Stay Calm and Spit Shine On!

We noticed our first major scratch on the new floor as the stone work sub was cleaning up the other day.  We’re not sure if his equipment was the culprit, since there have been several subs in and out of the house recently, but it was upsetting regardless.  And to add salt to the wound, the scratch was in a spot that would require pulling up most of the room’s flooring to replace.

Scratch

But before I began hyperventilating, I decided to see if I could eliminate some of the effect with a quick spit shine.  Literally.  Hey, the house is under construction still (hence the scratch amplifying white dust) and that’s all I had!  But as you can see it already looked much better.

Scratch2

After this photo, I also rubbed my thumbnail over the edges to remove any fibers sticking up and that made it even better.  I’m sure that once I can attack it with some Old English you’ll never even know it was there.  You can’t even feel the scratch when you run your finger across it, so it’s not as bad as I initially thought.

There are a few spots in the house that we know the edge of the board is chipped because we saw it as we were on floor level installing it, but at walking height you’d probably never notice them.  We plan to put some clear silicone in those spots as we find them again, but they shouldn’t cause any major issues now that there is support around them from the adjoining board.

This is exactly why we chose this material.  We have large, very active dogs.  We have guests over.  Life happens.  I’m sure I’ll see the little lumps and bumps as we move in and start living on the floor, but that will be ok.  It shows that we’re living our life, not just ‘presenting’ an ideal.  And let’s face it, those little spots just give me a reason to go buy a new rug to cover it.  And that’s just fine by me. 🙂

 

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The Finishing Touches

It’s been a very busy few days at the new house!  We’ve finished the flooring – after several very long nights.

FloorStudio

FloorEntry

FloorBathroom

FloorGuest

The counter tops are finished and look fantastic.

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Counters

The tile in the master bathroom has been installed, grouted and sealed.

TileTub

TileShwr

TileShowerFloor

The stone work on the fireplace is up, although it needs to be grouted.  The stone on the front porch still needs to be started.

Fireplace

The appliances have been delivered and are being installed. I can’t wait to use all the space in this fridge!!

Fridge

FridgeDoor

FridgeInside

The electrical fixtures (switches and outlets) are almost complete and the baseboard trim has been installed and touch up filler/paint is in progress.

TrimFamilyRm

I was worried I might second guess some of the lighting selections, but everything I’ve seen so far looks great.

LightFixtures

LightDining

LightEntry

LightHallway

LightGuest

LightMaster

LightFartFan

LightLaundry

The prop fan we selected for the family room is on order, so a ‘temporary’ fan was installed for the appraisal.

LIghtTemp

The builder is now back on-site and doing what he can to keep everything on schedule for closing on December 1.  Our movers are scheduled for December 4-6, since they believe it will take a day to pack up our stuff, a day to load the truck and a day to deliver.  It seems so close and yet so far away.

Unfortunately, all this progress tends to create a trail an explosion of tools and supplies throughout the house.  Every time, I’m there and see the mass of stuff everywhere I twitch unintentionally.  But I know it means I’m closer to living in our new home, so I’m working my way through it with deep breaths – which seem to worry my husband more and more. 🙂

Explosion
And this was a “super clean” day!

The appraisal was supposed to be done today, but might have to be finalized next week once everything is at 100%.  The energy rating will be done soon and our home inspection is set for Saturday.  We’ve also locked in our interest rate for our loan.  If for some reason the paperwork causes a delay, the builder has agreed to do an early occupancy without rent to accommodate our scheduled movers and time off from work.

Other than making sure all the elements are finished, all that’s left will be cleaning and finding a new renter for our current place!  Our landlord had someone lined up, but hasn’t gotten confirmation just yet, so we’re hopeful that will work out.  Stay tuned for posts on more of the details!

The Home Stretch

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We made our weekly visit to the house yesterday to find it ready for paint, cabinets, flooring and finishing touches. It’s finally starting to look like the house we’ve been envisioning all this time!

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hallway

The texture is done with a minimal flat finish.

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And all of the corners are rounded for a smooth clean look.

Corner

Our builder wants to finish by November 5, but he hasn’t ordered the flooring yet – which takes 10 days to arrive from Seattle and then needs to sit on site for 2 days – so that’s not likely.  We’ve struck a deal with the builder that we will install the flooring ourselves to reduce cost, so that should happen the weekend before Veterans Day.

While we wait to hear from our builder about the flooring we’re anticipating that we won’t close and move until the end of November or early December.  Hopefully, some things can be scheduled simultaneously like the energy rating followed by the VA appraisal to speed things up, but we all know this isn’t a perfect world so we aren’t anticipating it will go that smoothly.

Here’s what’s still left to be done:

  • Paint
  • Cabinets
  • Flooring
  • Electrical outlets & switches
  • Light fixtures
  • Plumbing fixtures
  • Stone work on the front porch and fireplace
  • Interior doors, trim and window ledges
  • Appliances
  • HVAC vents
  • Locks

It’s so close and yet so far away, which makes me crazy.  I’m a planner and not knowing when things will happen makes me crazy.  It doesn’t help that we have to coordinate dates with our current landlord, our lender, my job and the hubby’s new schooling schedule around these unknown dates.  It all has me wishing I could push fast forward and just zip right to moving day.  If things work out, I plan to take a week off for the move so I can unpack and get settled, but we’ll see how things line up with my work schedule. At least it looks like we’ll be done and living in our new home before 2014 arrives!

Flooring Update

Unfortunately, the Traffic Master Allure Ultra flooring I described in this post came in a little more over budget than we were willing to stretch so we decided to keep looking at options.  Good thing we did because we soon learned that Traffic Master isn’t the only company with a product toting these features.  Apparently Shaw Flooring has a ‘luxury vinyl plank’ that is essentially the same product with the same installation and guarantees, but at a price that comes in right AT our budgeted allowance!

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Source

And even better is that the flooring vendor our builder likes to go through carries the product in-stock.  Granted he will have to place an order to provide enough material for our whole house, but he said that wouldn’t be a problem with enough advance notice and since we’re still at the framing stage I think we’ve got a little leeway still.

We chose the Northampton Cascade Acadia which has a variety of tones that will play well off our darker cabinets and leather furniture.  It’s a little different than the Allure Ultra we picked out, both in color and texture, but I like that it looks more like real wood than the Allure does and less texture means less hiding places for dirt and dust which trigger my allergies.

FloorOf course I had to prove to myself that I wouldn’t change my mind later, so we brought home a few sample planks (thanks to the very nice salesman at the flooring store!) and I laid them on the floor in our living room next to the rug and couch.  I also placed the Allure flooring next to it for comparison.  A week later, I’m sure I like the Shaw flooring better and I haven’t seen a single sign of the dogs constant scampering across it!  Although the pieces have migrated across the floor a few times thanks to furry fliers heading for the door when you say we’re going on a walk or for a ride! LOL

Here’s a closer shot to give a better feel of how it will look installed.  The light glare makes it look a little darker than it is in person.  The previous picture does a better job of showing the real colors, but I still think it will look great with the rest of our decor.  Don’t ya love when you find something you like better than the original item you found that was over budget?  I sure do! 🙂

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