Another Fenceline Done

The south fence line has rails. Final touches happened inside. Pantry shelf brackets are happening as I type. We said goodbye to the dumpster.

Tomorrow the housecleaners come back for their last clean and the painters are coming to start exterior work again. We should have garage door paint soon which I'm so excited to see. The white doors stand out currently and not in a good way.  

As soon as the cleaners leave tomorrow evening, Jeremy and I start moving. Next Wednesday the stair railing will be installed and our final plumbing inspection will happen.

Move Date!!!

March 13th! We have a move date! Sort of! The moving company has two people and a truck available for 4 hours on the 13th, so we grabbed it. Moving on short notice is tricky because companies are booked up. We plan to have them move as much of our heavy stuff as possible on the 13th, and we'll start sleeping there that night. 

Between this Friday night and our big move date, we'll be moving non-essential stuff ourselves. It's going to be messy and chaotic and nothing like what I planned for our move. But we feel the pressure to get our house listed asap, and this is the way to do it.  

The finish carpenter wrapped up some details...feet on vanities, base trim around posts. The painters will stain the new trim when they come for final interior touchups later this week. Plumbing final touches happen this week. The dumpster leaves at the end of the week. Our final clean happens Friday, then moving begins. Our to-do list is massive.

Study Doors

I didn't have the oompf to check the progress last night, so here's a late update. The barn doors to the study are installed along with some towel rings, tp holders, towel bars, and door handles. He has a lot more staged to do, so I'm guessing we'll see the bedroom closet doors go in soon.

More Stain

More stain today!  Just a little more to do in the kitchen.  And everything needs to be sealed.

Stain Day

Stain is happening!  And concrete is coming Feb 2nd!  The builder plans to rent tents if necessary so our pour can happen rain or shine.  This is through a private company.  No changes with the strike as far as we know.

Heat Pumps...Where Are You?

We finally have doors downstairs!  The painters have plastic all over (again) and continued sanding the wood posts and beams.  I've been told they plan to stain one stair post and then wait for us to approve before doing the rest.  

In other news, we have been waiting and waiting for heat pumps.  They were ordered 6+ months ago and there's no eta on when they'll arrive, if they ever do.  We're limited on what units can be installed based on the setup in place.  But the heating company suggested a different unit that's available and works with what we have prepped.  I guess it's an upgrade, but they're giving them to us for the same price.  At this point we'll happily take what we can get.  We gave them the green light to move forward with the replacements, so hopefully they're installed soon.

How Will I Ever Sleep Tonight?

There is a can of Minwax Color Wash stain on the kitchen island...the same product we've asked them to use on our millwork.  But it's in the wrong color.  I panicked.  Nothing has been stained with it yet.  We checked.  But it's THERE.  I texted the builder and he confirmed our stain isn't on site yet.  But then why is this can on the island?  I'm nervous.  I wanted to take the can altogether, but figured leaving a big note taped to it that reads, "Call builder before using.  Wrong color!" was a more sane approach.  But I'm tempted to go back and hide the can.

Some painted doors and drawers are reinstalled.  And seven more fence posts went in the ground this morning.  I've turned the back corner and am about even with the center of our back porch.  It isn't fast, but I have a system down that works pretty well.

More Odds Than Ends

Well, I discovered the mystery work that was done yesterday.  The carpenter finished the trim around the landing.  But I know the electrician was there today and I can't tell what he did.  So the mystery continues.  🤔   

I delivered another 43 bags of concrete today, so that was fun.  Our toilets were in eastern WA and delivery was delayed due to the snow and pass closures.  So the plumbing wrap up is delayed.  But painters arrive tomorrow so that's good news.  The builder has a lead on concrete in a couple weeks.  It's a will call type situation...so if they can fit us in they'll call.  And our cabinet doors are supposed to arrive Saturday.  I'm so nervous.  Please cross your fingers that there's no issues with these doors.  It's been a complete headache.

Backsplash

Busy day!  The kitchen and laundry backsplash tile is installed.  No grout yet and their weird lighting makes it tough to get good pics.  But we love the kitchen tile.  It's different shades of off-white.  Simple and goes well with the counters.

Finish carpentry is done!  The painters start Monday.  Gary the stone guy delivered all the slabs for the hearth seats, post caps, and exterior lid/mantel.  We brought a piece inside so we could see it next to the stone.  We think it'll look great.  He also put the lath up on all the post bases.  So glad he's back.

In the bad news category, our generator is backordered with an estimated delivery of March.  This isn't the transfer switch that we already knew was backordered.  This is the generator itself.  Pandemic construction is not for the faint of heart!

Finish Carpenters are Nearly Done

We're without power at home, but the new house is fine so we're hanging out here tonight.  The finish carpenters have a final punch list and they're quickly crossing things off.  All the barn door headers where the tracks will mount are up.  They look odd until the tracks are installed. The door to the attic nook arrived today and is in and trimmed.  We're rapidly approaching the end of millwork.   I snuck over in the daylight earlier to grab some pics of the painted back of the house too.

Finally More Doors

Finally some visual changes today.  Lots of doors are in, including the front door, and some cased openings have trim.  I have no idea where the tilers and painters are, but I've learned not to stress about arrival dates shifting.  We're loving the 8' doors.  They really feel different.  

Since we haven't found an exterior stain that's just right, we're having them seal the wood in clear.  The temps are dropping and we're running out of time to find something else.  In a few years when it needs to be re-sealed we'll figure it out then.  I don't mind the contrast now.  It's a nice warm pop against the house color.