Days 33-42 - Nov. 19-28 - Thanksgiving vacation

We decided to take the week off of work for Thanksgiving since the kids don't have school.  We went to our farm, my parents' farm, Houston and even snuck back to Austin for the UT game.  Normally, I'd be freaking out about another week off, but I'm taking on a (slightly) less uptight attitude about this house.  So we enjoyed our week and it's back to work tomorrow!  One thing that got done while we were out was the shower pan for the master shower.

Here is the breakfast room after we finally got all the windows:

Here's the front of the house as of Nov. 26th:

Day 32 - Nov. 18 - more of the same

More rough and septic today.  A few other thoughts...

This is the back porch, which I'm excited about sitting on while watching the kids play outside.

And here's the job site see-saw.

One more note.  We still don't have power from the electric company.  We didn't have power to our lot, so Austin Energy has been designing and reviewing and I don't know what else.  They brought us a pole with a box, but we have no electrical lines to it yet.  This is another case of manana, manana, manana.

Day 31 - Nov. 17 - septic system

As the subs continued their work on the rough, the septic installers started their work outside.  They dug a HUGE hole in the ground for our septic tank and dug trenches for the field.  Pretty boring for most, but extremely necessary.  Chip likes all the heavy equipment they bring and use.

Day 30 - Nov. 16 - rough & cameras

Today the plumber, electrician and HVAC technicians all showed up to begin their rough.  "Rough" is when they put the plumbing pipes, electrical wires and air conditioning in the walls and attic.  They will work throughout the week to finish.

The DIY cameras followed me around today to show me in everyday life with Jack at home and doing things for the house.  My favorite part was choosing the tile.  We also hit Lowe's to buy some vanity lights and Sherwin Williams to buy some paint samples (4 shades of gray) for the exterior of the house.  We painted some squares to see which shades we liked for the exterior and trim.

The girls' bathroom and the half bath is getting some light colored travertine like this:

Jack's bath is getting slate:

The master bathroom is getting a porcelain tile.  Ours is darker than this one:

I know this is not like my "inspiration" bathroom, but what can I say?  We liked this tile in a Vegas hotel room we stayed in last month.  On the shower floor, there will be "pebble" tile.  You'll have to wait for the installation for a photo of that one.

The living areas will have this porcelain tile that looks like wood:

Days 25-29 - Nov. 11-15 - framing & exterior

The last few days have been spent on framing and the exterior.  The framers finished up the interior walls, windows and finally, the board and batten.  I'm super excited about how everything is going.  The sizes of the rooms turned out great and I think the floor plan is going to be great.  I was pretty nervous since we didn't hire an architect or home designer.  There have been some minor issues we had to work out on the fly, but overall, I think it's gone remarkably well.

Day 24 - Nov. 10 - more, more framing

The framers are still working hard.  They finished the roof today and continued on with the exterior sheathing (the plywood that goes on the outside).  They are completely done with the interior walls and blocking.  Blocking is when they put up wood in between two studs to attach things to later, like cabinets or a towel bar.  It makes life easier when you're attaching things to the sheetrocked walls.

Day 23 - Nov. 9 - more framing

Today more framing took place.  They worked on the interior walls and began the roof.  More of the same tomorrow...

Day 22 - Nov. 8 - framing

The framers shows up first thing this morning and asked where the rest of the lumber was.  We only ordered a small part of the lumber and they sent 6 guys.  Here's what it looked like at the end of the day.

We got a LOT of lumber this afternoon and they're supposed to send 10 guys tomorrow.  So we will be ahead of schedule again and hopefully have a roof by Wednesday.
Here is Jose and Chip standing in my closet.

Day 21 - Nov. 6 - shopping

My favorite part of building a new house is all the shopping.  And even though I'm on a budget, it's really fun to chose everything.  I spent Saturday ordering some fun items, like wallpaper and curtains (I know that's technically not a building supply...).  I ordered a galvanized bucket that I'm hoping Chip can make into my utility room sink:

I also bought some vinyl stickers for the playroom walls and Mackenzie's room walls.  More on that to come.  Finally, I bought two chandeliers for the girls' rooms and two pendant lights for over the island:

 

Day 19 - Nov. 5 - Yay for the permit

We got the permit this morning.  Hallelujah, praise the permit gods.  We are now allowed to proceed.  The framers will start Monday morning.  We lost a week but are technically still ahead of schedule because our slab guys finished so quickly.  This is hopefully what our home will look like by the end of the week (maybe minus the roof trusses).

Days 16-18 - Nov. 2-4 - still no permit

We don't have a permit.  We are trying to be patient and understanding but it's hard when we are told "tomorrow" every day.  We were ahead of schedule, so now we're on schedule.  Much longer and we'll be BEHIND schedule.  More news tomorrow...hopefully.

Day 15 - Nov. 1 - framing...not

We got back from our trip and we still don't have a necessary permit.  So we've decided to wait for that before we start framing.  It kills me to waste days, but sometimes it can't be helped.  I was told today that I could get the permit tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.  We'll see...

Day 11 through 14 - Oct. 28-31 - Vegas Baby

Chip and I decided to take a little trip to Vegas and have some fun.  All will be quiet for a few days.  We get back on Sunday, which is Halloween.  We'll go trick-or-treating with the kids and start framing on Monday.

Day 10 - Oct. 27 - pour day

Today was the day that the concrete was poured.  We got a pump truck, which takes the concrete from the concrete trucks and shoots in up and down through a pipe.  This way the guys can control where it's going and get it the far side of the house where the trucks can't get to.

 

We ended up with 11 concrete trucks delivering 106 yards (cubic yards of concrete).  The trucks came in all morning and the slab guys worked almost all day on it.  And here is the beautiful new slab.

Day 9 - Oct. 26 - paper & steel

Today, the slab guys came back and put in the paper and steel.  The steel is re-bar to reinforce the concrete, once poured.