Feb 25th Almost Done

There she is, painted, guttered, rock trim in place, clean windows and ready for the touch up crew and the sod crew.

Here is the big pile of dead looking sod!! You can see it in the neighbor's yard, the same color brown as the dirt.
The stove and microwave are in place. Supposed to be energy savers. I like the flat top on the stove and no burner cups to clean.

The dishwasher will be a welcome addition.

Looking at the kitchen nook and the clean windows. The open door is where the washer & dryer will go.

The shower stall is complete. The only problem will be reaching a towel from the way the door opens.

Trying to get a good shot of the rug to compare color with samples chosen. I think this carpet is darker and I am not too happy with it.

Inspection, walk thru and orientation is next wed. Then they have a week to finish any touch ups before the closing on the 9th.

This was a shot to show the gutters they put in.

2/18/2011 Looking Good

Such a nice feeling to come around the corner and see 524 all decked out in her new colors (bland as they are). I think the native plants will be a good accent. The stonework looks great. It is called rattlesnake. It helps to give it a little contrast. I hope we have good neighbors, because I think we could open a window and shake hands across the property line!!

The light fixture and house number are on and lit up. The garage door opener is installed.
Here is the front door light fixture. The window is in to the kitchen.

The tile backsplash is on, sinks installed, silver fixtures. Kitchen floor is tiled.

The entry way is all tiled.

Interesting light fixture in the dining room. I think I have a pewter oil lamp that will go with that.

The fan light above the living room.

Shower doors, sinks and toilet installed. The workers were finishing up the towel holders etc.

Light fixtures in the master bath.

Close up of the tile back splash. This is where the microwave will go with the electric stove underneath it.

Closing date is scheduled for March 9th, ready or not!!

Close up of some of the rock.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well our gift to each other was finally settling on a contract and locking in an interest rate. I am glad that is over. We went up on Sunday after church to check on things and Bob put down insecticide before they start on the flooring. The changes in the last few days were:

forms started for the sidewalk and driveway.
The stucco was drying nicely and hopefully the stone will go on this week.

Kitchen counter tops are on and the walls throughout are painted.

The grill for the air return is in place.

A little closer look at the counter top.

The a/c is in place and hooked up. The weather has improved and should be above normal temps for the next 2 weeks, so we expect some wonderful changes this week... Later....

More Progress 2/8/2011

It is hard to believe that they can get any work done when it is so cold, but the texture of the stucco is done. Now it has to dry enough so it can be painted. The outside looks more defined. Hopefully the stone will be added soon.

Inside the work is coming right along. Here are the cupboards on one side of the kitchen..
And looking the other way are the rest of them.

The master bath has it's base cupboard in and the doors are on.

The shelves and brackets are up in the walk in closet.

Also in the den.

The door for the den is on also and all the wood trim.

A closet in the hallway with the shelves.

There is also another 2 closets off of this hallway to store lots of goodies. There were workers in the house today, so it wasn't easy to get around to see things. Sure wish I knew spanish!!

SNOW

We have been experiencing very cold weather and yesterday they predicted winter storms for last night. Austin got more ice than snow and we got about an inch of snow. But they closed the schools and many of the offices were closed because of the weather. We have had over 70 hours of below freezing weather. Needless to say we are getting alittle tired of this, after all we are in TX. This morning I heard voices outside and was given the invitation to come take pictures of snow angels. Who could resist!!

Ben was the first to plop down in the driveway.

Here is his angel.
Of course Bobby had to be different.. face first he went. I think he just wanted to eat some snow!!

It really needed to be a little deeper, but they had fun. It did pack for some good snow balls.

The snow made our century plants a variegated variety!

We did get above freezing this afternoon, so the snow did not last. Currently we are back down to 26 and dropping. Later.....

February 3rd, House update

We were pleasantly surprised today to see the stucco on the house. It was 18 degrees up in Georgetown today with a mighty wind blowing. Those poor workers that were outside were moving fast as they framed a house two doors down. We need some warmer weather to dry all of this so they can paint it. I don't know if the stonework goes on before or after they paint.

I was glad to see the garage door was on.
Inside the wall board was taped and spackled. looking good. I was concerned about the pipes freezing, but they reassured me that everything will be ok. This is looking towards the patio doors.

Out in the garage is a mighty pile of cupboards waiting to be installed. The little boxes on the right are tiles for the kitchen, entry and bathroom floors.

Behind the cupboard boxes are the inside doors in their frames. The box on the floor is the fold down ladder that goes in the ceiling in the garage.

This looks towards the front of the house. There is a pass through into the kitchen.

February 2nd Winter in Texas

Winter in Texas is variable. On Monday it was 80 degrees, with doors and windows open. That night an abrupt turn around. The wind turned and came out of the north with a vengeance. We could feel it throughout the night as the 5th wheel tossed around a bit. Brett called at 6:30 am and wanted to know if we were going out, because there was a tree across the drive. Fortunately we were not and this was the scene when we looked up the drive.

It came down close to their back porch. Missed the metal shed and was a bout 5 ft from their van.
So we commandeered Fiona the Ford F350 for the job. First we put on about 3 layers of clothes. The wind was wicked and has not let up for 2 days now.

It was an old dead tree and the roots gave way to the buffetting 60 mph winds. As we have driven around the last 2 days, there are many more trees down throughout the area. In Burnet they lost metal roofs, fencing and anything that wasn't secured. Lots of trees on cars and houses.

And down the driveway it went to be dealt with on a warmer day.

The temperatures have plummeted to 18 with wind chill at 0 degrees. The next morning we had no water. Problem solved when we figured out it was the filter. Everything else had heat tape and insulation on it. Still cold today at 18 degrees. Tonight we are in a winter storm watch with freezing rain and snow expected. They are predicting temps up to 58 for Super Bowl Weekend. I know we can survive one more day. I hope those up north will survive their weeks of winter left. We have nothing to complain about.