Plugging along...

Despite the fact that we are weeks away from moving in... it seems that there is nothing too spectacular to report this week.  A lot of little details are getting taken care of right now... caulking and more caulking, hauling away trash and more trash, filling in dirt and more dirt.

The barn is coming along nicely... though they aren't quite to the caulking stage yet...  (I can dream can't I?  Oh... maybe that's just being impatient.)  Here are some pictures of barn construction this week:

front view, first floor framed

First floor, starting the roof

back view

in the upstairs loft

Here are Joe and Rob climbing around on the barn.  They love to give me a heart attack.  This is the side of the barn facing the house.

Despite the fact that we just went through this whole process with the house, it is still exciting to do it again for the barn.  Maybe I'm a masochist.  I have this rosy outlook that we will not have any major hurdles, design flaws, allowance overages....  ok, I'm probably not being realistic there, but we do like the firm that is building the barn a LOT.  Unfortunately, about $1,000 worth of their lumber was stolen from the site this past week.  I guess you could call that a bump in the road.

On the home front:

They finally stained the beams and painted the trim.  I am so thrilled with how the outside has turned out.  Awhile back I was really disappointed in how the brick and stone looked together.  I'm still not crazy about it, but the dark brown trim does a great job of tying everything together.  LOVE IT.

They finally put the stone on the fireplace.  Just hoping we never have an earthquake... because I'm pretty sure that would come tumbling down.

Somewhere in the house, I'm not allowed to say where,  there is a secret bookcase door.
That's all I'm saying.

Jim's office.  We were noticing that every few days some new piece of moulding shows up.  Jesse the trim carpenter said he doesn't always know what he is going to do... he just kind of makes it up as he goes along.  (That could be why we are 3 weeks over on trim, but he sure does a beautiful job!)

Front Staircase.  This type is called "closed stringer" where you don't see the individual steps from the side.  

Here is our poor laundry room.  They re-arranged all the ductwork and pipe to move the washer and dryer down the wall, but our builder finally (after being ill and in the hospital) came over to see our dilemma and he was not happy with that solution.   He agreed that the designer made a huge error in not drawing the washer and dryer to the proper scale.  (He also admitted that they should have caught that when they reviewed the plans)  He is working with the project manager to find a way to recess the washer and dryer into the wall so it is flush with the cabinets.  The stairs are behind this wall, so it is a bit of a challenge to figure out.  He assures me that this will not affect our timing for move-in.  Poor Jesse will have to re-do the cabinetry again.  (for the 3rd time.)

We're now at the point where we are making all of our final selections for the house.  Why is it that all builders under bid the allowances?  It is the most aggravating part of building.  Oh, you want cabinet hardware?  We didn't actually budget for that....  Recently I posted some pictures of some possible granite selections.  I expected that to come back over budget since I ventured into the "exotics" section of the granite warehouse.  But it wasn't as bad as I thought and we might just be able to put this one in the kitchen:

"Azul Fantasy"

The other thing we have been trying to decide for weeks is what to do in the dome.  The painter obviously thinks we should paint it... but I saw this picture in a decorating book the other day and got to thinking...

How awesome would it be to plaque the dome rather than do some sort of faux painting?

When Shane (builder) walked through with me he said he loves the idea and it is much more fitting with the other moulding we have done in the main area of the house.  We were concerned that it would push our move-in date too far back to be able to do it, but Jesse has said he can have it done by next Wednesday.  It won't look exactly like this, but this is the inspiration.  He is very good at what he does so we are confident that the dome will turn out great.

In other news, sadly, our prospective horse, Tex, found a new home this week.  We knew the timing to get him wasn't ideal right now so we will work with the same trainer to get a different horse.  

"When do you get to move in?" is what everyone always asks.  We still do not know.  We are praying to be in by Christmas.  If we are not going to be in for Christmas, I am taking suggestions for a vacation spot because I will not be able to "plug along" in this rental house at that point in time.  (Jim--are you paying attention here?  Yes, I'm pretty sure you agree...)