So now that I finally have the last bill from my contractor in hand — he hates paperwork — I thought folks might be interested in a rough analysis of how project costs compared to our budget. Home Construction 11% Finishes 130% Owner-Purchased 64% Landscaping 12% Total 15% We did pretty well on the basic […]
Well, mostly. We’ve been living in our new home since the last week of August while the final touches were applied and the landscaping was completed. Now that we’re finally at a point where the landscaping is almost completely done, and the sun is once again shining, we can close out this blog with a
We’re now moving into the final stage of installing the finishes. The electricians are back to put in plugs, lamps, etc. The baseboard is almost all in, and is in the process of being painted. Much of the plastic used to protect surfaces during painting is coming down, so you can start to see how
Finishing Touches Going In Read More »
Moving into the final sprint to completion, there was one remaining bit of demolition work to take care of: removing the last bits of the old driveway, the concrete footing for an old fence, pieces of the sidewalk where the new water and gas lines will be run, and the old planter strip. Here’s a
The Last Demolition Read More »
Much progress since the last update. Almost all the window and door casing is in, and it looks beautiful! We cribbed a design from something we found on the web and had it custom milled. It goes well with the craftsman style. Painting and staining continues apace. All the walls and ceilings are done. The
We can finally see our new home more clearly now that the scaffolding has been removed. It was up for so long that it seemed to become part of the design…and a not particularly attractive part to boot :).
Emerging from the Scaffolding Read More »
Which, unlike in a horror movie, is a good thing.
The Walls Are Closing In! Read More »
We always wanted to have a green exterior for the house. Of course, “green” covers a multitude of colors…not all of which look green to me, but what do I know? The siding our architect and contractor recommended — HardieBoard — is very durable and low maintenance. In fact, it’s warranted to not need painting
How Green Is My Siding Read More »
Our windows arrived in early March. We were a little nervous about what they’d look like, because we switched the frame color on them late in the game. Originally we were going with a deep flat red (“cranberry”) as an accent color to the green siding we picked. Unfortunately, we realized that green siding, cranberry
Windows of the Soul Read More »