The End Of The Journey

Day 262

Today is a bittersweet day.  The construction is done.  The foreman came by today and left us with this:

Lots of paperwork:  Building plans, warranties, manuals, and permits.  Also, he left us the keys for the new doors that were installed.

In the last week, our kitchen table was built.

It was made to match the buffet behind it.  That way we can push it up against the buffet to make a larger L-shaped table.

And finally, the last part of the construction.

The medicine cabinet door was installed yesterday and the foreman installed the knob today.

It's been a long journey from the beginning of planning until now.  We have gotten used to the men showing up and making lots of building noises and have grown to like them.  We are also going to miss our meetings with Lisa from the architects office and Chanta our foreman.  But as sad as that is, it's exciting to plan how we are going to move into our new digs!  We are already enjoying the new space and this weekend, we will finally complete our move into our new master bedroom.  With that being said, I would highly recommend Friedman Bruggemeyer Design Build.  Check them out here: http://www.fbdesignbuild.com/.  Thanks to all of you who read my blog.  It was a fun way to document the whole thing.  So until the next big project, I'll see you on Facebook or wherever we run into each other.

Dragging It Out

Day 253

Sorry it's been so long since the last post.  That's because hardly anything has happened!  It's just taking so long for the last few bits to get done.  I say as long as the contractor's sign is out front, it isn't finished.  But do not despair, there were some things done.

They capped the hole in the linen closet.

That hole is for cleanout access in case we ever need to snake the shower drain.

That, of course, is the medicine cabinet.  Still needs a mirror and a pull.

And last but not least:

The glass for the shower went up.  Well it went up about a week ago.  We still haven't used it.

Warning! This is not the last of the blog.  There are still a few things to be done and then I'm going to do pictures of the whole extension.  So stay tuned!

The Moy Home: A Retrospective

Day 234

Here were are.  Pretty darn near the end.  This is not the last blog entry but since there is not much going on right now besides waiting for some small things to get done, I thought I would treat you to a before-and-after trip down memory lane.

Also, I might add that the before pictures were taken with an iPhone 4s.  The new pics were taken with an iPhone 5.  I think the focus was much better with the new phone.

We knew things were getting real when the port-o-potty showed up.  This is all that is left of it:

Just a little brown square on the ground.

Here's the back of the house.  Before:

And after from the same spot:

You can gauge the position by that piece of roof on the left edge of the frame so the house is much closer now.

Here's a nicer view:

Next up is the kitchen.  I'm going to do it by sections.

Here is the old southeast corner.

Here's a new picture from the same spot.

 

Yeah, that's a wall that got built.

Here's a better view, since I don't have an x-ray vision camera.

This next one shows the northeast corner.

Here it is now:

The wall got pushed back (which shrank the guest room but enlarged the kitchen).

Now the old northwest corner.

And the new.

That's where the wall was extended and we had a corner unit built there.

The old southwest corner:

 

We really didn't like that sink location but considering the size of the original kitchen, I don't think the original architect had much of a choice.

And now:

We do enjoy the counter space we have now.

This next one is a shot I took while leaning on the stove and facing our east wall.

 And here it is now:

The stove is in the same place and I'm leaning on it for this shot as well.

On to other spaces now.  Here is the "hallway" which it really wasn't before.  It was just a doorway.

Here it is now:

 

To get your bearings the light switches and sconce on the right wall are in the same location as they were before the remodel.

At the base of the stairs we used to have what seemed an unusable space.

However, after removing the glass sliding door behind those curtains, it made a really big difference.

We need to find a nice piece of art for that wall.  There is also a keyboard in this room where the kids practice.  Ah.  Useable space.

There was also a glass door in the old master bedroom downstairs.

We blocked it up and made it look like this:

Kira, you're welcome.

Finally, here's something I have not seen in a long, long time.

The Pavers On The Patio

Day 229

So one of my worries was if they were going to put back the pavers nicely.  Well my worries were unfounded.

They had to take away a bunch of them and dig a hole in order to build that corner of the house.  I was also worried about drainage.  Again, worry was unnecessary.

They also removed the concrete forms.  I think we are going to need some dirt to fill that in or perhaps a landscaper to procure the said dirt and make the back yard pretty.  But that is a discussion for another time.

The Little Things

Day 228

At this point there seems to be a short list of odd and ends that need completing.

That is a fire sprinkler cover.  They used to have these ugly yellow plastic caps so they look much better now.

The toilet paper holder!   Did anyone think of a nicer name for this?

The concrete patio was present very early on but it was not uncovered until now!

This pole leads to that gutter:

A little addition to the kitchen.

That corner seemed a bit bare without those shelves.

The painters are coming next week.  They have to paint the gutters, around the medicine cabinet, these shelves as well as touch up anything we might find.  Being so close to the end makes me so impatient!

It Was Ms. Peacock In The Lavatory With The . . . Towel Rack?

Day 226

Our towel racks are up.

And the medicine cabinet is in the wall instead of on the floor.

Yes, that is a power socket in there.  We're kind of excited about that.  We were also considering putting lights in there too but that was complicated, expensive, and, most of all, unnecessary.

And finally, Ms. Peacock.  Or rather Ms. Chicken as drawn by our foreman.

 Too bad she will be hidden behind the medicine cabinet FOREVER!  Or at least a long time.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Well, One Out Three Isn't Bad.

Day 225

As each day goes by, there are fewer things on the list that need to be done.

They put up some blinds.

That was an old window so we reused the old blinds as well.

They also used parts of our old fence and gate.

You see that hole?

That's where this is going to go:

We have to also decide where we want to put these.

We have two towel bars and one toilet paper holder.  Is there a polite word for toilet paper holder?

And finally we have this:

Don't get too attached because tomorrow the pile may be gone.