Lots of Activity

Things are really moving along. This week we had gutters put in, this probably means that we'll hit a dry spell and not have rain for awhile.

The electricians started on their final work Thursday.  The landscapers are almost done, just a few small pieces remain.  The painting is done everywhere, but the garage.  Mike and I moved trash to a dumpster (our 4th dumpster) all day today.  Ivan worked on the railings most of the day.   He finished up building the railing and moved on to the priming it when we headed out this afternoon.  He plans to be back tomorrow (yes Saturday) to work on the deck.  Some of the interior and closet doors were also hung today.

So here are a few landscape pictures.  They put in the sprinklers, edging, rocks and grass sprayed in this week. 

Mike and I are now out looking at plants.  It's a good time to buy the perennials, shrubs and trees, as our favorite stores (Home Depot, Lowes & Menards) are having great sales.  I found some plants for $1.  YEAH!!!

This is a Nine Bark tree in the front corner of the house.

 Here are a few Dapple Willow shrubs that we got in the "sad plant" area for a $1.  We think they'll make it back with some food and water.

These are a plant called Tamarisk.  It is light and airy looking with some purple tips all over.  It is very soft. 

We got some very small plants that should grow quickly so maybe next year they'll look bigger.

I think these three are my favorite plants so far.  They are pink Hydrangeas that continually flower all summer.  I can't wait till they adjust and start flowering more.

Ok, this is a bare spot.  We need to find some very low plants so it doesn't interfere with the view from the bedroom, block the light into the bedroom or keep the windows from opening.  I hope to find some sale shrubs or ground cover over the next few weeks.  Anybody have any good suggestions??????

In here I put some hostas that I had taken out of the old house and planted at the road last fall.  They made it through the winter and I just moved them behind the garage yesterday.  I just hope the deer don't take a liking to them.

We need to get a tree or grasses for the area to the left of the door.  Any suggestions????

Now onto some inside pictures.  The electricians worked on the first floor getting in fixtures.  This is the family entry, we used the same light in the front entry.  

This is the half bath light

And here is the half bath vanity.  I didn't want a pedestal sink, but the room is tiny.  I was thrilled to find this compact vanity.  It fit perfectly.  

Here is the master bath with the lights installed.  They look great, now I just need to find some mirrors.  I was thinking about buying the basic mirrors from Ikea and then adding some of the door trim around them.  They'll match and be reasonable.

Here are the shower doors.  They look great, I can hardly wait to take a shower.  Of course, we'll need the water turned on first.  The plumber doesn't come till Monday.  Won't be long now.

Here's the kitchen.  The lights got installed this week, along with the oven.  The fridge is just sitting there waiting for the plumber to hook up the water for ice.  The cooktop is in place, but waiting for the electricians to come back and finish up on Monday.

 
Just another pic of the oven.

This is the railing that Ivan is making for the stairs.  When done, it will be painted white and have a hickory railing on the top.  He's had a few challenges, but comes up with options for each.  So it is taking a  bit longer than he planned. But it is looking great.  Can't wait until it is done.

Here are the gutter guys we used.  They were great. They came about 8am, had all the tools and tons of ladders.  They were very efficient and I loved that they came with their own trash can and picked up all their trash.  So if you need gutters call Rice's Continuous Gutters from Kalamazoo.

Here is the sunroom.  The cieling fan is causing me grief.  I don't like the shape of the blades or the color.  The color is reddish and the other side of the blades is dark brown.  So I'm thinking of having the electricians change it out to a brushed nickel fan with light blades.  All the lights in the kitchen are the bronze color, but the appliances are all stainless.   So I think the fan will look good in the nickel.  Have to decide by Monday when the electrician is back.





  



Doug thinks we'll be done by Friday.  I'm not so sure.  The electricians will be back on Monday to finish the electric.  The plumber will be here on Monday to finish the plumbing. The furnace guy will be here Monday to finish the furnace.  Ivan is working on the deck tomorrow, finishing the railing on Monday and then spend the rest of the week on touch up painting, hang the rest of the doors, adjust the cabinet doors, add end panels and skins to the cabinets and start the punch list items.  I think that the rest of the guys will be working on trimming and painting the garage interior.  And of course lots of clean up.

We hope to have the electrical, plumbing, mechanical and occupancy inspections next week.

I'm seeing a move in our future.  It will be great to get our stuff out of Patti's garage and basement, as well as our storage unit still in Dearborn.  I'm sure Patti will be thrilled to get our stuff out too, then she can use her garage for a novel thing, like parking her car.

Counter Tops are Here

Painting was started this past week and they are working on finishing the paint on the first floor this week.

The counter tops were delivered and installed last Thursday.  The island weights about 700-800 pounds and was quite trick to get off the truck, into the house and on the cabinets. 

 

Here is the island and the counter on the sink wall.





Here's the laundry room and family entry countertops.

Then the moved into the master bath for countertops and sinks.

More updates to come later.  They are continuing to paint.

The landscapers started moving dirt around last week and are working on getting the sprinklers installed.  But today it is stormy and no outside work is happening.

Stair Treads are finally in

This past week had lots of activity, but not much completion.  Although we now have, as Patti says, a runway for a driveway.  A lot of concrete was poured and has now sat for a week, Mike parked the truck at the end of the drive to be sure no visitors drove on his new cement.

Here are the stair treads.  They are solid hickory and I ordered them from the internet.  Ivan was a bit skeptical of them when I told him the price and that I was getting them from the internet.  But once he saw them and did the install, he was quite please with how they worked out.  We got them from https://www.hardwood-lumber.com/index.html  They are in Ohio.  Here are the pics, so far with the treads installed, but no painting done yet.

Here are the stairs, although the picture doesn't do them justice.









They spend a good part of the week covering and taping things.  They also set up a painting booth in the garage.  Here's a few of those pictures, not much exciting.

Here's the paint booth.

We talked to lots of people last week about grass, sprinklers, dirt, plants, etc.  Of course these are all the things we didn't plan for in the budget.  We decided on Scott's Landscaping and they are starting this week, we hope the weather cooperates. 

We also talked to Home Depot and Lowes about carpeting this week too.  We are waiting for a call to get measured for carpeting this week.


COUNTERTOPS are coming too this week.  They are scheduled for Thursday.  Can't wait.  We may see the shower door this week too.

Ivan will start the painting this week too.  Should be lots to post and keep everyone up to date.

$2.99 for Gas and more updates

Mike and I headed out to get some dinner at one of our usual places and came across gas for $2.99 for gas.  Of course we got in line.  As we were in line (2 cars in front of us) they changed the sign to $3.45.  We decided to wait and take the chance.  As the guy in front of us is pumping they came on the speaker and said the price would go up to $3.45 in 3 minutes.  We were thrilled, but the guy behind us in the motor home had his fingers crossed.  We pulled up and  hurried pumping hoping the guy behind us would get the $2.99 too, then headed to Hawks' Nest for dinner.  About 10 minutes later the couple in the motor home came in and said thanks for hurrying, they too got the $2.99 price and were very happy.  We found out from the restaurant that they lower the gas price for 15 minutes on the day after the Detroit Tigers win.  So hopefully, we'll run across this again.  Here's a sign we'd all like to see more often. 

Back to house updates.  This week has been all about weather.  The concrete guys have been dodging storms, threats of storms and rain showers.  They got the pad in front of the drive way all prepared and ready for cement then had to call it a day because all the concrete in the area was headed to a big job in South Haven.  They came back on Tuesday and poured the pad.  Then they started preparing the porch on the lake side under the deck, the front porch and the porch and walk outside of Mike's work room and the laundry entry.  Part way through the prep, they had to go into full cover mode and get the drive pad covered and protected from the oncoming storms that popped up.  I surely would not want the job, it is a gamble with the weather we've had over the last few weeks.  So here are some pics of the drive pad, front porch, lakeside porch and back porch/walk.

Here is the driveway pad in front of the garage.

This is the front porch, it is exposed aggregate (rough cement with stones showing)

This is part of the patio under 

the deck on the lake side.

Here's the prep ready for tomorrows pour on the driveway.  There is still a lot of drive to prep and then pour tomorrow  They hope to finish tomorrow, but not sure if the weather will cooperate.




Back inside the trim work continues.  Ivan is going to work on the hardwood flooring on the landing, the stairs and the railing.  He is building everything, so it will take some time.  Hopefully will be done this week.  Hopefully everything will be ready for paint next week.

Grading happens and First Floor CleanUp

Thought I'd add a few pictures of the grading that happened this week. Above the front loader is moving out front to start work and get rid of the massive cherry tree stump.  We  really didn't want to take it down, but it was causing drainage issues, so it had to come down.

Here's the finished grade.  We have the cement contractor coming out on Monday to start work.  He'll do more final grade after he gets the porches poured.









The countertop people were out this week to measure for countertops.  They won't be done for 3-4 weeks.  We had the decking delivered too.

Had a few people to give us quotes on the gutters and need to make that decision this week.

Later this week, we may begin to see paint going up.  I'm guessing that it will be next week, as there are still lots of small things to get done and out of the way before the paint starts.

I pulled up the cardboard and paper that was on the wood floor and did the first cleaning of the floor.  There was so much sand, dirt, dust and just about everything else on the floor.   It is looking good.  This week they are going to trim out the windows, doors and floor.  They also be hanging the interior doors.  They started trim and door hanging in the basement last week.

This is the sunroom with a clean floor.

 Here is the kitchen and I can't wait until we can get the appliances in and cook something.  Eating out has gotten old.

Here is the fireplace.  The stone is done and we talked with Ivan about what we want for a mantle.  We are looking for a simple mantle.  Ivan is going to build it for us, but that will come later.

 Here is the front entry with the clean floor.

Here's my little office.  It gets great sun.  Now I need to figure out and find a desk and file cabinet.

Siding is done

We had a great siding crew, Scotty's Siding.  They started on Wednesday in 95 degree heat, worked Thursday in 70 degree high temp and finished on Friday in the rain.  Nothing beats getting a great crew.  They showed up with all the right tools, even their own trash cans for clean up.  We had originally wanted to have the cement board siding for it's longevity, looks and no need to paint, but cost overruled and we have the vinyl.  It is a Carolina Beaded 6.5" and looks great.  Here are the pics of the completed job, even a crew picture.

Fireplace and Siding Continue

Today was so much cooler here, low 70's, down from the high 90's yesterday.  So a treat for the siding team.

They continued to work on the siding.

Today they started and finished the stone on the fireplace.  It is so good to see something start and finish on the same day.  Kevin, of Cosy Warm Fireplace, did a great job in putting up the stone.  Here is a pic of the finished stone.  Of course, we still need to decide on a mantel.  One more decision.

 

 

Kraftmaid Kitchen Cabinets Starting

It was a busy start this week. We picked the Kraftmaid Huntington door style maple wood painted white.

Ivan built the oven cabinet (which looks huge in the pics by itself) on Saturday, so we would be all set to start hanging cabinets today. 

We started with the kitchen window wall and then moved to the wall that will have the cooktop.  Progress went quickly, of course, Ivan probably had more help than he wanted, but I think it went well.  Patti and I unpacked cabinets as they were needed and carried them into the kitchen, then Mike and Ivan hung them and installed them.

This is the refrigerator cabinet.  Small problem with the way the cabinet is built when we add a cabinet on top, the door sizes don't match and it look "off".  So Ivan worked with Stan (our Pierson Gibbs rep) on a solution.  They came up with ordering doors for the lower cabinet in the same size as the upper cabinet and using some different hinges.  That will work great and look great.

Of course Ivan was the one with the brains for cutting plumbing and HVAC pieces out of the cabinets.  When Patti, Mike and I left on Monday, Ivan stayed and put together the island.

Here's the island.  Mike and Ivan are talking about the exact location for it.

Tuesday, we started with the master bathroom.  We hit a small HVAC obstacle, but Ivan had a couple of solution and we decided on one and moved forward.  After lunch we hung the laundry room wall cabinets.

Laundry room wall cabinets.  I still need to decide on my washer and dryer.

Ivan has a wedding this weekend, so he will be off the rest of the week, but before he left he ran my HDMI cable for the TV above the fireplace.  He had to go into the attic in the 90 degree heat, too hot, then his battery runs out, so he has to come out of the attic (cool off) then go back up to finish.  He ran the cable so the stone guy can come do the fireplace Thursday.  While Ivan is gone, Matt is going to continue with the interior trim.

Scott's Siding started the siding today.  It looks so different.  I can't wait to see a big section done.

Baby Visitor Today

Today we did some running around for house items, fans, lights, sink and stuff.  As we took stuff in the house and sat down, Cocoa starts barking at the doorwall.  Here is a video (unfortunately, not too clear) of her find:

And one still shot.