Quick Update

I haven't updated in a while, there really isn't any big changes to be seen outside or inside. I believe everything is complete inside now, I saw that they have installed the mirrors in the bathrooms etc, and the doors are on the closets. Outside the only thing that has changed really is that they have painted the door. Oh and they poured the sidewalk, We didn't find out till it was dry so we couldn't put our initials in it.
Really , again , the Pillars on the porch, Grass and landscaping, and the Deck are the only things outside to be completed. Inside I believe is done except for cleaning, and the appliances installed.

Flooring = Done

Well I wouldn't say all the flooring is completely done, but the Hardwood and Carpet are now installed.
Here is the dirty carpet. I took my shoes off so I could walk on it barefoot. Nice and comfy to walk on. I actually felt bad wearing shoes on it even though the place is under construction, and I can see dusty boot prints on the carpet.

Here is the almost finished Kitchen. Hardwood is complete, plumbing is all in, electrical outlets and lights are all installed. The Doorbell is actually already in and working as well. You can kind of see the Range Hood is in , and to the right the water line for the fridge is there.

This is just a closeup of the backsplash. I guess it would be called semi-custom? The large tiles come in sheets, but have tiles with designs on them every once in a while. They took the random swirly designs off, and added the subway line of multiple colour tiles 1 row up from the counter top.

All the bathrooms are complete except for a mirror on the wall or medicine cabinet. Come to think of it, I don't know if they install those or not, I guess I should ask.

Here's the main washroom, again everything is complete except a mirror. All the towel racks and rings are already in , as well as toilet paper holders. I think there is just trim and paint touchups to do otherwise. The En suite is where they threw all the pails of carpet trimmings and underpad pieces so it was a mess in there. I did see the shower is now together , and complete to the same point as the other washrooms.

Just a shot of the Loft with the carpet in. Good thing we aren't paying the power bill, all the lights were on when I went in. As I went around the house I turned them all back off. No idea why they would be left on, seems wasteful to me.

One issue though that is kind of scary, WATER IN THE BASEMENT!! We noticed a pool in the basement the last time we were inside, but it looked form the water marks on the floor that someone left a basement window open and it came in. Unless someone keeps leaving windows open during rain, we may have a leak to be looked at. I can't imagine how a brand new foundation , waterproofed properly could get water in it. The only thing I could see is that it was pooling at the bottom of the stairs near the wall. I hope when they put the basement stairs in they didn't somehow crack through to the outside membrane. We are dealing with the exact situation at work where water is coming through cracks created by installers drilling a bit too far. I guess this would be why they have new home warranties.

Garage Door

We have a garage door, yay I guess. It is getting harder to notice the updates from outside because we can only see so much by looking through REAL dirty windows. They have started to install the hardwood flooring, I really like it, I don't know about Gabbi though since it looks darker than she remembers. The sinks and taps have been out in , at least in the kitchen and powder room. They look great, well from looking through a filthy window they do. It looks like the electricians are finished, all the outlets on the main floor are in, and all the lights installed.

T minus 28 Days

Well under a month to go, getting close. The Eaves Troughs were put in yesterday, but we noticed an issue.
If you look where the Eaves meet the roof bottom left in the photo, you can see the capping and eaves don't meet properly to the roof. You can see wood poking up. I don't know if the cap is on incorrect, or the shingles, but an issue that needs fixing for sure. As you can also see in the picture, the light fixtures are up. Outside there are 3, either side of the Garage, and outside the door.
There is a close up of the outdoor fixtures. Yes CFL bulbs too.

I don't know if they installed all the fixtures inside , but from the windows I could see the Dining Room fixture was up, and the Powder Room was in as well.
The Air conditioner is installed and running, pretty quiet it seems. I guess it is a mid line Lennox Model. Energy Star certified, fairly efficient, and quiet.
The hardwood flooring has been delivered as well. Boxes are piled up in the livingroom area. I tried looking online for it , but it seems the "model" we chose doesn't exist on their website or the pamphlet. I can see that it IS the correct stuff, LM Flooring, Gevaldo Plank, White Oak stained Walnut, says it on the box. I just can't find any reference online to it. Could be a builder only model?

I have been asked to post the photos of the Loft I took on the weekend to see the railings and the paint, so here goes.
The railing on the floor goes at the bottom of the stairs, probably much easier to move around without it on the wall.
And the other side. Hopefully it looks even better with carpet installed.

Lots of Pics.

Well the trim is complete, the only outside stuff remaining are the eves, Garage door, and the posts for the porch. The paint inside is complete, aside from touch ups. The Kitchen Cabinets, and all bathroom cabinets are all in.

I took a ton of photos on this walk through, but I think I will only post the interesting stuff.

The Kitchen in , well , some of its glory. Dusty as heck right now but you can see the colours.

Just a close up of the Maple cabinet (with mocha glaze no less!) and counter top.

The Island and counter top.

Powder room cabinet.

Ensuite cabinet. No ide what flooring is supposed to be in here, the roll on the cabinet, or what is already on the floor. I am being too lazy to look it up at the moment.

And the main washroom cabinet. I forsee this becoming Gabbis bathroom as the cabinet is bigger. She already measured the closets in the bedroom, and says one is a couple inches bigger. Guess who gets that one?

From left to right, the Furnace, Air to Air heat exchanger, and Water Heater. We would have liked to go tankless, but wow, are those ever expensive. The Laundry Room is on the other side of these 3.

This is just a shot of the stairway going up to the Loft. The railings look great, if a little dusty.

I grabbed a shot of the thermostat, below is the control for the heat exchanger. I haven't seen the manual yet so I couldn't tell you how to work it all properly but the knob on the right is humidity levels, then a fan speed switch, and the other is to switch from fresh air to interior. No clue if that is correct or not.

This is just a shot of the master bedroom, I decided I would probably get yelled at from someone if I didn't show the wall colour.

Getting really close now. Today is the 1 Month away date from getting the keys yay!

Power Pipe

I noticed that the Power Pipe link wasn't working on my list, so did a search. I guess they moved their website. While checking out the new site, I noticed you can now buy a Power Pipe at Home Depot and Sears! Well at least in Canada you can. They are certainly not cheap, but with rising Gas prices I wonder how long it would actually take to pay itself off. Ordering directly offers more options, but I like to see good technology like this get more exposed.

Home Depot - Power Pipe

Vinyl, Vinyl, Everywhere

Well the siding is getting real close to being complete, the back of the house has to be done, the soffit and trim on the first floor need to be completed and a couple small spots on the front.

For some reason I am pretty damn proud of how it looks. I know I had nothing to do with building it, and picking the colour scheme was a team project, but DAMN. One thing I love though, is how it is very different than every house in the area. Well there are a bunch of the same model, but no one has the brick at all, and I think only 1 other house had the same siding and trim colour combination. I have started to call it the "gingerbread house" because of all the brown.

The other Vinyl item added is the flooring in the entrance way. I peeked in the doorway today when I saw boxes through the windows. The Cabinets are all there wrapped in plastic, waiting to be installed, but noticed the vinyl floor had been laid, so I nabbed a photo.

You can see the wall colour as well. The sun was directly at my back, so it was beaming into the doorway making bright spots. At the very top you can see where the line splitting between the Vinyl entranceway and the Hardwood will be for the rest of the main floor.

I also noticed they have done the staining on the railings going up stairs.

I was pleasantly surprised that the spindles and the base rail were also stained. Gabbi and I both figured they would just be painted, but I like the all wood look.

Trim and Siding...

...has started at least. The Window trim is done on the second story of the front of the house, and there is about 4 rows of siding on the one side of the House. I couldn't really get a good shot of the siding since there was workers where I needed to be, and I didn't want to walk into a construction zone in Birkenstocks.

Paint!

We took a walk on Canada Day to the House to see what we could see. Of course nothing new on the exterior, but peeping in the windows, they have painted! At least the first floor has an initial coating on it. According to the paperwork it is Benjamin Moore cc-304 Sisal, I call it dark beige.

That is my home made colour chip, you get the idea. After having white walls for the past 9 years (yikes 9 years in a white apartment) this is a serious addition of colour. We were discussing the other day our lack of pictures on our walls, we barely put any up because we were always going to be moving soon. I am already going through all my photos to print some out and have framed. I don't think we will have such an excuse this time round.