The past 2 weeks have been eventful, but we're not quite there yet. We will miss our Christmas move. Our cabinets were back ordered for 2 weeks, so we'll take January 6th as a win. I'm thinking we'll miss that one too, but it's darn close. Here's what has happened in the past 2 weeks:

• Trim has been finished (except for where baseboard meets cabinets, fireplace surround and damaged pieces)


• Almost all electrical upstairs is finished.


• Cabinets were delivered and installed


• Appliances were delivered


• Carpet was installed


• Shower door installed


• Construction started on carport.

Here's the next 2 weeks...

• Continue to progress on carport


• Start getting final inspections


• Touch up paint


• Install hardware on doors


• Install shelving in closets


• Install granite


• Cover brick/block foundation with stone veneer


• Pour driveway

1.) Foyer, like that they're starting to hang fixtures! Front door still needs to be finished. 2.) Dining Room. Ready for wall paper above the chair rail. Yes - wall paper. It's okay in moderation!3.) View into kitchen from dining room 4.) Lookslike this is going to be my favorite room in the house. Hard to tell, but the doors on the top are glass. The glass is seeded, think it looks great.

5.) Another view of the kitchen, it is my favorite room afterall. Range and hood will go between windows. Fridge goes in the big hole. Sink and dishwasher go in island.

6.) Family room, built ins done. Need fireplace surround!

7.) Not exciting, but very important mud room

8.) View into master bath from bedroom

9.) More master bath. Shower door installed! Tub will go in big hole.

10.) Upstairs hall. Double doors are linen closet. Opening on the right is the bonus room.

11.) one upstairs bath

12.) Bonus room. Opening goes to hall, door on right is closet (future home of kegerator) note carpet!

13.) This bedroom will be my office for now. It's on the back of the house. Open door leads to jack and jill bath

14.) Beginning of a carport. We need the rain to stay AWAY!

15.) The front. Hasn't changed much lately. It's a crazy thing to like, but I'm partial to the oil rubbed bronze gutters

Weeks 13 & 14 - Finishing Touches part 1

So 2 weeks ago I had a list of things that were supposed to be happening in weeks 13 & 14. The only 2 that didn't happen are cabinet install and starting the carport. Here's what we're hoping for in the next 2 weeks.

• start the carport


• install cabinets


• finish trim (still need to do window and door casings)


• wrap up painting


• template for granite


• start finishing electrical and plumbing

Here's what we did get done the past 2 weeks.

1.) This is taken from the dining room, through the kitchen and den. Crown is all hung and walls are primed. The primer is tinited, but this isn't far off from our overall wall color

2.) Fireplace. Kitchen to the right, french doors to deck to the left
3.) One of the upstairs bedrooms
4.) One of the upstairs baths. Tile still needs to be grouted and walls painted.

5.) Master shower. Half wall will be tiled and have frameless glass shower door installed on top.

6.) Back view. Deck might get an Emily and Matt stain job, but at least it's up. We still need gutters and exterior lights back here.

7.) Taken from family room through hall to foyer.

8.) Taken from den, showing kitchen and through to front hall

9.) Stairs.

Putting the Walls Up - Weeks 11 & 12

It's been a busy couple of weeks at the house. We passed all of our rough in inspections on the first try which was nice. Kevin was out of town this past week, but all still went smoothly. After we passed all rough ins, and framing, they installed the insulation and siding. Insulation passed, they hung and taped drywall. Dry wall still needs to be finished, but it's getting closer. The siding has been caulked and they've started painting. We've decided to go on a barely off white.


In the next 2 weeks, we're hoping to:

• start the carport


• build the deck


• install hardwood floors


• install tile


• start putting up trim


• start painting


• install cabinets

1.) view from front door. 2.) Family room. Fireplace installed. Nooks on each side are for built ins 3.) Master bedroom 4.) Master bath

5.) Man Room

6.) Front view

7.) Another front/side view

8.) Back view

Windows, Doors, & Rough-ins Weeks 9 & 10

The last 2 weeks have been pretty eventful. For starters, we have shingles on the roof. They've installed all of the windows and exterior doors. So, it's officially "dried in." That all happened in week 9. Last week they were doing plumbing, electrical and HVAC rough ins. By the end of this week, they should have started hanging siding and maybe have insulated the exterior walls.

We're starting to pick out the fun stuff: tile, flooring, fixtures, paint, etc. We ordered cabinets today. It really is coming together.

1.) This is a view of the family room. The fireplace is framed out. Also, you can see all of the electrical boxes.
2.) Master bath. Tub is in.

3.) Here's a view from the front. House wrap, windows and roof are all done.

4.) Here's a view from the back. They've completed the cover over the mudroom door. We've decided that we're going to do a deck across the back, so eventually they'll add that.

Raising a Roof - Weeks 7 & 8

Well, the last couple of weeks have been pretty productive. I wish they were even a little more productive (of course). Since the last update, the floor for the 2nd floor was put in, all walls on the 2nd floor were framed, trusses for the roof were lifted on.

As the pictures show, the weather is still a thorn in our side, but hopefully we'll have a "real" roof soon so the weather will matter less.

Anyway, here are a few pics of what has happened.

1.) This is the view from the hall at the top of the stairs, note the 1" of standing water on the floor... that's one of those things that makes me a little CRAZY!

2.) Here's the view from the top of the stairs down the steps through the location of the future front door.

3.) Here's a view from the outside. All it needs now is, a roof (and siding, insulation, floors, drywall... ) So the to do list is still long, but I have NOT given up on being in by Christmas!!

4.) And of course the roof trusses. By the end of this week, we're hoping that there are shingles on there.

Up, Up and Away - Weeks 5 & 6

So after major weather woes the past couple of weeks, we've dried out until now. We had an issue getting an inspection because the inspector was on vacation. He did end up coming out and so we were able to get going!

Additionally, we've been meeting with cabinet folks to get a grasp on what we want and what we can afford.

Here's the latest...

1.) This is the future master bedroomastast
2.) This is the view from the front door. To the left is where the stairs will be. The dining room, kitchen, and family rooms are to the right. The master suite is to the far left.

3.) From dining room, through kitchen to family room.

4.) Dining room.

5.) View from outside.

This week, the original goal was to have the trusses up my the end of the week. That will be possible if we can have decent weather. It's not looking great. Next, they'll have to put the second floor subfloor down, add the stairs, build the second floor and then add the roof trusses. Time will tell! I know we need the rain in Charlotte, but would be fine without it on Iverson Way!!

What House? Weeks 2 - 4

So it's been a while since I've updated, but it has been a little slow going the last couple of weeks. There have been several hiccups, but nothing we can't figure out. Here's a short run down of our obstacles...

1. Mother Nature! We've needed the rain in Charlotte, and we sure have gotten our fair share. We've lost a week to rain in the past 3 weeks.

2. Tree. There was a tree where we wanted to add on to the house. We originally we're going to yank it out, but decided an ultra deep stump grinding job should do the trick.

3. Exterior Walls. We were going to keep them, but as luck would have it we couldn't. The studs were 1.5 x 2.75 instead of 2x4s. They simply wouldn't hold up the weight of the second floor. That cost a couple more days and another dumpster.

Now for what we DID accomplish...

1.) The roof and all walls are gone. The tallest point on the house is the railing to the former front porch
2.) Here's a shot from the back yard. The temporary power pole has been connected, so as soon as it's go time we're wired up!

3.) Here is where they dug for the additional foundation. In the foreground of this photo you can see roots from the problem tree. We're adding 12' on to the back the width of the existing house which is about 34'. They're turning the back yard into a huge mud puddle.

Today was another rain out, but for the remainder of this week we're hoping that the block work will be completed in the trench above. The new floor joists will be tied in with the old and hopefully start with the framing. I'm ready to see this house start to go UP!

Demolition Derby - Week 1

So, at the end of week one they've gotten a good jump on the demo inside the house. They removed all dry wall, insulation, flooring, and studs (that aren't load bearing). Before they went to town, we moved some very old, very big bushes with the help of Matt's Mom and Dad.

We got our permit this week as well, which means that we can start with foundation work soon. It will be interesting to see how productive week 2 is. It's going to be a rainy week.

After bush moving and 4 dumpsters here's the state of the house after week 1.

1.) Here's a view of the house, you can see where the bushes used to line the driveway.

2.) Here's where the bushes live now. The caution tape will hopefully keep people away from them. We were told that moving them was "stressful" for the plants.

3.) Here's one of the inside.

4.) This one shows that they've removed all of the ceilings and insulation. I imagine the insulation was a bear to remove. It looks like crushed up packaging peanuts.