I'll have some of the entire inside of the house, freshly painted and carpeted.

House Update

It's been awhile since I've posted anything about the house, but things have been crazy with work and getting stuff done at the house. Things are definitely progressing. The texture went up on the wall last weekend (and what an ordeal that was), and we were able to paint the kitchen last week. Custom cabinets have been going up all week (another ordeal, but I think we're all on the same page now). We got our first inspection by the mortgage company today (all that means is that they see we're using their money to actually fix the house, and we can get our second draw so we can pay the contractor). I've picked out all the paint colors for the entire house (including the outside), and I decided on backsplash for the kitchen and the second bathroom today. All that's left is flooring (which we at least have some idea about), cabinet stain color, and tub surround for the master bath. So, we're definitely getting there. Most of what's left is up to Jay and I, since we decided we are going to do the flooring and painting ourselves. With that said, here are a few pictures from the last week.

freshly sprayed texture

priming the walls

wood for the custom cabinets

kitchen cabinets

wet bar

master bath

Houston, WE HAVE WALLS!!!!!

Yes, it's true. The house now has walls. And WOW! I thought it looked and sounded different with the insulation - that was nothing compared to this. The main room looks absolutely AMAZING. I can't wait until it's all finished. I'm loving my closet. I'm so excited about the kitchen. Hell, who am I kidding? I AM SO EXCITED TO HAVE WALLS IN THE WHOLE HOUSE!!!!!

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Can you say wet bar???

Living Room

Living Room / Dining Room

Jay's mom was able to move most of her stuff back in to her house today, and made the phone call to have her furniture delivered. She is absolutely thrilled, as you can probably imagine. They're still doing some tile work, so she's not able to use her kitchen or shower, but when we were there today she was so excited about being able to sleep in her own bed in her house tonight. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a smidgen jealous, but I'm so happy for her. My turn will come soon...

It's beginning to look a lot like a house!

Now that I've got you all singing a Christmas song in your head, here is the latest on the house.

I promised you pictures of the new roof, so here you go.




The plumbing finally passed inspection today, and the insulation went up, so this means walls are next. Music to my ears! Materials are being delivered on Thursday, and the sheetrock will begin to go up Monday! Yippee! I picked out ceiling and wall textures today (a decision that you literally have to live with, unless you're made of money and can change it after you get tired of it), which means we're going to have to get serious about paint colors. Which means we're going to have to get serious about tile. But I digress... here are some photos of the insulation. Yes, I cried (sorry PB, couldn't help myself!).



In other good news, Jay's mom gets to move back in to her place on Monday. We had dinner with her tonight for her birthday, and she is beyond excited. And I'm excited for her. A little jealous, because I'd like to be moving into my house on Monday, but my time will come soon enough.

Last DRC closes today

This probably means nothing to most of you, but for those of us who are still trying to rebuild our lives after Hurricane Ike, this is a benchmark. The last Disaster Recover Center (DRC) closes today. It happens to be the one that Jay and I frequented the most. It's at the Community Center on Galveston Island. We went there way more than we ever thought we would, and as you all know got zero assistance, but I won't go there now. I'm sure that this particular DRC, and the many others, were able to provide assistance to many families - just not us. I just thought it was worth mentioning that seven months after the storm, the largest - and most visited - DRC is closing its doors.

On another note, the new roof is on the house! It's been inspected, and it passed, so we get the coveted WPI-8 certificate that is oh-so-important if we want windstorm in the future. Which, we do, because, well, we don't have a choice.

Here's what it looked like in the process. I'll post pictures of what it looks like now when I take them. (Yes, I'm a little behind, as usual. Sorry!)

Happy Easter to all of you! I hope you have a blessed weekend!

Moving right along

Things at the house are moving along nicely. The shingles for the roof were delivered today. The plumber came back out to fix the broken line, add lines for the wet bar, and install the water heater. The rest of the siding went in, as did the second round of windows in the office and guest bedroom. And, Jay's new front door and hardware got installed. So he's a happy camper.

Update

Thank you to my loyal readers (all 3 of you, hehe) for pointing out that I haven't blogged in awhile. I'm well aware. It hasn't been because of lack of action or subject matter, but more because of this guy:

How cute is he?!?!?! My best friend and her husband, and their absolutely adorable little boy, came down last week for a visit for Spring Break, so we were hanging out with them. We hit San Antonio and Old Town Spring and had a great time. I couldn't get enough of the little one! (and his parents, of course!!) I was sad to see them leave, but we had a really great time with them.

Mom and dad's house in The Woodlands officially went on the market this past Saturday and they had a showing on Sunday! If any of you know someone who is looking to move to The Woodlands and is in need of a great 4,200 square foot house, I know just the one!

Now, updates on the house. Things are moving along rather quickly. About 90% of the siding is up, HVAC and electrical are being installed this week. We picked out the granite (so excited!) It's very rare that Jay and I absolutely, 100% agree on something, and we both fell in love with this piece when we saw it! We bought interior doors and outside lights this weekend. We still have to do the inside lights, but most of those are recessed cans, so that'll be easy. I guess that's it really. I'll leave you with some pictures.

More house pictures

I don't really have anything "profound" to say tonight, so I thought I would just post some more pictures of the house. Things are coming along nicely. Hopefully this week we'll get the electrical and HVAC put in, plus the siding put up on the exterior. Then things should really start picking up. I'm on Spring Break this week and actually excited to be able to go by the house during the day to check up on things. Enjoy the pics!

New siding.

New back door.

Jay standing in front of the new french doors leading into the master bedroom.

New french doors from the inside.

New hardware for the back door and french doors.

This is the ONLY time Jay will ever be allowed to do this in the living room.

House update

I've been a bad blogger of late, and for that I apologize. Let me give you the SportsCenter edition of what's been going on at the house. I think the last time I posted something about the house we had a hole in the side wall. We still don't have a slab in the guest bedroom. That got postponed because of city politics. Supposedly it's happening Thursday. Yes, I think I'll write a book (because I can't make this shit up).

However, since then, we knocked down the two faux walls on either side of the fireplace, and replaced that side of the house with plywood. We'll eventually put up Hardie. Mom and I - by ourselves - scraped up the tile in the kitchen and bathroom. It was a good way to release some frustrations, but talk about gross. It was still wet and very moldy. Yes, my hands still hurt.

The new windows are in the front of the house, including a completely new window in the living room, so we now have 4 windows there. The other windows are in the garage waiting for the framing to be completed so they can be installed. The hole has been cut in the bedroom for the french doors. I'm very excited about this. They were ordered today. The rest of the side of the house where the "original" hole was is tore out because there was some pretty good damage to the boards there, so they had to re-frame the wall in the office. For those of you that know our house, basically the whole side of the house where the office and guest bedroom are is completely open at this point. We were trying not to have to re-side the whole house, but at this point it looks like we're going to have to.

Plumbing went in today. When I left the house tonight I actually locked the front door, and then had to laugh at myself.

That's about it. I'm going out of town tomorrow, so I've instructed Jay to take some pictures of the slab. We'll see if he pulls through for us. For now, here are some pics of the recent action. Enjoy!

The new fancy, expensive plumbing. Can you guess which is the hot and which is the cold???

New windows!

New windows from the inside. Notice the totally new window to the right...

Mom and I ripped up tile until we could no longer feel our hands and many other parts of our body.

This sight freaked Jay out a little.

No more cinder block walls!

We apparently like making holes in the sides of our house...

It was kinda fun tearing down the walls.

This was right after we got the cinder block out.

Buh-bye!

Ready to pour the slab.