one step closer

just wanted to post a few photos of the fabulous floors at the house! they sanded today and put one coat of poly on tonight. i wish we could have left them plain (HA!) because they looked so amazing just sanded. i hope by the morning the poly will have dried a little lighter, but they look wonderful either way. fabulous floors courtesy of Sedaris Hardwood Floors )

just sanded - before primer: (aren't they great?)






one coat on:


and just for fun... two shots taken on the first day (three long months ago) looking in the same direction as the photos from above.

best. day. ever...

... well, at least in a long time: DRYWALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! look how amazing it looks! we have been totally pumped pretty much all day. i was busy at work, but was dying to just sit and watch it all happen. anyway, photos... i know you've already looked at them.

the bathroom might be the best space, but it is hard for me to photo without a wide angle lens... looking towards the shower:

just nice light in the bathroom:

his smile says it all!

i should probably write something poetic about how it feels like all our hard work is finally paying off... but i really just want to run around jumping up and down screaming HALLELUJAH!

floors are fabulous

...especially when we didn't have to install them!

so it's been a while since i have given all you photo-seekers anything to look at, so here goes. (i've heard no one really reads what i write... so i'm just sticking with the imagery. i probably wouldn't read it either!)

the glass for the little upper windows came in last tuesday....

and while robby and i were in charleston this weekend, the floors magically appeared. i'm glad someone was working hard at the house while we were away....

view from the front door:

view from the back door:

and from in the kitchen:

the floors look great and make the space seem so big. it feels like we're getting somewhere again... insulation tomorrow, drywall tuesday-thursday, then they finish the floors. meanwhile, we have to pack and figure out the logistics of moving into a half finished house...

building your own house is a marathon....

and we've been sprinting for too long.

we love our house, don't get us wrong. but, we're over it. we're TIRED. we're ready for sheetrock and floors and paint. we're ready for the AC to be running. we're ready for it to be finished. i hope you're laughing at us about now, because at this rate, it will be 2010 before we're done.

so if you only look at the blog for photos, you'll be disappointed today. there are none. i spent most of the weekend packing at our current house. my mom came to town to help (this was scheduled to be the move in weekend... one of the many deadlines we've missed.) so i took advantage of her help and got busy. we got a lot done, which is good considering we're out of the town for the next two weekends and are scheduled to move in july 5 (we hope).

robby continued working hard at the house... cursing every time i walked in because i seem to always find something else for him to fix. (my perfectionist streak has been hard on robby). really, for real, this week there will be sheetrock. they might not start hanging until saturday when we're gone, but it will start this week. we should also get the glass set for the fixed upper windows (kitchen and bathroom) this week, too. and hopefully pass all of our inspections... electrical, framing and insulation. keep your fingers crossed!

once there's something new and fun to see, i'll take photos and post it. but until then.... we're still working. you can count on that.

sweat equity...

...took on a whole new meaning today. the official high at RDU was 101. it felt like eight thousand degrees trying to get work done.

the changes this week are big to us, but small in relation to what has normally happened in a week + weekend. robby finished a lot of the little framing... the two bulkheads and built-in spaces are finished for instance. he got the hurricane clips attached to all the rafters in the addition. the rough in plumbing is done and passed inspection. and the fascia boards are up as of today.

here are just a few photos... i was too hot to take more than a few.

the thermostat INSIDE the house. we can't run the air yet, so we suffered with this heat wave.

today... working on the fascia boards. robby had to cut back the old trim and corner boards to prep for the new.

i primed the boards after we ripped them down to size.

then we had to get the boards up. poor robby was on the roof in the afternoon sun. i was on the ladder helping, but in the shade. it was seriously brutal.

you can see a couple of the boards up... it seems so small for all the effort it was!?

this weekend we were too gross....

inside view... if you look closely you can see the two bulkheads that are finished...

this week the electrician will be in. followed by drywall hopefully started before the end of the week. our official move in date is now june 30. we will have the floors and drywall done (we hope), but no kitchen. and that is just a good excuse for me to not cook...

i'm too tired....

... to think of much to say. so i will let the photos do the talking.

IKEA! last sunday.... feels like a year ago. but we survived!


there i am burried behind all those boxes that were ours...

here they are outside waiting to be loaded...

empty van

loaded down with our kitchen and bathroom cabinetry...

we had to do it...


then we had to unload it at the house. we put it in the front room for now...


wednesday night the door came in. we were excited to get it set... it looks great.


happy to finally have a back door!


back view with the door in...


yesterday robby got the other two kitchen windows in. they add a lot of light to the room.


today we finished the rest of the framing!!! (there are a few odds and ends, but all the walls are officially up). we started out with some demo (hence the mask) and robby checking outlets to see which ones might shock him...


a little chaos to get this last wall up. temporary walls, demo, frame, and LVLs. we finally got the whole LVL thing down... of course this was the last one to go in.


ryan showed up just in time to help us with the LVL...


then he took charge of the camera for a little while....


and documented the role i have played in framing...
step 1: bringing the wood into the house... (here a beefy 2x10... )


which makes me tired...


and step 2: cutting the studs to length... then robby does all the rest. which is a lot!


and that's how we've gotten it all done.
all opened up finally! it is so big.... i can't wait to get it finished and move in.


we had a lot of fun visitors today... victoria with sky and cole, chad and ashley, meredith, nicole and tim, ryan and whitney... thanks, everyone, for all the support. we couldn't do it without the encouraging words and much needed breaks!