The Interior So Far... (Last Post of an Unfinished House)

With the house nearing completion, our interior is really starting to take shape. The kitchen and bathrooms are basically complete, the fixtures and flooring are in, and even the appliances have been installed (except the water softener, A/C unit, and bathroom mirrors). So without further adieu, the kitchen -

So much counter space!

With 42" uppers and crown molding, this is basically our dream kitchen. Also we were psyched at the start when we learned we could include appliances in the design (and in the mortgage) which was a huge load off our shoulders. The under-mount sink is a nice touch as well.

Look, you can kind of see the floor...covered in wood shavings

The hardware adds a beautiful touch and really ties it all together.

The pantry is on the left of the fridge and quite a decent size!

The next most important room (at least the other room that's pretty much finished) is the bathroom! The master bath to be more specific. 

The toilet is taller by 3 inches than a standard toilet. This means my legs will be at a 90° angle.
Comfort is essential, is the point I'm trying to make here.

Along with the bedrooms, the bathrooms have brushed nickel finishes and the bathrooms have marble counter tops. 

Also, the master bath's vanity is 3" higher than normal because as a 6'1" guy I'm tired of having to
crouch to wash my hands or breaking my back when I need to rinse my mouth after brushing my teeth

The rest of the house has been painted and molding added along the floor. The light fixtures are also in -

Dining Area light (and you can kind of see the covered
 hardwood in the corner if you look really hard)

All the main living area fixtures are done "rustic" like this

Whereas all the bedroom/bathroom fixtures
 are brushed nickel like this

Last but not least, the laundry room. With appliances included in the purchase we had a big washer and dryer put in along with cabinets for all the obligatory crap that comes with laundry-doing. 

there's not hardwood in here, just laminate, but they're
still protecting it for good measure with some cardboard

In 5 days we'll have our pre-closing walk-through and the entire house should be completed and then all we have to do is find every little thing that might be wrong so they can fix it in the week between July 10 and July 17- our closing date.

Move-in is even closer and the anticipation is at it's peak. LET ME IN MY HOUSE! I'm ready.

Without Much Ado, The House is Pretty Much Built

So here's an update-

Externally complete, internally longing for that Jeep to be parked inside...
the garage

Basically I got lazy somewhere between Christmas and March(when they started staking out the foundation) and I never played catch up. So here's a quick rundown with pretty pictures -

March - They staked the foundation. We had an unseasonably warm and snow-less winter in IL so they got started a bit early

This is only the beginning...

After that, the natural thing is pouring the foundation so here is our slab in early April-

The cool thing was the house next to us being built was a week or so ahead so we were always able to pop next door and see what the next steps would be. The not so cool thing about the house next door I'll address later.

Apparently in construction, walls go up really fast. So 4 days after our finished slab (pictured above) grew walls (and a couple construction workers) -

Finally starting to take shape

and the view from the back. Lots of windows!

Shortly after that they put the roof on and shingled it, allowing us our first visit inside since the walls went up -

House- Now with Roof!

And the bones of the house were glorious in their own two-by-four-ish way - 

Oh yeah and they poured our front walk and porch also

A view from the back stoop through the bones of the house

The next big thing was windows, doors, and the plastic stuff they wrap the house in (because we're getting siding so it's water proof or something like that). With a roof and doors it really started to look and feel like a house - 

Now that the exterior had taken shape, the interior started to be fleshed out, from electrical to plumbing- 

Our Master Bath Shower so far, with insulation and protective barriers and such

Shower base and a bathtub camping in our bedroom awaiting install

I was thinking, "man, this thing is really taking shape!" and I had no idea just how awesome it would be but then the drywall went in - 

the "great room" complete with awesome vaulted ceiling

aforementioned shower, now installed-ish..

Once the drywall went in, the crew started using the garage as true storage for everything else going in the house

Our kitchen and bathroom cabinets awaiting install

Also installed with the drywall, the exterior siding. Now before I mentioned there was a problem with the neighbors. Actually it was a problem with the builder, because the neighboring house was being built as a model to sell. Since they were ahead of our schedule, they got their siding first. They also got our color. So there we are the week before siding is supposed to go up having to re-choose a color. Frustrating as hell, but shit happens. The result ended up looking pretty great!

Gray isn't boring, it's pretty cool right?

It really looked like a house with the siding up. Now that the basics of the house are in, it's interiors time! Which I will leave for another post. I'll just let you marvel at the glory that is the 1st half of the construction of our new, beautiful house!