16 days...and all the pretty things

Good news! The wood floors are at our house! Not installed, just sitting in their boxes but they are there! This makes for a happy Ju-Ju!

While I'm on the subject of floors, the yellow butter tile got tore up and was replaced with the actual selection so here's a quick bathroom shot. This same tile went in the laundry room as well.

There were a few other pretty stuff done this week...the deck got started with the "Brian Day signature slant" - this is how our deck in Altoona was installed so Brian coined that as his signature!

And the last pretty is the kitchen backslash. LOVE!

The light fixtures were sitting patiently in their boxes in the garage so I think next week will be a big show stopping week with lots of pretty new touches and hopefully then we'll get to see these wood floors that we have so impatiently been waiting on!

And lastly there were some other less pretty items done but necessary none the less. Closet racks, thermostats and fire alarms are are in.

More progress to an end result...we are closing in on the finish line and boy are ready! More to come soon!
XOXO - j

Granite!

Despite all of the anxieties that granite has brought along the way, it is now installed and looks fabulous. It's amazing how when these finishing touches go in, the more it looks like a real livable home. Here's a peek at the granite in the kitchen.

Up close view of the island

The kitchen island

This is the desk area that is in the pantry off the kitchen

We ended up going with the same granite throughout the first two levels and then did something different on the bar and bathroom in the basement. Overall, we think it all looks great...just can't wait to dust it all of to really check it out.

Bar in the basement - this granite photographs so differently than in person.

Basement bathroom - toilet will be to the left of the vanity. 

Since the granite is now in place they also started putting in sinks and the knobs along with the shower fixtures. Check out this bad boy:

This is our master shower - let it rain!

This is one of the sinks in the master bath - love the fixtures on this one.

Jack and Jill bath

 And this next picture is for Nikki Syverson who was in Kohler, Wisconsin this weekend and so generously offered to pick out some Kohler fixtures for our new house...sorry, Nik, we went with Delta. :)

Kitchen sink

That was it...this next week we are meeting with the builder again to go over what is left to be done before we get to closing. The wood floors still haven't arrived but are scheduled to be in this week so cross your fingers for an issue free delivery. We have decided to close on November 15th to be sure that everything is complete when we move in so that is the final date we are working off of (assuming an issue free wood floor delivery and install!!). They committed to get us in before Thanksgiving and are staying true to that...not much before but we can't really complain. :)

And for those who haven't seen me in recent weeks, here's a quick belly picture from the baby's future nursery.

18 weeks!

Later! XOXO - j

A stones throw away from close

Well it's been another up and down week for us. To start off the week we found out that it was going to cost us (more than anticipated) to keep our interest rate locked if we move our close date to November 15th as the builder suggested.  Of course we weren't interested in forking out the dough for our builder and sub cons flooring delay. Well, Mr. builder wasn't interested in paying that either...so last option was the flooring vendor. Then, miraculously,  on Thursday we found out there is a chance our floors will be here this coming week which could keep us on track to close on 10/28. Funny how that all got escalated...

Oh yeah, then Brian's mom was in the ER and ended up having back surgery this week, then Brian got the flu and then I ended up with some sinus/allergy issues. We sold our tickets to the Iowa game (only night game this year - boo!) and rested up all weekend long. Quite the week...

On to progress at the actual house...we visited today in between sneezes and it was a quick visit because there wasn't much to see. The stone on the front of the house has been put on but still needs finishing touches and they also finished the stone on the fireplace upstairs. I think they both look great!

The sidewalk was poured this week.

An up close and personal view of our house number and the stone.

The upstairs fireplace.

 And then there was the master bath...ahhhhh. I can just feel how relaxing this space will be once complete.

Bubble tub will go in here.

Up close view of the tile surround.

We have been dreaming of this and it turned out better than we could have imagined.

View of the other side - they made a little ledge and an inlet for soap.

And the little tiled floor. 

As we get closer to the close date the more nervous I get. Just by my own list there is still ALOT to do!

-countertops installed (I stalked the house today after my dr. appointment and the granite truck was there!)
-hang mirrors in bathrooms
-hang toilet paper roll holders and towel bars
-finish deck
-toilets
-grade the yard, install irrigation system, lay sod
-install tile backsplash in kitchen
-install closet wire racks
-water heater install
-install light fixtures
-landscaping
-clean up, clean up, clean up!

Oh yeah then there is the floor install and appliance install.
These are just the things that I noticed so I am sure there are more things that I'm missing. Yikes - long list for 10 (business) days of work. They better get going! More to come in the next few weeks as this thing progresses. Cross your fingers that they can get everything done by deadline!

XOXO - j

The flooring drama continues...

And so it continues...our wood floors started out last week "on a boat" and moved to "on the water" so we are making progress but that boat aint moving fast enough. The floors are scheduled to arrive in Des Moines, Iowa on October 27th...one day before we are supposed to close. That's IF they make it through customs without any issues. Usually builders schedule the closing date 2 weeks out from when the floor is laid so they can do clean up and touch ups.  Our close date is tentatively rescheduled for November 15th. This is quite disheartening since we have been operating under the notion that everything was on time...haha, silly us. They are still honoring the commitment to get us moved in by Thanksgiving but I liked that October date alot better.

To add to the wood floor drama above, on our weekly visit to the house we came across this:

Ewww...that tile looks butter yellow in person. Although you can't tell that much in the photos, it's horrible. This tile was laid in 2 bathrooms and the laundry room and now needs to be tore up and relaid with the actual color we ordered. It's the correct tile just the totally wrong color. Apparently a box was mislabeled so the tilers just went to work not knowing any different. So I guess we might need to use those extra couple of weeks to fix this one.

On a positive note we did come across this beautiful tile which we LOVE!

Mud room - view from garage looking into the kitchen.

1/2 bath on main floor

Master bath...can't wait to get in that shower!

And then we went to the basement and saw this tile:

side view of bar

Downstairs bath - I really like this tile with the blue paint color.

If you have been paying attention I have shown you 3 bathrooms on 3 different levels but what do they all have in common?? Ok, besides same vanity and trim color, that's a given right? Oh yeah, they are all BLUE! Whoops on my part! We only were able to choose 2 paint colors so I wanted to get my money's worth out of the blue color and before I knew it almost all of the bathrooms ended up blue (actual color name is Smoke Gray by Benjamin Moore if you want to copy, I don't mind considering I copied first). So, if you have an ideas of what to do with all of this blueness, please let me know!

Here are just a few other photos from around the house now that the paint is on and all of the plastic wrap is gone.

Office room shelves...again it's painted blue!

Can lights are installed throughout the house, so are the electrical outlets but I didn't bore you with a picture of those. Pretty standard stuff there!

The banister - I just dig the light and dark contrast and then the paint color is just enough.

That's it for this week...hope you enjoyed the abundance of (blue) photos!

XOXO- j

Now THAT is color

If you have talked to Brian or I in the last 5 days, you probably have heard our continuous drama with the granite situation and you can skip down to paragraph 3 if you don't wish to recount it. I'll make it quick...went to the fabricator last Wednesday to look at remnants for the additional areas our granite slabs weren't going to cover. After an hour in his dusty warehouse I uncovered that he had our measurements mapped out wrong (thank God he didn't cut it yet!) and I also found out his plans for how he was planning to lay out the cuts...meaning he was going to put seams in several areas. Ultimately he wouldn't have cut the granite at the wrong size because they physically go out to the house and put these clear, hard pastic paper type things on the cabinets down to trace out where the counter tops will go but regardless I still was not happy with the seam ideas. So while it was not the most productive visit because it turns out that we just need to buy a 4th slab of granite rather than just a few remnants like I originally thought...I'm glad I uncovered and addressed some of his poor ideas.

Brian said I had "an edge" to me so I got nominated to call our builder the next day to have a little chat about the granite. We decided to just add another slab of Juparana Imperena (what we are doing in the kitchen) to our order and call it good. This is where this gets tricky...see our allowance doesn't cover 4 slabs of granite, in fact, when we had 3 slabs of granite we were over budget. Bill and I worked out what I feel is a reasonable deal for their lack of ability to forecast an appropriate granite allowance based on what we told him ahead of time. SO finally this time I think I am done with granite...but just about the time I say that something else will come up. Anything to save me from that dreaded granite yard.

After a super fun weekend with the crazy Ries clan to celebrate Papa Wayn-o's 60th birthday we made it home in time on Sunday to get in a visit to the house before the sun went down. The exterior is completely painted with trim and all and I have to say that I am really happy with how it turned out. I wasn't so sure last week but now that the trim is done, I really love it. It's kind of a gray/green and looks different at different angles and in different lights.

Up close view of the exterior paint and trim colors.

This is the stone we are doing to complement the paint color. 

When we walked inside we were greeted by the lovely stench of PAINT! There were plastic covers over all of the cabinets and it looks like the trim and walls are basically done. Might need a 2nd coat but regardless, it looks awesome!

BLUE office room with the ivory painted built in shelving - LOVE!

The mantel is stained but covered by plastic.

Look at those lockers - stained and ready to go, just need some hooks. This is a view from the garage looking into the kitchen.

Upside down front door! It was sitting out in the garage.

The bar, covered in plastic.

Downstairs fireplace mantel - there will be stone added around the base.

Those favorite master bedroom windows again :)

Master bedroom looking into the master bathroom.

Ahh...what will be our deck and backyard view. 

So that's it...we are getting down to the wire and literally counting down the weeks as things close in. Couldn't be more excited to get moved in and settled.
XOXO -j