drum roll.... the cut-through!

Woah.  This was the big one!  Up until now, the only way to get into the addition was to go outside and come in through the new back doors.  But while we were on vacation, our builders completed their final task of cutting through the walls to join the old house with the new.  Wow!  Coming home to two huge gaping holes in our living room was pretty crazy! 

So, the two holes are to the left and right of the fireplace.  I scored a toddler swing from a park in Ashland, which we installed in the addition.  I am loving having the big toys over in the new space! 

So here's the bad news.... our builder is all done.  Now we take over...HVAC, wiring, plumbing, drywall, floors, as much as we can do ourselves, we will.  This is going to be a long process!!

siding!

Well, I sure have been getting some complaints from my dear followers (aka, Jamie and my dad).  Stick with me!  Here we go! 

Ok, so the windows got re-installed under the watchful eye of Queen Bossy, and the trim and siding followed quickly, presumably to cover up the windows before we started complaining again!  We picked this trim style sort of at the last minute, so I didn't have my usual amount of time to make scale drawings and conduct obsessive internet research.  I must say, I am happy we went with something a little different, and I really like how it turned out!

That is a super-tiny window, so keep in mind the scale is a little odd.
The other surprise we discovered one day is that the fake shingles went up!  It's the Hardie Shingle, so it hopefully will last forever.

Don't you just love the colors?  Just like silly putty and butter.  Ok, not really.  It'll all get painted later - we are still open to color ideas! 

Gazoiks!!! Keep in mind that the inside is completely undone, just studs and plywood, despite how done the outside looks.

wowza

Ranch Fever is on a brief hiatus while our builder pulls out all of our windows and re-installs them correctly. 
(long, slow, exhale)

roof AND windows!!!

I know it's been a while since my last post, but the builders spent over a week putting the sheeting on the roof and building the overhangs around the addition.  On Friday, the roofers showed up and almost finished the roof, while our builder put in windows.  I can't thank Mark enough for convincing me to upgrade to a nicer shingle- Presidential Shake!  I wonder which president it is named after?

New front view, with windows!

New back view, with windows!!!  Also, that gaping hole in the middle of the 2nd floor is going to be fixed tomorrow.  They have to remove the last truss from the end of our current house, which wasn't possible until we got the roof up to keep out the rain.

Half of the french door in the family room-can you find Waldo?

And here's the view of the backyard from the sun room!  I can't wait until I can sit on something dry in that room!!  Right now we just have puddles!

the whale has beached...

Look at that backbone!  I'll let the pictures tell what happened today....

Jeez louise, this place looks like a small community college!  Now offering classes on drywall installation and wiring!  Reasonable tuition...questionable room and board.

too tired to write anything....

......but I will say that this is the rainiest May I can ever remember.

stairs....rain...second floor...more rain...

Yayyyyy!!!

If we were installing a stadium-style retractable roof, this would be the view.

And here is the rain, puddling on the floor of our family room.

So instead of pictures of the house, here are a couple pictures of the new view from the 2nd floor.  It has been years since I lived somewhere with an upstairs, and I felt a little strange suddenly being able to see into my neighbors' back yards!

Another view towards the front of the house:

 And out the back:

This is the opening for the stairs:

 And this just feels weird, I mean, who can reach the top of a chimney?  Certainly not shorties like me.

reflecting....

I'm going to take a break from being informative and share some fun pictures I took today.

But I will tell you one thing, those two items in view of the new family room window are the compost bin and the burn pile.  Looks like they need a new home in the yard!

downstairs!

This is looking toward the front of the house, from the family room towards the office.

Family room, looking northeast.

The bathroom.

 

 Looking down the hall from the office to the family room.

walls!

Wow, walls!  Not much else to say! 

floors!

Well, the floors are done!  And when I say done, I mean this is the floor we'll live with while we save up for the real wood flooring.  And by real wood, I mean NOT plywood.  The boy is currently cruising the future family room, with our future ex-bedroom (to be demolished) in the background.  Those floors are getting rained on as I type this!  For the past few weeks, we have gorgeous weekends followed by rain that rolls in right with our builder every Monday. 
Also, dig my new jump rope I got at Goodwill.  Yeah!
And look at the dogwood, blossoms going strong in its new home.  I hope it survives the transition!

post and pier!

Well, we are moving right along!

Ok, do you see the dogwood on the right side if this picture?  It was in the way when they were using the bulldozer to backfill around the foundation, so they moved it for us, just like that!  We always hated the location of that tree, but the only option we had was to leave it or cut it down.  Magic.  But the bark did get pretty ripped up, so we'll see if it makes it.

wow, it's only day four!

Well, there it is!  A little more rain drain work tomorrow, the moat will be back filled, and the framing begins!

Here's our new rain drain, which will carry water away from our house for a change!!!

The Boy doesn't quite understand yet that he won't get to ride in this one (like he did with Uncle Morgan), but every 10 minutes he asks if Randy is going to come back and ride the bulldozer.  Tomorrow - and hopefully not at nap time!

tears on my pillow, rain on my foundation

Yeah!  Looks fine, right?

In case you can't tell, that is hail.  Dang.

This can't be good for concrete that hasn't set up yet.  If it does indeed set, the forms will come off tomorrow!