Oct. 21st...central vac, insulation, and water line

I haven't posted in a while....but we've now got the central vacuum system roughed in . There is an attachment place in our bedroom... by the half bath (you can also see the hose in the kitchen that will attach to a kick plate under the cabinets)... and in the hall by Ty's bedroom. I don't have a picture of that, but here's a picture of the pipes in the garage where the canister will go. Some of the insulation is in. The rest is supposed to get blown in this week. This is a closeup of some in the garage. This is in the great room. You can get a better idea of the ceiling height and shape here. This shows the stairs that lead up to the second floor. (Or maybe I'm upstairs taking this picture looking down the stairs....I don't remember!) We've also got our water line dug and the pipe is laid. But, it rained a lot today, so I don't know what that did to the ditch. I guess we'll see this weekend when we get to go check out this week's progress! This is where the water line comes in to the house by Ty's bedroom. And this is a pic of it going down the hill... ...leading to the water meter. And this is the water meter covered in water before the rain started today. I can't imagine the amount of water in that ditch today!

I went shopping....

I was looking forward to spending the day with Ty and getting a little house shopping done last Saturday while Doyle went to see the Razorbacks play with his dad in the new Cowboys stadium in Texas. So, we headed to Ft. Smith and went to the plumbing shop that I had heard was good (J&B) and was disappointed to find it closed on weekends. Dang! So, I headed over to Home Depot (I usually don't shop there because of the whole "they put a dent in my truck and told me they were going to fix it and then lied about it and didn't" thing....) to see if they had anything different than Lowe's. So we walk in and they are having one of those kids clinics and they are building fire station banks. Obviously, we stopped and built one...here's some pictures. I also found some rustic lights that I like. Here's some pics of that. I also found the heating mat that goes under the tile in the bath. I'm not sure we are going to do that (especially since I didn't tell the electrician about it) because I'm not sure if we are going to tile the bathroom floor or just go with the stained concrete. I'm sure the shower will have to be tiled, but I haven't figured that part out yet.

October 10th...siding, porch ceiling, front door, and some oops...

We now have cedar siding up above the porch and it looks so good. It makes it feel so homey and like a cabin, and I love that! I can't wait to see it with the rock and front door. Speaking of the front door....do you see the huge hole in the front of the house with nothing in it? Well, I picked out a door that I absolutely loved, but wasn't sure I could find one for the right price. Well, I never did, but my wonderful builder, David, did! Yeah! So, here's a picture of it....and yes, it will have the clear glass. It is so simple and beautiful with the clear glass. Plus, it isn't like we have to worry much about privacy where we are! Oops! We've only had a couple of minor things happen so far. The first was the nick in the bathtub that I've already discussed. I tried taking a picture of it today, but it didn't even show up in the picture. The second one is this little accident on a window. I'm hoping that the tube of superglue sitting on the window isn't going to be the fix! I'm sure it won't be. Maybe they can replace the bottom part of the window or something like that.
The porches are now getting the decorative stripping to cover the seams of the wood. We are going to pick a stain for the wood soon. I looked at a book and pointed out what I liked and the guys are going to make some samples for us to look at. I may have found a couple of the samples while we were out there yesterday cleaning up. I really liked one of them and I think it was the one that was done with transmission fluid. I've heard about using this before and that it has great benefits. Have any of you used this or heard of this before? If so, leave me a comment! In fact, I'd love to get a comment from anyone!
I have also taken the brick sample that I like to David so that we can order our brick that we picked out. I'm still undecided on a rock. I thought I knew what I wanted, but then he showed me a picture of another company and I like it better than what I had picked out.
As for the inside...I think the plumbers, electricians, and heat/air subcontractors are finished for now. We are waiting on the central vacuum guy to come and rough in the vacuum system so that drywall can start. At least I think that is the only thing we are waiting on before drywall can start.

Oct. 6th...siding, heat and air, electric

So...the latest updates includes getting the electric finished, the heat and air is going in, and the siding is going up under the porches. Here's a picture of the siding going up on the front of the house under the porch. Right below the cedar siding will be rock. Here's a closer picture of the front porch:Here's a picture of the back porch:The materials for the heating and air was delivered on Friday. I don't know if you can see it very well in the picture, but the heat/air unit is in place and they have started putting in duct work and vents. I was happy to see that they put a vent in our master closet so that our clothes won't get stinky from lack of air circulation. They still have to install the vents/duct work in a few areas. Here's a random picture of a vent in the ceiling by a can light.

Sept. 23rd...Wiring, can lights, attic fan

Our plumber has finished his work for now and has everything "stubbed up". (aka...he's finished until we get drywall and cabinets). Ty's tub/shower unit is in place and ready to have a minor blemish fixed. There's a guy in Russellville who does this and we'll never be able to tell it was there. I'll try to remember to take a before and after picture to show how good of a job he does. Now it is the electrician's turn. He started installing can lights and running all of the wiring throughout the house for future lights, plug-ins, and fans. Our attic fan is also in place. Our trim and soffits around the house are now finished and look great. They started putting up the ceiling of the front porch, but I forgot to take a picture of it. Here's a picture of the soffit and trim work. The picture doesn't really show off the details...it looks better in person. I know I took these pictures on Wednesday, and I'm posting them several days later (It is now Saturday...) but I just haven't had the time to post due to football season. I'll try to better next week, but I can't promise. Anyway, we went out to the house today to clean up and check progress and the electrician was there working on a Saturday. I was glad he was there because I had a few extra plug-ins that I wanted that he was able to add while he was there.

Sept. 15th...plumbing and porch ceiling stuff(?)

We met with our contractor this weekend and walked through the house to decide where we want lights and what kind we want. It was soooo exciting! I get to have accent lights on the outside of the house to make it light up pretty at night! The plumber came and installed a couple of outside faucets and started some inside things. I know that these things are not going to excite anyone like it did me, but part of the reason I'm doing this blog is to document when things happen. So, if you don't particularly find this fascinating, (I can't imagine!) then just come back another time to see if something else tickles your fancy.
Anway...pic of an outside faucet:One of the vanities in our bath:Plumbing for the shower and for the tub: The shower is the area behind the studs and the tub will be on this side of the wall.More exciting plumbing stuff...COFFEE!!!! Doyle and I really enjoy coffee, so we decided to get a plumbed coffee maker that is installed in the wall in the kitchen. Here's a picture of what it looks like:I know I called this ceiling stuff, but for the life of me I can't think of the real name. So, ceiling stuff it stays. Anyway, this is a picture of the front porch ceiling, or the bracing that the ceiling will attach to. I only took a picture of the front porch, but the back porch looks the same. Oh, the soffits around the house are coming along nicely and it was really nice to have the roof completely on this week because of all of the rain. We didn't have to worry about sweeping water out! I think that the electrician is getting his bid in after a walk-through with our contractor, so I guess he'll start working sometime soon. I need to decide where I want brick, rock, and the cedar on the exterior. By the way, I picked out my brick (with the help of my very patient sister-in-law...thanks Amanda!). Here's a picture of the brick, but we'll be using a chocolate mortar instead of this gray.

Sept. 7...Windows, Tyvek, Pocket Doors....

I have lots of stuff to write about and I am soooooo excited about it. Last week we went out to the house and took some pictures, but I never posted them, so I'm going to today. Okay, first of all can you say "windows"? YES!!! They are installed and look great. I really like the cream color. You can also see the Tyvek house wrap in these pics, too.Ty got his bathtub/shower unit in and it is exactly what I wanted. Easy to clean and one piece.
Soffits are next on the list. Approximately 1/4 of the house has them, and we went up there today (Labor Day) and we found Mr. Price and his son working on them! Wow...I was pretty impressed with that. It was also really nice to see them again. We talked about doors and rock and how good the house is looking. Man I like him! Anyway...soffit pictures:Next we have pocket doors. We have two pocket doors in our house and the frames for those are up. I really think I will like the way they work. I have one in the workout room so that I won't have to save room for the door swinging open and shut. I can have equipment right next to the door which lets me squeeze in more exercise stuff! The other door connects our bathroom with our bedroom. Same type of idea there...I didn't want to have to worry about swinging doors getting in the way.Shingles! Okay, I didn't take pictures of shingles, but we now have more shingles in so that the roofers can come and finish the roof sometime this week (hopefully!). Totally excited about that....

Cleanup, cleanup, everybody do your share...we cleaned up a lot last weekend and some more tonight. I just wish it would have been a little cooler 'cause I'm a sucker for a bonfire. I couldn't resist putting a cute picture of Ty up. For some reason he loves to play in the sawdust and put it on top of his head.