Day 68 - Almost Home!

Paint, trim, lights, toilets & stain!  This week was pretty exciting.  The painters did some serious work this week on the walls and trim.  There are still parts of the house that will need touch-up paint, and there are some drywall issues, so the painters will undoubtedly return.  But overall, it looks great.  Now that trim, cabinetry and light fixtures have made their way into the house, we have some concerns.  Last weekend someone came out to measure for blinds and there were some discrepancies in the window measurements in a few rooms.  Some windows were off by as much as an inch in the top and bottom widths of the windows.  With inside-mount blinds, this will need to be addressed.  The pony wall between the master garden tub and the vanity looks like it was horribly crafted.  Then, the ceiling in the basement staircase is visibly crooked.  And where the rear morning room wall meets the ceiling, the line appears crooked, as well.  Overall, it looks like the drywall was rushed and there was little attention to detail in many areas.  We haven't been very picky during this process, and our expectations were that drywall wouldn't be perfect - but we expected better than what we see right now.  Our PM seems to  have pretty high standards, so we are confident that he will address these issues as well as possible when we bring them to his attention next week.  Other issues regarding the light fixtures are likely way past the point of correction and I would assume are just design flaws.  The recessed light outside the master bedroom isn't centered with the double doors to the master and it looks like it really should  be.  It's visibly VERY off center, so I would imagine it was done purposefully.  Then there's the entry "chandelier".  It's right in line with the light in the hall leading to the kitchen, but very visibly off center from the width of the front door.  I have never seen an entry chandelier not centered on the front door.  That is an easy enough fix as we are planning to replace it and can just install a hook and drape the new chandelier to the appropriate place.  Finally, there is another recessed light right outside the pantry off the kitchen.  It's sitting too far to the right and looks a little silly.  Again, I don't care too much, and I wouldn't expect it to be repositioned at this point.  Aside from these issues, there are very very few others, and none worth mentioning as there is still time for them to be addressed via caulking.  Overall, we are very pleased with everything.

3 Weeks Left!!!

The first week of July was mighty slow, but suddenly last week everything picked up.  The plan for last week was to work on drywall, get a coat of paint on the walls, and do the tile and vinyl flooring.  Our PM told us on July 6th to expect trim work to start this upcoming Monday, maybe even Friday at the earliest.  Imagine our surprise when we went out to the house on Thursday to meet with a landscaper, only to find trim and cabinets EVERYWHERE!!!  Everything looked so amazingly beautiful and the house just felt so homey.  I was only able to capture a few pics on my phone before it died, so we took a few pics with the real camera last night.  Here they are!

Fireplace with absolute black granite

Direct Set Staircase

These cabinets are so tall we can't even reach the top shelf.  Need step stool.

Looking out into family room.

Looking into morning room.

Walking into kitchen from basement.

Looking out into foyer from study.

Upstairs bathroom.

Day 59 - WOW!!!

Went to the house yesterday and here is all of the goodness we saw!!!

Day 47 - Working on Drywall

We aren't exactly sure when the drywall hanging began, but as of today, it has been hung.  Next week will be mud and tape and I think the trimwork will be the week after that.  Bricks are almost done, too.  We are looking forward to seeing them all shiny and clean with the shutters attached.

Our weekend was partially spent shopping for appliances.  We thought the $1300 upcharge for stainless was a bit ridiculous when we could get a new set of black for FREE.  So the plan is to Craigslist the black and purchase stainless on our own.  We don't mind a bottom-of-the-line range for now, but the dishwasher needs to be better than basic.  We have some "scratch and dent" appliance stores around here and Best Buy has some decent deals on their open box items, so we think we should be able to get a new set of stainless appliances for around $1000.  Then with $700 or so in sales from our unused black appliances, our out-of-pocket expense will be minimal. 

Here are some updated pics.