Joe and Brigitte

Chronicles of our life.

Archive for the 'update' Category

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

by @ Monday, July 25th, 2011. Filed under update

Joe and I have been busy making final decisions on some of the house stuff.  Things we thought we had figured out months ago now need to be looked at again and finalized.  So far we are 100% certain on all flooring (carpet, linoleum and hardwood floors), tile shower (picked out tile and designed the shower), trim (I couldn’t believe that would be such a difficult decision), and we finally found countertops we like.  Chris (our contractor) sent us to Brenda at the Carpet Mill Club to pick out our flooring, she was great help.  We went in there not really knowing what we wanted and had the carpet and linoleum picked out within an hour of our first visit and had picked out tile and designed our shower within about 45 minutes of the second visit.  Not too bad!  Before we started all this I didn’t realize you had to design a shower, it’s not just about picking out tile.  You have to decide if you want a decorative border and what direction you want the tile laid.  It’s not an easy task thats for sure, but I think we will be very happy with what we have decided

Even though we are building a house we aren’t letting that take over our lives. We have involved Emma in almost every step of the house building process.  She walks through the job site with us and sometimes comes shopping with us for house stuff, but for the most part we try to do as much as possible while she is in school so that we can spend most free time just playing at the lake with her.  It’s so nice to have our lake place to go to on the weekends this summer, we can just forget about the house for a couple of days and enjoy our time as a family relaxing on the lake.  Emma spends all week talking about how she plans to ‘jump off the boat’ or how ‘daddy fall in the water’ (Joe fell a couple of times his first time wakeboarding this year), when she gets out to the lake the following weekend.  Needless to say she enjoys being ‘on the boat’.

52 days since we started

by @ Thursday, July 21st, 2011. Filed under House Build, update

I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since we started the house!  Time sure does fly by.  Things were on hold for a couple of weeks due to the 4th of July and some seriously bad weather, but we are right on track now.  Last Thursday all there was on our lot was a concrete basement and a driveway, now it’s starting to look like a house!  Our contractor is doing an awesome job keeping us informed and helping us make some decisions.

The driveway is completed

July 15 (Day 46) Getting the basement prepped for the subfloor to go in.

July 15, floor joists being delivered

July 18, Subfloor installed

July 18, Subfloor installed

July 19, Walls!!!

July 19, Walls!!!

July 20, more walls!

July 21, view from the back, walls are all up and the roof is almost done.

July 21, view from the master bedroom.

July 21, the basement

Picture Time!

by @ Thursday, June 23rd, 2011. Filed under update

Life isn’t all about the house these days.  We have been keeping busy with all sorts of non-house related things, mostly just spending time together as a family at the lake.  Boy Emma sure does love going there, she is constantly talking about going out on the boat and asking to drive the boat.  I guess she is still a lake kid.  Last summer we purchased a two seat bike trailer in anticipation of taking family bike rids together, we never really found a good opportunity to use it until last weekend.  Emma had a blast riding in the trailer, she kept yelling ‘faster! faster!’  I think she is going to be into extreme sports some day. :p

I did mention it was picture time, so here are a couple of pictures from Emma’s 2 year shots along with our family picture.

So much progress in so few days…..

by @ Thursday, June 16th, 2011. Filed under House Build, update

I haven’t posted for a few days, we have just been so busy having fun and watching the progress on the house.  So far our contractor has been fantastic, things are moving along so quickly.  He is also giving us some good design and color advice.  I keep telling him that his opinion is welcome (not that we will necessarily do everything he says), it’s not like we build houses every day and know what does and does not look good.  So far last week we made decisions about doorknobs and light fixtures oh and the front door.  Doesn’t that all just sound super exciting?  Mostly it’s just exciting for us.  So anyway here are some updated pictures.  Enjoy.

Day 10: basement is sealed and window wells are installed

Day 14: radiant heat installed
Day 14: radiant heat installed
Day 15: Rebar in place for garage floor
Day 15: Power float finishing basement floor
Day 15: the basement floor is done
Day 15: the driveway is all ready to pour, but we don’t think it looks quite right so they are going to fix it.
Day 16: cutting out section of curb for driveway
Day 17: They fixed our driveway, now it doesn’t look so strange, hoping they pour it tomorrow

[Joe and Brigitte is proudly powered by WordPress.]