Has it really been 3 1/2 weeks since the last entry?

The natives are getting restless for an update...

I just cant keep this thing updated.  Too many things to do.  Deadlines bombarding us...whirlwind tours of car dealerships to replace a car that died...part time work ramping up...christmas...

I cant even really accurately recap what we have done house-wise since the last update.  So here's a random stream of consciousness:

Painting nearly done, just garage left.  Some cabinets are done and delivered.  Doors and trim nearly all in downstairs.  Propane lined up.  Gutters next week.  replaced siding with shakes above the front porch.  Have made a couple sledding trips.  Tiling has started and will continue over the weekend..probably done early next week. Local tile store screwed up the color on the metal edging we bought.  Now I'm calling all over Minnesota trying to track that color down -- otherwise will have to live with the beige we have on hand.  Found out our water is super-hard and chock full of iron.  Culligan coming on Tuesday.  Next week all the finishing work goes into high gear..electrician, plumber, cabinets, etc etc.  Have to go haul the hardwood floor out to the house on monday.  Frantically trying to finish picking out electric fixtures, fans, etc.  Move in date still roughly mid-to-late January.

Oh yeah and the snowstorm ruined my plans to go to the Gophers/Bulldogs hockey game with my buddies.

grrrr.

Some of my pictures lately have been obscured by spots...I think its dust on the lens as I am walking through the house...its a bit dusty in there with all the sawing and sanding that is going on....

Snowball fight with Grandpa:

Snowboarding and sledding just outside the front door!

Pooped out!

Hey how'd this picture of the last UMD men's hockey opening faceoff at the DECC get in here?

Doors and trim going in downstairs!

Winter Wonderland:

Walkout basement doors...tile in place:

Cabinets in garage.  This is the master bath vanity (on bottom):

Christina's office closet with built in adjustable shelving:

Painted dining room (2 colors)

Tiling in downstairs bathroom:

Great room painted:

Master bedroom painted:

Shakes above front porch:

Drywall up, mudding started, paint and carpet picked, first snow!

Things are moving quickly.

• Siding and shakes are now done.  Although we are going to have the siding guy go back and put shakes in the front porch peak.  It just looks too plain with just the siding.  
• Drywall has been delivered, put up, and mudding & taping is well underway.  Texturing of the walls I think will start today
• We somehow managed to pick out carpeting, including some commercial-grade stuff for the exercise room
• Finally done picking out paint colors.  Here are the Sherwin Williams codes if anyone is interested in checking them out:
• Upstairs great room/foyer/stairway is Cork Wedge #7539
• Kitchen/dining/pantry/hallway Cupola Yellow #7692
• Master bedroom Dormer Brown #7521
• Master bath/kids rooms/kids bath/mud room/laundry/powder/Bar/Garage is Natural Tan #7567
• Complete downstairs (minus bar) is Colony Bluff #7723
• all ceilings are Ibis White #7000

• All 4 garage doors are now on.
• Andy and I spent some time cleaning up some outside debris while we still had access to the large dumpster.  Mostly old culvert pieces left when the first builder built up the driveway last fall.
• The first snow came, and the kids (and dad) got to play a bit out at the site.  Hopefully can get our tractor out there soon for plowing in case we get a lot more snow.  Locks should be installed soon, and painting will be done in 2-3 weeks -- then we can park the tractor in the garage.

And on a non-house-related note, got to bring the kids to their first ever UMD hockey game.  I was a big fan back in the mid-80's as a kid, so its fun to share with them.  Tommy was enthralled!

On with the pictures, in relatively chronological order:

Sheetrock being hauled in:

 
Main garage doors installed:

Siding complete on rear of house:

Drywall going up in kitchen/dining/great room:

 
Great room drywalled:

Master bedroom drywalled:

All 4 garage doors installed:

Andy helping clean up:

Mudding and taping  downstairs:

Mudding and taping in Pat's office with a Ninja:

First snowfall:

Side yard and driveway after first snow:

Kids getting a chance to preview the playing accommodations at the new house:

Our little Bulldogs:

Siding nearly done; insulation started; phone trenched; mud everywhere

Days of rain last week turned the ground around the house into a mud pit. Has been quite the adventure trying to walk around the house, but it is finally starting to dry up.

So whats been going on? In no particular order...

- Siding is nearly complete. The shakes look really nice...so nice we've decided to add them to the small peak over the front porch. Siding should be done early this upcoming week

- Phone line has been trenched in

- Had the propane folks out to place a tank...but it was so muddy they were afraid their truck and line trencher would both get stuck. So they will come back when it is more dry and/or frozen.

- Gutter guy has drawn up a plan and talked us through it.  need to make some final decisions on placement and color.  Will be meeting him again this week.

- Insulators were hard at work this week, and it looks like all of the spray foam has been completed. We had them spray foam the downstairs area below the master bed/bath in order to deaden noise. Not sure how much that will help, but it was worth a shot. Drywall should start this week and take about 2 weeks. Drywall on the ceiling below the master bed/bath will be mounted on resilient channel also as a sound reduction measure.

- will be finalizing paint colors this week

- met with the carpeting guy and are 90% decided what we are going to go with

- cedar tongue and groove in the screen porch is nearly complete

- Spent the better part of an afternoon making sure all my low voltage cabling was how I wanted it. Some of the HDMI cable was awkward. Had to move a couple cables, and preemptively attach some of the wall plates as it was easier to do now rather than after drywall.  Also took dozens and dozens of pictures of every square inch of walls and ceilings to have as a record/map/reference of everything before the drywall goes up.

- Got the driveway "ready" for plowing by putting up some stakes along the edges. Last thing I need is to get the new tractor stuck out there before we even move!

And here's some updated pics...again, in no particular order:

Ninjas in my driveway:

West side of house:

Breaking ice from all the rain we had:

Front porch...will be putting shakes in the peak:

Rear deck view.  Debating putting shakes in the window peak:

Nearly-finished screen porch interior:

Spray foam in downstairs ceiling -- hopefully providing some sound protection for sleeping beauty upstairs:

More downstairs spray foam:

Foyer:

Garage:

Great room peak:

Master bedroom:

Doors and windows complete; mailbox post in; more siding and shakes

Winter is right around the corner, so Andy and I spent a morning putting up the mailbox post before the first snowstorm comes through. For the same reasons, I had Qwest out at the house to measure for trenching in the phone lines. All the windows and doors are in now, and the siding moves along slowly but surely. Insulation and drywall should start the first week of November.

More pics:

Andy tending the scrap wood burn pile by throwing sand in it:

Exterior of front door stained to match shakes:

Tongue and groove in roof of front porch...

...and on ceiling of screen porch:

Great room windows and doors completely installed:

French door hardware:

East end getting siding and shakes installed:

Andy showing off his work on the mailbox post:

Completed east side of house: