First, an update on our current situation. We sold our house even with the market being so slow. We close on Sept. 28th. Hooray! Unfortunately, we don't close on the new house until Oct. 26th. Now, we considered going to stay with Mom, Cindy, Mike and the boys but decided we didn't want to drive from E'ville everyday and ruin everyone's routines (including our own). It was best said when mom asked my BIL, Mike, what he thought and his reply was, "That's a terrible idea." It's not as bad as it sounds ... he agreed with our assessment of the drive and privacy/schedule disruption of our little family. I still love him!! So, beginning Sept. 26th, we'll be spending 30 days in a one bedroom, furnished apt in St. Charles not too far from our new place. We're calling it a vacation. After all, the community has indoor and outdoor pools, a sport court, fitness center, clubhouse, media room / movie rentals, billiards room, and office center. What more could you ask for?
Now onto the pics. I'll start right at the beginning and give you the big updates ....
This is a quick look ahead. Our house will look very similar to this one in style, but we have a 3 car garage on the right-hand side of the house. Our colors our neutral also, but they aren't the same as these.
Back on June 9th, this is what we had ... an empty lot with a sold sign.
But, by June 19th .... we had a big hole in the dirt.
Ten days later, some concrete had been poured ...
After that, things came to a halt for while. I left town for a few days at the end of July, and when I came back ... walls!!
This one was taken on Aug. 1, and the second floor was taking shape.
5 days later .. the beginnings of a roof.
By Aug. 9th, they had delivered shingles. I was pretty excited about this part because once the house was "under roof", the builder would give us a two week window on our closing date. It was a big milestone.
Just about a month later, this is how the house looked. We have windows ... all but one. (Our master bathroom window wasn't anywhere to be found. The others had been in for 2-3 weeks at this point. Luckily it showed up and was finally installed earlier this week.) This pic also captures the next big outdoor milestone which was the hope for some brick. Those piles in the yard are brick/stone, mortar, sand, etc.
Here are some inside pics. By Aug. 23rd, most of the wiring, plumbing, and duct work had been done. This is a shot from the kitchen looking toward the breakfast room & family room. (I lied about showing you wiring ... those wires hanging from the ceiling are for the surround sound and the stuff above and next to the fireplace is for our TV/satellite, etc.)
Here's the kitchen from the other direction.
Two short weeks later ... here are the same shots, but we have drywall now. It looks like a real house!!
Tuesday of this week ... garage doors were installed, and the brick guys set up scaffolding to start work.
Today ... the brick is done except for 3 rows at the top of the porch. We're happy with the color which is good because you have to pick it from a 12x12 inch square sample. Hard to imagine what it would look like on our house. I think it looks great! The 2nd floor/front gets shake-shingle siding, and the other 3 sides get regular siding. Who knows when that will happen, but I'll update again as soon as I can.
Bye for now ... I'll try to get back to you before another 3 weeks go by!!
