Counting Our Blessings on Christmas Day

25 December 2013

Christmas morning.  Our first Christmas in our new home.  We have so much to be thankful for.  We not only have all three of our beautiful children with us for the holidays, but Dad is visiting as well.  Our greatest gift is being able to celebrate this holiday season surrounded by our family.

Steve and I woke about 7:00 am.  The house was very quiet.  We have barely figured out where to put furniture, and I am sure some of it will move around over the next couple of months.  But there is a perfect place for a Christmas tree in our Family Room.

I like looking around and seeing "old" things that make this house our "home".  Maybe it's just me, but many objects hold memories for me.  The tiny, child's chair in the corner (picture above) was Dad's, and sat by his fireplace in his house on Bowdoin Street, in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Now it sits by our fireplace.  The large sofa pillows also were handed down to us from Dad.  The Santa on the fireplace hearth was a gift to us from Becky, several years ago.  It always makes us smile when we jiggle it.  The Christmas stockings have stories to tell.  Steve's is the oldest, from when he was a boy.

People started stirring about 8:00 am, and by 10:00 am all the presents had been unwrapped.  (Steve is doing the Santa "jiggle" in the picture above.)

The large cardboard box by Steve holds a "new" tiffany lamp, for Steve's desk in the Office.  A new lamp, for the Lamps' new home.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Moving Day!

14 December 2013

Wow!  We are actually moving.  The day is overcast with rain/sleet/snow in the forecast, but who cared?  We are only moving about 200 yards :o).

We were all packing up in the rental house, and Steve suggested I run over and take one last round of pictures before we mess it all up with furniture.  So Alex and I drove over with some miscellaneous things.  Alex got out of the car and said "It's funny that the first thing we are moving into the house is a lamp."  So I said "Let me get your picture!"

Movers at the rental house

We hired a 3-man crew and 26-foot truck, to do all the furniture pieces.  It took them about 6 hours to move all the furniture.  There are a few heavy things left in the house, but we think we can handle them in the 4Runner.

Movers at our new home

Katherine came to help us in the afternoon.  Lauren and she concentrated on the Kitchen, figuring out where to put everything.  There are LOTS of cabinets.  And yes, I know.  I cannot reach the upper half of all the wall cabinets.  That's what step stools are for.

We were pretty tired by the end of the Saturday, but it was also a great feeling of accomplishment.

We slept in the house Saturday night.  Of course, we are illegal squatters technically.  We still need our final Site Inspection, but the Residential Use Permit will be issued.  Hopefully Monday.

Passing Inspection

2nd Week of December

Okay, so it's been seven months instead of six.  But we are so close I can finally get excited.  Today was a big day.  We had our "final" BUILDING inspections.  (Originally these inspection were to happen on Monday, but thanks to Mother Nature county offices were closed until this morning.)

Please note below, an email notice that Steve forwarded to me this morning.  Our RESIDENTIAL FINAL inspection PASSED!

While this is GREAT news it is not the end of our inspections.  We still need SITE FINAL inspection.  So everyone continue to keep your fingers crossed.  Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

Enough said for now. 

Front of the House - Sunday, 8 December 2013

Potty Talk

1st Week of December

I have gotten a few requests to see pictures of the bathrooms.  It's hard to take a picture of a small room, which is one of the reasons I have hesitated to show the bathrooms.  Also, these rooms have continued to be "works in progress".  Unfortunately the selections of  bathroom vanities became a real problem, and are part of the reason for the delay in completion of the house :o(

 

Master Bath Shower & Tub

One of the biggest gaps to completing the house is plumbing work.  The electrical, mechanical and plumbing subcontractors like to come back only when there is a lot of work for them to do.  They really like to limit the number of times they come to the house.  The plumber has not wanted to come back to the house to complete his work until everything was ready for him.  And that meant the vanities and their countertops need to be in place.  The bathroom vanity countertops are supposed to be installed tomorrow; my fingers are crossed.  The plumber is supposed to work over the weekend to complete all remaining plumbing work.  Most of the shower fittings still need to be installed, as well as all the lavatory sink faucets.

Master Bathroom vanities - waiting for the countertops

There are several small details left to finish in the bathrooms.  The recesses in the showers need a "ledge", and the glass partitions and thresholds need to be installed at the showers.  We also still need mirrors for the Master Bathroom.  But I will be delighted to get countertops and working faucets.

The Beginning of the End of Construction

1st Week of December

View from the Mailbox

I had to drive home at lunchtime today, to meet the guy doing the hydroseeding.  There was a big push this week to get the last bits of sitework done.  This involved some final final grading, in particular in the front yard where the septic field was re-built.  We had two site inspections by Fairfax County Health Department this week.  We found out this morning that the Health Inspector approved the septic field.  AND we found out that our water passed the lab tests.  So we officially have drinkable water.

These may not seem like big things, but they signal the beginning of the end of construction.  Our inspection process has begun.  With approval of the septic field we were clear to proceed with the hydroseeding.  We have to hydroseed in order to "stabilize" the site.  The site inspector will not approve us for occupancy without the beginning of some grass growth.

There is an order to the necessary inspections.  We needed Health Department approvals before any of the building interior inspections can be called in.  The Builder plans to start calling for his final building inspections at the beginning of next week.

Please keep your fingers crossed that all inspections proceed without any hitches, and we will have our "Residential Use Permit" by the end of next week.  That's the plan anyway.

Punchlist

1st Week of December

Well, the end of November has come and gone, and unfortunately we are not in the house yet.  But we are getting close.  Close enough that Steve and I walked through the house on Saturday and prepared a "punchlist", writing down all the little things we saw that needed to be completed and/or repaired.  One reason we wanted to do this was to help the Builder focus on getting everything done.

Family Room - punchlist follow up

I went over to the house tonight to walk those rooms that will get carpet flooring.  Ideally everything on the punchlist has been addressed in these rooms, because the carpet is being installed in the morning!  All the Bedrooms except for the Master Bedroom will be carpeted.  The Family Room is the only room on the 1st floor that will have carpeting.  Most of the things on our punchlist had been done - the wall outlet covers are on, the dimmer switches for the ceiling lights are in place,  wall surface patching has been completed, and the floor has been cleaned and swept, ready for the carpet.  Unfortunately the fireplace is not completely installed, the hearth stone is not in place and the ceiling fan is not installed.  Now I will be worried about damage to the carpet when these items are dealt with.

Fireplace - not quite done yet



Tools have been moved out of the Family Room, and are now sitting in the  Eating area.  There is cardboard laid out to cover most of the wood flooring to protect it.  There is a big sign at the Garage entry door that everyone must remove their shoes before entering the house.

 

Stairs - still need a lot of paint touch-up

You can see a lot of wall touch-up in progress in the picture above.  The stair risers still need to be painted, and the treads and railings need another coat of stain.  But we are getting there.