I gotta go potty...

Well for lack of a better title... here are some pictures of our bathrooms. I finally located the main bathroom accessories in the storage unit, two days ago, and was so excited to get it all together (the bathroom that is, not me!)

BOYS BATHROOM:

MASTER/ENSUITE BATHROOM:

(the shower is awaiting a door... we're accepting donations!!!)

MAIN FLOOR 1/2 BATH:

PS: this is totally a different topic but our shutters got hung two days ago too - I'm guessing they'll be removed for the stucco, when the time comes, but at least they're here and not getting lost in the shuffle!

Bits & Pieces...

So... it's been a long while since I posted anything! In my last post, I mentioned that we would be getting the movers to deliver our belongings on 'Tuesday' (before Christmas) - whereas in reality our belongings didn't get delivered until Wednesday, January 7th and we actually moved in on Saturday the 10th. Our builder has told us many different dates but they didn't really mean anything...

We went away to see Miles' family for a few days over Christmas but otherwise our new home was the Days Inn. The staff were great, we got a continental breakfast every morning, a newspaper, swimming pool, waterslide, hot tubs etc but it was over the entire Christmas break from school & during a VERY VERY cold snap, in which we really didn't even want to venture out anywhere!

It's great to be in & YES, I assure you that I WILL post some pictures shortly... it's just that there are so many touch-ups still to do & I'm waiting for things to be more settled.

BLINDS: we had a blind consultation shortly after moving in & got blackout blinds for upstairs and an opaque two-way blind for the windows on the main floor. Two-way meaning that they go up/down from the top and bottom of the window. After going for a month and a half with two street lights shining through our bedroom window, it has been soooo nice to sleep in the DARK! I also ordered fabric for side panels on the two living room windows and will also do a matching roman shade for the kitchen window, since it is all one big room. The fabric compliments my 'loud' colourful red chairs, so I'm kind of excited about it!!!

PAINT: the painters are coming back on Friday morning to do touch-ups and do another coat on a couple of the darker walls. Also some stain touch ups...

CABINETS: when the cabinets were being installed, we thankfully caught the fact that the kitchen sink was so not centred under the window, and had the installer cut down another little cabinet before he got too far along & before counters & flooring went in. Fast forward to the kitchen sink - now that floors are in etc, the cabinet is apparently too small for my beloved stainless steel apron sink! Grrr! So we had them cut down the sides & make a couple adjustments (an ok bandaid but whatever) only now with the extra bracing needed to support the granite, the dishwasher no longer fits in it's opening. So the same little cabinet that got cut down before, needs to be shrunk once again! This time they decided that it was cheaper just to reorder the cabinet & so my dishwasher sat out for a good four weeks. This was all rectified on February 4th but they still need to come back with new toe kicks and a few door & drawer fronts are being replaced...

TILE: before we moved in, the site manager was upstairs and ran some water in the jacuzzi tub, only to be hollered at by the granite installers that water was pouring out of the pendant lights above them. Something obviously wasn't hooked up properly, so they had to take two tiles off the front of the tub skirting to fix the problem! This was finally fixed last night. Had the cleaners come when they were supposed to (the night before this incident) we would have been in huge trouble because they fill the tub completely up to clean & then when they drained it, no one would have been downstairs & the kitchen would have been flooded - cabinets, hardwood floors, you name it!

PANTRY DOOR: Still waiting... it's gonna be stained 'in the next two days' for the last five weeks... so the kids love rummaging for food :)

BASEMENT: our friends framed, taped, mudded & sanded the walls before taking off to Texas for a couple months. My hubby & I have started painting now, we've met with the guy who's going to spray the ceiling, we're in the middle of carpet consults and the electrical, plumbing & heating is all roughed in. Looks like we will be rolling right along by about the third week of March! Yay! I cannot wait to have the playroom set up for the kids, not to mention my craft room & the guest room (we have friends from Manitoba coming at the end of the month with their four kidlets, on their way through to BC, so it will be great to have the basement somewhat complete). By the time our friends get back from Texas, we'll be ready to put them to work hanging doors, baseboards & the deck :)

So... we're getting there! It's frustrating to always hear that someone is coming to do a certain task & have them not show time and time again... but like I said, we're getting there! I promise I'll post pictures soon!

Almost there....

Well we are days away from moving... hard to believe!!! Miles was out to the house at midnight-ish last night helping Scott (neighbour) template the granite & took a few pictures for me while he was out there! It's looking very yellow! We were going to go with a yellow similar to what we have now but it has turned out to be quite a bit darker - it does look better in the daylight though :) Hardwood started going in yesterday, most of the lights are in, granite should be in on the weekend... LOTS is going on on Tuesday - it will be an insane day of deliveries and hook ups & getting settled and I'm sure the list goes on!!! The movers will come here Saturday morning to load up. They will probably deliver some of the garage stuff etc and then the remainder will stay on the truck until Tuesday afternoon, when we can hopefully get into the house! Looks like we will be motel-ing it on Monday night - maybe Tuesday too?!

Laundry room - Boghemp green

Basement getting framed

Mechanical room

Upstairs (with back to the master bedroom) looking at the linen closet (left), Ethan's room & boys bathroom. Across from closet is the laundry room & to the left is the bonus room. On the right hall, there is Jackson/Liam's room and Cole's room! Make sense?

Master bedroom - I'm hoping my colour scheme comes together as envisioned! Should be interesting!!! The walls are Pinesap green :)

The bonus room cabinets - fireplace below & tv above (Mommia brown)

Walnut hardwood

Chablis yellow!!!! It's all coming together with the lights, flooring etc...

Paint

It's painting weekend!!!! YAY! It's very exciting to see colour on the walls - it's coming to life! Still no camera but I asked my hubby to take a couple pics on his phone so maybe I'll have something more exciting to post later!? (Note: the pics weren't worth posting!)

The hardwood still hasn't shown up which is extremely maddening because it is supposed to get installed on Monday and needs to climatize to the house temperature! Was supposed to be there by Wednesday.... of course the distributor is closed today so Miles called the builder @ home to see what's going on...

Pictures!!!

Since I was going to Jackson's class today, to make gingerbread houses and also wanted to show some house updates, my neighbour graciously lent me her camera for a couple hours! When I popped in this afternoon, the guys were filling the nail holes on the casings, getting ready to paint tomorrow! There's a few glitches to fix with some of the cabinet doors/drawers but I'm really happy with the colours etc. My kitchen is so much bigger than what I'm used to! We were also REALLY pleased with our finishing carpenter! Yay for Bob & a job well done :) Most of the duct/tin work is done in the basement & we're ready for the framer to come back. Then it'll be plumbing & electrical & we should soon be on the way to drywalling the basement! So much to do & think about... so little time before moving day! Does my mother want to fly out for a "visit"??? hint hint :)

The raised eating bar - espresso in colour

Staircase (to be stained espresso with metal spindles)

Master bathroom

Boys' bathroom (the electricians had to move the lights over a smidge, so that hole needs to be patched up)

Mudroom lockers!!!! YAY! The second shelf down is going to have three hooks on it & is moveable, as the boys grow! Each boy will have their own section & then opposite of that is one of sorts for us! I love them!!! This is one of my favourite features :)

Living room - will be stained espresso

Kitchen... waiting for floors & counters :)

Cabinets...

Things are really starting to look great out at the house. Our cabinets were installed this weekend - a few minor (yet time consuming) glitches but they look great & I'm loving the colours! Our finishing guys are busy working on the mudroom lockers, the staircase railings and the cabinets surrounding the fireplaces. Can't wait to see everything painted white or stained espresso :)

Flooring should be started by the end of the week and I guess the walls need to be painted in there sometime too.

We had picked out our furniture & appliances way back on my birthday (March) and it was all ordered in July & now sits in the warehouse. We assumed that the appliances were ordered at the same time but being that it was a different salesperson in that dept., we really started doubting this week! Good thing I called today cuz they had not been ordered! The washer/dryer are in stock and the kitchen stuff should be able to get here on time...

Casings & doors

Things with the house are slowly moving along. Looks like our possession date will be around the 19-20 of December. I have the movers scheduled to arrive at 9am on Saturday the 20th. We were also able to change this possession date with the new owners & we now don't have to be out of our current home until the 22nd - a huge relief since moving to a motel for just one week (before Christmas) was going to be bordering chaotic! Yesterday, I did 'expressaddress' and was able to change a bunch of addresses as well as schedule the disconnects and reconnects for a few utility services - power, energy, sewer/water, health, drivers licences. There will be other things I need to take care of but this was a big start! I haven't really started too much packing but I have a friend moving tomorrow and she is giving me a bunch of boxes and my neighbours have also set a bunch aside for us! It all helps :)

As for our new pad... they have primed the walls and then are now in the process of doing the casings and hanging doors. If it were me, I would paint before putting on the trim cuz that sounds like a whole bunch of extra pointless 'cutting in' to me but whatever works I guess! Our cabinets are apparently arriving in town today and can be installed sometime this week too, so that's exciting! It's all coming together - slowly but surely. I'm really looking forward to getting settled, since I haven't really felt that way all year... we did some extra stuff to get the house ready to sell (fence, touch-ups etc), then we de-cluttered and got a storage unit, then everything needs to stay somewhat clean while we try to sell (about 3 1/2 months) and so I'm just really looking forward to HOME!!! There will still be lots that needs doing but it will be fun to chip away at it and see the progress!

We are also working on the basement right now & hoping to get it past the drywall dust phase before moving it! Miles & I will probably paint it ourselves, once we are moved in.

My digital camera was left on the plane, coming home from Mexico and hasn't surfaced, so sorry about not adding any pictures! I am in the process of applying for an insurance claim, so I'll hopefully get a few $$'s to put towards a new one. I am hugely blessed that all but one day's worth of pictures were downloaded on to the laptop, so I'm not stressing about my pictures - can you imagine!? I also took the 35 mm 'film' camera with us so I have four rolls in for developing now too!