From the Ground Up: Transformations

This past week we have done a lot of remembering. Friday, January 25, marked one year that Michael has been gone. It has been a transformative year!

January 2012

Checking in at the airport. He looks scared...

And here he is in January 2013. I just can't get over how much happier he looks in every single picture.

If this is what happens after one year, I can only imagine what it will be after two. We miss him terribly, but we are so proud of Michael.

As far as the house goes, there are a lot of transformations going on there, too.

From this:

To this:

Yes, there is a garage floor under there.

From this:

Although we liked this light fixture, it simply did not give enough light for the area.

In addition to changing out the light fixture, we added LED lighting to the dome.

Up goes the new one

To this:

Dome is much brighter now

Light hangs lower and is brighter.

From this:

Upstairs (bunk room door to left, bathroom in center, back hallway to right)

To this:

Love this carpet that Jim picked!

And this:

To this:

Media room!

One:

Carpet laid out on the driveway for cutting

Two:

Finished in Joe's room

Before:

Rob's room

After:

Finished!

Another:

Front porch slate

And done:

This transformation still isn't quite complete, but it shows the progress:

Front stained, faucet added, towel ring added, plug moved, walls faux painted.
Still to be done: paint mirror frame and change plug color.

This is a dramatic change:

This one was taken awhile back...

Here it is after our giant magnolias were planted on Friday!

I don't have a before picture of this, but it is an important picture. We have struggled with tile issues from almost the beginning of the project. Granted, this is a difficult shower and difficult tile to work with. The grout lines were uneven, the tile was chipped and we just weren't happy with it but we didn't have much confidence in their ability to get it fixed right. And we were right. After the 3rd attempt to repair it, Jim finally e-mailed the builder and said we needed to be done with the current tile company. Within 2 days a new tile contractor came in and all of our tile mistakes were corrected and look absolutely fabulous.

Thank you very much.

The biggest transformation this week has been outside. The final grade was done:

Front--

Removing all the junk

Building the entrance gate. The brown posts are for the horse fencing.

from a pile of stones...

To columns. 3 on each side of the driveway.

And back:

Here you can see the horse fence along the trees in the back and the posts for the backyard fence are set.

Friday afternoon: backyard fence done, pasture cross fence up, beds prepared, and 2 trees planted!

I was going to just start another blog to show the barn progress... and then I though nah... I'll just put it in this one. So here are a few more pictures:

All the doors and trim done, light fixtures installed.

Tack room

Garage-style doors installed

All the beams stained

Exterior ceilings painted blue. This just makes me so happy!

Inside view--lights and fans installed.

And now for the burning question: WHEN DO WE MOVE IN??? We were all set to start moving in as soon as we were granted a Certificant of Occupancy (CO) on Tuesday January 29.

We had a meeting on Friday, in which we learned:

1) The City of Southlake is willing to grant us a 30 day temporary CO as long as we agree to have our 48 inches of tree trunks planted before that time is up. Well, guess what? We already have almost all our trees planted.

2) Our project manager is calling for the first CO inspection on Monday. That does not mean we get to move in Monday.

3) Tuesday and Wednesday morning will be used to fix anything brought up in the inspection.

4) We will have a second CO inspection on Wednesday afternoon. That does not mean we get to move in Wednesday evening.

5) The project manager wants Thursday, Friday and Saturday to finalize and finish everything else, such as final cleaning, final finish on the floors, and install appliances.

SO, WE THINK WE ARE MOVING IN MONDAY/TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4/5. I have only had to reschedule all the deliveries and movers once... and

6) We're not 100% sure that the barn will be done by then, which could cause a snag with getting all the stuff that is supposed to go up in the loft moved in, so we hope we don't have to reschedule again!

It's all rather mind-boggling. It makes me want to take after Miss Tia: