The end is near

I want all of you to know that I am forgoing my all important tasks at work to update my needy audience on the status of the house building project. For as much as he poo-poos my blog, Rich was whining the other day about my procrastination in uploading pictures of his masterful skills as a sider.

Rich installed a pair of french doors and we did manage to get siding up along the one long wall of the game room. Steve and Willie were tremendous helpers in that arena. We don't have the trim up nor is it painted, but that will come later. We have 3 or 4 of the columns up where cinder blocks and 2 x 6s once stood. We have two more to go, but Rich needs to decide how he is going to attached them to concrete.

The inside of the new house is for all intents complete. The painters are there today doing second to final touch ups. They also painted our front door a beatiful eye catching reddish/brown. With luck on our side the new septic tank will be done this weekend. The cleaners are supposed to be there Tuesday to clean sheetrock dust and other dirty things around the new house. So, it looks like things are in the works to close next Friday...and with a pretty good interest rate too thanks to China, the dollar, the mortgage industry who lent to everyone and their dog money for too much house and everyone in the States who didn't pay their mortgages, and didn't have enough money left to spend in US commerce.


I have also included some pictures of our current living situation. I decided not to portray a lie, therefore I did not clean up at all. This experience has turned me into more of a slob, but I am past the point of caring. In fact, I told Rich over the weekend when I was sweeping and mopping that for the last month when I swept and mopped I kept hoping that was the last time. It think this time it was, at least until we move everything into the new house.

Rich and Willie admiring their handiwork.

Siding from under "The Barn"
Fireplace mantle

What the porch looks like when it rains

Painted Door

Interior door current bedroom - that big brown lump on the bed is Ella
Current dressing room - Rich always leaves drawers and cupboards open , arggggggg
Pool table/Rich's current desk

Current kitchen - toaster oven on top of microwave with last night's dinner sitting out on the counter. Thank goodness cats = no rodents Current closet and storage area of things that did not go to storage unit.
Surround sound speaker in new house
Different view of siding and new french door

Final Countdown

I haven't really been posting much because there isn't too much new...We could be in the house in a week if it weren't for the septic. We are once again waiting on Travis County to issue a permit. The septic engineer OKed us to just add one more drain field and a lift station. The report has been drawn up and was submitted to the county, along with a $460 check, last Wednesday. Hopefully they won't take as long to issue that as they did the building permit. Once that is OK'ed we will get to put that in. Other than the septic, we still need to connect the water lines (but we're waiting for the septic to be put in), move the propane line, install the french doors, and siding on the old house. There is a lot blue tape on the walls for the sheetrock guys' final punch - it looks like our house has chicken pox.


Here are the front steps. Won't they look great with pots of flowers sitting on them?
Hall bathroom - notice the curved shower curtain rod drilled into the marble backsplash. Also the towel bar and ring are both hung.
A square-ish sink bowl
Me taking a picture of the master bathroom double vanity
The only time I will ever post a picture of a toilet on the internet.

Kitchen sink, faucet and granite countertops

A New Year

Just wanted to post some pictures of the latest progress. Actually what this latest round of pictures does not show are our bathroom countertops and marble backsplash which were installed yesterday. Our hot water heater and appliances are also at the house, although they aren't installed yet. Rich rented a backhoe to dig holes for the septic engineer to come out and examine the soil. I didn't bother to take pictures of those, but they are two holes about five feet deep. Of course, I had to drive the backhoe. It was fun, but I wasn't very coordinated at it.


There is now no more existence of the trailer. We also knocked down a portion of the roof that was over the trailer. I put up insulation at the wall that the trailer used to share with the game room and living room. Then Rich and Steve and Linda helped put up the OSB and tar paper. We are not quite done with that, but hopefully will get to the siding this weekend. That is actually all we have to get done by the time we go to modify the loan. Actually at this point, I think there is finally more done than not done all the way around. The kitchen countertops are supposed to go in on Friday. We're really waiting on the septic to finish out the house. The septic engineer should be coming out this week to decide how and if we can modify our existing septic system. Until then we won't have any of the plumbing connected.






Breakfast light
Living Room

Master bathroomdoorknobs