Moving Back In!

Now that we have passed our final inspections, we officially have a Certificate of Occupancy. So the power is back in our name, coming through a meter on the side of the house. No more temp pole in the front yard. Before you ask though, the temp bathroom is still out front. And anyone whose nose gets within 100 yards, knows it.

We have a lot of work to do before them. Oh, you ask...install washer/dryer, finish installing hood, finish installing lights, install new bathroom sink, install the rest of the kitchen countertops, template the bathroom countertop, re-paint, re-install the exterior lights that were improperly installed, finish trim around the windows, install closets, finish exterior paint, and so on and so forth.

Final Inspection

After a single misfire, we passed our final inspection today! So the house is ready, you are thinking? Not exactly. But we are in the final phase.

This weekend, they painted the exterior of our house. The final detail work isn't complete yet, but we are no longer the plum house with orange shutters.

They started sanding our floors this morning. So we are officially not allowed to enter the house for the next week.

But next week will be a rush to the finish. Closets, changing out a bathroom vanity, templating a bathroom countertop, installing chandeliers, delivering the last of the appliances...Now if we can just pick out a mattress.

Bad Blogger

It is official. I'm a bad blogger. Good thing I don't rely on the blog for income, huh? Bottom line on blogs. One, they are hard work. This isn't really a surprise to me. But I was out of clever, witty things to say. Two, no one wants to hear too much whining. And I have felt like whining and venting ALOT over the last month. Hopefully we are through the worst of it. So we move forward.

The house is starting to look like a house again. WE EVEN HAVE RUNNING WATER!!!! And as of today, for the first time since early afternoon on January 10, 2010, the north side of the house is not protected by a blue tarp and a prayer. We are currently slated to move in at the end of August. Yes, this is later than we thought. And later than we thought after that. But it is within spitting distance, so hopefully we won't need to move it out again.

But enough of my clever discussion, what does the house look like...

The stairs. Check out the reveal on the sides. Love that! This is the benefit to using an architect.

In reality, the lights are huge. Couldn't seem to capture it with the handy point-and-shoot camera. The countertops will continue down the sides of the island as soon as we clean inspection on the electric.

The is the den--composed of the former parlor and den. The wall used to be just the far side of the fireplace. Of course, that was when the fireplace was faux painted cream and baby poo color. The second picture is the fireplace in the dining room--which is covered with the same slate.

And finally, the new downstairs bathroom. The countertop should be white quartz, but the fabrication period is running long. I am thinking about having the vanity refinished white. We hadn't planned to do that before, but it seems like something we need to do.

Deadlines

I have neglected the blog of late. In short, I have been buried at work and busy busy at the house. The hard part about my job is that sometimes you have to things quickly and our deadlines almost never have any give to them. There is no calling the court to say that you need an extra two weeks, or shooting out an email that you're not going to make the motion hearing because (fill in the blank). You hie off to court and that's just that.

Apparently our contractor does not feel the same way about deadlines. Our house was first going to be done in early July. And then it was mid-July. And then when we got our schedule in May, it was going to be mid-August. And they were confident that the schedule was imminently doable. Guess who just doesn't think that he can make that schedule? Guess who needs another two weeks? They can probably be done by early September. seriously?

New Developments

We have had almost no new developments...hence no blogging.

We thought that we might have to rip out the dining room floor, that it couldn't be finished. But they have found a work around, so we remain hopeful. We'll just have to see.

Are the kitchen cabinets installed? Um, no.

Is anything painted? Again, no.

Are the stairs or stair rails installed? No and no.

What about the tile in the new shower? Not just yet.

As you can see, our progress is startling.

Dry Wall

They have been working on installing dry wall in our house since Tuesday. They have managed to do the downstairs ceilings and doorways. Now maybe they have taken a lot of soda/snack breaks. Or maybe they don't have enough fellows working. Whatever the reason, I am amazed at a particular comparison to television. I distinctly recall watching a flip-real-estate-it-is-easy-and-you-will-get-rich television shows and they dry walled the house in one day. One day. Not so much at our house.

But we are making forward progress, so I'm not in much of a complaining mood.

Now if the Historic Society would just get back to us so that we can order new windows...

Paying for our New Insulation

Nationwide sent the check for the repairs to us. But the check wasn't really for us. It was made jointly to me, Paul and Wells Fargo (our mortgage holder). We signed the check and sent it to Wells Fargo. They then protect the money -- make sure that we are spending it wisely. Today I had to meet an inspector at the house. He will release more money to the contractor based on the percentage of work that he determined was complete.

He decided 60% was complete. I am not going to freak out about the fact that it has taken SO long to get to 60%. We are moving into the house in August. That's just that.

But guess what greeted me this morning at 7:30? If you guessed a smelly port-a-potty, you are correct. If you guess oppressive heat, you are correct. If you guessed a REALLY smelly port-a-potty, you are correct. More importantly though, we have insulation. And dry wall has been delivered. Perhaps August isn't such a pipe dream after all.

We also applied to the Historic Districts Commission for permission to change out our windows. Any guesses about the chances that I will buy in a historic neighborhood for the next house?