Slow Walkthrough: Animation

Hey, small update!

We went to the International Falls street fair (for the Bass Tourney), and they had an auction on some beautiful wooden furniture. Check out this 5'4" tall bookcase we got for 100$!!!

Okay, now, let's take a look at the progress:

Update already!!! Yeah, I know...

I will be the first to admit that I am not blogging as much as I can about house progress lately. It's just that not much is evident in photos. I could take a million photos detailing the slow and almost negligible progress on the mudding and taping (which is nearly done on the main floor... except the screw holes), I choose instead to do nothing, and wait until something FUN actually happens... Like this:

Josh and I bought some Tongue-and-Groove Pine to cover the screen-porch ceiling. Since it was not per-finished or treated, we had to stain all the boards. We chose a night reddish hue, and while I stained, Josh puttered and made some small decisions.

In the end, we had a good bit of weather for them to dry in, and we learned a lot about staining.... such as not leaving dark patches on it.... and ignoring the directions in favor of going with what my father originally told me about stain (light but consistent). The final product did have some streaks and blobs, but given the limited and dirty space I had to work in, I was very happy with the results. Live and Learn!

So, to Starbucks I went! I saved a seat for Lauren, hoping she would come play crib with me.... she didn't.

And then, of course, there was the Bass tournament in the Falls, in which I found a vendor who was selling Goat's Milk Soap. She had her goat with her to attract attention. I don't think that goat was ever left alone. So cute!!! ♥

I will show you our new bookcase later, and of course, I will take photos of the house tomorrow when we go talk to our cabinets guy.  Look for an actual update then!

Windy day at the Point

Progress slowly ebbs forward. The dry-walling inside is nearly complete... the place is full of dust. Don't worry, we don't have polka-dot walls. Here are some progress photos:

Front Door Shot:

My Computer Desk Spot:

Living Room / Hall shot:

We've also been doing some landscaping. Brian Allan suggested we scrape the earth in front of our house to expose the bedrock. The idea is that it makes less fill to bring in, and the rock underneath will look nice. I am not sure how he knew what the rock would look like, but he was right!

A view from our deck. It does not look like much right now because of the rain... but it did look nice.

Another question someone asked was how close are the neighbors? Well...

I am going to put up curtains on the north-west side of the screen porch (where the blue chair is) to give both of our families a little privacy.

We, as many other families have found, are having a wasp problem too... with the two sides of the screen porch covered, wasps keep getting stuck in there. Not that there's not a wall of freedom for them to escape through, but at one point we had some thirty wasps in our screen porch. We have yet to be stung, but decided to put up some traps. Here's two days of catching in one of the jars (we have three):

WASP JELLY!!!

So, with bad weather, cold and rainy, we soldier on!

The outside was not that interesting...

But the inside is something to make you jump up and down!!! Most of the exterior work is wrapping up for now. With the work moving indoors, the insulation and drywall starting, anchor photos are just not that interesting.....

Anchor Photo 2:

But I must say, driving up to the house, I, again, missed one large feature that has been there since pretty  much the start of the project....

Can you see it?

Let me get closer.....

The sauna has been moved down to the bottom of the hill, and has been placed on it's new place at the bottom of the hill. Given some time (and the filling of the wide gap in the land where the pipes are (and hornets have taken up home), we will be able to use it! We could theoretically use it right now, but we're trying to do it right and have it fully taken care of before we start to use it. Jack is still going to put some posts into the ground to make sure the sauna never shifts... then maybe we can fill the hole and get ready for some SUPER SAUNA ACTION!!!!

There are less things in our basement.....

You wanna see why?

YUP! I'm ready for a soak! The tubs are in the bathrooms... in fact, if you look closely, I can take a bath on either side! Insulation needs to go on the bottoms yet, but no worries they are on it!

Let's take a look at the insides from those inside anchor spots:

Front Door:

Porch Door:

My desk wall (main floor):

The basement Door:

And of course, for fun, here is the 'guest/kid' room:

I expect things to become more fun as the week progresses... I am just holding myself back, otherwise I would drive down there later today to see my living room, which is most likely complete now! We went at 11am, so this should be ... AMAZING!

Cheers from Fort!

Keeping a home warm

Well, with the ESA stuff behind us, it was time to move forward with the insulation. As the ceiling and walls were covered, the home seemed more cozy, and much more muted when you walk around. This was a nice, warm feeling. I love that our home is starting to shape up.


Anchor Photo 1:

Anchor Photo 2:

Walking inside, there was a warm feeling, not only because the windows were covered with vapor barrier, but also because we were finally able to get a sense of what the house will look like with walls. Seeing covered exterior walls was yet another exciting moment!

Front Door Shot:

Screen Porch Shot:

Inside Stair Shot:

Basement Door Shot:

In the Basement, you can see, on your left, more insulation... middle is flooring (tile and bamboo), and where Josh is on the right is our pile of lights, tubs, and kitchen stuff... the basement is a real mess!!! I can't believe how messy it is now! We buy only things we need, but those things, when not in use, really pile up.

Today's venture was getting the flooring downstairs! That was tough. There were a couple of tonnes of stuff that needed to be carted through that door and placed on the pallets. We were lucky that the shipping people at Menards were super nice and helped us out!

Oh, and one thing:

We have a screened door for the porch! It is the one that we bought in T.Bay! It's pretty!

Finally, to attest to our wonderful workers.... their latest hijinks:

Our workers were putting stucco on the base of the house (just above the dirt).... they needed to put two layers of stucco, but had to wait until the first layer dried to apply the second. Since the weekend is a great time for this stuff to dry.... here's what we found by our lake door:

I almost want to keep it the way it is! Super funny!

ESA IS A GO!

HERE IT IS! This little sticker is our ticket to a future in this house! I am very grateful that the process was easy (if not delayed by time). The ESA guy's comment: "I expected to see insulation, did you know that Thunder Bay Electric is ESA certified.... you didn't have to wait".

Yes Mr. ESA, we knew.

ONWARD!

Just killin' time... WITH LOADS OF CASH!

Well, it's official, we have a mortgage!

Okay, now we are officially in the money.... the debt money. SIGH! But it is totally worth it. This is the biggest purchase any family will make (unless they rent forever, which I would NEVER DO!). So, what are we getting with our Space Bucks?

Anchor Photo 1:

Anchor Photo 2:

Isn't it stunning!

Can't you just imagine coming home to this! I can't wait to get some hanging baskets (in the summer) and plant something beautiful around the sides. I LOVE the way this porch turned out. It took the linearity out of the front of the house and gave it some real character.

And of course, the screened in porch is partially screened, and the stairs have gone up! I actually missed the stairs completely when I first started looking around. Ryan, the carpenter who was working on the stairs was talking to me, and I was getting some lighting inside, and well.... didn't notice.... at all. Then I walked out, and Josh asked me what I thought, I was enamored with the screened porch, but had no idea about the stairs. What a dork I am. Well, I notice now!

Of course, when I said I was bringing things in, I meant adding to the pile. Here's all the House-e stuff how in the basement. I had to add the chainsaw and the cooler today as well because the trench digger was here. Brian finally had some time off to come dig our electrical trench. Along with that they started to prep the sauna, which will hopefully be down by the lake in two weeks when he's got some more time.

In addition to getting our stuff out of the sauna, they also lifted it up a little and began to prep the bottom so that when they skid it down and set it on the dirt at the base of the hill, it won't break in two (either in transit or when it is finally down there).

So, that's our big news. The ESA guy is finally going to come on Tuesday, and we waited because our contractor didn't want to have the local ESA guy flip out and demand paperwork that he does not have. Not a problem. The guys have obviously been busy doing exterior stuff, and I can hardly complain. Hopefully we'll be closer when we start up next week.

Did I mention that I love my front porch! ♥