ONE More Day

Tomorrow is the big day.
Tonight we are loading up the Tahoe and tomorrow after camp & work, we will start carrying boxes over.

Here's today's update...
Shane went to the house this morning to test his theory about the cooktop not working:  since the gas had been connected, perhaps the outlet was dead.  He pulled the large drawer out from under the cooktop and discovered that he was right.  For some reason, that outlet isn't live & the electricians have been called.

Okay, I've been instructed to make this quick tonight because I have other things to do (also known as packing).

Here are some pics of what was accomplished today:

The entrance for Bo to get to his new under-cabinet-litter-box has been made.  The frame will be stained to match the wood at a later date.

Clothes rod installed over laundry sink...

Toilet paper holders that weren't previously installed were installed...

Iron door removed from wine room to be corrected and powdercoated.

Things I don't have pictures of that occured today...

• Iron stair rail installed.
• Extra clothes rods in master closet removed.

What I accomplished this morning...

The trellises for the garden were put in place-one less thing to take over this weekened.

Happening tonight (hopefully):

• Final coat of polyurethane on wood floors.

Just FYI...although we don't yet have the certificate to occupy, this fellow had taken up residence in the studio.

Shane took care of him for me.

Okay, gotta get packing.

The Final Stretch

Building a house is a lot like a race. Not an all-out sprint; more like a marathon, or from my experience, a half-marathon.  We've made it to that annoying final stretch where all the spectators are yelling, "You've almost made it-the finish line is right around the corner!"  But you haven't made it yet, there are still a couple of curves you have to tackle, and while you're dragging your tired, achy body across the finish line, you've still got to remember to smile for the camera.

But we have almost made it...and we can almost see the finish line.  At least we can see our move-in date...this Saturday.  We will start taking boxes over Friday night and Saturday the movers will come to move the big stuff.  We can't do actual offical paperwork until the outdoor kitchen is completed and it looks like that won't be until the end of next week.  So yes, we can move in, but we won't actually close on the house for about a week and a half.

Today the front side yard was repaired.  It looks like they might have to bring in some more sod, but it is still 1,000 times better than yesterday.  Notice the truck in the driveway?  The truck belongs to actual workers...the iron guys were inside measuring for the stair rail adaptation.

The iron guys also replaced the handle to the wine room door while they were there.  The original one was too heavy, which kept it from latching.  I like this new handle very much.   They will be back tomorrow morning to install the stair rail and to take the entire wine room door off to replace the corncob fleur-de-lis with a fatter fleur-de-lis and to powder coat the door.

By the way, apparently we didn't make this "corncob" business up.  The iron guy told me the one in the door was actually called a "corncob fleur-de-lis."

ONG showed up and installed the gas meter.  This is very exciting...just a few more days until I can try out that bathtub.  I'm sure Shane is excited to try out his shower, as well.   Don't tell him, but I plan to try out that shower, as well. ;-) 

Sadly, the gas man discovered that our beautiful cooktop isn't working.  We knew that it wasn't making the clicking noise that it should, but we thought perhaps it just needed to have everything hooked up in order for it to work.  No worries, the appliance company has already been called to investigate.

The alarm system has been hooked up...

The stucco guys came back and lengthened the trim as well as applied the first coat of stucco.  It looks so much better.

...and now we have passed several inspections.

Here's the proof.

...and just to make you smile-here's a pic of some of our double-knockout-roses blooming.

Tomorrow, the stucco crew will probably apply another coat to the exterior trim and the floors will get another coat of polyurethane.

Friday morning the kitchen granite will be replaced and the old granite will be taken away to be re-fabricated for the outdoor kitchen...and the cleaning crew will arrive.  After work on Friday, we get to start schlepping things into our new house.

The Final Week...

The house was a-buzz with activity today and we are thrilled!

I know, I know...you can't tell that much from the front...

But...we passed the final electrical inspection today!

...and in the backyard...

...one of the sprinkler leaks has been fixed.

...but sadly, not the other. A storm came through and the sprinkler guy had to leave.  Hopefully, he'll be able to find and fix this leak tomorrow.

...and perhaps he will be able to fix this mess in the side yard, as well.

Around back, the outdoor kitchen guys were hard at work today.

The grill will be installed on the left side, with two stainless steel access doors underneath.  The sink will be on the right side, with one stainless steel access door underneath.  Tomorrow (hopefully), the granite guy will come re-fabricate the island granite to be the counter-top out here, and then the guys who built this frame will come back to stucco the front and sides to match the house.

Doesn't the space underneath the cabinets look like a wonderful place to store gardening gloves, a hand trowel & some Miracle Grow?  I thought so, but someone thinks gardening tools should be stored elsewhere, and the grill area should be left alone.  That's fine...I suppose as long as the grill keeps providing yummy steaks and such for us, we can store the gardening tools elsewhere. ;-)

Speaking of gardening...the veggies seem to be doing well.

You won't believe how well things are growing in the front flower beds...

Oh, wait...I think all of those tiny green sprigs are weeds.  There are a gazillion of them-I guess new flower beds don't come weed-free, as I once thought.  At least I don't have many things on my to do list for the nest few days.  I should have plenty of time to weed the gardens. (ha-ha) Actually, I am getting it cleaned up by pulling a few weeds at a time-everytime we are over there.

The iron guy has taken measurements to correct this part of the banister-we think it is supposed to turn around the corner.  By Friday, it should be re-installed so we can receive our Certificate to Occupy.

On the front of the house, the forms for the cast stone trim have been installed.  Except it needs a little tweaking.  Imagine it looking like this, only about three inches longer on each side.  We want the bottom of the band to line up with the edge of the dark garage trim, instead of the top of the band lining up with it.  Shane thinks the crew measured it this way to allow for the expansion joints in the stucco, but it looks silly so they will come and lengthen it a bit before applying the stucco.

We think the house looks much more balanced with the light color bands above the garage doors.

We only have four more nights in the rent house.  I can't believe it is almost time to unpack our boxes and put things where they belong in the new house. 

I guess I better get back to packing...

Getting Nervous...

The stucco crew was scheduled to come and put the stucco bands on top of the garage doors as well as some touch-up work yesterday.  The stucco on the house looks awesome, but with the mad rush to get the trim finished in the two days before the Parade, I think the trim isn't acceptable.  I didn't want the crew to miss anything that I noticed, so I helped them out by placing a few pieces of blue painter's tape everywhere I thought they needed to do a little repair work.  I'm sure they'll appreciate my help.

Maybe all the blue tape is why they haven't shown up yet.

I suspect all of the tape pieces will fall off and blow away before they get back and get to work.

...and might I mention what a pain it will be for them to put all of that scaffolding back up?

Seems like it would have just been easier to do it right the first time.  It reminds me of what I tell my students, "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you must have time to do it again."

Apparently, the City of Tulsa came to do the final electrical inspection today but the house was locked.  I found this rejection notice on the front door.  Lovely, isn't it.

...And one of these compressor fellows is not working properly.  I think it's the little one, because it's the upstairs air-conditioner that keeps blitzing out on us.  Today, downstairs was set at 77 degrees today, and the thermostat read 77 degrees.  The upstairs one was set at 77 and it registered 85 degrees & you can certainly tell a difference.  They have already replaced the motherboard once, I guess that slogan, "Nothing stops a Trane" isn't very accurate! 

At this point, one out of two Trane's have stopped.

What's that, you say? Does she not have any good news today? Well, ask and you shall receive. Aside from the fact that today is Friday, I have even more good news.

Earlier in the week, Shane called ONG and discovered that the installation of our gas line had been postponed until after the Parade, so he got things rolling for them to come back out and install the gas. 

Before they came, they mentioned that since the sprinkler system and the tight-lines had already been installed that the builder would have to mark where those pipes had been installed so that they could avoid hitting them.

Obviously, the lines didn't get marked...

All of these little yellow flags are what the gas guy left so that his work is marked so the other crews can avoid hitting the gas line when they come back to repair their systems.

Looks like we'll need some more sod, as well.

It's a good thing the sprinkler crew has to come back over. As it turns out, we DO have at least two leaks in the sprinkler lines.  This valve box is close to one of the leaks...as you can see, it's full of water.

One more bit of good news: the veggies seem to be doing well, even planted in all of that clay.

Keep your fingers crossed that the outdoor kitchen guy shows up on Monday...and that the electrical crew comes back soon...and that the iron stair rail gets changed out quickly...and that we pass the gas inspection.  ALL of that has to happen before we receive the certificate of occupancy.

I wonder if we can sleep in the pool clubhouse for a few days if we need to?

8 Days and Counting...

Today the stucco bands were supposed to be completed on the exterior of the house.  Surprisingly, that didn't happen...

We did however get a run-down on most of the rest of our to-do list: 

• They measured for the iron above the garage yesterday, installation date unknown
• Window screens were installed today
• Final electrical inpection Friday
• Outdoor kitchen installed Monday
• Granite replaced on Wednesday
• Final plumbing inspection is unknown, but will be after the granite is installed on the island
• Final coat of polyurethane on floors Thursday
• Certificate of occupancy should be received next Friday
• Gas installation was postponed until after the Parade and has now been reordered

 We still need to select a couch, and we are having a bit of difficulty with this.  I suppose we will focus our efforts in this area a bit more this weekend.  We'd like to have somewhere to sit once we move in.

It appears we have a leak or two in our outdoor sprinklers; we thought we were just overwatering, but we've turned them off for the last few days and now that the yard is dry, we can spot the wet places.  Shane will work on that this weekend if we can't get in touch with the sprinkler guy soon.

So...we shall see how the next 8 days go. We have movers scheduled for Saturday the 2nd of July and we will move boxes (hopefully) before that.

After the Parade...

After nine days of a seemingly endless stream of people traipsing through our house, opening the cabinets and fridge, complimenting our choices and taking drawer pulls and knobs as they pleased,

...everything has come to a screeching halt.

That's right, we are now ten days from our projected move-in date and we still have a "to-do" list of things that need to be finished before we can move in that's about two pages long.  Sure, some of the items are not really a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, I mean...the knobs that people helped themselves to do need to be replaced, but that alone wouldn't stop us from moving in.

However, since the outdoor kitchen isn't yet built  (considering the fact that we have already purchased the grill, three under-counter access doors, and the faucet for the sink) will have an impact on the overall value of the house, we needed it finished yesterday.  We can't have the house assessment done by the bank until the outdoor kitchen is built and we can't close on the house until the assessment has been done,  and we can't move in until we close...it's a bit like the old lady who swallowed the fly.

Highest on our "to-do" list:  outdoor kitchen, final coat on the wood floors,  granite pulled off the island and new granite installed, old granite re-fabricated for outdoor kitchen countertop and the stucco banding on the front of the house needs completed and repaired.

Also, rumor has it that a portion of our stair banister needs to be re-fabricated before we can receive our Certificate of Occupancy, so I guess that's pretty important, too.

All of the stuff on the rest of the list? I won't even bother you with right now.

Hopefully, tomorrow the house will look like a beehive again with workers swarming all around the place and I'll find the inspiration to finish filling all of these boxes at the rent house.

In other news...we haven't decided on a couch or table yet, either...so as it stands right now, we'll have four barstools downstairs to sit in.

The excitement never ends...

Good News...

Dana called tonight to give us the news that the HBA board member who is in charge of this year's Parade selected our house as the setting for his television interview tomorrow morning! 

~Friday, June 17th, Channel 6 News, sometime between 7:10 & 7:30am~

As far as I'm concerned...that beats the heck out of winning an award!

In other news...I've promised some of you guys more pictures of the final project.  Here are some of the pics the professional photographer took for our builder.

This is a pic of the almost finished exterior.  I say "almost" because they still need to put a cast stone band over both of the garage doors and the game room window has some iron that needs to be installed.

Here are some pictures of the entry, from various angles...

Standing in the office, looking into the entry...

Some pics of the kitchen, living, harvest area...

The wine room...

Reclaimed wine barrel floor...

Thanks SO MUCH to all my friends who contributed to the cork wall...

A view from the top looking down...

Peeking in from the staircase; the counter under the cork is onyx.

Powder bath...

Master bath and laundry...

Game room...

The next thing on our agenda is to get all of this to the new house...

All of those boxes are full of things that we just left packed up when we moved into the rent house...I wonder what great things we'll find when we start unpacking?