buildin' a deck

Our handy man/woman team has been here this week working on our deck. The wrap around porch was only completed on the front and side by the builder, so John & Darlene have framed in the back portion now and have started laying boards. It's starting to look like something and will be so nice to be able to place a BBQ back there, along with patio furniture etc. We are also doing a second level off of the covered porch, so it will be a nice functional deck when it's finished :) Stay tuned for the completed project!

a doorsy kinda week

Last week, we FINALLY got all the doors we've been waiting for:

Uppers, above the fridge - my original plan was to have a decorative shelf (open) and the inside was even stained the same colour as the exterior of the cabinets but all they did was a box & it looked blah... I had shown a magazine picture and described a molding etc to fancy it up a bit (before ordering) but it didn't happen - the joys of being passed on to a new sales person when your original person switches jobs! So - I just opted for doors in the end... looks better than before but frustrating that my original plan didn't pan out!

A PANTRY door - five months and one day after moving in! The colour isn't perfect & there's a couple flaws but enough is enough & I'm keeping it!

The office door - the original one they put in was solid, so this is the glass one we are supposed to have!

Master ensuite shower doors - we held off on these thinking that we had to pay for them but then found out the builder covered these ones! BONUS! My hubby had wanted something different originally but we found out that the studs needed to do it that way, were NOT there and without the proper bracing, everything would rip out - doors, tiles and all! Plus with having additional jets, we needed doors that wouldn't leak... works for me!

Exterior Excitement

If you look back a couple posts, you will see that we got our rock work done, in front of the garage & across the front window area. Miles always talked about wanting to do the side of the garage too (and join both areas together) because we have a corner lot & it would just look nice as far as curb appeal goes. We kept tossing around the idea but eventually opted not to do it because of the added expense. But then... there is a new crew in the area, doing some scratch coating & mostly rock masonary type work and we've talked to them a couple times. Miles asked for a quote and they gave us an amazing deal so... three days later they were here and continued our rock from the garage and up to the front door. Uniquely enough (if you can see it that way) they were here during Liam's 'construction' birthday party, so it was quite fitting! The party attendees had to meander their way through the garage and in through the back door!

My amazing landscaping and grass! Just kidding! Well - it is there, just not something I planted :)

Close to two weeks ago, our house got scratch coated and is now ready for stucco. In this picture you can still see the TYPAR plastic & wire at the top - I so don't miss that 'look' :)

Liam 'watching TV' as the boys jokingly called it - they loved watching the work crew! It wasn't long until Jackson pulled up a chair beside him!

Nuttin' New

Sorry for the lack of excitement... don't have a whole lot to report.

- Someone was by this week & measured up for the shower door in the ensuite bathroom. We were holding off because it was going to be pretty pricy but turns out that the standard slider is quite nice and better yet, the builder is paying for it!
- My pantry door also arrived this week but of course it was "too good to be true" and I sent it back... they used birch wood this time, instead of maple, and the colours were so different! Didn't even look like the same stain - it was but both woods just absorb it differently. The trim is a dark espresso and the door they delivered looked more like a watered down weak coffee, if that makes sense!? Someday...
- Still some other interior trim work to be fixed up as well...
- The neighbourhood is slowly getting scratch coated (the step before stucco) but the houses that aren't sold yet or have just been lived in for two weeks are first on the list... makes the most sense right? Argh! Not to mention it is holding up getting railings around the porch and building the back deck, since the pillars need to be stucco'd before that can happen.
- We do appreciate our site manager, Jack - if it weren't for him we probably wouldn't even have drywall or paint yet... seriously!!! He's just as frustrated as us but is limited in what he can get accomplished in a day & the owner dictates a lot of what goes on even though he's clueless...

So that pretty much sums up what's going on... or not going on....

Mud

Here is a peek at the mud that we encountered early this spring when the snow started to melt! Thankfully the boys & I headed out to BC for two weeks and by the time we got home, the snow was gone and the mud had dried up! It did snow again on April 28th though, however it disappeared ASAP!!!

Rock Update

Here is the completed rock & I'm loving it! Very happy with the outcome:

Time continues to stand still for all the crazy things I'm waiting for! Finally got ahold of the site manager the other day, only to be told that he ordered a new pantry door for us with the glass insert already in it! Brilliant! For some reason our builder gets the solid doors and has someone insert the glass and then someone else has to stain it and so forth... by the time I got it back, it was so banged up and the trim around the glass was warped and it was a mess!

We found out that our roads are being paved in July and they recommend that we wait until after that to pour our driveway, since there's no sidewalks... they are also allowing us to put in a side driveway to connect with the main driveway (in front of the garage). We also requested an access into the very back of the yard for a trailer pad but we'll see if they permit that one!

"Rock On"

Our progress of the week involves our exterior rock work! We went with the Teton Shadow Rock in the end and I'm really liking how it looks so far. It's nice that the weather has warmed up enough that exterior projects can get started, although they have just been putting in partial days, due to the nights cooling off.... if they work too late, then the grout won't get dry enough before the temperature drops! So, we continue to plug away, one day at a time!

I still don't have a pantry door....

The owner of the company we built with took away my site managers cell phone & gave him a company phone of sorts - now I have to phone the office to get ahold of dear Jack... & needless to say I haven't heard back from him yet, so no clue when the interior will be worked on again????