Lots of progress

So it's been a long time since I have posted any new developments on the house.  Its been a busy month with my birthday and Caitlin's surgery and my new client at WACE Advisors.  However, that hasn't slowed down the construction and we are inching forward to that October move-in date. 

The cows are doing well,  all are putting on weight and looking good- okay, good for cows!  Sad news for those of you who remember my post about Lonely Helen and One-eyed Fred.  Fred is now with Helen in the chicken coop in the sky and thanks to Darvin our neighbor, the villain, Mr. Fox has joined them.

The stone work is complete as is the roof and the 2 fireplaces (one in the great room and one on the back patio).  We used the spray-on insulation and you can already feel the difference it is going to make.  It was 101 degrees this weekend and the interior of the house in it's current state was almost tolerable.  They finished putting up the drywall last week and it looks fab!!  I have begun finalizing the finish choices.    I have picked the flooring for all the rooms but the bathrooms and have that down to about 3 different vinyl patterns.  I have picked the color of the kitchen.  It is going to be yellow, the color of butter (to quote from Mr. Blandings builds his dream house- " I'd like yellow. Not just yellow; a very gay yellow. Something bright and sunshine-y. I tell you, Mr. PeDelford, if you'll send one of your men to the grocer for a pound of their best butter, and match that exactly, you can't go wrong! ").  For any of you who have never seen that movie, it's a must.  the movie stars Cary Grant and Myrna Loy.  They are building a house in the country and haven't a clue what they are doing....  Lucky for us that is not the situation here, though sometimes I believe Jay thinks I am a little too much like Muriel Blandings.  Oh yes back to the paint colors, so the trim throughout will be off white and Jay is going to do something interesting and different with the massive walls in the great room.  No clue yet for bedrooms, bathrooms or my office.

Great room,looking towards the Kitchen and hallways

our little house on the no so prairie

the kitchen

Master bedroom and doorway to master bath

Great room and fireplace- it will be rocked in austin stone

another view

It was a Rainy Month- Which is mostly a good thing!

Yes finally the rains came in and now the grasses are growing and things are green, there is water it the streams and rivers around us and it is good!  However we are still need more here in Texas to replenish the water tables.  But with as good as it is to get the rain, when you are trying to build a house, rain means no work gets done.    I can't believe we will be ready to move there in less than 4 months.

  


We expected the Austin Stone to be up on the exterior when we went down this weekend, but alas that was not the case.  What had been laid looks terrific and by Saturday evening (yep the stone guys were working until almost 6 on Saturday) the chimney for the wood burning fireplace was completed.

Voila

 This is the front porch.  Don't you love the red cedar on the roof overhang.  Lookin' mighty Texas if you ask me.  The concrete has been stained, but they covered it so won't get damaged while they work on the stone.  These guys were amazing.  There is a pile of stones, all sizes and different shades and they pick one out, cut it and place it on the wall, then go and grad another one and know just how to place them.


While we were down there we went in to Waco to check out our options for granite and cultured marble for the Kitchen and bathrooms.  Good thing we did!  We had wanted to do cultured marble in both bathrooms and we wanted to do something very similar to what we had done for our master bath here in Dallas.  Well this ain't Dallas and we can't get the custom countertops we had done up here.  Well, I guess we could, but then the cost would go up again and I am already making a bunch of upgrades, so.... not sure what we are going to pick.  I did find a granite style for the Kitchen that I liked.  The countertop guy made some notes and in about 6 weeks we will make our final choice.  Again, not Dallas so the choices are more limited.

I continued in my apprenticeship for pulling wires for cable and internet this weekend as well.  This time we were connecting the house and the man palace.  A trench had been dug from the east side of the house to the man palace, a conduit pipe  was placed in it and then it was covered back over with dirt and rock.  We had to feed the wire from the junction box, over the rafters, into the conduit and pull it through to the conection at the MP.  It was hot and muggy, so I am rethinking this second career option..... 

One last thing, I have noticed that there are a lot of people outside of the US that are following this Blog, I would love to hear from you and why you chose to read my blog.  Please take a moment and leave a comment.  Also anyone else who would care to comment, I would love it!