Stand by - we WILL move this week

This morning, we met our mortgage broker at the house to sign a few final papers. This converted our loan from a construction loan to a regular mortgage. We got there and these arrows were painted on the driveway. Our builder was very apologetic - the City, in its wisdom, decided that our front lawn needed a Sidewalk To Nowhere (since neither of our neighbors has one).
Here is the red tag the inspector left - see the middle line? "No sidewalk." Thanks, dude, you couldn't have mentioned that the same day you required the Bureaucracy Oak?
So, we called the movers and delayed everything for one day. We had planned to move on Wednesday, but everyone would have to slog through this mess:

They should pour the sidewalk and re-pour the driveway on Wednesday. The movers will have to leave their trucks on the street and bring everything in, but that's what they usually do, anyway. Look, they had to move the Bureaucracy Oak to make room for the sidewalk:

We're keeping a sense of humor - what else can we do? Lucky for us, the apartment is still ours for 12 days.

Cool ride of the week.25

I couldn't choose a favorite this week, so we have two Cool Rides. First, this nice red '56 Chevy. Exterior trim intact, wide whitewalls, the works. Beautiful.

Then we have this Austin-Healey in British Racing Green with a yellow stripe. I doubt those are the original wheels, but who cares? It's still a cool ride.

A new variety of oak

Our blog followers in Texas have all heard about the "Treaty Oak" in Austin, a 500 year old live oak that figures heavily in Texas history (look it up on Wikipedia). As our builder winds up the last few items to finish our house, he told us our front yard had to have two trees to pass the City's inspection. Here's the tree we already have, remember it from last March?

How can another tree thrive under that canopy? Well, our builder has found a new variety of oak. He didn't name it, but we have: The Bureaucracy Oak.

Isn't it darling? Shhh - the builder stuck it in the ground, in the pot it came in, and added some mulch. After the City signs off, that little tree will be yanked out and donated to our landscaper.

Drum roll, please. . . .

Today, an outside vendor (not our builder) installed the stained glass windows we recycled from our old house. Here's the "before" shot of the entry, taken this morning:
Check out the "after" shot:

Here we go again - here is the family room, "before":

And "after":

These windows were taken out of our old house back in February, and we haven't seen them since then. Worth the trouble? YOU BET.

The professional inspection

Today, our independent inspector checked the house. He found a few things that we hope can be fixed in the next several days. There he is, in the kitchen, doing whatever he does. Look, the floor is uncovered and showing itself off:

Here's another look at the floors, I can't get enough of them.

One of the things we found during our walk-through yesterday was the fireplace. The box was crooked in the opening. Our builder marked it and today, they had ripped out the tile and were getting it fixed:

Walking through our jardin

No pictures today, sorry folks. We did our walk-through with the builder today, pointing out all the little things they need to fix before we close the deal. Paint chip here, nail pop there, level that cabinet door, etc. We were pretty fussy (hey, why not? It's a lot of money). The walk-through took about 3 hours. Tomorrow we have an independent inspector who will check things out, too. The builder was fine with that. It's just some added peace of mind.

I'll go over at lunch tomorrow and get some pix. We hope to be moving in about a week! We'll keep the blog going for a little while so you can see our landscaping and all the final touches.

Cool ride of the week.24

Ok, it's not a Motown muscle car, but it's still a cool ride! Here's hubby in 2007, about to take a spin in an L-39 Albatros. And the real pilot let him take the stick for most of the ride. THAT's cool.

Shutters on - but shut out again

Locked out of the house again for the weekend. That's okay, we don't want our new stuff to disappear. We peeked inside and they have installed all the door hardware. On the outside, they put up the shutters.

Kind of a rustic look.

Also, they tore out the brick by the front door, moved the sidelights outward a few inches, and bricked it all back up again. Now the sidelights align with the arch window above. It's a little thing, but it looks better.

We're supposed to have our "walk through" early next week, then they'll fix all the little things we point out, and we hope to get the keys by August 31. AWESOME!

Beehive

Another lunchtime visit today. The plumbing fixtures in the powder room have been installed. The flash didn't go off on this pic, but you get the idea:

And our big tub finally made its entrance.

Here's an action shot, they were running the faucet when I was there.

There were guys all over the house today, touching up paint, caulking, you name it. We're in the home stretch now. Our apartment lease runs out in 3 weeks and 4 days. Will we make it? Or will we have to roam around Houston in a U-Haul with all our stuff in it? Stay tuned.

The builder's back in town . . .

We hope he had a nice vacation but WHAT ABOUT US? Well, by the time I visited at lunch today, they had installed all our window screens. That's a dull picture, why bother. Also, the under cabinet lighting is in the kitchen:

We think they'll put a little strip of trim along the front of the cabinet, just so you don't get a headache, and to cover up the housing.

Also, they put in the big ceiling fan in the family room. This baby has a loooong cord hanging from it.

Hubby went about 2 hours later, and they were delivering the plumbing fixtures for the powder room, plus the big tub for our bathroom. By the time I get there at lunch tomorrow, they'll probably be installed.

Cool ride of the week.23

This week we have this ultra-cool Sunbeam Alpine, sent in by guest blogger, brother Mark! (aka Rocco) I scanned this on our home computer from a snapshot he took in Birmingham, Mich in 2008. Birmingham is home to myriad cool rides, and host of the annual Woodward Dream Cruise every summer.

Bat bridge!

Last night we went to the local bat bridge at sunset to wait for the bats to wake up and fly out. Man, they stink! The little white dots in the pic are bats:

The sunset was pretty, too:
Here's our friend Paul Jr., an Iraq war vet. Thanks, PJ!

Here I am, getting to know a random Chihuahua who wanted to be friends:

We'll be cookin' with gas - soon

This week they brought in the kitchen appliances. Here's the cooktop in the island:

Microwave and double oven below it.
Dishwasher - it still has the protective film on it.

And this little gizmo on the kitchen sink - a reverse osmosis water purifier. Anyone remember what that means from high school? Bueller?

Whatever. That was a "free" item the builder tossed in. We'll be locked out of the house for the next several days, our builder dude is taking a little vacation. NOW? Can't blame him, I guess, but NOW?

We're floored!

Today they carpeted everything that should be carpeted, plus they installed a lot of the hardwood floors. Here is the master bedroom carpet, a nice neutral color.

Here's another shot that includes my freshly pedicured left foot:

On to the hardwoods. They did about half the downstairs today and promptly covered it with thick paper. Here are some shots of little parts they left uncovered:

Pantry - not much traffic there:

Hey, there's the real front door.

They'll probably finish the flooring tomorrow.

Cool ride of the week.22

This week we have a cool '57 (?) Chevy convertible. This guy has it right - fender skirts, wide whites, all the exterior trim intact. Love these giant ragtops. See who's riding in the back, those red lips behind the driver? A couple of sock monkeys.
And, since the Smart is an endless source of amusement, we have this tandem shot of our Smart sharing a parking space with a ragtop Smart. They make a nice couple.

Get out of the gutter

Yesterday they installed our gutters and downspouts. This picture isn't too good, we took it in the morning sun. Anyway, that's done.

And they put our official address block on the front column:

Now that the custom windows are installed, the brick masons were finally able to finish that work.
This fellow is washing off the mortar dust. They always make a mess, but they always clean it up.

We didn't go inside the house today, they have leveled the floors in preparation for hardwoods/carpet, and the thinset wasn't really dry. We didn't want to leave our paw prints in it.

More windows

At last, today they installed our custom windows over the front door and in the back. These don't look too exciting yet, but just hold that thought for a few more weeks. This one is in the back, facing the patio. Outside view:

Inside view:

Here is the window over the front door. They'll have to move those sidelights (vertical windows on either side of the door) outward a few inches to match the width correctly. Oops - do over. Here is the mirrored backsplash on the butler's pantry. Look at all that dust - what a mess.