A lot has been happening in the last couple of weeks with the house! Here’s the skinny.
Some wacky weather delayed our floor pour a smidgeon, but just enough to allow us to make some last minute decisions on where drains were going on the main floor. We had an a-ha moment after the floors were poured that had us wanting to time travel to make a correction, but it wasn’t the end of the world, just one of those things that would have been nice. We have been all about maximizing the use of space in this build and this was a miss that I’m kicking myself for. A u-shaped kitchen is wonderful, but it poses some problems in the corners and I have found that the plan to have all drawers did not work out quite as well as the vision. With that, I have been keen to replace some lost drawer space elsewhere and one of those places was an add to the under sink in the island. There is a bunch of dead space behind the bar sink that would have been a great place to hide the plumbing, but given that the plumbers plan where to bring up the plumbing through the concrete, it came up in the middle of the cabinet – easy for them, wasted space for me. My future self will wish we had been ahead of that one when I am loathe to get on my knees and dig to the back of the kitchen sink cupboard.
In the end, the floor looks amazing. Adam, who is managing our build, is doing a great job at getting what we want out of this house. The floors are beautiful…Too bad we’re putting LVP all over them.
A day or two later the framing got started and we now have a properly laid out main floor. It is really cool to go from stage to stage and see the house take shape. What was looking like a smaller than expected space suddenly look large and we were able to make some adjustments for doorways and walls that on paper looked right, but in practicality were less so.
Jeff has been at site almost daily to see progress and despite the attention paid during the design, we are making more corrections to our plans than we anticipated. We are creeping up on 50% complete now though and with the floors poured, the last of the doors have finally been installed.
Just this week we had a planning meeting for the plumbing, heating and electrical work. I think we were a little unprepared for the extent of the rapid decision-making that needed to take place there AND how long it would take, but in the end the contractors were all very good at providing their guidance for what is best practice and also what works in our space. Jeff had to tap out early for work so I was left to run through the rest of the house with the crew and make executive decisions. Jeff will likely not agree on many, but I think I did ok. Adam, our builder, was also there to lend his expertise and to take notes! It was crazy cold and by the end of it I think I was turning a lovely shade of blue. I retired quickly to the trailer, where Jeff was working and tried to warm up a bit. I can’t wait until the insulation goes in and we are warmer!
We have picked the flooring, and I am moving on to/continuing the sourcing of tile and counter-tops. I had to surrender my cabinet sample back to the cabinet maker, but have asked for it to be returned so I can continue the color matching with everything else in the house. So many trips to Cranbrook have happened and there are so many more ahead. Today I am taking Lizzie with me so she can help with round ? of swapping tile boards with the vendors. A miscommunication on our master shower means I had to scrap my large format tile for something smaller so its back to square one while I try to match it all up…all while NOT having a cabinet sample.
Next week we’ll see the HVAC go in and the roof. We’re getting a load of soffit dropped at the house today and we’ll be heavy into staining so that we can be ready for that install. Fortunately, we have some lead time as the electrical work is a couple of weeks away and we can’t install the soffit until the porch pot lighting is in. Whew!