Here is a photo of us and our crew having a little bubbly at the end of their work day on New Year's Eve. We made a toast to them and a job well done in 2010. They are (from left) Rob, Steve, Patrick and Jim (Josh and Mike are absent). We soooooo appreciate the beautiful job they have done turning our early 1950's home into a stunning bungalow.
It is an understatement to say that we are REALLY excited to be moving some things back into the new parts of the house and to finally have the dust under control (well, almost!). And.... our new front porch has been unveiled to the neighborhood.... and we can actually come and go from the front door instead of the garage in the back yard.
Here is what has been going on for the last 2 weeks:
Week 14:
The guys worked through very cold temperatures the week before Christmas to get as much of the siding finished as possible. With winter in full swing, we will have to wait until spring to paint the house.
Our builder, Jim, promised he would do everything he could to get their inside work completely done so we could have the inside of the house back for Christmas. By Dec. 22 he had his boys bring our stove and refrigerator from the garage back into the kitchen. This was a very good sign :o)
Next, he said the boys were ready to bring the new front door around from the garage for installation. As the VERY heavy solid cherry door was brought around the side of the house, I was holding my breath. This has been a highly anticipated event as we just can't wait to see how it looks on the front of the house. WOW!
It was a very short ceremony as Rob took his circular saw and cut up the old front door for its trip to the dumpster. Not even worth recycling it to the Habitat ReStore. R.I.P. :o)
Look at the happiness on these faces! Josh, Jenni and Jim are excited about the coming holiday and the promise of giving us the inside of our house back for Christmas. THANK YOU JIM AND CREW!!!!
We had a beer with the crew on Thursday to celebrate their accomplishments and the coming Holiday.
The guys had Christmas eve off, so Rowan and I got right to the task of bringing some basic things back into the house, like chairs and a TV so we could start to come out of our cavedweller stage. We also removed the ply wood from the doorways that sealed us off from the construction so we can now go directly to the kitchen and living room from the back of the house instead of walking around the outside of the house. YAY!!!!
We had only two Christmas decorations for the house. The old Santa light in the dining room window, and the wreath on the front of the house. We are excited that next year we will be able to have our first Christmas tree since we moved here. The house was always too small for a tree, so we just decorated our ficus tree instead.
We spent Christmas day stripping and painting trim. We were able to have a fire in the fireplace too. Our cat Lulu was just in cat HEAVEN!
Food Alert!!!!!!
I haven't included a food item in quite some time, so here is a photo of our first meal cooked back in our kitchen. Not glamorous or complicated, but tasty. Believe me, we will be eating this kind of thing for quite some time until we get this house paid for. :o)
Week 15:
The week after Christmas the guys continued with the siding work and took the tarps down from around the porch. The transformation of the house is really amazing.
Jim made one trip back into the house this week to start the installation of the exhaust hood over the stove. Rowan assisted with what I call 'a holding call'. Penalty, 10 yards. For some reason Jim was having a hard time getting those screws in the wall. Hmmmmmmmm. :o)
The guys also brought the chopping block up from the basement so we could do some serious cooking for New Year's Eve. Rowan and I decided on Thai food for our New Year's meal.
Happy New Year!
Stay tuned..........
