Windows in (mostly) -- plus stucco and shakes.

Almost all the windows were installed yesterday.  Here's some pics:

Front of house:

Garage with shakes:

Great room upper windows:

Master bath:

Master bedroom:

Rear view:

Screen porch with shakes!

Stucco and siding on SE corner:

Tommy's Room!

Wiring/Plumbing/HVAC nearly complete -- septic in -- siding begins

Once again I blinked and 3 weeks have passed since an update. This time was mostly spent on interior rough in stuff (electric, plumbing, ductwork, etc). The Harvey family lent multiple helping hands to clear out more trees in the backyard. Septic tank and mound has been put in, and final grading was done. Siding just started a couple days ago, but they are really waiting on the windows, which should be going in today.Started  hammering out lighting, and actually found some nice stuff on clearance at a local store for our dining/kitchen/foyer.  Selfishly leveraged a family function in Fountain MN (just a few miles short of Nebraska) in order to get paint color recommendations from of our family expert Randina (special thanks to Pat's back for loading and unloading all of our granite and tile samples twice on each end of that trip!)

I'm sure I am forgetting some things. It seems there are 2-3 questions or decisions that need attention popping up each day.

On tap is finalizing interior paint colors, pushing ahead with lighting, deciding on final fireplace finishes, picking out sinks and other remaining fixtures, and getting a mailbox installed and phone line trenched in before winter.

Oh and I forgot the most consequential news...we wont be moving in until January. Builders think late January at the very latest. We have a clause in the contract that requires payment to us starting on Dec 20, so we should get compensated one way or another. Builders have been really good and we are happy, but they are just behind schedule. I guess Seth gets 4 roommates for just a little while longer.

Pictures hopefully coming fast and furious the next week or so...siding, windows, and stone going on soon.  Drywall to begin first week in November.

Random pictures from the last few weeks:

Clearing out some extra space in the backyard (swing set probably will go here):

Seth cutting down a huge dead popple hanging over our driveway:

...and cleaning up the aftermath:

Front door installed:

Kitchen rough ins taking shape:

Morning sun pouring into the great room:

Our little lumberjack helpers:

View from trail, looking through newly cleared backyard area:

Septic mound being built:

Septic tank installation:

Final grading of backyard, including newly cleared area (view from master bedroom):

Septic mound complete:

First few rows of siding on!

Some soffit and fascia installed:

Roof done, interior framed, all sorts of stuff happening

As usual I have let time get away from me, and it has been over 2 weeks since I updated this thing.  Time flies when all you do is chase kids, attack the house "to do" list, and sleep.

Here's a random, non-complete, and at least 95% factual list of what has been going on:

• Roof done
• decking and screen porch framing done
• interior walls framed
• Tile finalized
• Garage doors almost finalized
• Electrical walk-through done (took 4 hours!)
• Plumbing walk-through done
• Security system research done and 95% decided on
• started to look for lighting
• Fireplaces framed in, including some debate on how to exactly position the one downstairs (side note will probably go with tile around this one instead of the planned stone)
• we bought a TRACTOR..one step closer to being a true Iron Ranger!  It's a Kubota 3200 with a front-mounted snowblower!
• I'm sure a bunch of other little details I am forgetting

So on to some new pictures (taken over several different days):

Andy in his room:

Great room windows framed in:

Workshop wall added to garage:

Stairs leading to cold storage above garage:

And the storage area itself...huge!:

First of the exterior doors installed (back door of garage):

And view of that door from the outside:

Front door has arrived, and awaits staining and installation in the garage:

Have sticks, will travel (this kid is going to love exploring when we move out there!)

Great room fireplace framed in:

Maple tree in back yard turning colors:

Front porch posts framed in and ready for stone:

Outside view of rear of house - roof shingled, porch framed, deck installed:

Tray ceiling framed in for master bedroom:

Fireplace installed in TV room:

View from screen porch:

View of entire length of deck:

Shingling Underway

Actually, by now the shingling is probably done. But these pictures are from the past week or so, and we haven't been out to the house since Saturday. Probably go tomorrow to see where we are at.

So what has been going on lately (besides getting a roof)? We finalized all of our floor tile and countertops. It was a little daunting, and took multiple trips and many hours...but once we got rolling we got it all picked out and are pretty happy.

Funny how little things can trip you up. For example, picking the exterior stain for our deck railing and screen porch posts. Ugh. Trying to find something that went with both our shakes and our decking was a pain and required several trips to the paint and stain store. Funny how picking all the appliances in the house took about an hour, and a stain color can take several days.

We will be doing the electrical walk-through next Wednesday. Of course this has me all wound up because I want to make sure all the Audio/Video wiring is exactly what I want, with spare runs and conduits for future access. At about the same time the plumbing and HVAC will be going on. Oh yeah I probably should get a security company out there to make sure I shouldn't do some hard wiring prior to sheetrocking.

Sometimes I wonder if parking the double-wide on the property and calling it good would have been a better choice...

...but on to the pictures. These basically show the progress on the roof trusses and shingling. Like I said, the most recent of these are from this past weekend (9/4), so I'm sure its a lot further along now...especially since our builder likes to work on Saturdays and holidays to stay on track (gotta love that!)

Great room vaulted ceiling:

Rear of house (picture from 9/1):

East side:

Garage:

Building the roof above the front porch:

West side:

View from driveway near tree:

Yet more framing...and a front porch

Here's some updated pictures. roof is nearly framed in at this point. Front porch as been poured. roofing has begun on the garage. It's looking more and more like a house.

Things we've checked off our list recently:
- Finalizing the exterior shakes
- Bought rough-in plumbing fixtures
- Bought appliances
- Finalized fireplaces
- Finalized interior trim color
- Finalized interior and exterior doors
- Tentatively picked out all countertops in the house
- Started to look for tile

Coming up soon:
- Finalizing countertops/tiles
- Finalizing all cabinetry design
- Picking out decking material
- Deciding on locations of all interior wiring
- I'm sure about a dozen other things I am forgetting at the moment
- And most importantly, tractor shopping!

Pictures:

Front view:

Rear view:

Garage:

Front porch poured:

Garage interior:

Upstairs view from master bedroom (SE corner):