Excavation Day 1

Day 1 excavation progress!  Their start date got pushed to today, rather than yesterday.  It looks a lot different already.  Surprised to see soil like a sandy beach just a few feet down.

Windows and Other Homework

Matt sent us home with color chips for the windows.  60+ colors to choose from with Sierra Pacific. He knows we want dark windows so he pointed out a color called Dark Bronze Industrial that looks nice, but there's several contenders.

We need to choose whether to keep the grids in the transom windows as shown on the plan or remove them.  We also sent Matt our list of window changes and questions.  Luckily we'd already created the list on our own so it wasn't a lot of work.  Soon we'll meet with Matt and his window guy to finalize things.  

We aren't sure how to finish the windows on the inside.  I want dark windows inside. But with this type of window (aluminum outside, wood inside) the lining usually matches the window.  I wanted dark windows but liners to match the casing.  Basically we aren't sure what we want inside but we need to figure it out soon.  

We also need to meet with the appliance rep soon.  We actually asked if we could get a head start, because we're hearing some people have been waiting 6-7 MONTHS for appliances and still don't have them.  Obviously that would delay the project and we want to avoid that!

Also on the to do list is going to look at flooring.  We can't make cabinet decisions until we know what the floors will look like, so that appointment will be happening soon.  Lots of thought going into finishes when excavation hasn't even started yet!  

House Layout

The yellow flags are hard to see in the photos, but we met the builder early this morning to stake out the house location.  Lots of standing in the cold while Matt did math.  🙂  Then he walked out, looked around, and hammered a stake into the ground.  What?  No measuring to find a corner?  Nope.  He just started somewhere, and it ended up being just right North to South and also how it was oriented to the street.  We chose to move it 35ft East to maximize our backyard space.   Otherwise it was shockingly accurate.  And by the time he worked his way around the house and angled garage, he was only 2 inches off the measurement on the last wall!  Considering he's working on uneven ground with measuring tapes tied to flexible stakes, it was crazy close.  

Excavation starts Wednesday.  They'll knock down the big hill that is under the future garage and push that dirt into the valley of the back yard to start to level things out.  We think we need to correct approx 15ft of elevation drop.  Whether we address that with a retaining wall or a slope is yet to be decided.  We need the excavation guy to check the drop with his tool.  Then we'll know what we're dealing with.  

The site is about to change again!  

Almost Finished with Clearing

Mason and I checked the progress this evening.  They're on schedule to finish clearing tomorrow and excavation will begin early next week.  There's a lot of grading needed, so we're excited to see how the site will look once they start moving dirt around.  We'll meet the builder on-site in the next few days to stake out the house location.

First Cabinet Appointment

We had our very first meeting with the cabinet manufacturer today.  Our point of contact at Husky Doors and Signature Line Cabinetry is knowledgeable and friendly, which was a big relief.  Our interior designer met us there as well so we'd have another set of eyes.  We left still not knowing what finishes we want in the kitchen, but there's only so much we could do in an hour.  We tend to like some darker finishes (charcoal gray), but with so many cabinets some of our choices might make the space feel heavy or dark.  We left with some samples and also some confusion, but we have to start somewhere. On the plus side, we both immediately liked a door style she showed us.  It's slightly different than what we thought we wanted, but it's nice to have one piece of the kitchen figured out.  (Ignore the color; door style only)

At the end of the meeting we agreed the next step needs to be looking at hardwood flooring.  That will drive what color posts/beams are downstairs, and that impacts our kitchen finishes.  I can't think about cabinet finishes if I don't know what the floor and beams will look like.

We did realize during the meeting that the focal point of the entire kitchen will be the range hood.  It will be the first thing you notice when you look at the kitchen, so we need to get it right.

Back to Pinterest and Houzz I go! 

Get Down Off the Ledge...and Other Decisions

Some days, we're a bit of a mess.

 Jeremy lost sleep this week over the covered porches on the back of the house.  He was really concerned the house is going to feel dark because the entire backyard side has deep covered porches.  We tried to replicate what it would look like, testing different setups.  We had blue tape, paper hanging from the garage door, sitting at weird angles on the floor...all sorts of methods to try to replicate what it will look like.  And we knew by looking at the plans that any change to the porches would be a major structural deal...new trusses, engineering, etc.  I suggested Jeremy reach out the builder with his concerns.  They talked and Matt talked him off the ledge.  Matt is very good at handling worried customers.  He believes trading a little direct light for all that covered living space is a good way to go.  Changing it would mean months of re-submittal to the county.  And he talked about ways we can make sure it feels bright inside, even with the porches.  Crisis averted! 

Our general rule is we take turns freaking out about something, but our freak-outs can't overlap.  Someone has to keep their feet on the shore and throw out the life ring to whoever is flailing around in the water.  So far so good!  

I did zip over to the land unexpectedly today because we learned a tree we'd hoped to keep needed to come down.  I really, really wanted to keep the tree.  But Matt wanted more room to fit the house in and also wants to take down the high spot where the tree was located.  It was hard to agree to it, especially since Jeremy couldn't pop over so it was up to me.  But I trust the builder's opinion and I didn't want that large of a tree right next to Vivian's bedroom anyway.  And like Matt said, it's not like we don't have other trees on the property. 

  

Surprise Visit

We had a very special surprise visit from Kel and Greg today.  We were headed to the land anyway so we got to show them the progress.  Paul amd Mari came by too so we had 4 of 6 grandparents visit today (with masks of course).   

The clearing guys actually showed up while we were there so we watched them work for a while.  They seem to be focused on hauling out branches and tearing out stumps.  It's looking a lot clearer.

If we're still on track with the timeline Matt laid out, they should finish the clearing this week and excavation should begin shortly after.  

The Chaos is Becoming More Organized

The clearing guys have done a great job keeping things tidy during clearing, but there's only so much you can do.  So it looked like a bomb landed on our property for a few days.  Now we can start to see a glimpse of what it will look like when they're done.  They've removed quite a few stumps, finished dropping trees, and a lot of logs and debris have been removed.  We had a big wind storm come through this week and several trees and large branches came down.  Luckily they are going to clean it up for us,  so the timing was actually great.  

We LOVE how the clearing is turning out.  The building site is still private from the road.  The driveway winds through the trees,  then opens up into a beautiful clearing surrounded by cedars.  It's just what we wanted.  

Day 2 Progress

The tree pile is getting bigger!  Our visit to the land happened to overlap with the builder's visit, so we had a quick meeting to discuss the initial clearing, rough house location, and what else needs to come down.  There will be quite a few big firs coming down tomorrow that are too close to the house.  Hoping to show up at the right time so we can watch one fall.  

The more progress they make the easier it is to picture where the house will sit.  And some if this clearing will expose the beautiful cedars hidden behind the scrappy trees.

It's Started!

Clearing Begins Tomorrow!

The clearing guys will be there tomorrow morning.  Cutting should start around 9AM.  I want to watch...and I don't.  We bought this beautiful wooded property and we're about to cut a big hold right in the middle of it!  But someone was going to develop it eventually and at least we're giving it serious thought and keeping what we can.  Overall I'm really excited we're finally getting started.  We closed on the property almost 13 months ago, so more than ready to see some actual progress on-site after all this planning and paperwork.  

We heard the old well removal went as smooth as it could have, so best case scenario really.  And the builder had the first "inspection" which is really a pre-construction meeting on-site to go over things.  Matt said it went well.  We're off to a good start.

The kids have writing school tomorrow morning so we won't be there for the very first cut, but we might sneak over during lunch and take a quick look.  Next post will be pics from the first day of clearing! 

Bye Old Well

The old well is being removed today!  It's such an eyesore now that the shed is gone and it's in the way of construction.  We're happy it's finally being decommissioned.  

We walked the property with the builder this morning and marked the area we want cleared.  It's very hard to make the decision to drop some of the trees, but for safety they need to come out.  We don't want to worry about a big fir dropping through our house some windy day, so now is the time.  They'll get started on the first round of clearing probably Wednesday or Thursday, then we'll do another walk through to see if there's more we want or need to drop.  

The property is about to look drastically different.   Lots more sunlight too.  We're going to try to pop by and watch them work from a distance.  And we'll definitely take end of day pics as long as the daylight holds out.