Paint, Siding, Well, Electrical

Cousin Michaela from Alaska came to see the paint colors! 
(She says it looks like Aunt Lynn's palette...  just the look we were going for...  : )

This bright yellow is the school room.

And a library in deep burgundy.

 

Dining room is sage, which will coordinate with the sage countertops in the kitchen on the left.

Master bedroom is two shades of brown. 
You may believe that I picked the one on the right just because it's chocolate-colored...

The laundry room is a beautifully bright blue.  Clean and cheery.

Stairway to the Loft.  (Bet the next time you see it, the stairs will be maple-covered.)

Over the Loft stairs.

Same deep burgundy in progress over the basement stairs.  It took 3 coats to achieve the right deepness.

Dining room.

We saved this massive Living Room wall for last because we just couldn't settle on the color.  Here's a test piece of Copper, which we did eventually choose in the end.  The verdict's still out on whether we like it or not!

 

The well driller spent about a week here.
 Hit water a little sooner than he'd estimated (Yay!) so the well is ~only?~ 390' deep.

The bees moved in before we.

Well is now finished and the well pump is installed and water line piped to the basement Mechanical Room.

Siding is progressing little-by-little.  They side any time that it doesn't rain.



We procured this flooring, about 1000 s.f. of hard maple, from Craigslist.  It is a reclaimed gymnasium floor, and the guys have spent many hours planning and hand-cleaning each piece.  It's finally all ready to install. 

Light fixtures have all been installed.  The electrical is moving along.

Tile has been purchased and is awaiting installation (and somebody to teach us how to tile floors...)

Siding crew.

Soffits are going in as they finish siding each side.

There-- finished front (except the front door which is going in last.)

Siding is this far on the North side. 
We're looking for volunteers who want to be 5 levels high on the scaffolding to do the tip-top.
David's lucky that his brothers-in-law climb like monkeys.

The Front Yard is wondering why Landscaping is always last on the agenda.

Kitchen.  (Note ceiling fans are in.)

Copper color in the Living Room.

Switches and outlets are popping up everywhere.  Electrical is ALMOST done.  Few more days.

2 Views from the Front Door.

Well, you get to see a lot of progress if I only post once-a-month!  July should consist of flooring and siding. Stay tuned.
 

Drywall, Siding, Heating and Start of Painting

Finally, we're back.  I know it's been ages; a new post has been on my to-do list for weeks.  As you can see, there has been lots of progress on the new house, but just as much action has been here at home.  Since Easter, we have packed and moved about 1/2 of our belongings, and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned...

This house is finally on the market, so the race is on to finish the new one before this one sells.

 

Since it's been so long, this post is specially dedicated to:

Aunt Liz, who flew here from California to take a tour;

Megan, who regularly asks when I'm going to put up the new post : )

My brother Tyler in Idaho who really wants to be here painting but will sadly miss it all...

 

 

One last walk-thru before the drywall.

One of my brothers named our attic storage room.

(Names are from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis if you were wondering.)

The handy new storage.

Shelves ready for the summers' canning.

Drywall!  The drywall contractors did the whole house in 3 weeks, including the mudding, taping, and texture/ primer.

 

The guys have been putting on siding when the weather is good.  We are very blessed with family members and friends who regularly give up their Saturdays and evenings to come help.

 

Front of the house with most of the siding.

Paint!  The house is now mostly painted.  We have been working on it for a little over two weeks.  The colors are bright (after last winter, some colors besides white sounded appealing!)  This green room will be the boys' room for now.

Master Bedroom

 

Bathtub surround installed.

The "sledding hill" is also pretty in the spring.

Mechanical room.  The boiler system has been installed, along with the water heater.  The red tubes on the right are connected to all of the tubing in the basement floor.  The blue valves on the top right will be connected by tubing going up to the radiators on the first floor.  Pretty spiffy?

That's all for now, but I'll plan to get a few more painting pictures up here soon.  In the meantime, these are a few of the lessons we've learned this week:

1) If you let a door stand open too long, a bat will come in and fly around in the house.
2) Dandelions used by a 3-year-old to "paint" walls makes a pretty yellow color on the wall which doesn't come off well. 
But if you're looking for some cheap yellow paint...

 

 

Passed Two Inspections/ Insulation

Saturday, March  29: We held a large cleaning party, in preparation for the first Inspection.  (If you knew my husband, you'd know that "cleaning parties" are one of his favorite types of parties...)

 

I didn't actually take pictures of anyone cleaning (because I was cleaning too), but here are a few when we were finished.  We had picked up LOTS of wood scraps, wire to recycle, and trash; and my FIL was the all-time sweeper.  It looked great.  Thank you to the crew.

 

(Do you think they'll all come back to clean every Saturday when we live here?)

 

 

 

She "cleaned" so much she got plumb-tuckered out.

 

Roof is finished.

 

Lots of work to be done here to make a front yard.  Someday.

 

 

                                              Mud.  Everywhere.  (at least it's not snow.)

 

 

St. Joseph already has a place of honor.

 

Mr. Thomas C. and my Tallest Brother came to help us on clean-up day.

 

D. keeps his wood scraps orderly.

 

New-ish basement stairs.

 

Youngest brother helps out.

 

{Sweet.} 

 

It was a lovely blue-sky day.  We enjoyed having the windows open.

 

 

Last view of my "lawn ornament."  I couldn't resist.  We'll miss the old SkyTrak.

 

Little bit of snow left on the northern slopes.  Supposedly, it can still snow as long as it hasn't all melted.  Someone suggested hitting all the North-facing slopes with a hair-dryer. 

(We have Spring Fever.)

                          We passed the Inspections with flying colors, and were able to
                                                     have the house insulated right away.

                                                    

 

 

My brothers painting boards on which the heating system will be mounted in the Mechanical Room.  I'm told that as soon as the camera came out, G. grabbed a roller so it'd look like she was helping...

 

 

This-- is my new "un"laundry-chute.  Our intent is to use it to send laundry OUT of the laundry room, rather than into it (hence the name) so I can hang the wet clothes to dry in the basement. 

 

It was my idea, and has been a true labor of love by my husband (with help from a good friend.) 

 

 

 

 

 

Some other good friends installed the ductwork to vent the range.

 

The Littles tried out the newly installed bathtub.

 

J. has gotten a good little education in construction.  Here he drew an electrical plan to help out.

 

Can you see the wire running down from the blue box, underneath the floor, and powering the fixture above?

 

He was excited to "make the blog."

                                  
                                     Saturday, April 12:  Was our preliminary Moving Day. 
                             We needed to start emptying the current house to list it for sale,
                    so our brothers came to start the move.  No more range in the living room.

 

Remember that it can still snow as long as there's snow left on the northern slopes? 

 

(We aim to test all theories for our readers.)

 

We woke up to snow this morning (April the 14th)!  Yea.

 

Up Next: Drywall.