#23 - Do You See What I See?
What a whirlwind, where do I begin! December has been a race to the finish. Only, we aren't actually near the finish line. We thought at first that Christmas would be a loose deadline to aim for, but we didn't make it. It's ok though because it's our own timeline so we get to change it whenever we want. In keeping with choosing a holiday -- I say we shoot for Valentine's Day now. It all depends on how speedy Matt and I can be. A lot of the next phases--flooring, paint and trim--are jobs that we plan to do on our own.
Drywall was completed about 2 or so weeks ago. I didn't know much about the drywall process before this. My only experience was watching my parents drywall the basement when I was a kid, and I probably paid very little attention and only saw what they were doing when I went downstairs to ask for a Little Debbie or to tell on one of my brothers. My main takeaway: Holy Crimany It's Dusty! There is still dust everywhere. Note to self: get that wiped up before Christmas festivities.
The drywall crew spent about 4 days at our house, I think. It's all a blur now. Seems like ages ago. They spent one day hanging the sheets, one day mudding the seams, one day installing the corner bead, and the final day sanding the seams. The best part about this crew is that they blasted Spanish tunes while they were working. For four days mi casa was zesty and fun!
I'm a sucker all things Spanish. I was that completely over the top and annoying child in Spanish class that raised my hand and was like, "My aunt and uncle live in Miami and my uncle is Puerto Rican." (Thanks Titi & Tio for providing me reason to name-drop in middle school.) and my Spanish teacher is like, "That's great, save your life story, I just need you to conjugate that verb por favor." Actually my Spanish teacher was more supportive and enthusiastic than that but when dealing with 8th grade girls you have to be. It's a survival skill to avoid emotional meltdowns.
We took many trips to Miami over the years and a big love for Spanish culture seeped into my soul. The bright colors, the music, the tile, the big personality, the togetherness of families, the boisterousness, the warm embraces and the big smiles. Are those sweeping generalizations? Maybe a little, but I think you know what I'm saying. I love it so much that I'm even figuring out how to work a Spanish vibe into our master bath. It's in my head, I just need to figure out how to bring it to life. It makes my heart happy. (On the other hand, I am very easily influenced. When I look at an LLBean catalog, I want to put plaid everywhere, start wearing dusty pink knit mock turtlenecks and buy us all some boat shoes. But, I do think my LLBean love is more superficial, while my Spanish love runs deeper.)
All that to say - the blasting Spanish tunes, the conversations between the guys, and even the talk radio show they listened to at one point (who knows what they were talking about! I just pretended it was a radio preacher.) was so relaxing and pleasant that I'm not even mad about the giant mess their work made in my house. I even tried speaking a little Spanish with them but that didn't go well.
They were complete opposite of the insulation crew who wore earbuds the whole time and worked very, very quietly. The kids were also pretty amazed by their stilt-walking talents. I was pretty amazed that they can walk around in all of that dust and still breathe. I'm sorta worried about their overall heath, it can't be good to breathe that fine misty dust day after day after day.
So, here it is! Picture overload:
In the above photos you'll see one door. Matt and Ezra borrowed a trailer from our pastor and went to Menards to buy all of the doors we'll need. Two guys, two flatbeds, 1 trailer and they got the job done. I asked Matt if he had help at the store. "Yeah," he said, "Ezra!" Right! I sometimes forget that my tiny babies have regular muscles that can do stuff.
Speaking of our pastor -- he probably would not want me to broadcast this but I'm going to anyway. Our pastor and his wife just built a house. They had a lot of leftover primer. (You have to prime the drywall before you paint it.) Not only did they give us their leftover primer, he and his wife volunteered to prime for us! (And I shouldn't fail to mention that a few other friends have offered to come help us paint, which is much appreciated!) They spent 4 different days priming our drywall. That is a LOT of work! And a huge gift and we are incredibly grateful!
Because that was done so quickly, Matt and I were able to get started on painting the colors! Our current bedroom color is a lightish blue, and I love it so much I almost used the same color again. But, I just felt the need to go with something a little richer, a little deeper. I/we decided on a color called Autumn Fog. It's the perfect shade of grey/blue with the perfect amount of depth and richness without being over powering. Painting walls when there's no trim or floors is a dream life.
Here's our door collection, stashed in our bedroom closet:
We're going to go ahead and paint this same color on the laundry room floor and paint a white, pretty stencil on top. It's going to be good enough and we already have the supplies. At this point, our focus is on getting the house "bank ready" We have to get the final inspection of all finishes before getting our final loan check from the bank. Remember, we do the work and they reimburse us for the percent of completion. They don't reimburse is penny-for-penny of what we spend. It's not like turning in a receipt and getting an exact amount. They have preset percentages, so an inspector comes and tells the bank how far along we are. For example, let's say we were already 60% complete the last inspection and have already been given 60% of our loan. The inspector comes again and decides that we're now 80% complete. The bank will cut us a check for 20% of our mortgage/loan amount because the amount of completion increased by 20%.
At this point, we have to be able to finish all of the work before getting our final amount from the bank to pay ourselves back. So, since we already have the floor paint, we'll use that for the laundry room for the time being (or maybe forever) instead of spending time/effort/money on installing tile or some other flooring. There are things that we're prioritizing to get just how we want them (Spanish Master Bathroom Retreat) and there are things that we're just getting finished and may or may not upgrade later (probably not).
I even suggested stealing our toilets from or old house bathrooms to just install in the addition just for inspection purposes. But Matt says that's weird. But when you're at the finish line and Christmas is happening at the same, stealing toilets from yourself to save $600 sounds completely normal.
Not only do we have to have a final bank inspection to receive the rest of our funds, but we have to have a final inspection from the county to tell us we're allowed to move in. This strikes me as so strange! It's so weird to have to get permission to move your belongings 20 feet into another part of the house. I understand, but if I overthink it, it's weird. Thank the Lord I don't have to get a permit every time I rearrange the living room! (Although, come to think of it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have to get a permit to open some of our closets.)
It's been a crazy, whirlwind December. I try to make it my #1 priority every year to try to NOT be busy and distracted in December. I like to have my shopping done before Thanksgiving because I want to spend the whole month focusing on Jesus and what his birth means to all of humankind. We have an advent book we like to read each evening, we like to bake, we like to savor the month. This year - crash and burn on all accounts. We haven't read one single night of our advent book (but we have flipped the ornaments over), we haven't made cookies yet. I still have wrapping to do. I finished my shopping 1 week ago. My Christmas dishes are still in the attic, and I can't find Eliana or Ezra's stocking. We did watch Home Alone and we went to a free Christmas show (Which by the way is streaming online now and is AMAZING!!! I bet you a million dollars any of you reading this would love it. You need to watch it. Please do. If you've ever wondered what's the big deal about Jesus anyway, definitely watch it. If you love Jesus, watch it. If you have breath in your lungs or eating a Christmas cookie right now, watch it! The music is so pretty and the artistry is incredible! I've never been to broadway, but I'm positive this rivals Broadway. ) But, we have to take it all in stride! This year is different, and for a good reason.
MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!
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| My (used to be) favorite little tree, basking in the sunshine. I was trying to keep it alive. But, he turned spikey and vicious, so I don't think he's a favorite anymore. |
Drywall was completed about 2 or so weeks ago. I didn't know much about the drywall process before this. My only experience was watching my parents drywall the basement when I was a kid, and I probably paid very little attention and only saw what they were doing when I went downstairs to ask for a Little Debbie or to tell on one of my brothers. My main takeaway: Holy Crimany It's Dusty! There is still dust everywhere. Note to self: get that wiped up before Christmas festivities.
The drywall crew spent about 4 days at our house, I think. It's all a blur now. Seems like ages ago. They spent one day hanging the sheets, one day mudding the seams, one day installing the corner bead, and the final day sanding the seams. The best part about this crew is that they blasted Spanish tunes while they were working. For four days mi casa was zesty and fun!
I'm a sucker all things Spanish. I was that completely over the top and annoying child in Spanish class that raised my hand and was like, "My aunt and uncle live in Miami and my uncle is Puerto Rican." (Thanks Titi & Tio for providing me reason to name-drop in middle school.) and my Spanish teacher is like, "That's great, save your life story, I just need you to conjugate that verb por favor." Actually my Spanish teacher was more supportive and enthusiastic than that but when dealing with 8th grade girls you have to be. It's a survival skill to avoid emotional meltdowns.
We took many trips to Miami over the years and a big love for Spanish culture seeped into my soul. The bright colors, the music, the tile, the big personality, the togetherness of families, the boisterousness, the warm embraces and the big smiles. Are those sweeping generalizations? Maybe a little, but I think you know what I'm saying. I love it so much that I'm even figuring out how to work a Spanish vibe into our master bath. It's in my head, I just need to figure out how to bring it to life. It makes my heart happy. (On the other hand, I am very easily influenced. When I look at an LLBean catalog, I want to put plaid everywhere, start wearing dusty pink knit mock turtlenecks and buy us all some boat shoes. But, I do think my LLBean love is more superficial, while my Spanish love runs deeper.)
All that to say - the blasting Spanish tunes, the conversations between the guys, and even the talk radio show they listened to at one point (who knows what they were talking about! I just pretended it was a radio preacher.) was so relaxing and pleasant that I'm not even mad about the giant mess their work made in my house. I even tried speaking a little Spanish with them but that didn't go well.
They were complete opposite of the insulation crew who wore earbuds the whole time and worked very, very quietly. The kids were also pretty amazed by their stilt-walking talents. I was pretty amazed that they can walk around in all of that dust and still breathe. I'm sorta worried about their overall heath, it can't be good to breathe that fine misty dust day after day after day.
So, here it is! Picture overload:
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| attic door |
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| upstairs |
 |
| looking back into the old house where the hobbit door used to be |
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| upstairs bath |
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| upstairs closet and built-in bookcase. |
In the above photos you'll see one door. Matt and Ezra borrowed a trailer from our pastor and went to Menards to buy all of the doors we'll need. Two guys, two flatbeds, 1 trailer and they got the job done. I asked Matt if he had help at the store. "Yeah," he said, "Ezra!" Right! I sometimes forget that my tiny babies have regular muscles that can do stuff.
Speaking of our pastor -- he probably would not want me to broadcast this but I'm going to anyway. Our pastor and his wife just built a house. They had a lot of leftover primer. (You have to prime the drywall before you paint it.) Not only did they give us their leftover primer, he and his wife volunteered to prime for us! (And I shouldn't fail to mention that a few other friends have offered to come help us paint, which is much appreciated!) They spent 4 different days priming our drywall. That is a LOT of work! And a huge gift and we are incredibly grateful!
Because that was done so quickly, Matt and I were able to get started on painting the colors! Our current bedroom color is a lightish blue, and I love it so much I almost used the same color again. But, I just felt the need to go with something a little richer, a little deeper. I/we decided on a color called Autumn Fog. It's the perfect shade of grey/blue with the perfect amount of depth and richness without being over powering. Painting walls when there's no trim or floors is a dream life.
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| One Coat and done! |
Here's our door collection, stashed in our bedroom closet:
And here's the utility room floor. It shouldn't be long now until we have heat! Which is good because it's very cold out there and we've been running electric heaters around the clock (can't wait to see that bill!). Thankfully, the weather has been mild this week.
We're going to go ahead and paint this same color on the laundry room floor and paint a white, pretty stencil on top. It's going to be good enough and we already have the supplies. At this point, our focus is on getting the house "bank ready" We have to get the final inspection of all finishes before getting our final loan check from the bank. Remember, we do the work and they reimburse us for the percent of completion. They don't reimburse is penny-for-penny of what we spend. It's not like turning in a receipt and getting an exact amount. They have preset percentages, so an inspector comes and tells the bank how far along we are. For example, let's say we were already 60% complete the last inspection and have already been given 60% of our loan. The inspector comes again and decides that we're now 80% complete. The bank will cut us a check for 20% of our mortgage/loan amount because the amount of completion increased by 20%.
At this point, we have to be able to finish all of the work before getting our final amount from the bank to pay ourselves back. So, since we already have the floor paint, we'll use that for the laundry room for the time being (or maybe forever) instead of spending time/effort/money on installing tile or some other flooring. There are things that we're prioritizing to get just how we want them (Spanish Master Bathroom Retreat) and there are things that we're just getting finished and may or may not upgrade later (probably not).
I even suggested stealing our toilets from or old house bathrooms to just install in the addition just for inspection purposes. But Matt says that's weird. But when you're at the finish line and Christmas is happening at the same, stealing toilets from yourself to save $600 sounds completely normal.
Not only do we have to have a final bank inspection to receive the rest of our funds, but we have to have a final inspection from the county to tell us we're allowed to move in. This strikes me as so strange! It's so weird to have to get permission to move your belongings 20 feet into another part of the house. I understand, but if I overthink it, it's weird. Thank the Lord I don't have to get a permit every time I rearrange the living room! (Although, come to think of it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have to get a permit to open some of our closets.)
It's been a crazy, whirlwind December. I try to make it my #1 priority every year to try to NOT be busy and distracted in December. I like to have my shopping done before Thanksgiving because I want to spend the whole month focusing on Jesus and what his birth means to all of humankind. We have an advent book we like to read each evening, we like to bake, we like to savor the month. This year - crash and burn on all accounts. We haven't read one single night of our advent book (but we have flipped the ornaments over), we haven't made cookies yet. I still have wrapping to do. I finished my shopping 1 week ago. My Christmas dishes are still in the attic, and I can't find Eliana or Ezra's stocking. We did watch Home Alone and we went to a free Christmas show (Which by the way is streaming online now and is AMAZING!!! I bet you a million dollars any of you reading this would love it. You need to watch it. Please do. If you've ever wondered what's the big deal about Jesus anyway, definitely watch it. If you love Jesus, watch it. If you have breath in your lungs or eating a Christmas cookie right now, watch it! The music is so pretty and the artistry is incredible! I've never been to broadway, but I'm positive this rivals Broadway. ) But, we have to take it all in stride! This year is different, and for a good reason.
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| haphazard lights... |
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| and 3/5 stockings. We'll call that success for 2017! |
MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!
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