in the details

If I had to come up with a theme for this week, I would say DETAILS. I feel this week has been all about the details. Details in life. Details at work. Details of the house...both houses really. It all reminds me that it is the little details of the planning process for our new house that I don't want to forget. While it has been a lot of hard work, it has also been a lot of fun.

The color of the nails that hold down the felt that will be under the shingles that go on the roof.

I want to remember cleaning up all the wood, nails and sawdust and hope that it helps me not to take this for granted...How my sweet husband created spreadsheets to organize supplies, costs, and timelines...the ringtone that signified it was a 'house call'...Watching the weather every night to know whether or not the next days crew would be able to put in a full day... I also want to remember the fun (and funny) parts of building the house.

Like G sticking her foot in the wet foundation in this area that will one day be the breakfast nook.

I don't plan to mention anyone by name on the blog because I just feel weird knowing any random person could google their way into our lives. That's creepy. If you have ever spent much time with my husband, you already know that he loves a nick name, and rarely calls anyone or anything by a real name. So coming up for names for the various construction crews came naturally to him.

(Side of the kitchen looking out the door/windows to the back porch)

Team Floyd did the important part of getting the foundation squared away, and while it was exciting to see, I just couldn't visualize what the house would really be like. I couldn't wait for the framers to start...Team Fitzhugh. We've spent quite a lot of time with them this past month. They have been my favorite crew so far because, well, they've done the most visible part. They brought life to the plans. They get there early to get everything set up to begin working at 6:30 am. They also make the least amount of mess, which automatically gave them 100 bonus points from me. (And for that we brought them donuts for breakfast one Friday.)

(Kitchen window and pantry)

They did sub out some of the work on the roof to Mini Hearse. There is no way I could crawl around on the top of a house like these guys do. Team Mini Hearse have other day jobs, so they came in after work to do the decking. In just a couple of days we had a top on the house.

(Hallway to the dining room and living room and storage area under the stairs.)

Mini Hearse brought in the Felt Punks. Their sole purpose was to put down the felt. Apparently that means a couple of guys do all the work while head Felt Punk watched from the picnic table out front. I was ready to jump through the spy cam and tell head punk to get to work. Needless to say, I'm okay that their job is finished and they have moved on from our lives.  

(The outdoor living area that is to the left of the living room.)

New week, Team Fitzhugh will put in the windows and doors while The Springers put on the shingles and finish up the roof!!! Soon the outside will look like a finished house!

(The upstairs hallway and lots of attic space)

Did I mention that we've finally got stairs? This has been my favorite detail so far. I'm not crazy about ladders and I have been on one far two many times over the past month.

(Stairs! Love them!)

The Fitzhughs are finishing up on the inside. The ladies have big plans for this room to be their entertaining area.

(Loft area at the top of the stairs)

This house will have tons of storage space. The plan is to have access doors to all the attic space so that we can actually get to the space to store things. Things stored in the attic means we can park both cars in the garage. Or so I've been promised. :)

(guest room)

This weekend we're doing some heavy clean up so all the scraps in the yard will be cleared the next time you see it!

Wrapping the house.

Are you looking for a great exercise plan that will raise your heart rate, make you break a sweat, and work muscles that you didn't know you had? I've got the plan for you. Picking up nails and scraps of wood in 100+ degree heat! Now I need a catchy name for this plan.....Informercial coming soon!

Time to Celebrate

This past weekend our Tropical Couple regrouped everyone for a reception back on the mainland that some of us like to call home. Some of our out of town friends ventured up for the festivities and made reservations at our house. One of which was a friend and college roommate of mine!

And her husband who happens to be a good friend of my husband. Pretty much Husband and I owe our relationship to these friends. We were a bridesmaid/groomsman couple in their wedding...and the rest is history. (Well, after he finally decided to ask me out 4 months later...but that's another story.) So, thanks guys for playing matchmaker!

Thankfully, sister in law noticed my abandoned camera on the table and took the initiative to document the festivities.

Needless to say, the pictures that I found on my camera the next day were quite the surprise.

She convinced Brother in Law to be in a picture too!

And managed to catch us on the dance floor when the band was playing our song. awwwwe! As you can see from Husband's shirt, it was pretty toasty out there! (Please note that I did not leave the house with my hair looking like a stringy mess...In fact, I curled it for this occasion, but 100% humidity is the enemy of all things curled.)

It was such a much needed get together with the gang.

As always the father of the bride was a gracious host. Husband wants to be like him when he grows up!

...and I think that is a great plan! :)

♪Up on the Rooftop, roofers crawl...♫

Happy Friday! It has been a rather exhausting week. However, I attribute it to the fact that last weekend I went to my hometown and stayed up way past my bedtime spent some much needed quality time with the family. I had a blast! The trip started with a visit with Mowmow who had just gotten out of the hospital with pneumonia…and turned 82 this Monday. She is doing much better now and was quite cheerful while I was there! (proof that I'm her favorite...perhaps?) While mom was hanging out with my brother and his fiancé, I got to have an evening out with Dad. He took me out to dinner to a relatively new place in town with a scrumptious steak! …And I also happened to run into my college suitemate who was home visiting her family too. Then Dad and I went to visit Little Grandmother. She is just as spunky as ever! Just when I thought the evening was winding down, I got a message from my best friend that she was at her mom’s for the weekend and that I should come see her. Of course we stayed up chatting…that’s what we do. And that is also why I’m still tired a week later!!!

While I was eating too much and staying up too late, husband and the ladies were at home, hard at work cleaning up around the lot. Don’t feel too sorry for them, though, for they did reward themselves with a cookout/pool party at a friend’s house when they were finished.

Speaking of the house…here are some updated (camera phone) pictures. Soon we will not be able to see the 'bones' at all!

While we do have a lot more clean-up scheduled for this weekend, I have penciled in some much needed rest.

Perhaps a little time here will be on the agenda....

Have a relaxing weekend!

lights and tubs and toilets...OH MY!

Once upon a time, I fell in love with a chandelier. This traditional, wrought iron and wooden, 9-candlebra chandelier caught my attention with its simplicity. Originally, I thought it was plain While not immediately in love, I found myself drawn back to it because it was just so different than everything else that we had looked at. Where could it go? ...over the table in the breakfast nook..?? We went home that day with a stack of books of everything from crystal chandeliers to fluorescent garage lighting and ceiling fans. We decided to simmer on it for a while and then go back when we'd narrowed down our choices a bit more. Last Friday we were finally ready to return to the store. By this point we were convinced that wooden number would be at the top of our list.

I do wish that 1.) I'd had more than my phone with me and 2.) I'd turned all the bulbs off to get the full image without the distracting glow.  But you kinda get the picture. After examining it this time, we realized that we weren't as in love with it as we had thought. In fact, we were over it entirely. Still in search of something different, we stumbled upon this guy:

It had me at 'Umber Swirl Glass.' mmmmm... All the other lights had white globes or shades. They were either too "girly" (in Husband's opinion) or too "bachelor pad" (in my opinion). We both liked this one. And then these pendants could go over the island.

I think we've found our winner.

We still needed to find something for the foyer. We'll have 20 foot ceilings, so we've affectionately dubbed this one "Big Daddy." (minus the shades...I'm not a huge fan of those)

Saturday morning, we went to pick out can lighting, bathtubs and toilets. Nothing too exciting about can lights and toilets, but I love this TUB! (feet will be oil rubbed bronze)

Editorial note from husband:

Back to toilets for a moment, they are exciting if you need one really badly and you think there is not going to be one and all of a sudden you find one. Better yet, you find an elongated one that was built before the tree huggers got their green little hands on it so it would conserve water. The only problem is that now instead of 1 big flush that would peel the paint of the wall, you have three wimpy flushes that use twice as much water and make you wonder if you will need a forth flush.

Bones

We like to call this phase of the house 'Bones,' and as G likes to say, it looks like this house will have strong bones. These photos were taken on July 8th...I'm just a bit behind in sharing them with you. This is a side view of the front of the house from the garage side.

Moving on to the inside... The ladies are very excited about the upstairs and their new rooms. They are already picking out paint colors. This will be Diva's room...that she plans to paint lime green. The 'box' you can see is her closet.

This is G's room (which will be brown with pink polka dots) and part of her bathroom that she'll share with the guest room.

Here's the view of the front from the street. I'll be glad when that huge pile of wood (covered in plastic) is out of the way :)

I realize I've only been showing you the front of the house, but the back is coming along nicely too. This will the back porch.

To the right of the back porch, we will have an outdoor living area.

And to the right of that will be the master bedroom. See the large window below? Now imagine a window seat on the other side of it! I can't wait!!!

Look at my General Contractor making plans for a stained glass window in the kitchen.

Waaaaay over there, husband (look closely) is standing  in what will one day be a storage building. I'm hoping this storage building will mean that we'll be able to park both cars in the garage!!

While inspecting the area for the storage building, something caught my eye...

I took a closer look....

..then immediately decided that my general contractor would become the exterminator the next time we visit the lot. Be afraid little ants! Your days are numbered!!!

We went back to check things out on the 11th with ant killer in hand!

They've added more bones to the roof.

Below is the foyer--I like to call this area 'Where a big, fat, (real) Christmas tree will go'

I can't wait for these stairs to be finished. I'm not crazy about climbing ladders to check out the 2nd floor!

This is what G's room looks like with a top on it.

This contraption has been set up outside Diva's room so the guys can stand on it to reach the top and make the roof.  No way am I standing on a 10 inch wide board that high in the air.

I really am thankful for the framers. These guys have been working out in the extremely hot sun, high above a concrete slab. They are so good to clean up after themselves and put their trash in cans we've set up for them. They've got a tough job that I know I could never do. I have a whole new respect for people who can see something on paper and turn it into a house! Simply amazing....

Time Lapse

Happy Monday! Here is a sneak peek from the spy cam.

8:24 am

Check out those guys walking on tiny, little boards in the middle of the air!!! (Reason #1 why I will never become a builder!) Thanks, guys, for being fearless when it comes to heights so that we may soon have a roof.

8:48 am

2:42 pm

take it up a notch

Let me tell you that I am simply amazed at the progress a few guys can make in 8 hours! We drop by the house on our way to work in the mornings to see if anything is needed before we head out of town. Then, by the time we can make it back in the afternoon, there's a house. Bear with my camera phone pictures at (almost) dark. This area will be G's room, overlooking the front of the house.

This picture is taken from the door of Diva's room looking down into the living room.

Hopefully this will help you begin to get an idea of the layout. Now it's time to start think about what color these rooms will be! Let the fun begin....