Success! By George we have done it!

Oh my gosh. What a crazy past few months!!! We finished the house, moved, got settled, and even made time to go on vacation twice! God has been with us every single step of the way, and now all we are waiting on is approval for our new loan. (Gotta pay off everyone and our GC.) ;) It feels so great to have a new, clean, safe home...everyone must come visit!

These pictures go back a few months. We were working 10-12 hr days doing LABOR on the house...eg wiring the electrical, laying hardwood, doing all the tile and grout, painting, painting, and more painting. Then came all the other finishes like shelving, vanities, mirrors, and of course refinishing all our furniture to a nice rich black to go in our lovely new home.
Thanks to all our friends who came and helped out. You guys are incredible, and we appreciate it so much!

Finishing Touches!

Iron Master...these guys were so funny. Not really good at english...but great at welding. Except they started a fire on my grout sponge in the middle of our entry hall! They welded the iron on site to make it a custom fit and design. I had to create the design and structure of the railing in photoshop for them see because their english was sooooo broken!



Exterior painting...what a nerve wrecking experience! We went up 3 stories high together in a double cherry picker and painted all the trim and fascia, and all the window casings. Nathan even installed the gutters by himself! It was quite scary. At one point I just had to sit down on my paint can for a few minutes and try not to freak out! It was cold and the wind was blowing and making the basket shake back and forth!
Nathan painting under the porch. We still have some exterior trim to finish this weekend, but thank God we can reach it all with a ladder.


Painting the belly band. We also built all of our cabinets and hung them ourselves in both of the two kitchens. We ordered them from Kansas. (Like 1/3 the price of Home Depot!) It is funny...now the sound of a power drill is strangely comforting. I think in triggers some sort of feeling of progress and good memories of hard work. Maybe???

I have never been so tired and exhausted but so excited in my whole life. On Aaron and Shauna's last night we went out for a much needed dinner at Giovanni's, our favorite Italian restaurant a block from our house.


Aaron and Shauna. They are great!
Color works wonders. This crazy stucco guy was standing on the rim of a 5 gallon bucket 3o feet in the air on scaffolding. Crazy or brave???

Michelle Wigand, my friend, came and helped me paint. She was great.

We Passed Inspection!!!!

One day at a time...one project at a time....disco/dance music and lots of coffee, Diet Sunkist and Mt. Dew!!!

Jason Wigand and Nathan laying hardwood flooring in our new rental unit...

Sitting in what is now our "reading room" planning out the patter for the inlay in our black marble bathrooms. Aaron (Nathan's brother) beveled and cut all the marble. It looks incredible.
I got to be the grout princess. Plastic HEAVY DUTY Gloves - my new favorite new accessory. ;)
Aaron and Nathan using the tile cutter. We did three full bathrooms in about a week. Shauna and Aaron were amazing help. They were a total blessing the entire time they were here.
More grout. :)

Our vaulted stairway going to the 3rd floor. It felt so cozy before the last bit of drywall went up. We had several delays from them, but hopefully we will start painting next weekend. Nathan's brother Aaron is coming to help us lay tile and install the hardwood. It should be fun!

The stucco guys are quite acrobatic. They have definately been fun to watch. They climbed all over the scaffolding like monkeys! Very neat. They still have two coats to apply and then we will have a nice creamy-yellow-orange light color stucco to match the front house.
Natural light...so nice. I was not really sure about making the efforts to put in sky lights, but I am glad we did. Nathan had to encourage me to agree that they were a good addition, but I can already tell they are going to be a great addition. We have them in several rooms and one big one in the kitchen over the sink that opens up.

I thought this was the cutest picture! This is Victor's (our GC) son. Isn't he cute? He was out of school one day and got to come to work with his dad. So cute! We gave Victor a hard time about it and teased him for hiring minors...it was pretty comical.

I think the thing that is the most exciting about all of the construction, is the fact that we can have all our loved ones come visit and have plenty of room to relax!

Starting to look like a home...

Drywall (snow)flakes!
This is as close as we are going to get to having snow here in CA!

Tight squeeze eh?
I felt at home when they brought in the fork-lift to load up the drywall and get it into the 3rd floor. It was neat and reminded me of good o'Franklin Express.
This is what our upstairs kitchen is going to consist of, cream cabinets with rustic dark hardwood, dark granite, and chocolate brown walls. I can't wait to get to cookin! Yummy!

Raising the Roof

Top it off baby! She's got a roof now!
We have been really blessed this winter with a huge drought...horrible for crops but wonderful for construction! Hopefully we will be weathered in soon.

Gracing the aisles at lovely Home Depot...I can't even begin to count the number of times we have gone!