Building House - All of November

November 1 -  The brick is now really going - we picked a style called Providence and it has a little bit of a pinkish tint, but looks awesome with the stone.

So cool....

November 2 - finishing up the last part of the driveway today

November 10 - the address stone gets installed - it's official..we have an address!!!!

Brick should be done soon

While the brick is being done they were prepping walls and applying the plaster.  

We got swirly texture on the walls and the bathrooms and kitchens/bathrooms are flat...really flat.  This is the stepped tray ceiling we put in our master bedroom. 

November 15 - walkway up to the house got poured today along with the front porch

They also poured the sidewalks today as well.

November 19 - final grade was already done...didn't think that this was going to be done until spring, but it's look great to see all that black dirt ready for my grass seed next year.

Here's the back of the house with the final grading.

We've been waiting almost 3 weeks for the plaster to dry before anything else can be done inside the house...it's been super hard knowing that nothing is going on right now.  We are literally watching "plaster" dry.

Just before Thanksgiving we noticed a lot of markings made all over the kitchen and bathroom walls like someone came in and messed up the walls, but it showed us how particular these guys get with making things absolutely perfect.  They marked out all the imperfections they were going to fix before the painting starts...wow...

House Building Oct 15 - 30

Siding, Shake, Insulation, Drywall, and Brick/Stone - all in two weeks!!!!

Oct 15 - The facia and the vinyl shake in the gables gets installed.  Looks pretty nice with that roof...let's see how the rest of it will look.

The siding is going along really well and fast.  These guys don't mess around.  We picked Irish Thistle for the siding color with is a really cool bluish green color.  I think it looks amazing as it contrasts the dark bronze window trim color.

The white garage door and outlets look a little funny now but they will be painted later on.

Getting the forms set up to pour the back patio.

Oct 18 - Insulation crew has been through and got most of the exterior walls of the house.  We upgraded to the 2x6 walls to keep this house as warm as possible with the extra insulation...so worth it because with no heat on and just the insulation up right now, it's not too bad in here.

Oct 19 - Insulation put up on the walls between the main house and the garage walls.

Oct 20 - The drywall crew has started and they don't mess around either.  We tried peaking in but it sounded like there was an orchestra of drills going on a rampage inside so we stayed out.  But at night Kevin walked around and saw all the extension cords piled up and knew that some serious drywall screwing was going on.

Drywall on the archway between kitchen and living room

Drywall in the hallway down towards the kids' room.

The pile of drywall scraps...Kevin said it was a disaster zone down at the house....

Oct 21 - Dry wall is done and the mess is cleared up.  Now our rooms are starting to take shape.  This is my kitchen with a walk in pantry.

The dining room - you can see the framing set up for the coffered ceiling.

This is standing in the living room looking back towards the open stairway to the basement.

Oct. 24 - The guys blowing the insulation in the attic were here today and let Harry hop up in the truck.

They also started forming up the driveway today.  Supposed to be getting weather in the 60's so they've moved up the pouring of the driveway a couple of weeks.

Looks like they got the garage mudded and taped.  

Later in the day they got the first section of the driveway poured.

October 25 - Got the second section of the driveway poured...wow...this is a big drive way.  So excited for the kids to be able to ride their bikes around on it.

October 31 - They started putting the brick and stone up today.  We've picked a stone mix called Wildwood Blend....it's got 4 different types of stones in it and lots of fun colors, but we've got that bit of English stone look in our house!!!

Fun at the Morton Park

Today the kids and I went to a park in Morton to just get used to the neighborhood...we had lots of fun!

House Building Oct 1- 14

Oct 1 -

A big day for making some decisions for the interior of the house. Kevin and I went this morning to finalize our cabinet plans at Ehler's. We didn't realize all the extra little decisions we had to make along with picking out hardware. The lighter square sample is our kitchen cabinet color and the darker one is our master bathroom vanity color. That afternoon I sent Kevin off to finalize some some appliance questions we had and then he came home with some flooring samples....needless to say we finally found exactly what we wanted for wood flooring. It's a solid wood flooring called Golden Bronze Acacia (it's an exotic walnut).

Oct 6 -

Still working on the roof...the guy told me that we had a huge roof -66 square. I don't know what that means but I took his word for it.

Oct 7 - My mom and dad come out so that Dad can help us start wiring the house. Yep, we are wiring our own house with the help of my lovely daddy-o. We started out by making a trip to Menard's and I bought loads of wire, breaker boxes, PVC piping and more and this was only the first trip to be made.

Oct 8 -9

Dad got Kevin and I started by nailing up electrical boxes in all the rooms where we wanted them. I had kind of come up with some plans, but Dad got us filled in on national code as well to where and how many we legally needed as well. Dad and Kevin did most of the physical labor and I was used as design and functional consulting...I had to tell them where I wanted everything. Here's the whole crew taking a lunch break in our garage. We spent two days setting up junction boxes, breaker boxes, electric boxes, can lighting and lighting fixture placement and then mom and dad headed home.

Oct 10 - HVAC guys got the venting installed down in the basement.

Oct 11 - the roofers finally finish up the last of the shingles today.

Oct 12-13

Dad came back with Mike (my dad-in-law) to help pull wires and finalize ALL of the crazy little stuff that just pops up on you as you

go. One of the last few things that my dad asked me was, "Do you want a door bell?" I was like, "yeah"...it's just one of those things that you assume is sorted out but when you are doing it yourself you've got to think of it on your own or you are out of luck.

(the only pic I got of my dad working in the house...too busy either working myself or watching my kiddos)

Mike hanging up some can lights in our front porch

It was totally amazing knowing what went into our house with all the wiring. The kitchen is an electrical sink hole if you don't know with all it's lights, switches, appliances, internet, speakers, etc it's crazy.

Here are all of our "homeruns" heading down to the basement's breaker box. It's so amazing to see all the spider web of wires zig zagging all above us in the rafters and through the walls.

Oct 14 - Electrical inspection done today and we passed!!! Only had to move the low voltage wire for the furnace thermostat, but otherwise the inspector was quite impressed with all of our work.

House Building Sept 26 - 30

September 27, 2011 - Stairs built, arches built in door ways

September 29, 2011 - Back garage door is on and they've started shingling! Tub shows up and plumber is cutting holes for pipes and setting up venting tubing.

September 30, 2011 - HVAC guys in to cut the floor vents, plumber getting my laundry room pipes set up, front door hearth set in place and front door made off limits. Still shingling...almost have the front done. Kitchen arch finished after the wall was extended to fit my kitchen cabinet plans.