Update 20th July

I’m way behind on updates and the only way I’m ever going to catch up is to do one good overload post so grab your coffee and get comfy!

So there was the ditch digging. One weekend Carson and his dad dug the ditch, the next they laid in the pipes and conduit and what not, and the next they covered it all back up. It was inspected before that final weekend.

This is Carson fitting a board on top of the ditch digger because someone pointed out that he might get sun burned.

Here it is all filled in towards the power line.

And towards the house.

By the time we finish this house I am never going to want to see gray stain again! Here is a shot of roughly 30 boards that Nancy and I stained one morning.

The ceiling boards are almost complete!

A good friend came up one day a week or so ago and he and Carson worked on this.

This whole wall is actually going to get stained in place, because we didn’t have enough pre stained boards ready that day.

This is where one of those boards along the stairs intruded into the boys room. Oops. As soon as Carson saw it he said, “That’s why that board was so hard to get in!”

This part hasn’t been finished yet because Carson has to work out the under stair storage and exactly how we will access it. I think we may have actually decided now, but at the moment I can’t remember.

The bedroom ceilings are all having to be sprayed because all these little crevices are too hard to get in. Here is the primer.

And here is the paint.

Ok, so there are always set backs. This one drove me crazy. The first 5 gallons of paint we got ended up being the wrong sheen. It was labeled correctly, but Carson kept saying it was awfully shiny for flat. When we ran out and got the next bucket the difference was glaring. In this photo the walls are still the glossy and the ceiling has been recoated except for right around the base of the light. It’s frustrating to have painted 5 gallons worth only to discover you have to recoat it all! At this point the only thing remaining from the original paint is the kids’ bath.

This past week Carson was working on the floors. Here he is vacuuming out dust.

Here is the floor wet, having been mopped. 

And here is what they look like with the sealer! Carson says once they are waxed the variations will be a little less prominent, but they don’t bother me anyway. All the rooms except for the big living/kitchen room have sealed floors.

And finally, Carson found this beautiful Ikea light at Habitat Restore for $3! It’s been painted and is hanging where the dining table will go, but I don’t have a pic to post of that yet.

Kitchen Progress

The kitchen has really taken off, which is exciting to watch. I know I will be spending a lot of time in this space so it’s nice to see what it’s actually going to look and feel like to be in it.

This one is from a while back, just to show the progress.

We went back and forth on the countertops a million times. Ultimately we decided to use some large tiles. It was a VERY cost effective option, while also being durable, low maintenance, and a look we like.

This is the 2 layers of plywood Carson put down first.

Then mortar.

And, this would be cement board.

Screwing it down.

And finally the tile.

Initially Carson put in a post in the center of this wall, but after putting in the lights he decided to make a change.

There are now two posts and two lights centered between them. There will be an island in that space, but we are still deciding on the details of that. You can also see in this photo that the wood wall has been stained!

There is really no way to capture it in a photo, but the stained wall is just dreamy. I love it. Here is the range we ended up getting.

This track lighting was purchased years ago from Habitat for Humanity.

In this photo you can see the trim at the ceiling and around the window.

Seeing the kitchen has me very excited, but there is still a lot to do.