Counter-Culture

A wise man named Costner once said, "If you build it, they will come." Once you prepare a space for something, of course, the natural next step is to actually put it there. We painted the walls to receive the cabinets and the cabinets came. Along with them, they brought counters, and drawers and doors. We had a little snafu with the end of the peninsula and we had to make a last minute design change. But that is what architects are supposed to be good at, problem-solving on the fly. Of course, one could argue that architects wouldn't make those mistakes in the first place, but this whole thing is afterall a learning experience. We also learned a bit about stair design. They put the railings and pickets up and we had to adjust things a bit. We won't tell you what we did differently, but you can judge for yourself if it works. Don't tell us if you don't think it did.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, while workers were busily installing our cabinets and doors and stairs, Lura and I were in Dallas, Texas at the annual Mary Kay Seminar. What a great time! Yes, that is me talking. It was motivating and inspirational and we will be going again next year. Lura is growing two businesses at once and I am doing whatever I can to keep up and help out! Check her out at www.marykay.com/lgodfrey and check out these photos below (a couple of us in Dallas).

Full Color Birthday

Today was a very busy day. We are preparing to go to Dallas to a huge Mary Kay conference, but before we leave, we wanted to get over to the house today to paint a little. Yes, we are painting some, in fact most, of the interior of our house to save some dough. We also want to beat the cabinet installers who are coming Tuesday, while we are gone. So the 3 rooms with cabinets (2 bathrooms and the kitchen) got the first inside colors. Also today was Lura's Birthday, but she was quoted as saying "this house is the best birthday present I could get". Well, that and Harry Potter 7. We got that today too. Enjoy the pics. Next update, likely Thursday with cabinets and a fully built stair!

Stairway to Heaven (Part 2)

You know, after a while, you just run out of clever titles for blog articles. So here is a follow up the post detailing when the stairs were first built. First there was just wood, but now, there are treads and risers and bamboo and paint and all kinds of stuff. Also new to the blog, interior doors and white washed walls (as in primed and ready for paint)!

We have given our apartment notice now (a very satisfying experience in and of itself) and have set a move-in date of Labor Day weekend. Move in Saturday and Sunday and then go to see Clemson take on FSU. What better weekend plans could there be? Okay, enough type, here's some new pics.

Here's Mud in Your Eye

Normally someone would cringe if you told them that you saw someone throwing mud at your walls. But in this case, it's okay. It's only drywall mud, and with a lot of space comes a lot of mud. It went pretty quickly though. They have now finished sanding and mudding and taping and are almost ready for the priming before the paint. Also they have basically finished the exterior painting now too so the exterior, minus the grading, the landscaping and, oh yeah, the garage doors, it looks like a finished house. Well, there's also those Pella stickers in the windows! They needed to finish our drywall before installing the openers for the garage doors so we have been stuck with plywood to this point. This should be very soon though. Next week, they are supposed to build our stairs, complete with bamboo treads, 1x4 pickets and black painted risers and railing. To get a preview, I did a computer model of this so we could check out the paint colors. Soon we should have some actual pictures to compare. Also this week, they will be setting our doors and trim. Cool, cool, cool.

Interesting side note. Just to prove that it's not always the builder's fault when things are late. Yesterday, Ryan our super, was trying to get over to the house to grade with a bobcat and the truck he uses to haul it broke down. No biggie. We'll grade another day.

Until next time!

Amazing What a Little Paint and Drywall Can Do!

Do you know what a ginko tree is? There is an interesting thing about a ginko tree. They have really pretty yellow fan-shaped leaves, but in the fall, they build up and then all the leaves change colors at the same time. Then they all fall off after only a couple days.

Well, that's about what the house has been like. No, nothing has fallen off, but after all this buildup and waiting and such, all the work which was done before is now covered up with drywall, and it only took them two days to drywall the whole house! Also, the painting (exterior that is) is going extremely quickly too.

The thing about everything going so quickly is that you find yourself suddenly pressured into asking questions and asking them quick. Questions which you sometimes don't have time to think about if they were good questions or not - like "Did those rooms have electrical outlets before they were covered in drywall?"

Soon, though, we will be able to have cool stuff like stair treads and doors and sinks and lights and all those little things that keep a house from being 4 walls and a floor and a roof. So here it is, in all it's glory. I offer you PAINT and DRYWALL!

Safe and Sound (or not)

Safe we may be, but Sound we have not. We have an alarm system installed now along with all the other house systems so we are probably safer than we were. Electrical, mechanical and plumbing have all passed inspection and the Framing inspection was supposed to occur today. Also, though we have a whole heap of insulation. We have rigid polystyrene. We have fiberglass batts. Some with paper, some without. We have blown-in fiberglass. We have Icynene. Don't know what any of this is? See the pictures for some brief explanations. The long and short of it is you can't have an energy efficient house (or it's definitely a lot more difficult) if you don't have insulation. And, like I said, we have heaps of it. Our first house in Atlanta had insulation in the roof, but none in the floors or walls (brrr). Our second house had more of it, but it was falling down in the crawl space. This house has it everywhere you can have it and when you walk in and shut the door, it's like stepping into a vaccuum. You can barely hear the street noise at all. The benefit of insulation for energy's sake is that it is also good for sound. Shortly, we will have a painted exterior, drywall, and other interesting stuff.

To answer a question I keep hearing day in and day out....We will probably and hopefully be moving in at the end of August or first of September.

A rare look in the garage with cake batter (Icynene - or spray-foam insluation) on the ceiling.







Spray-foam in the ceiling (cut to fit in the rafters) and blown-in stuff in the walls.

Spray-foam up in the bonus room,

again cut to the rafters.

Spray-foam in the attic

(cake batter again)

Blown-in stuff in the living room.

Gives the room a completely different feel. They staple some felt-like material on the studs,
cut a hole in it and then blow it full (chock full) of fiberglass fluff.




Blown-in stuff in our bedroom.
The diagonal wall is interesting huh?
You can also see the ceiling insulation for sound control.

Spray-foam in between the floors next to the stair.