Siding done!

We have a due date.

January 18th.

This is a mere 97 days away.

In that time we have:

• Terri's annual trip to Phoenix (4 days)
• A concurrent visit from the in-laws 8 days)
• Book group (gotta get reading!)
• Halloween!
• Dinner party with friends on 11/6
• Veterans' Day (Lucy has the day off, so she and I are going to take the bus to the aquarium)
• A San Jose trip (3 days)
• Thanksgiving
• Another book group
• The Renton trio (that's us) annual dinner and night out to snow flake lane
• Tree decorating
• Christmas
• New Years
• Undecorating
• Then 18 long days of packing and purging

House things that we have to do:

• lock in the mortgage rate (anytime after 11/18)
• schedule delivery of appliances
• schedule apartment pack & move date
• schedule delivery of new furniture
• schedule delivery of items in storage
• Schedule delivery of ikea things (or get them ourselves)

1/18/2016 seems so super far away, but it will go fast and I'm happy to have an actual date to plan.  Sadly, the 18th is a holiday, so we've asked to move the final close up to the previous Friday so we can use that weekend, but we'll see how that works out. If we absolutely cannot get into the house before the weekend, we may borrow a gigantic car (truck with a lid) and head to Oregon to pick up the fancy tv that Jason has picked out for his basement oasis. I'd rather things of that value just magically arrive at the house because I'm not keen on lifting and breaking such things, and I seriously doubt that the tax free nature of purchases in Oregon will offset gas and impulse purchases/

The front

All closed up!

Get your clothes on!

  Things are moving along.  This picture was taken yesterday and doesn't show that the entire back of the house has been sided.

Rain is on the way, but we are 80% happy with how buttoned up the house is.  I will sleep better knowing that water can't be dripping on my installed can lights or the power outlets.

I have a hope that by tomorrow afternoon when Jas & I get to go through the house that it the siding will be finished.

It is groovy to see all the electrical action that will be tucked behind the walls.  This house is going to hum.  The downside is that any errant heat seeking missiles will probably hone right in on our happy little house.

One of the upgrades that we opted for was the Holiday Lighting Package.  The WHAT?   Well the description wasn't clear, but we made an assumption that it meant exterior outlets along the top of the house.  Well, wouldn't you know it - those outlets are going in.  Last night as Jas & I were talking about how nice it will be not to run extension cords from the house we realized that we have a two story house without a simple way to hang lights.  I guess we'll have to finally break down and hire the lighting people to come.  Jason will be so sad to have skip the hanging of a ladder in the crispy wind, or the removal in the rain.

In other exciting news lot 60 (the house that is closest to us in timing had their drywall delivered today.  So once this angst over the siding and closing up the house is done the next phase is right behind.  woo woo.

To pass the time I'm planning spaces and in our entry hall this is the bench that I think could work for us (in white):

A basket for each of us, a durable cushion to sit on while shoes come on and off.  Tidy and useful.  The store it comes from is having a sale on their in store display items and I have a vision that the piece we want will be for sale and we'll get it at a bargain.  Either way, it's worth a trip in.

Lucy's hanging with a babysitter Saturday afternoon so we're free to shop at our leisure.

Damn Rain

I may be the only person on the west coast not wishing for rain.

Today - inside work only no siding.  We still have a big open hole in the wall.

Grumble.

Siding!

 

The sod belongs to the house next door, Eric and Tammy who are cute as a button.  Their kids were out and about in the neighborhood playing so we didn't meet them when we rang the bell to introduce ourselves.  They are taking possession of their home in a week or two.  They seemed nice and it was great to finally look a neighbor in the face.

Now, onto the mansion.

The house has been wrapped in the vapor barrier and on the front with the three little windows the solid siding has been partially installed, they will come back and add the decorative strips before installing the fancy woodwork and shutters.

The remainder of the house will be covered in traditional horizontal 5-ish inch strips.

Without really trying or planning it seems that Jason and I picked the same house design as the rendering on the Toll Brother's brochure.

From the brochure

Our front door will be a maroon red kind of like this -> THIS.  Pretty eh?

The last couple weeks have been rough because work has been off and on at the house but mostly off.  We had a conversation with the builder last week and they did say that their construction schedule has us taking ownership in the first week in January.

We're ok with that, and have started our mortgage shopping and paperwork gathering.

So, things were going glacially slow, like one week it seemed like all they did was frame in the bulkhead in the basement.  Then yesterday BOOM - the fans in the bathrooms were corrected, the light fixture housings have been installed on the main floor, and the upstairs area.   Today when I cruised by and saw that the scaffolding was going up and dudes were cutting siding I could also hear the happy sound of banging and nailing from inside the house.

We still have hope that we'll be able to close on the house before the end of the year, but we're accepting that we'll have a tiny Christmas in our little apartment and officially move in early January. We'll be able to take more time off and simply get ourselves settled.

Having the house for a few days before we actually move will allow some painting to occur.  I do have designs on an accent wall or two.

I know, I'm repeating myself in these posts, but the waiting is hard and planning is helping.

In fact, while we can't make any decisions until we see how bright the master bathroom is, I have two/three decorating ideas for our ensuite.  If the bathroom is really bright my princess tub area may be painted with the pretty dark peppercorn color, but I'm loving the light blue and considering the green, but it seems a bit BRIGHT.   I ordered some washcloths in the colors we're considering so that when we have walls, and tiles that we can make a choice.  It's fun being a mini-designer.

Honest Blue

Peppercorn

Watery

Raaaarr