Moving time is close at hand.

The house is very close to being finished.

 

Both inside and outside.

There is a lot of landscaping yet to do but that can be done while we live there.

And so we are moving on the 15th!  I'm not going to be posting or reading or commenting anywhere until probably quite awhile after that date.  I'll catch you later! 

Saturday Sky and a couple other things...

I loved Sandy's Saturday Sky but I don't think to do it often enough.  And today is an especially uninteresting sky.  But I'm still going to show you what we have going on for the next several days.

Grey and rain.

The start of this farming season is horrid.  There was snow everywhere still in early May and now that the snow is gone and the fields are just starting to get ready to plant...this happens.  Uff.

We are SO late.  But the farmers are holding it together.  And we desperately need the rain.  It was so dry last year.  If only it had held off for a few weeks and given everyone a chance...  /sigh

On a brighter note...well, maybe...I'll let you be the judge of that...

It's CMMDI Mega May.  I didn't think I'd have time, patience or the right attitude for knitting but as it turns out I really need that time in the evenings.

But to find the pattern to go with this yarn, (Malabrigo Lace), turned into a "Mega May Effort".

This is the list of patterns I have tried.

1. My Heaven Shawl
2. Rock Island
3. Flower Basket Shawl
4. Dragon's Blood

And the pattern that the yarn finally said "Ok, this is the one." is Citron.  It's the only one that has Malabrigo Lace as the suggested yarn.  Duh.  I should have looked for that first.

 

 

It's looking pretty good and is just what is needed.  Simple knitting with a little counting thrown in for good measure.  The hardest parts are the M1s and that is because of the slippery needles.

 

News about the house building is good.  The siding is going up and is looking good.  The hardwood floor is beautiful with the 1st coat of finish.  The woodwork is mostly up everywhere. 

 

The only thing that made me freak out was the sticker shock from the price of cabinet pulls.  But I pulled myself together, got my p**p in a group, my ducks in a row, my head on straight and lived with it.

 

Have a great weekend! 

 

 

More house pictures

A lot is happening now at the house.  And even since these pictures were taken there has been more.  It is fun, exciting and a little nerve wracking to see all the decisions coming to life.

Fireplace and built in bookcase/entertainment center.  It's made with cherry wood.  This is the Great Room.  The open space under the far left cabinet is where my piano will sit. 

We just love the fireplace.  The stone mason did an unbelievable job.

The kitchen is on the opposite end of the same room as the Great Room.  The back entry is through the door slightly hidden by the cabinets on the mid-right.

Cabinets are also cherry.

This is DH's office.  It currently is being used as a lunch room by the contractor.  The wood is Western Red Cedar. 

Another built in bookcase/entertainment center.  This one is in the den.

The painter has set up shop in the master bedroom for staining and varnishing all the woodwork. 

I love all the windows.  They are facing north which some seem to think is wrong but this way we have a view to the wide open spaces behind the house...

This area is the dinette/kitchen table.  The door goes into the pantry.

Dining Room.  It is storage for bathroom and laundry room cabinetry right now.

Stairs to the basement.

Hardwood floor.  The 1st two coats of finish will be put on it in a week to ten days.  They keep telling us that the appearance will really pop when that is done.

I'll be doing more pictures again soon.  It should be interesting to look back in a few years and see all the info recorded here...

Tag! You're It!

Karen tagged me today.  I'm sposed to tell 5 things about myself.  So here goes...

1. I've been trying to lose weight since December.  I lost 11 lbs. and gained 2 back.  Uff.
2. I'm itching to knit some lace but I've got 1 3/4 pairs of stranded mittens to knit.  Well those and various other UFOs.  Uff.
3. I'm so waiting for spring.  We still have too much snow.  Even the fields have lots of snow on them.  And there is a 90% chance of more snow this weekend.  Uff.
4. On a brighter note, May 5th is DH and my 40th wedding anniversary and this weekend we are meeting all our kids in MN for a little celebration.  WooHoo!
5. The decisions for the house are finally starting to wind down.  The hardwood is installed.  The tiles are being ordered tomorrow.  We've gotta decide on door knobs and cabinet hardware but when that is done there can't be too many more decisions to make.  Amen to that.  My decider is almost worn out!

Happy Thursday!

House update

These pictures aren't great but somedays that how it goes...

 



Dinette & Great Room

 

 



Dining Room & Great Room

 

 



Great Room

 

 



Dining Room

 

 



Looking down the hall from Master Bedroom

 

 



Taking pictures inside the house is a challenge.  It's hard to get far enough away to really see anything.  But you'll kinda get the drift of what it's like. 

 

 

The texture will go on Thursday and probably next week the painting will commence.

 

 

Woo Hoo!!  



New house progress

There has been a lot of progress on our house since last time I posted.

Windows, shingles, exterior lighting, and garage doors...done.  Wrapped up in Tyvek...also done. 

Inside the walls are up (no sheetrock yet though) and the wiring and plumbing are currently the projects du jour.

The appliances have been purchased.   I thought this would be one of the last things needed but Darin, the electrician, very much wanted to know exactly the specs on the appliances.  Had to buy them sometime...now is as good as any! 

Today we are buying the fireplace and possibly the countertops.

We need to decide on flooring and make the final tweaks on the cabinetry as soon as we are able.  Well that, along with an amazing number of other decisions....

Phew!

My laundry room needs a window.

In our new house, the laundry room is in the middle of the house.  Because of that, it has no window. There will be white cabinets and light colored walls but that can only do so much. It's gonna need good lighting because I'm going to sew in there too.

If it could be a little fun that wouldn't hurt any either.

And so, I hatched a plan.

It will have a window.

A faux window.

 

This is it.  I saw it in the window of an antique store in Grand Forks and instantly fell in love.

It's just the colors that I was hoping for.  Bright.  Pretty.  Cheerful.

The glass looks like it's been in freezing rain.  I love the look.

Here's the plan....

The window will be set into the wall so it looks like any other window and trimmed out the same too. 

It will be lit from behind with lights to be suggested by the electrician.  The contractor says it could be put on hinges so that the light bulbs can be changed easily.

Because the glass is transparent DH suggested that a sheet of frosted plexiglass be attached to the back of the window to hide the wires and the light fixture.

I have yet to show my plan to the electrician but the contractor is on board and I actually think he's kinda excited by it.

Claus approves.

 

 

And so does Teddy.

It'll be our new home.

I've decided to share what is going on in our lives. It started in July. Right after the 4th.

We are building a house!

I think I have taken over 200 pictures already and so this is just a teeny tiny peek at them but here goes.

It might have been July but the weather seemed more like spring. But a little misty rain didn't detour the big equipment doing the job of digging the basement.

And we have a hole in the ground! Even that was exciting.

I'm not showing each and every step because this could take all day but this is the footings.

The basement floor is going to be heated and these are the hoses needed for that. Cool looking, hunh?

And they pour the cement right over the top of the hoses. I sure hope none of them ever break!

And we saw this cool contraption several times over the course of getting all the cement poured. It is called a pumper truck. The cement truck backs up to it, unloads into it and then the cement is pumped to exactly where it is needed.

Here is a shot of the foundation being poured. The guy in the yellow green shirt is controlling the pumper truck with a contol box that hangs from his waist. It was extremely fun watching the process.

The pumper truck was here many times and each one was a hoot.

And here he is again. This was the last time...for now. I'm thinking he'll be back again when the patio and sidewalk gets done next summer.

And here are the steps into the basement. Come on down and take a look around.

The bedrooms and mechanical rooms are over here.

And this is big open space could be anything from a family room to wherever our imagination leads us.

We hadn't planned on doing anything with the basement. Just using it for storage. But....after seeing how it turned out, I'm thinking something will be done with it eventually.

So this is the 1st installment on our house building project. I'll be posting again, on occasion.