Week 14

UGH all this rain is making me crazy!! I have never really cared about the rain before but start building a house you it's like you become a hawk over the weather channel.

The plumbing and electrical work were finished up this week. We did a walk through on Tuesday afternoon to be sure nothing had been left out. It is a lot to think about all at once but I believe we managed to get everything where we wanted it.

We ended up needing 10 loads of dirt (ugh not gonna wanna see that bill) but the house looks so much better! Plus it is going to make our driveway much bigger so Kinley and Thomas, uh hum, can have a half court size basketball goal out there. Boys and their toys I guess!

Wednesday they put up all the insulation, we had the inspection done Thursday along with all the sheetrock showing up for that crew to get started!

Before we ever decided to build I always said that if we did build I wanted to cover our house with scriptures. A friend of mine did it to her house a few years ago and I thought it was such a great way to go through the house room by room praying for the future and that God will just cover, bless and protect us as we move into the future. Just us and the drywall crew will ever see those words but in my heart I will know that they are there. I told the hubs about my idea and he even took it upon himself to search out some scriptures that he wanted to write as well.😍😍😍😍






We decided on Thursday evening to have a picnic dinner on the back deck then go through the house covering it with scripture and prayer. 




The kids were slightly confused so I just told them to write anything they wanted to about God. Oh my heart, what a sweet blessing it was to go through their rooms and see there thoughts of God! Praying he hears these prayers and protects them as they grow in the new house! 

What Kinley came up with and wrote in his room! 

Living Room/Entry - the reason why I wanted to do this

Kinley's Room from the hubby

Lanies Room

Lanie's Room

Lanie's Room

Kinley's Room

Guest Room

Dining Room

Kinley's Room

Lanie's writing in her room

Kinley's Room

Hallway

Living Room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Master Closet

Above Punkin's bedside

Laundry

 Scripture prayers for my husband

Husbands side of the bed

Add caption

Master Bath  Vanity

Master Bath

Master Bedroom

Mudroom leading to garage, a great reminder as we go out into the world each day! I actually need this in a frame the hang there too! 

I believe I have finally decided on my tile shower and tub in the master bath. That was a tough decision but once we got all the different pieces together they looked really nice!

Master Bath floor, shower, shower top, shower flood and border, shew! 

Today we drug the kids out in the rain to pick up the beginning stuff for the master bath and when we went over to the house to drop it off we were totally surprised that the drywall crew was there and about 1/ 3 of the way done hanging all the drywall by 1:00!! Holy smokes batman! We were planning on putting some 2x10 boards between the suds where we will hang the tavs for added support. The hubs had to run home right fast to get his saw and get the boards cut to get them in! 

This was at 1:00pm

Masterbed

Living room at 8:00!! 

Master Bathroom

Kitchen

Talk about some bigs changes for the week! I am excited to go over tomorrow and see exactly how much they finished today as they were still working when we left. 

~Mel

Week 13

**Just realized I never hit publich so this was actually last week, another to come tomorrow!**

Week 13
I guess we are getting to the part of building where it all starts running together. There is so much work that goes into the electrical, plumbing, etc. that I have a hard time seeing the little differences each day. I guess from this point it will be just the weekly summary because thinking back I can't remember which little changes happened which days.

The gas plumber showed up this week and they set the fireplace and built up the chimney. We stopped by on Wednesday and they had done some backfilling which really made the outside of the house look different. However we found out really fast that we didn't have enough dirt due to how they had to build the house up, so in came the loads of dirt. I think stowaway 6 of them. We were there when they dropped off one load and the kids liked watching that big truck.
No you can walk into the garage and it feels huge!

The man also came to measure for the insulation. After insulation is in, hopefully next week, the inspector will come out and inspect it all the we will be ready for sheetrock! Ive been told that this is when it slows down...I can see that now. 😬

Now for the other house, we had our inspection on Friday and everything went really well! Nothing major was found and they have ordered the termite inspection and appraisal! We are on our way to closing on this house!

Front Door 

Garage

WOW! 

Hey, watch me take a shower!

Need some more dirt! 

This child steps on everything!  

Working on the chimney

What a difference moving some dirt around made! 

Til' Next week!! 

Weeks 11 & 12 and some BIG NEWS!

Well I am a little late getting this post done. a few physical changes at the house this week and a lot of decisions were made.

The crew worked Monday-Wednesday and finished hanging all the shingles and got all of my windows and doors in except my front door which had not came in yet. The bathtub shower combos came in. 

I picked out my bath tub and Kevin brought it that same day! They framed it in and it was neat getting to "relax" for a moment in my big tub! I decided to splurge a bit and get one with the jacuzzi jets.

I. CAN'T. WAIT.

He asked if we could meet him on Tuesday and go over the plumbing and then after we went over all that he asked if we could meet Thursday for lighting. WHOA that was a lot to consider and even after Thursday we found ourselves walking around making a couple changes, just so many things to consider all at once!

We both were off work on Friday and my parents took the kids to Dollywood for the day so we tackled the list of stores from the contractor to pick out the majority of indoor fixtures, etc.

The morning started with flooring where we found a new solid wood flooring in graystone that I just fell in LOVE with and it also came in under budget! DOUBLE WIN!! The kids bathrooms were easy picks but the Master bath is proving to be more difficult. The should will be a mixture of two different tiles and the tub to match but we have to pick out those first to be sure the floor goes with them. I am going again next week to try and decide. The kitchen we went with the wood grain looking tile. I love the look of wood in the kitchen but just cannot bring myself to risk messing it up with a water leak or something on down the road.

It is so hard to really tell colors from a picture but that is the wood floor and the gray wood grain tile we will use in the kitchen! 

From there we went to the brick and stone store. That was by far the easiest thing we did. We both like the same brick and the same color/style stone. We were in and out of there in under 15minutes!

From there we went back to flooring store because I left our plans there, oops then on to Stokes lighting for our lights. Have you ever been in Stokes?? You can't even see a part of the ceiling because of all the lights hanging down. I. WAS. CONFUSED. So confused that I didn't even take any pictures because I didn't know what to take pictures of! LOL Note to self to go back and take pictures of what I picked out! 

Just checked the hubs phone and he at least took one

We met with the lady from Stokes he uses to take us though. She was very helpful walking us through the process and we got the majority picked out. I found out one thing and that is that I do not like "fancy" lights. I like it simple and clean looking.

From there we headed to Pigeon Forge to pick out our fireplace insert. We are doing a wood burning fireplace but still having gas ran to it so as ew get older we can put a gas log insert in there if we want. We decided on that and on how we want to do the fireplace then we were done for the day! 

Simliar to the look we want except ours is in the wall and no hearth

Now on to week 12

Monday the electrician and HVac company showed up on Monday, plumber on Tuesday. We made a few more changes to electrical stuff and they went to town running wires, pipes, tubing, etc. all week long. 

Can lights went in Monday

Wiring up the bar! 

LOTS of Duct Work! 

Hello Washer and Dryer! 

The cabinets were ordered this week and we found a smokin' deal on a new counter height wine fridge. The cabinet guy couldn't make the one I have fit in my wine nook area so we are selling that one and bought a new one! 

We stopped by yesterday and the front door had arrived along with the shutters. Can't wait to see if they get the door in next week! 

Will be painted black and I am look for the accents to go on it! 

So my last post we had just put the for sale sign in the yard. We had a couple showings then nothing for about a week. Last weekend I posted it online and on craigslist. Within two days we have 3 showings scheduled and on Thursday night we had a contract on our house!! 😄😄 YAY!!!! They have been pre-approved so we are starting that process now!! PRAISE GOD! 

SOON!! 

All in all it has been a busy but fun and exciting 2 weeks! 

Til' next week!

~Mel

The House That Built US Week 10- A Real House

It looks like a house...a real house.

Well for it to be a crummy weather week they still managed to get a lot accomplished. We even ran into an issue with the garage and roof trusses but they made it right quickly by lowering the garage walls just a bit. It was crazy to see SO MANY men working on the days it wasn't raining. 

This week has been such a whirlwind for us that when I looked back at the pictures on my phone I realized I don't have any from Monday. I guess that meant they didn't work...maybe it rained...I don't remember! I did go pick up a few samples of granite and quartz countertop. That decision is going to be even harder than I imagined! We haven't found one yet we both like and agree on. This could be our first real disagreement yet. :/

:(

We also put the FSBO sign in our yard. I had to hold back the tears. I didn't realize actually putting that sign in the yard would have such an affect on me. Praying that God sends us the right buyers at His exact perfect timing! 

Tuesday I took the kids by and they were there setting roof trusses. They enjoyed seeing the crane lift and set the trusses. When I stopped by after gymnastics they didn't have them finished which surprised me because they seemed to be moving so fast. Well I found out Wednesday that the garage roof trusses wouldn't fit because of the bonus room above the garage. Blah Blah Blah, words I don't understand, assured it will look fine once finished, etc. Basically they had to lower the garage walls a little to get the head height correct for the bonus room, which we will use as walk in attic space for now. 

Taking shape

Thursday was AWFUL weather and they didn't get anything done. They were all there yesterday and today though and the entire roof is ready for shingles! Hoping that comes early next week! The steps going to bonus room/attic are in and the floor is down. I have so much room for all my Christmas and Halloween stuff now! 

Attic/Bonus Room above garage

They also took all the support posts out of the house so we really got a feel for the size of all the rooms!  

Kitchen and Living  room

Kitchen with Pantry on right & dining room on left

Thursday evening we finished up the appliances shopping and I am happy to say they are ordered and ready! 

Oh and have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my back deck??  It is seriously going to be my happy place! :)

Door from Master Bedroom to back deck

I stood in awe looking at the house today. Obviously it has taken shape and I am just amazed that it is mine. 

Nail by nail and board by board he has given life to my dream.

Til' next week,

~Mel

The House that Built US Week 9

Well a lot happened in a hurry this week. It seemed like everyday that we stopped more and more men were there and they were working super hard to get the framing done this week. Monday they spent the day putting the flooring on. When we went by that evening we were excited because most of the chalk lines for the rooms were down and we actually got to walk around on the main level! 

Each day more and more went up and today they finished up the framing (for the most part) and the guy told us today they are set to put on the roof trusses Monday. We are going to have a roof next week y'all....HOLY COW!! That happened so fast! I need to remember to take these guys donuts again for all their hard work. They are doing a SUPERIOR job and keeping the property cleaned up nice and neat too! 

Before we get to the rest of the house pictures a few other updates. We got our quote back on our cabinets and I am happy to report that even with the add-ons we picked we only went over a budget very very little! We also got to see the computerized drawings of our kitchen. IN L.O.V.E. already! We still have to decide on which colors but I have it narrowed down to 4 and we are going to do light on top and dark on bottom. My mom had that same style in her last home and I loved it. Just can't decide whether we are going to do white up top or a canvas color (a light ivory). 

We also finalized all of our appliances and Lowes is going to hold them for us until we need them. Apparently this time of year is the Spring Black Friday of Appliances and the prices we got on all our appliances were ridiculously cheap so we couldn't not get them. We decided to mix it up some though and are using both Samsung and GE appliances in our kitchen. 

"AGAIN!" 

Now on to the pictures. They finished up our back deck today and it has quickly become on of my most favorite places in our house. Half of it will be covered the other open and it is SO much bigger than I realized. I foresee many morning coffee dates snuggled up on the outdoor couch. 

Seriously HUGE deck and that part you see will be covered

Excited to be standing in his room, see his smile! :)

This girl LOVES her big window!

Staircase going downstairs is in

From front door looking into living room and fireplace

That's a big garage, I'm so excited to park in it!

They took out the posts holding the walls and it really opened it up down there.
That is the L shaped rec room


Still hard to believe we went from this....

Monday

To THIS in 6 days.....

Everything framed! 

:)

WOW I can't wait to see what happens next week!!!!

~Mel