House Update Month 2 - All Wrapped Up!

Happy March!  To say that we're amazed at the amount of progress on our house in the past six weeks is an understatement!  Between a contractor that has been on the ball and very mild weather, the house is completely dried in. I've been scrambling to pick out things for the house.  It's all happening so fast, which is wonderful, but my picky tastes are having a hard time keeping up.  (wink)

Here's an update on some of the past six week happenings!  I apologize in advance for how long this post is... I really wanted to document this so I could remember! 

Footers were dug and the foundation block was laid.  The framing subcontractor came in and started in no time at all (the house next in line had a delay, so he came to ours).  It was so exciting getting to walk on top of the house... all started to feel very real! 

 We only see the house on the weekends, so Friday is always an exciting day.  Particularly while the house was being framed, it was so fun to see it all start taking shape. 

 I laugh every time I see the crawl space.  In our previous house, the crawlspace was so small that in some areas it was impossible to access.  Justus always said, "In our next house, I want to have enough room to walk in the crawl space!"  Well, he certainly got his wish - ha! 

You can see here how tall the front of the house is.  It took a while for me to get used to how it looked.  The front stairs will be over 7' wide and there will be plenty of them!  

When the ceiling was framed in, we walked on top and I couldn't believe how far it felt to the ground.  

Pretty soon the second story was in the process of being framed.  The girls had so much fun seeing where their actual bedrooms would be!  

 And here we are today, with the shingles on and windows in.  We went with an architectural shingle in Weathered Wood... we chose this color because we really wanted the eye to be drawn to the house, not the shingles. 

 For the windows, we chose a craftsman style... the grilles are in the upper windows, and are two vertical lines. I chose white because...well, I still love white!  :-D

 I love this side porch at the back of the house... when I first saw this floor plan, I envisioned french doors leading out onto the back porch.  I imagine we will spend a LOT of time back here! 

 I was insistent on building the chimney... it's actually faux (gasp) as our logs will be natural gas.  There's a chance we may actually be utilizing the chimney as we will be venting the gas logs, but I'm not quite sure how that will work yet. 

 It's actually hard to envision the front of the house at this point.  The front porch is just block right now, but eventually concrete will be poured, it will have brick stairs, craftsman columns with a brick base, and white wood railing. The front of the house and the dormers will be hardi lap siding painted white and the sides of the house will be brick.  We have yet to pick out a brick color... I never knew there could possibly be so many choices and it completely overwhelmed both of us. 

The little shed roof over the windows on the upstairs dormer was just added this morning.  When the house was first wrapped, Justus and I stood out in the front yard looking up at the house, staring at a huge voided space above the windows.  We had eliminated the shed roof shown in the plans there because we didn't see its purpose... well, the purpose was clearly to be seen on that day - ha!  The plans did show a little shed roof, but it didn't have any details, so I searched online high and low for a picture that showed something similar.  This is what the framer came up with and we love it.  This little detail added SO much to the look of the house.

Inside the house, the plumbing, electrical and insulation are all in and drywall goes in next week!  I can't believe it.  Every time I walk through the house, it almost feels like a dream.  The electrical threw me for a little loop... I had never though how much was involved in selecting the placement for light fixtures and outlets and all the details involved with light switches.  All I can say is the poor electrician was so kind dealing with me!  

One of the biggest decisions we made last minute was deciding to go ahead and finish the bonus room upstairs.   The dormer room to the left is one of my favorite things about the house.  When I first walked into this space, I could imagine a large farmhouse table underneath the windows for schoolwork and crafting.  When the girls aren't outside, I imagine they'll be right here.  :-)  

I think that's all for now!  Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!