The Big Reveal – Picture Time!

I never planned on it being so long before I posted pictures.  I really thought I would have time to post before now – Sorry!  We have not moved into our house yet – we have been trying to finish all the “little” things which seem to take a long time!  We did finally sign closing documents on Monday, October 18 so we are really happy to be out of our construction loan.  Without any more talking – on to the best part – pictures! 

Here is our house today – from all the angles!

 

You’ll notice my fridge is on the deck – it doesn’t fit in my kitchen – too big.  I found it on craigslist so I can’t return it but now we are fridge shopping again!  So if you know anyone that needs a fridge?……

We didn’t quite get all the railing stained yet.  Hopefully the weather will get nice again for just one more day so we can finish before winter.  It seems like the stain was a never ending process.  We put two coats of stain on the whole house, then we put chinking between all the logs (if you look really hard you can see it!), and then we put a clear protective coat over all of it.  It was a process and we hope we don’t have to do that ever again (the chinking part – we will probably have to stain again in a couple years!)  BUT, we think it looks great!  I am really happy with the color and how the tree in the front near the entry turned out.  Len cut that tree from the property here because we didn’t have a log tall enough to fit there from the log package.  I think it looks awesome!

Now for the interior!!

Here is the entry and what you see when you walk in the door --

The Kitchen…I love the contrast of the kitchen from the rest of the wood in the house.  It really breaks it up -- and I love the island – The red color really makes it stand out.  I got the idea of doing the island a different color from when we stayed at Jana’s parent’s (John and Jennifer Blickenstaff’s) log house.  I loved their kitchen and copied just a few things!  Hope they don’t mind!!! :)

My awesome farm sink – Mike and Jodi gave us a “one upgrade” coupon for our Christmas gift last year.  This is what I upgraded because of their gift – THANK  YOU!  I love the sink.  It is so big that I think Miranda could take a bath in it.  I am really excited to use it!

The dining room is off the kitchen -- And the Great room with the fireplace is right next to it.  We are so happy with how the fireplace turned out.  If you notice on the pictures of the outside, we still don’t have rock on the chimney between the deck and the roof.  We have the rock for it but we thought that we might be able to place the rock ourselves.  After watching the guys put the rock on the fireplace inside and on the chimney above the roof outside, we are thinking about changing our minds.  It was amazing how long it took them to make all those rocks fit – and they’re professionals!  We think it turned out great and we might just have to hire them again to finish up! 

Here are pictures of the great room looking up at the loft.

The green wall is the only color on the interior walls in the house.  The rest of the walls are painted an antique white for now.  I really like how it turned out.

This picture shows off the stairs a little better. Plus you can see the slate that Leonard put down in the entry way and the front of the stairs going up to the loft.

I sanded every stair after the construction was finished inside.  It created SO MUCH DUST.  The fire alarms were going off like crazy.  After they were sanded, I coated them with polyurethane to protect them.  They look good but I couldn’t get a picture of them without the shine from the poly.  It made a big mess to sand them inside but I am glad that it was finished before we moved in the house!

I didn’t take very good pictures of the doors inside.  We used the doors and trim from Leonard’s grandparents house that still sits on the farm.  Their house was built in 1902 and the doors and trim from that house really add character to ours – maybe the next post I will try to get them in!

Here is the view from the loft --

Here is our master bedroom – not a great picture but you get the idea!  I really like the chandelier.

And here is our master Bathroom

The Vanity – two sinks!!

The tub – my favorite part of the house!  We decided to put rock on it like the fireplace to add just a little character and I love how it turned out!              

And the shower. 

This was the shower that I stayed up until 2:00 one morning to tile while Leonard was chinking and Justin was grouting the tile floors that we had installed two days earlier.  It was while tiling this shower that I said -- “You know… I am a really good nurse.  I should go to work and hire someone else to do this stuff!!!”  I am happy with how it turned out – but I was really tired! 

Here are pictures of the bedrooms upstairs – also not very good pictures but at least you can kinda see them!

The girls room …

Kanyon’s room…

To the left of the picture above you can see the door that leads to the bonus room – which for now will be a kids playroom!

You can’t tell but we made some little cubbies in the wall of the bonus room that will be great spots for toys – plus the room is insulated all the way around it which makes it very quiet to the rest of the house – perfect place for the kids to play! :)

That’s it!  You have been given an official tour of our new house.  We will most likely be sleeping in it by the end of the week!  (Cross your fingers!)  We are so grateful to SO many people that have helped us along our way.  We have felt so blessed by the number of people that have been willing to help us out – Especially Neil and Kay for letting us live with them for the past year and a half.  We never thought we would be with them for that long but we are grateful for the time we have had with them and the for the time we have been able to get to know them and for them to really get to know our children.  I don’t think I would have changed our time with them even if I could have.  Thank You!

What a journey this has been.  The best part is, there is still more to come!  Life is good!

The C.O.

Oh yes!  That is what you think it is!  For those that don’t know – C.O. stands for Certificate of Occupancy.  What does that mean?  We can officially live in our house! 

I am so sorry that I don’t really have any pictures yet.  Things have be insanely crazy and this is going to be an update post so that someday I will remember how crazy our lives have been the last few weeks.  As the previous post, I will try to make a run down day by day.

Monday, September 20 –Did a little chinking in the morning and started laying tile in the afternoon.  We tiled until 2:00 a.m.  We couldn’t have done it without Justin.  He tiled the bathroom upstairs and the laundry while Leonard put slate down in the entry and I tiled the Master bath.  Did I mention we were there until 2:00 A.M!!!  We were ready for bed.

Tuesday – More chinking on the window wall trying to get it ready for the wood floor to be put in.  We wanted to finish the chinking inside before the flooring was brought in.  We didn’t quite finish and had to finish on Wednesday – it was okay because the floor wasn’t in yet either.

Wednesday – cabinet install.  I LOVE my kitchen cabinets they turned out awesome.  The sink is my favorite part – sorry, pictures to follow soon!  They didn’t bring enough laminate for the countertop and they brought the wrong color for the bathrooms. That meant another day of waiting for those to be put in.   That night we (I mean Justin) grouted the tile floors that we had put in while I tiled the master shower and Leonard finished chinking the window wall.  It was another night until 2:00 a.m.

Thursday – Wood floor install – at least they started to install it.  There were four guys there and they didn’t move very fast.  They worked from about 11:00 am until about 5:00 and all they had done was the 4 stairs leading to the log stairs that go up to the loft and the edge along the stairs that go down to the basement.  We were a little disappointed.  Plumber came and installed the water heater.   We cleaned that night to get ready for the rest of the floor to go in.

Friday— Plumber came back and installed all the plumbing – which included my awesome tub! I drove around and tried to get some signatures from the fire district, highway district, and Panhandle Health district saying that they approve our site.  I got the one from Panhandle but the other two didn’t work out.  Then I headed to the airport to fly to Boise for a much needed relaxing 24 hours with Michelle.  We got a massage, facial, pedicure, and manicure – all were very much needed by me!!  We also went on a 5K walk for the St. Luke’s Women’s day Celebration – this was the actual reason I went :)  It felt so good to just pamper myself!!  Thanks again, Michelle!

Saturday – went on the 5K walk and then met my Mom and Dad at Applebee’s to pick up Miranda.  It was really good to see her again.  She seemed more grown up and her vocabulary had expanded.  They say that a 2 year old can learn 5 new words every day.  Mandy and I flew home about 3:30 and made it back to Coeur d’Alene around 5:30.  They had more wood floor installed – everything but the pantry and the 1/2 bath. They also had the carpet pad in place ready to install the carpet.

Sunday—the saga continues – the wood floor guys showed up to finish the wood floor that they didn’t get a chance to finish the day before.  The deck was installed and we cleaned to get ready for the carpet which was coming first thing Monday morning.  How many times can you clean one house?!!!

Monday, September 27 – Carpet install.  Worked on finishing the electrical stuff because the electrical inspector and plumbing inspector are scheduled for the next day.  We had to reinstall all the outlets because we didn’t install tamper resistant ones – and they are needed to meet code.  Frustrating. 

Tuesday – Passed plumbing inspection!  Sheet rocked the garage. County inspector comes and passes the sheet rock and gives us a punch list of what must be done before we pass final inspection.  Electrical inspector comes and gives us a list of what must be done to pass final inspection.  We ask them both to come back on Thursday.

Wednesday – work on lists from inspectors – painted rim joist, finished electrical stuff (changing plug, putting covers on outside outlets, finished electrical panel, stapled wires up, put lights in the mechanical room, garage, and outside the daylight basement.), put toe kicks on deck stairs, added handrails to stair sets, ladder in the window wells, address on the house, installed microwave.

Thursday – passed electrical and final county inspection.  Took paperwork to the county and got our Certificate of Occupancy!!!!

Friday – no rest for the weary – started prepping the house for exterior stain and chinking.

Saturday (Today) – stain

I am tired just typing it all.  So glad that we are almost finished.  If you made it this far, you deserve a picture!  Here is what the house looked like on the day we got our Certificate of Occupancy!

I think the next post will only have pictures!  No more typing!!

Busy little Beehive

As a warning, there will be no pictures in this post!  I have decided to wait and surprise you all with the finished product of our house in about a week when we get our certificate of occupancy from the county (hopefully). Then I will take pictures of everything.  However, I don't want to have to write about everything  in one post so I will update on what has been happening, just no pictures :)

Sheet rock arrived on September 9.  They sheet rocked  the bonus room and then called it a day.  I was hoping they would get more accomplished but, whatever.  The next day they arrived bright and early and rocked again.  They had everything done except the kitchen, pretty much.  The house looks different with the rooms rocked. Some rooms seem bigger while others seem smaller.  It was fun to really see the house take shape.  My mom and Courtney came up on Thursday evening.  They were here for Markell and Andre's sealing but came early to try to pick cucumbers to make pickles.  We went to Carver Farm's on Friday morning and picked cucumbers and strawberries.  We got plenty of each.  Kay and I made freezer jam that night after we came home and Leonard finished up electrical stuff at the house. 

I should also mention that Leonard shot an elk with his bow on Thursday.  He spent the day packing it out.  It was a 5 point bull, for those that care, and he was pretty excited.  I made him promise that we would send it to the butcher this year and he agreed.  We do not have time to cut up and elk!

Friday night we had mom, Courtney, Markell, and Andre out for dinner and then I took the kids to town to swim at the hotel pool.  We met up with Paul, Scott, and Dad at the motel.  It was good to see everyone.  Grandpa Parry also made it to town on Friday and was able to come see our new house before he headed to Spokane to see his cousin. It was so good to show him around our home. 

Saturday morning we spent at the temple with Markell and Andre.  We are so proud of them for making the effort and choosing to be sealed in the temple.  It is always so good to be there with family.  After the ceremony we went to lunch and then back to the house.  The sheet rockers had finished what they could until they ran out of sheet rock.  We helped them clean up and then later found out that we didn't need to do that. Oh well, thanks for the help anyway family! :)
Through the weekend my mom came to realize what a scary place a construction site can be to a two-year-old.  I think that was the big motivation for her offering to take Miranda home with her.  At first it was a little joke, but then it turned into something that might work. In the end, we sent Miranda home with my mom and Courtney to spend two weeks.  I am traveling to Boise this Friday and my parents will meet me there so I can bring Miranda back home with me.  We have missed her greatly but have been able to get so much done!
Here's a run down of the week:

Monday - sheet rockers finished rocking and then a separate crew came to clean followed by another crew to start taping/mudding the walls.   I worked on some electrical connections with Ron Lowe (our electrical consultant!) to get the meter ready outside.  I went to the flooring place and made final arrangements for flooring, changed a few things and also brought home some counter top samples for us to look at.

Tuesday - Mudding continued along with texture on the walls.  Leonard and I drove around town paying bills/deposits for rock for the fireplace, flooring, and picked out all the hardware for the doors/kitchen/bathrooms. We also finalized the plumbing fixtures and picked out the counter top. Leonard helped our neighbor, Jim Geren, tentatively set forms for the garage concrete which will be poured this Tuesday (I think)

Wednesday -  Crazy day.  Insulation for the fireplace came early in the morning. The sheet rockers were there finishing up and cleaning up.  The guys that are setting stone for our fireplace and chimney were there - I think there were about 10 of them. Some were sorting rock, some were prepping the work surface, some were setting the rock, some were shaving off parts of the rock, and there was Jim, the boss, who held his coffee mug and commanded all of them, telling them what to do.  It was actually impressive and they worked like a well oiled machine.  We also had the guys that installed the fireplace there to finish the chase.  And Cale came back to finish some carpentry stuff.  Oh, and we started painting the walls with primer.  We decided to roll it on instead of spray it because there were so many log walls we would have had to cover.  We spent the entire afternoon and got everything primed and ready to paint.  We finished about 10:00 that night.

Thursday - Took Kaydra and Kanyon to the dentist and then to school.  Picked up more paint. Went home and met Jennie Reynolds, a friend from church, who agreed to help paint for a couple hours.  We painted the bonus room and the kids rooms upstairs while Leonard painted the loft and down the stairs.  Leonard's friend, Kurt, from work came and helped us paint as well. He stayed most of the afternoon.  We were so grateful for both of their help.  We finished two coats over the entire house except for part of the wall going downstairs.  We were painting until 10:00 that night too. Seems like a pattern is developing here!

Friday - Started cleaning and taking tape off the wall from painting.  Took forever because it was the same tape the sheet rockers put up before they started texturing, so it was hard to get off.  All the logs needed cleaned to get them ready for chinking.  Kay came over in the morning and cleaned most of the day to get them all ready.  We started chinking about noon and realized that it was going to take some practice. It took us 6 hours just to do our master bathroom!  By the end of the day we had the master bathroom done and about half of the master bedroom. We worked until about 11:00 pm.  I had no idea how slow a process it was going to be.  But we started getting better at it and by the end of the day we were moving a little quicker.  The rock guys finished the fireplace inside -- it looks amazing -- and we got doors installed all around the house.  The trim guys arrived and started trimming the windows inside and also the doors with some pine.  I LOVE how they look as well.

Saturday - more chinking - all day in fact.  We are much better at it now.  Not quite professionals but not too bad either.  Leonard pipes chinking on the wall and I start tooling it into place.  He is faster at piping than I am at tooling so after he pipes a bunch then he sets the hose down and tools with me.  Then we keep going.  We keep saying to ourselves --$2 per foot -- that's how much it would have cost to have someone else do it.  We are saving a lot of money by doing it ourselves, but it takes lots of time. 
We still have chinking that will have to be finished Monday morning but we are moving along.  It looks great and I am glad that we decided to do it inside -- it really makes it a log house.  Leonard was the one that insisted on it being done inside so I give him credit for that.

We miss Miranda but I have no idea how we would have gotten all that done with her here.  I am very grateful to my mom and dad for taking her in.  I know she is being watched and cared for.  We have another week of craziness and the final inspection is supposed to happen this Friday.  We'll see.  I hope we can get everything done. I will be amazed and impressed.  It is getting so close to being finished!  It is turning out beautiful and we are so excited to see the end product.  Thanks again to everyone who has helped and to everyone who has prayed for us.  We have seen some awesome things happen here. I can hardly wait so show you the final results!

First Day of School and Insulation

The kids started school this week!  I was really excited for this as they have seemed to be extremely bored the last few weeks.  I was excited until I realized that I would now be responsible to entertain Miranda!  Thank goodness for Grandpa.  He and Miranda are buddies after Grandpa has watched her so much this summer.  I don’t know what I would have done without him.  We have been able to work on the house much more because of him. 

So the kids started school.  I took them the first day because they had so much stuff.  Plus I wanted to meet their teachers. 

Kanyon has Mrs. Kemp.  She has been teaching for over thirty years and LOVES first graders.  Kanyon came home the first day and told me that Mrs. Kemp is a good teacher – because she’s nice and she does fun things!  He seemed really happy.

Kaydra has Mrs. Conigliaro, or Mrs. C for short.  She also seems nice and Kaydra came home quite happy as well.

They were so happy to have something to do!  My poor kids have been ignored a lot this summer because of the house.  I keep telling them things will get better but it sure seems like we have been working on that house for a long time.

They really like their school and are excited for a new year. 

 

In house news, the insulators came on Tuesday and finished insulating the bonus room. 

It sounds funny in there, very quiet now.  It almost feels pressurized with all that insulation exposed.  Len says it will be better when the sheet rock is in.  The house seems much warmer with the insulation in place.  Not as much breeze blowing through now that the room is covered. 

The sheet rock guys got mixed up on the date. They were supposed to be here today but instead are coming tomorrow.  We have been sanding and sanding and sanding.  I think it’s safe to say that we are just over half way done with the outside of the house.  If we work hard we might finish by the weekend.  We’ll see.

So tired of sanding!!!!

Time for more updates

Time seems to go so slow and so fast all at the same time.  It seems like I just updated the blog and then I look and it has been more than two weeks!  How did that happen?  Well, it means there will be lots of pictures for this post!

We passed the electrical inspection of the roof so the insulation people came and insulated.  It took them one long day but they got it all done.  Cale was working right behind them getting the OSB on top of it so it would be ready to shingle.  I am really glad I don’t do that for a living!

After that day, the roof was insulated and Cale had one side completely covered.  

Cale also managed to frame in the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. 

 

This was not in the plans but the county is making us put in a door because the basement isn’t finished.  I am not sure if we are going to leave it there or not once the basement is finished.   I kinda like the idea that we could shut the door to keep the noise down but I also like that it would be more open.  We’ll have to wait and see!

The fireplace people arrived and installed our fireplace on the main floor and ran pipe to the basement where we will put a wood stove. 

Fancy, huh!  We aren’t sure when we will put the wood stove in but it will be ready when we are. 

The next day we took some time off to celebrate Kaydra’s birthday.

I can’t believe my baby girl is 9!  She wanted to go to the fair for her birthday.  It was a beautiful day.  Leonard helped Cale get the rest of the roof on in the morning and we went to the fair in the afternoon.  I surprised the kids by buying them ride passes even though I said I wasn’t going to. 

They had a great time.  Even Miranda went on several rides.  She  was really happy.  We ate some great food and visited the animals.  After about 5 hours we’d had our fill so we went back home to let Kaydra blow out candles and open presents. 

Cale managed to work on the fireplace a little more that week and got it all framed in.  It is going to have rock on it before we are finished but he designed the shape – with our input of course. 

I think it turned out great and we really like the little hearth to the side of the fireplace.  It will be the perfect place to store the wood!

Our contractor set up a guy to come and roof our house.  He and his wife showed up and they worked all day and got the paper on so it was ready to roof.

It took him two days to get all the shingles on.  He said he was impressed with how square the house was.  Usually they have to make extra cuts as it gets to the edge because the house isn’t perfectly square.  He said he didn’t have to do that with our house.  Nice to know that everything is where it should be!

Roof all finished!!

The windows arrived.

They have all been put in so we are almost considered dried-in.  We just need the doors.  They will be here soon.  Cale hung all the windows except the four big ones in the front.  Leonard helped with that – it was pretty tough and I am truly impressed that they didn’t break any.

  After they were installed, Cale put on all the trim.  We have cedar trim around all the windows on the outside.

This was also Cale’s idea and I love how they turned out.  Very nice.

The past few days have been crazy.  Cale is almost finished with everything we contracted him to do.  He worked this week to finish up all the framing inside, framed in my bathtub deck :), and secured the framing for the deck.  He had Danny come help him one day to get the logs ready for sheet rock.  This meant getting the chain saw out again and making a cut along the edge of every framed wall.

It’s still a little scary to see that chainsaw come out!  It’s kinda hard to see but if you look close you will see the cut right along the 2x4.  Every framed wall needed one of those on both sides so the sheetrock will slide inside.  This will allow the logs to settle without putting stress on the sheet rock. 

Some friends from church, Cathy and Bob Wilson, and Cathy’s brother George came out on Friday to help us get ready to stain.  They swept, vacuumed, taped up windows, hammered in some nails for the deck, and even sanded outside!  It was a crazy house that day with lots of people – Cale also brought his three kids to play – but we got a lot done.  We also found out we passed the rough electrical inspection!!!!!!  We celebrated with a Pizza Hut lunch and then worked some more. 

After Cale left for the day, we finished up cleaning and vacuuming everything.  This morning we taped up a few more windows and covered the doorway to help prevent dust and then we clear coated the interior.  I say we, but I really mean Leonard.  I was there to catch the drips with a paint brush and offer moral support.  :) 

It looks a little different in there – a little darker than I thought it would be – but the grain of the wood is beautiful.  We rubbed the logs with a rough pad in between coats of sealant.  Then we sprayed the whole house again.  All in one day.  I have never painted a whole house in one day before.  Those spray things are really nice – as long as you don’t have any furniture, cabinets, or any flooring, of course!

It works out great because Monday is Labor Day and so we won’t have any workers until Tuesday and the coats should be very dry by then and the logs well protected. Now they will finish insulating on Tuesday and then sheet rock on Wednesday.  Then tape and texture probably through the weekend.  I thought we might be able to paint on Saturday but Justin (our contractor) doesn’t think they will be finished.  :(  We’ll just have to wait and see!  Things are starting to move pretty fast – we hope to close on the new mortgage at the end of the month!

The Latest News

I haven’t posted for awhile because it seems like things at the house, while still happening, are not quite as dramatic as they were before, thus the pictures aren’t as good.  But, looking back on the past two weeks, there actually has been quite a bit going on so I thought it was finally time to post something.  So here goes:

Cale hired another worker – Danny.  We passed the electrical inspection for the loft floor and so Leonard insulated the section above our bedroom and then Cale and Danny were able to put the floor on and start framing upstairs.  I didn’t take pictures of the process but here is is all finished!

Here is the loft now with the floor on and the walls framed.  There are two bedrooms in the back and a bathroom on the left (you can see the pipes for the bathroom).

Here is the bedroom on the right side of the loft.  The bedroom on the left side looks exactly the same but is a mirror image.  They are going to be perfect kids rooms.  (And guest rooms!)

The only difference is that the bedroom on the left has is a small door. 

This was our one change during construction.  We decided we wanted to make use of the space above the garage so we changed the plans to include bonus trusses.   So we moved the bathroom around and put in a door and now we have additional space up there for whatever we decide to do with it.  It’s a little weird that you have to access it through another bedroom but we decided that it was worth it to have the extra square footage.

Look at all that space!  Plus we LOVE the view out that window.  I will have to take a picture out the window next time I am over there.  It’s beautiful.  We aren’t really sure what we are going to use the room for quite yet.  We’ll see.

Here is the newly framed bathroom.

All the plumbing has also passed inspection so we are excited about that!  Just a few more wires to run and then we will have the final rough electrical inspection and we’ll be ready to sheet rock. 

I love how the prow over the deck turned out.  They trimmed it with cedar and it looks awesome.  The deck is still my favorite part.

Yesterday, Cale cut out a hole for our fireplace. 

It was a little scary watching him cut into the logs with a chainsaw.  You would think that we would be used to it by now. 

It’s probably also important to mention that HE CUT IN THE WRONG PLACE.  Seriously.  It going to be fine because the logs will be covered with rock where he did it but WOW.  We had been discussing where we wanted the fireplace and we wanted it center on the wall which is where he cut it to begin with, but then we realized that the chase outside for the chimney was not center of wall.  Cale realized that when he saw a little too much daylight coming in through his cut in the wall.  OOPS!  Here is the finished product.  It is ready for the insert which is coming on Monday.

See that line to the left?  Yeah. Not supposed to be there!  It’s going to be fine, but still!

Other than that we have mostly been sanding, wiring, sanding, and wiring.  Kay took a picture of me sanding last night.  I think it’s the first picture of me working on the house.

The camera picked up all the sawdust in the air.  When we are done sanding we usually have sawdust EVERYWHERE.  We look like regular dust bunnies.  I can’t wait until that part is over.  We are actually pretty much finished inside.  There are a couple of beams to finish and then it’s done.  I have been working on the railing and I am about half finished with the hand rails.  Then we have to do the spindles – I think there are 360 of them!  AND THEN we get to start on the outside of the house.  I wonder if my lungs will ever be the same.

Here is Leonard wiring. 

I liked this picture because they set up some scaffolding and Neil is on it, holding a ladder that Leonard has climbed up and is using a drill to cut a hole in the ceiling for a light.  Crazy.  I hope he makes it out of this project without getting hurt.

Here is another one of Leonard on top of the scaffolding sanding the ridge beam.

  I leave the highest, toughest, parts of the sanding to him.  Nice, huh! :)

Here are some finished pictures of the outside.  It’s not going to change much out here any more because, other than the railing and the sanding/staining, it’s pretty much got a finished look.  We think it’s perfect.

And to end the post, here are some random pictures of messy kids at the house. 

They have been really good.  It seems like every morning Kaydra  and Kanyon watch Miranda as we work at the house.  We will be glad when everything’s finished and we can move in!