#14 - Mind Blown

I'm still in shock and can't really believe this is real.  I see it before my very eyes, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that this part is actually finished, and that it happened so quickly. I'm going to share a bunch of pictures with information below each one. 

 

Also, a quick but heartfelt thank you to everyone who is enthusiastic and enjoying this process alongside us. (AND A SHOUT OUT TO THE COACH IN PA WHO SPENT EONS WRITING 461 TEXTS TO MATT TALKING THROUGH ALL THE CRAZINESS OF THE FRAMING DETAILS IN THE BEGINNING.  YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!)  In the back of my mind, I've been contrasting our building of a house with the devastation that happened and is about to happen because of Harvey and Irma.  Others' homes are torn down, and it really stinks.  There's a time to mourn and time to celebrate, and we sometimes have to do them simultaneously, which can cause a complete second-guessing of all emotions...and second guessing of emotions can make us shut them out altogether and become numb. How can you be sad for one person, but happy for the next guy?  Sometimes even in our own lives, we have thrilling and devastating things happening at the same time!

  It's hard to make sense of it all.  But I thank God for the trials and the joys, I really do. Trials bring about wisdom and give us an opportunity to guide someone else through similar circumstances down the road; and joys give us refreshment and rest from the hardships that are often a part of life.  Here's a little reminder to just be genuine and empathize.  Remind yourself that it's ok to feel for others - happy or sad, or anywhere in between!  God gives us emotions and it's all part of the human experience to be available to each other when times are sad and when times are happy.  Weep when others weep, rejoice when others rejoice.  We're all in this together.  So, all that to say, thank you for being happy with us and caring about this process. It makes it that much sweeter. 

So...here we are.  It's our Cape Ranch, Ranch Cod, Cranch or whatever you wanna call it!  And, we LOVE it. 

The framers left yesterday.  They worked from 7:30 to 4:30 almost every day that they were here, except yesterday.  They put in about 2.5 extra hours to button everything up and get this process f-i-n-i-s-h-e-d so they didn't have to come back today.  This is the part of the process that Matt poured hours and hours and hours into thinking through all of these months.  Lots and lots and lots and lots of thinking.  He meticulously worked out the framing and the connection between our existing house and the roof, and hasn't stopped thinking about it since. (Coach, I'm with you on the gable end, but it wasn't meant to be...if only we had unlimited funds!) It took a lot of processing and thinking through, and now it's complete.  I walked out there today to take pictures and found copies of the drawing (that Matt also did, by hand, at our kitchen table with a T-square and a pencil.) in a forgotten pile on the floor. He says it feels the same as it did every time he completed a semester in college.  So much effort came down to final exams, and then the exams are done and you're left with . . . success, but no pressing deadlines or projects.  Strange feeling, for sure.

 Framing-Check!  Roof-Check! Doors and Windows-Check!  Inspired Kid-Check!

 

They both spent a LOT of time outside watching the whole process.  We even let Ezra skip school one day.  Don't tell.  The girls paid attention, too, but not as much as Ezra did.  He also started wearing jeans.  Because that's what the other guys did.  They even gave him a tape measure and wore that on his pants for days and days.  It's his current favorite possession.

 

 

This is our current bedroom window looking out through our future closet into our future bedroom.  The window will be removed, the hole drywalled over when this is all said and done. The larger portion of  our current room will become a kid's bedroom, and 1/5th of it will become a hallway.

 

 

Walking into the patio door.  Straight ahead is a utility room.  To the right is the entrance to the existing house into the kitchen. Turn to the left, and it's the family room.

Family room with stairs to an extra bedroom, bathroom and attic.
  That lower landing is one of my favorite parts!

Standing in the family room looking toward the existing house.  That plywood covers the doorway to our kitchen for the time being to prevent dust, etc.  That ladder is one that Matt and the kids made to use before the stairs were built.  It's not attached, it's just standing there.  The doorway under the ladder is the laundry room.  It shares a wall with the utility room.  Once you walk into it, there's another doorway that will go into our bedroom. We were fine having our bedroom connected to a laundry room.  That seemed to make more sense than having a door to our bedroom in the family room.

Standing in the family room, looking straight into the laundry.  The AC is just in holding there for the time being.

 

In our bedroom.  That's the window to our current bedroom, inside what will be a closet. (The window we be removed and replaced with drywall.)  To the right of the closet is where our bedroom door will open into a new hallway (part of our current bedroom is becoming a hallway).

 

More master bedroom closet and doorway area

Our bedroom, bathroom door on the right, walk in closet on the left.

Straight on shot of the master closet on the left and master bath on the right.  That tiny window is above the toilet.  Straight ahead is where double sinks will go.

Window at the bottom, window at the top!

At the top of the stairs are two doorways.  Straight ahead goes to attic storage space.  Turn right, and you enter the extra/guest bedroom.

Attic space.  That dark hole is where the new roof attaches to the old.  This space will most likely be used to house a lot of duct work and wires.  No need to remove the old shingles.  They just built over top of them.  It reminds me of a secret annex.  The kids think it's amazing.

Looking into the extra room.  The doorway goes to a full bathroom. The space on the left is undefined, but will likely be a closet of some sort to make this an official bedroom.

The dormer area.  Hello book nook!  Looking out this window is FUN.

 

We found this written on the ladder one day.  We aren't sure who wrote it, but it wasn't one of our kids.  Maybe my plan is coming true and one of the nice young boys fell for one of our girls?! ;-)  I'm just kidding.  We are so not ready for boy/girl shenanigans!

We had to (oh darn, how sad.)  remove this entire unit - 1964 oven included! - to make room for the opening into the family room.  We moved it to where our fridge was, and moved the fridge across the room.  For a while the kitchen will be in a holding pattern, but eventually, we'll reconfigure it.  It's a bonus part of the project.  Since we're moving the laundry, HVAC and utilities to the new area (they're all right in the kitchen!), the kitchen will automatically be changed.  So, we'll work on it as we go along.

And lastly, a view from the road!