We've been told that things will happen really fast from this point and that every visit to the new house will be an adventure. True, but still not fast enough for us - we are so anxious to start living in the new house!

We had a conversation with Mike about the mantle for the fireplace. He's building a custom mantle for us. We shopped for the fireplace accoutrements and we have the firewood ordered, delivered and stacked out back, so we are ready for our first night!


Doors and windowsills are being installed, painting is scheduled to happen this week and the cabinets will arrive next weekend.

I've managed to overcome my shopping exhaustion and burned another $500 on the charge card "furnishing" the bathrooms. Only items left to select are the mirrors. They have to wait until I see the cabinets in place.

We had company on our Sunday tour. The tile company was working away installing the substructure for the tiles.

As usual, the shower caused a lot of discussion. The glass insert in the end of the shower causes a lot of engineering decisions. What looks simple on paper isn't so simple in execution! Isn't that always the way?

The official move in date is October 30th. The movers are on order and we've given notice. If all goes well, the housewarming party will happen the weekend after Thanksgiving, mark your calendars!

September 15, deliveries - appliances and doors

Tom took the morning off work to be available for the delivery of our appliances. It's like Christmas, I'm just itching to tear into these boxes.

While Tom was waiting for the appliances the doors and molding arrived as well.

Last week I hit a first ever milestone. I shopped out. As we bought the last of the lighting for the house, I said no more - I'm tired of shopping. That won't last I'm sure!

Garage doors are installed

Garage doors are installed.







I think I'll save this pic to remind us of when we thought this area was too big to ever fill up!

September 12, real rooms

The walls and ceilings are finished everywhere and all the staging is removed - at least for the moment! After 5 1/2 months, we can finally see rooms. The whole house is more than we ever imagined! I said "Wow, its incredible!" Mike answered "Wait, we've just started!"

Even on this overcast day, every room is flooded with light. The ceilings are incredible and they lend such a sense of spaciousness that you can't believe the whole living area is only about 2600 square feet.

We get really busy now as all the finish work happens over the next couple of weeks. Painting is next, then the finish work with door and windowframes and molding. And the cabinets are due in any day now.

September 10 - The hot tub arrives

One of the things we've missed most, living in an apartment the past year, was our hot tub. So we were very excited when our new hot tub came in from California and was installed into the new house.

We bought a Sumatran, from New England Spas (http://www.nespas.com/ ) and Mike, as accomodating as ever, allowed it to be installed now so that we didn't damage the landscaping that is going in.

The double wide doors in the walkout basement made it a breeze to install.


Our ever-so-competent electrician, John, will hardwire this in soon. He's already installed special lighting in the ceiling around it. We'd discussed this with Mike up front and he was careful to be sure that the area it is installed in is up to code and to the specs we needed to (eventually) make this a wonderful spa area. Water source, drainage and proper electrical source are nearby and the construction was carefully planned so that we can finish the area to our needs. It is really important to discuss your future plans with your builder, and to have a builder that listens!
So can you guess what we will be doing at the end of moving day!!

A few pics of the Master Bed and Bath 9/5/09

Walls and ceilings

This first shot is what the view from in front of the fireplace was last weekend. The next 2 show the same area this weekend.

Amazing the amount of staging they got in there in order to get the wallboard onto the ceilings.

With actual walls and ceilings in most of the rooms, we are beginning to think about where furniture is going to go.

Upstairs walls and ceilings are nearly done, with just a bit more to do in the hall and my future sewing room.

This room is going to be a dream to sew in. With a lot of natural light and two huge walking closets it should be a great space to create in.

The sitting room is larger than I expected and has one of the best views in the whole house.

I'm going to have to buy more furniture for the guest room. Although the square footage isn't much bigger than our old house, it is laid out better. The extra storage behind the closet in this room will come in useful as well, it has the best access.