Frame it up!

Gah!   I'm so behind!  You wouldn't believe where we are in the building process right now but I must catch up and go in order or it will bug me to no end!  

Would you believe the hubs sent me this pic when I was at work 2 weeks ago and said.  "We have walls!"

So exciting!  I was dying to get out there that afternoon so we could walk around and get a feel for it.  

This was only 3 days after the pouring of the foundation so in a matter of 5 days we went from this

To this....

To shabaam!

Let's take a little tour of the progress.

Her is our little man getting to step into his room for the first time.   I guess he couldn't believe his eyes!

This is the beginnings of our front porch.  Actually that slab sticking out it the porch and there is a nook right in the middle that will house the front door.

This is looking through the front door through the entry and living to the back door.  Lining these two doors up was one of the things we wanted to happen.  Why? You might ask?  We are suckers for symmetry.  Plain and simple.

This pic shows the hubs workspace in the garage.  We couldn't afford a full third car space in the garage(which would have been used for his tools and working on projects) but instead we were able to work in this area.  We are super excited about the potential accomplishing lots of projects here!

Here hub is showing "boogers" where she can hand her backpack in what we call the "mudroomish" area inside the garage door.

He is now showing her where she and bitty baby will be sleeping.

This is the playroom (a.k.a Family Room per the husband)

Those two large openings are where there will be pocket doors.  One that goes into the kitchen and the other will house the pocket door for the pantry which of course will be entered into from the kitchen but this just shows you the bones of that area.

This pic shows the kitchen and living room.  The wires and waste line sticking up here go right into the center of the island.

Hubs in the pantry..

One of the things I'm excited about it right behind him.. The framing for the window in the pantry.  Why would a little window be so fun for me?  

From this vantage point I would be looking at the island and the kitchen cabinetry.  Behind that cabinetry is the laundry room.

This is the framing for the fireplace and the entry to our master bedroom area is to the right of it.

I was standing in front of the fireplace here and looking back into the kitchen.  

The black box on the floor is an out let in the living room floor.  Another last minute (adding to the budget) decision.

This is the view the kids will have from their bathroom.  Lucky ducks!  If we had known this we would have flipped the house around.  This is something to consider when building.  It is hard to know where your views will be if your lot is sloping or has so many trees that you can't see.

This is a view of the master closet from outside.  We couldn't fit a his and hers closet into the plan so we have a wall that separates the closet into a his and hers area within one closet.

Our little guy walking along the 3 windows in the dining nook.

He loves me...He really does.

Chillin on the back porch!

Looking out the front door.

It's going to be so fun to see this become an entry way to our home!

Fun fun playground for memory making..

So there you have it.  

It's framed!  Oh it's more than framed but let me catch up and I will share soon.  

Our little man started kinder this week and we have been busy busy with decisions on fixtures, gas lines, windows and our other real jobs so I'm buried but can't wait to share more!

Prepping the foundation and the anticipated Pour!

Well where were we?  If you've been following on the facebook page you know there has been a lot of movement lately at the site.  It's exciting to see progress after what seemed to be a really long period of nada happening.

To see the previous construction post check out this little ditty about how Little did we know the train would be derailed.

So now that we are back on track...(somebody stop me;)

The next step was covering all that gravel with thick black plastic.  I suppose this is so the gravel doesn't absorb all the moisture from the concrete when it's poured but I honestly don't know.  You see I had intentions of learning why they do each and every thing they do but I am failing and honestly we are enjoying just watching it all happen.

After the Black plastic went down the rebar went in.  It's in a grid pattern on the surface and then there are vertical bars in between the different  sections of the covered gravel with more horizontal rebar below.

There were parts bricks placed under sections of the rebar to allow the concrete surround the rebar.

I don't know what this little contraption below was for?  A box filled with gravel around the sewage pipe to a bathtub?  I'll have to remember to ask.

 I'm going to back up here and mention that there were so other electric and plumbing aspects that had to go in before the rebar.

This round plastic thing below houses what will be an electric outlet in the floor of our living room that will probably be used for lamps on side tables or a sofa table lamp.

I believe these were electric and water lines that will run to the fridge and the other ends of them run right up the middle of our island along with a sewage pipe for the sink and dishwasher.

This electric line will sit in the office wall.  Looks like they determine a certain place to start all electrical work from and run that part through the slab while all other wiring will branch off of this thought the walls.

After the rebar was done the foundation engineer was scheduled to come take a look and sign off on it. There were a couple of L shaped pieces of rebar missing on a couple of corners so the builder was informed, the engineer sent them the info. and the rebar guys were back in the next couple of days to remedy the issue.  We were then able to take pictures of the areas and send those to the engineer for approval.  Good thing because the next morning at 4 am the concrete truck was on it's way!

The hubs was shocked to see this on the horizon when he pulled into the neighborhood that morning!

 I seem to always be at work on the day that something exciting goes down so he shoots me this pic and  it honestly took me a minute.  I thought it was a crane at first!  

I'm sure the neighbors were lovin us!  They did start at 4 am and had lights in the trees and all!  When construction is booming you don't really get to be picky about what time of day this stuff happens.

By 8 am this is how it looked.  Hub was a little concerned about the texture since we are doing stained concrete floors but after a call to the builder he assured us there was another step that would smooth it all out.

24 hours later we get to stand on our house!

The kids get to climb up and down the massive concrete walls.

Here is the electric box in the living room floor.

The concrete is very smooth everywhere except around that outlet above and we did notice you can see a shadow of the rebar through the concrete.  Not sure how that is going to affect the look of the floors?  This is our bedroom floor which will be carpeted... 

but this is the master bath which won't.  I don't mind character at all but just hope it doesn't look like there use to be tile on the floor before it was stained.

So that is were we stood as of early this week!  Speaking of standing...The kids unknowingly got the better views in the house.  This is what they will see looking out their bedroom window. Once we clean up the cedar trees It will look pretty nice I think.  Truth is I grew up where there were no trees so this is good as gold for me! Lucky ducks!

Next up..

Wood..Lot's of wood!

50 Shades of Grey (and Brown)

Oh it's not really all that risque!  Actually I haven't read the book but I hear it really draws you in.  I've got floors on the mind though not reading so let's get to it. Maybe as I write about these beauties I will magically make up my mind?

Most of the flooring in the new house is going to be stained concrete(the bedrooms will be carpet).  While trying to get the house down to our target price range we came to the conclusion that wood would have to wait.  The truth is even if we could do wood I don't know that we should right now.  I don't like to worry about "stuff". Meaning I don't want furniture that can't take a beating from three youngins and a 90 lb. dog  nor do I want to worry about scratched and damaged floors.  When we were pondering the idea of wood we knew we wanted a rustic look to help combat the inevitable and wear well.  

Like these babies.....Yummo!

                                                    Source: mountainlumber.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

Oh and to take those floors and do this herringbone pattern....
Be still my heart!

                                                   Source: curatedstyle.tumblr.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

Ok so now that I have let go of those(sort of;) let's move on to reality.
I love concrete floors too!  There is something rustic, natural, yet contemporary to them and all of those things float my boat.

The problem is there are lots of different colors to choose from and numerous different shades within those colors.  So we have to decide:

Do we want light and airy with a more modern feel?

                                            Source: seventeendoors.blogspot.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

                                                      Source: theage.domain.com.au via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

Or do we want to stick with the grey's but just go a little darker?

                                                       Source: houseandhome.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

You can even go a really dark grey..

                                                   Source: concrete-polishing.co.nz via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

One thing that keeps coming up in our minds though is that even though we like the dark look it seems like the floors will look dirty?  Like dusty ya know?  Let me tell you a little dirty secret.  I don't mop.  I mean really it's a rarity.  I feel like I'm doing good just to keep a whole plate of dinner off of the floor and thankfully our first born ( the Dog) takes care of that kind of thing.  I hope to some day evolve back to my former clean freak self (maybe;) when my head is above water but for now I'm just gonna roll with it! Can I let you in on something else?  If you are currently a clean freak(especially if you haven't entered into the world of kids) it really is not that bad of a feeling to not get around to mopping...I'm just saying.  I feel like a freebird and a little like the rebel that I never was all because of a dirty floor! Woohoo!


And then there is brown....Rustic, warm and may hide the brown dog hair?

                                                        Source: Uploaded by user via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

                                                  Source: natalme.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

                                                               Source: houzz.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

The floors below are gorgeous but too shiny?  I think again for us they would need to be dusted a lot and we just like something a bit more rustic and less polished.  They are so pretty though!  Oh yes we have to decide how shiny we want them too.  Decisions, decisions!

                                                          Source: houzz.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

So what will we do?  I still don't know.  Man even after talking through it with you I can't decide.

Maybe we will do what we often end up doing...A mixture of both.  Gray and brown?  Not to shiny, just enough to camouflage the dirt and dog hair?
Hmm?

                                                    Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest

                                                      Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Jessica@ Hill Country Homebody on Pinterest