1. I am very impatient.
2. My husband is crazy (I say that with nothing but love!)
Okay, so maybe I already knew those things. Maybe we all did. But this process just really brings those characteristics out! Everyone keeps asking how the house is coming and I keep saying, "It's coming along!", and in my head I say, "....but not fast enough for my liking!". Now that has nothing to do with anyone but me and my impatience. I KNOW that when you are house building you have to contend with weather, other projects, etc. etc. And I really like our builder a lot - he is great! No builder could build a house quick enough for this girl. HA! And Tommy, well, he is behaving much better with this project I will say. No underground garages. No wiring the entire house himself. He does still have the occasional crazy idea - most are just thoughts, some are going to be a reality. Like our indoor dog bathroom - ask him about it. He will tell you in great detail about the most insane dog bathroom that anyone could ever dream of. I admit, the thought of NOT having to go outside with Rocko in the winter is very appealing!
Moving on to the actual progress which is my favorite part!!!
About a month ago the digging began and this is a picture of what the hole looked like before the basement walls were poured. It pretty much looks like someone took a big bite out of the hill. :)
This is when the lower driveway was created. This driveway currently is being used for construction purposes but it will later serve as the driveway for Tommy's basement workshop which will store our trailer.
This is a pretty cool part of the project. In the woods behind Tommy's parent's house was a large hickory tree that had fallen. He really wanted something from this woods for sentimental value so this giant tree in the trailer will turn into our fireplace mantle. To say that this was a heavy load in the trailer would be a great understatement!
Tommy then took the lumber to someone local who has a portable saw mill. That is where the magic happened - where this giant tree became the nice piece of wood that will someday be our fireplace mantle. It is huge and heavy and gorgeous!!!
We had two trailers and a truck load full of hardwood floor delivered. My crazy husband decided we would clear out our dining room in our tiny apartment and store it there (it can't be put in a storage shed due to temperature control.) After much anxiety I decided I could live with that. However, in the end it worked out because some amazing people offered to let us keep it in their warehouse! There are still good people out there folks!
Choosing the type of flooring for the house was one of the most drawn out decisions that we have made so far. We both LOVE hardwood. However, at our last house we had hand scraped teak. It was beautiful. But by the time we moved out (which was only after about 3 years), our floor was a disaster because of Rocko and his pesky claws. When choosing a floor you have to think about things like pets, kids, etc. because that will determine what hardness of wood you need. We originally were going to do wood look tile. We ordered samples, we made countless trips to every flooring store Evansville had to offer and though a couple were "okay", none of them made us excited. So after much discussion we decided to go back to one of our original ideas which is hickory. Hickory is much harder than many of the woods out there so we are hoping this will hold up for us. If it does get damaged (which it inevitably will with our lifestyle and our dog!), it can always be refinished down the road. I think it is going to look great!!!
This past week was pretty exciting for me because I could see a lot of progress! The basement walls were poured and that was huge! You can now really see the layout of the house and it's very cool to be able to visualize the size of Tommy's wood shop and how it will be laid out.
This is the first picture of me "in" the basement! So exciting!
The plumbing was also done this past week but I have no exciting pictures for that stage of the game. This next week (weather pending!) we will have our floors poured and then we will be on our way to framing! The framing will all be complete in one day and I can't wait to see that process!!!!
So it is coming along slowly but surely just as any house project does. I am getting better daily with knowing that it's all going how it's supposed to go and that it's out of my control. I am a lot more at peace when I can look at it that way. :)
