plumbing, electrical, & a siding sneak-peak!

Merry Christmas!  

Things are moving and a-grooving at the new digs.  We've have very pleasant weather for December, and our plumber has been hard at work getting things roughed in and inspected.  The basement is full of beautifully planned water lines, drains, and duct work.  This guy did a great job planning out his runs.

Here are pictures of our modular showers.  I'll admit, I was a little bummed we chose not to splurge on tile for our master shower.  We have plans to do that down-the-road, and no matter what, it's a huge upgrade from our current {basement} teeny-tiny shower.  The hall bath shower seems like it'll be great.  There's tons of storage, so I'm happy.

the shower in our master bathroom

the hall bathtub/shower combination

I picked out a bathtub for our master bathroom.  We went with the Kohler Mariposa 6-foot model.  (FYI, this tub comes in 3 lengths: 5, 5.5, and 6 feet long  Boom, now you know!)  I chose it sight unseen based on some internet reviews, pricing, and looks.  So, I'll let you know what I think after I've had a chance to use it.  We chose the drop-in model, so we'll have our builder tile the surround.  I'm thinking a marble-style subway tile, similar to these from Lowe's.

Our plumber doubles as our HVAC guy, so we've also got our furnace, water heater, and well storage tank installed.  We upgraded to a gas (liquid propane) water heater, which will hopefully save us some money in the long-run.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because that was not a cheap upgrade.  We had a warm day earlier this month, so they were able to get the septic tank installed.  The drain field may have to wait until spring, but progress is progress!! :)

our lovely new efficient furnace

septic tank with a view of the new propane tank

R is still working away on his electrical rough ins.  It's coming along so nicely, and I LOVE being able to get so hand's on with the receptacle and lighting placement.  I don't have pictures, because there's not a whole lot to show at this point.  But, our recessed lighting is placed, and we have more than a few 3-way switches.

Our builder has one other house they're working on, so they've been back and forth between the properties the past few months.  Sounds like they need the scaffolding from our site at the other location, so {bonus!}, they decided to install the siding on back of our house before they take down their equipment.  This was the first I've seen of our siding in real life.  We both love it.  It's the color Cypress by CertainTeed.  It was a little gloomy when I took this picture, but it's a lovely khaki-green, and looks great with the white trim.

I'll leave you with a picture of our front door (and a dirt pile) on a sunny winter day.  Happy Holidays!

hump day!

Happy Wednesday!  R's been working so hard on the electrical lately.  Our underground service was inspected and approved (hooray!).  So, now he's working on finishing the interior.

Slow & steady this month!  I'll have pictures soon.  For now, I'll leave you with this quote I found that seems to fit everything we're feeling lately.

laundry room layout

We went out to the site today to get a few plumbing design questions answered.  We're planning to re-design the master bath and the laundry room.  Both designs involve moving doors around, so luckily we're not too far along in the building process yet.

Here's the initial laundry room plan.  It has the washer & dryer placed on an exterior wall, which is undesirable for water lines.

Our plumber recommended shifting the appliances to the interior wall of this room.  Which, prompted our builder to recommend shifting the door.  I like this galley-style layout, but it's a little difficult to picture on paper.  The only thing I'm noticing that may be less than ideal is the window placement.  I wish it was in the center of the room.  I have no idea why it's not... let's pretend it's structural.

Because of the window, I don't think we'll be able to put upper cabinets above the washer and dryer (boo!).  But, we've got the entire south wall to work with.  Even with a wonky window, I think this could be really nice.  I did check our dryer specifications, and the swing door is reversible (woo!).  Thank goodness for that.  It'll mean for a super-short dryer vent run to the outside, and it's much better than some alternatives we discussed today.  One of which was venting the dryer out at the deck.

Does anybody have their dryer left of the the washer?  It seems a little unconventional, but I think we can make it work.

A few other little "wins" for the day:

• Most of our windows were installed today!  They're amazing!  Pictures coming soon.
• BestBuy accommodated our need to push back our appliance delivery date.  There's no way we'd be ready for these next week.
• According to the online owner's manual, our LG natural gas range includes a liquid propane conversion kit.  This means we don't have to search model numbers and buy one.
• We're installing an infinity edge pool & commercial water slide.  Kidding... I'm just enjoying a little Property Brothers at Home as I type tonight. :)

november progress

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  R and I are lucky enough to live near both our families, so we were able to see everyone over the holiday.

We had some time off, so we got working on the electrical.  We're not really under a time crunch anymore, but progress feels good either way.

Check out this puddle!  It's time for windows and doors!

  

 

Our windows and doors were delivered to the site!  The windows are double hung, vinyl.  There are two sliding glass doors hiding in the back of the pile.  One has the built-in blinds, which are amazing!  Ignore the carhartt hanging, ha!  I'm absolutely in love with our front door!  I wanted something that would let in as much light as possible, and this door is so pretty.  I've never seen it anywhere else, so I'm excited about that, too.  We're planning to paint it- I'm thinking dark forest green, plum, or brick red.  What do you think?  Our siding is a light sage-y green, it's called cypress.

The stairs are (finally) in!  No more running around the back of the house to get downstairs/outside.  Everyone seems to like the landing... just be careful walking around that open hole.

  

Framing work continues in the basement.  We'll have insulation in these walls, but no drywall yet.  That's a project for us to take on down the road.

 

A little less snow these days!  Work on the roof continues.  The shingles are a nice dark brown.  You can't see them here, but the tarp is just as nice, right?

Welcome, December!  We officially have missed our January move-in date, but there is still a lot of work we can do before Spring.