The stucco was finished, the water heater hooked up, and the floors uncovered; not to mention the boxes and boxes that were moved in, my truck breaking down again, and the film crew shooting in the garage! But with all that, we still spent our first night in the new house on Saturday March 28!
Backing up a bit, I will start with the new stucco. We picked a color called mushroom. Of course it wasn't as simple as that, because when the company came to deliver the stucco they had the wrong kind. They had delivered unmixed stucco with packets of color mix. the problem with that was that the color has to be mixed exactly in order for it all to match. if anything was even slightly different, there would be spots and miss matched patches. The company called us back and said that the correct premixed stucco would have to be delivered from Sacramento and would take up to a week. After a little research we found another company in the valley that carried what we wanted in stock. Luckily this was before my car troubles and by the end of the afternoon I had picked up the stucco. The next day they went to work...
They started with the front and did an amazing job around the wood trim! The stucco in the pictures is still wet and looks a little dark. A bit later in this post you can see the final color.
While they were working on the stucco, I worked inside on the primer paint on the walls. I had a huge amount of help from Kate who spent two days helping paint every surface. It was at this point that it started to look like a place we could actually move into!
We applied two coats of primer and will be deciding our final colors later. I also installed the doors in the bedrooms and closet, and completed the refinishing of the stairs. They are covered in the picture below to protect them while we moved and painted.
While this was all going on we had our tile guy come and work on the bathroom. Originally we had planned on doing the tile work ourselves, but with the investment in the tile, and the timeline growing shorter, we decided to bring in a pro. Our neighbors across the street just finished their bathroom tile work and their contractor recommended their tile guy for our job. He gave us a great price and spent 5 days working on the bathroom, but the result is amazing!
Here is the bathroom before the tile. You can see our tile samples out on the wall and floor.
And here is the bathroom now! The tile finished, vanity installed, and the toilet and faucet in place and working!
We found the curtain for the shower online and it fit our space perfectly. We planned this curtain as a temporary solution until we get the glass made, but we are now thinking of keeping it permanently as it works well and keeps the room open feeling.
After the stucco on the outside dried, they installed the water heater. As you can see, the new tankless heater is a vast improvement from the old tank heater.
I spent the rest of that week fielding the gas company, the cable, phone, and internet company, and the electricians who came back to hook up all of our outlets and fixtures. And of course there was the constant flow of boxes coming from the old house. Luckily my friend Christian volunteered to help me with the moving of the larger items.
So here it is. The new outside of the house.
And at night!
The weekend before we moved in, Abbey and I were discussing the kitchen. As you saw above, we had a sink and fridge, but we were concerned about cooking, and about surfaces to work on. We looked at options at IKEA for a temporary kitchen but discovered that we would have to spend too much money on temporary items to get what we wanted. Then at dinner one night, as Abbey and I were thinking about a folding table and hot plate, Abigail asked why we didnt just builda temporary counter. Looking back on it now, this seems so obvious, after all I had build the kitchen out of cardboard, so why not out of wood? But at the time, it had never even crossed my mind. That night Abbey researched and found the stove that we wanted at a great price and the next day, while she was at work, I set out to build the kitchen. $98.00 at Home Depot, a trip to the Sears Outlet Store later, and a great find for stools by Abbey, we had a fully functioning kitchen space. These pictures are already outdated as just yesterday I installed shelving and drawers under the counters next to the stove, and I think that the kitchen will continue to evolve until we finally get our new cabinets. We also finally pulled up the cardboard floor protection and got to see our floors again!
Here is the living room now.
And the hallway and stairs...
And the bedroom..
Our neighbors came by on our first night and brought us a "Welcome Home" cake!
And Kristen will be happy to know that the decantur that she got for us last year had its first use with our first bottle of wine in the new home!
I have a ton more pictures, and plan to make a full posting of before and after shots, but for now, there is more unpacking to do! So here are a few of the ones I have made already.
Till next posting...
We are home!!
-G
