Finally, something to talk about

We've been in the house a month now and are still living without "normal" amenities.  You can't even believe how aggravating it is to live without a kitchen sink.  But Monday we started getting our kitchen cabinets and today almost all of the others!    I hope the appliances come soon!  

Kitchen from the sunroom looking at where the refrigerator will be.

Even though its far from being finished, I already love it!  The gray turned out PERFECT!!  We used Fulbright Cabinet Shop in Mount Pleasant and they did a fantastic job.  I didn't plan on having him build the vent hood cover initially, but it was more inexpensive to go that route and now I'm happy we did.  I like the plain look of it with the shaker style cabinets we went with.

It will still be a couple of weeks before we get the countertops and even longer for the island.  But it finally resembles a kitchen so I'm happy!

The pantry.  We should get the countertops for these tomorrow.  There will be a hutch-type shelf on the left for food and open top shelves on the right.  I wanted open shelves instead of top cabinets in the kitchen but Brad said no so we compromised and are putting them in here.

The laundry room.  They're not that exciting but I'm doing open upper shelves in here too and it looks good in my head!  The countertop for this room came in broken so we'll have to wait for that as well.

Island in the master closet. I really like how this turned out.  All of the cabinets need drawer pulls/handles but this piece is kind of screaming for them!  But I think all of our clothes will fit in it just fine. There are drawers on both sides and a shoe shelf for Brad on the other side.  The closet has looked oddly large but this makes it look perfect!  There will be electrical outlets on both ends and we'll probably have to put a glass top on it for protection.  

We have had the dryer hooked up to our gas grill gas tank all month so it was exciting to get the real gas tank today. However its going to be a while before they get it hooked up to the dryer for some reason.

I've been really bored with the little progress that's been made since we've lived here.  But the brick layers are finally gone (even though they still have some steps to do) and the rock looks great.  I'll try to get a picture of that soon.  Also, you can see in the picture of the gas tank that part of the house is painted and part of it isn't.  It looks crazy right now, but we're waiting for the 30 days to pass so the painters can paint the brick.

Ready or not, here we are...

The house is so far from being finished but we moved in the basement a couple weeks ago anyway.  It is not the most ideal living situation, to say the least, but we're trying to make the best of it.  

This sign was so unexpected and brought a big smile to my face when we pulled in on moving day.  Our friend Jennifer was in MH visiting her family and was so nice to make this for us!  And then she and Tom came over for pizza a couple nights after that.  They live in Providence, RI and its been way too long since we've seen them so we really enjoyed visiting with them!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the next two years that they'll move here after they finish residency.

I promised Brad that I wouldn't keep the sign because I have a bad habit of giving things like this sentimental value and keeping them forever.  I took it down and told myself to toss it, but then I noticed it was the perfect size to put on the fridge in the garage.  So that's where its at for now!

Getting closer

They're still working on the brick but almost finished.

They finally finished the big wall.  

The tile in the breezeway.  All the tile is down, they just need to grout it.

They stained and finished the floors upstairs.

We wanted a light color and a dull finish.  We didn't get it.  

We were so frustrated this weekend when we first looked at it and I think we both tried to like it because its completely finished.  But there's really nothing about it we like so they are going to have to completely sand it back down and start over.  And they can't start until late September.  

This shot shows closer to how dark the color actually is.  So we'll live with this for a month and pay to have them re-do it and we'll keep reminding ourselves that its better than having a floor we hate.

Pottery Barn delivered the sofa for downstairs last week.  I was afraid it would take up the whole room and look overpowering but I think its the perfect size!  And super comfy!

This mess is the septic system,  which I think is finished.

This nice display is right next to garage.  I'm not sure who left it for us, but we thought it was quite interesting.  It looked a little spooky after dark though!

The house isn't near as close to being finished as we wished it was at this point, but next Tuesday, we're moving in.  

Air conditioner, floors, and doors

We have air conditioners!  

The wood is on the floor and, you can't really tell it here, but they finally put the step between the kitchen and dining/living room.  

The tile is down.

And they started staining the basement floor.  It looks better in pictures than in person.....

All of the interior doors are installed.  They still need to be painted, but we really like them.  I had a hard time picking the interior doors and these are not the ones I initially wanted.  But the ones I wanted were like $600 per door so we had to find something else.  I just knew I didn't want a raised panel door and that is really about all we could find and they were the most inexpensive (of course!).  So this is what we ended up with.  We were afraid they would look too country, but we don't think they do.  And keeping with the theme of the rest of the house, they're just pretty plain.  :)

The brick layers are moving along at a decent rate.  Maybe it won't take two months after all!  I like brick and think it looks great!  Brad doesn't like brick and I think he just wants to get some paint on it!  HA!!  But that will be awhile.

I feel sorry for them having to build and move all of this scaffolding.  I can't imagine how hot they must get.  

All of these pictures are from about 2 weeks ago.  I was up there this past weekend but didn't take any pictures.  I think I'm getting bored with it!  HA!   Actually I forgot my camera at the hotel the last day I was there and I didn't want to go back to get it.

Update

It seemed like a lot was going on last week but the overall progress still seems slow.

They delivered the bricks and when Brad was there last week, they had started setting up scaffolding to begin laying it!  The brick layer told Brad it would take them TWO MONTHS to finish!  Sounds crazy to us...we're thinking we could lay it faster ourselves.  And once the brick is laid, we have to wait at least 30 days to paint it.  So if that guy is correct, we're looking at 3 months before it's finished.  

Their sand and mortar.

They had laid the block for the apron.  I think Brad said they had poured it before he left on Wednesday.

You can't really tell from this photo but it's about one brick high on the left side and about chest high on the right side.  

They finished the ceiling on the front porch.

They started preparing the basement to stain the concrete floor so they did this to the stair opening so we wouldn't go down there.  Maybe we listened, maybe we didn't....

The bathtub for the basement arrived.

And the shower base in the master is in place.

We picked up most of the lights in Jonesboro.  The front of the truck was full also.  The electrician was supposed to be there last Wednesday or Thursday to put them in.

And we had another pretty rainbow!  The cloud at the end of it looked kind of like a mushroom cloud!

Siding and electricity

They almost have all of the siding finished.

They were having to wait to finish the back porch because the wrong transom was sent and they were waiting on the correct one.  

All of the lumber patiently waiting for their places.

The posts for the front and back porches.

Floor boards.

We also have electricity in the house now!

Slow and steady.....

These pictures make it seem like things are moving along at a decent pace, but it's really slow right now.

They poured some concrete for the porch posts.

Got some more siding hung.  And they put most of the ceiling up on the front porch.  We really like it.

The little back porch off the breezeway is trimmed and the ceiling is up.

Front of the breezeway.

They dug a trench to bury the electricity to the house.

Concrete for the apron around the garage.

The painters were there again and they painted some, or maybe all, of the trim boards.

The siding is up in most places in the front.  We like the shaker siding on the big peak.

The painters also painted a small section of the siding so we could decide if we liked it.  We do.  It's a good thing too......I'm over choosing paint colors.  I was afraid the color we chose wouldn't be dark enough for Brad but he liked it.  We like the trim color too.  

I'm not sure what I was taking a picture of in this, but it's the only shot that shows the back doors that they just put in.  The transom isn't in yet but I like how the doors look so far.