Looking forward and looking behind.

So we've been in the house a little over a month.  I've found some rugs but I'm looking for more.  Still working on the 2 gallery walls and still looking for the sideboard to go under the Longhorn picture.  It is a process.

I did buy the churchpew and love it so much.  Looks perfect.  I'm currently working on 2 needlepoint pillows for it but if you've ever done needlepoint it doesnt go fast and then you have to make a pillow out of it.  

There was always gonna be a carport and we finished that up just a couple of days ago.  Now we are working on the lighting for it.

Big enough for both ATV's and Bob's truck and my 4-Runner.  With wood storage and a gardening/BBQ storage area as well.  We also took the cattleguard from the second entrance and put it in the driveway to the house.  There will be a yard fence to protect the house/AC Units and porches from the cows.  But that wont start until pipe prices come down.  

Looking back at this whole process is disappointing in some aspects and wonderful in others.  

We set out to have someone hand us the keys when it was done albeit with our picking out fixtures, tile, paint, texture etc.  But we realized about 8 months in that that wasnt going to happen.  We struggled with firing our General Contractor many, many times and finally did toward the end when we found out that he wasnt paying or was way behind in paying them.  It became a perfect excuse to let him go without completely burning that bridge.  You have to choose your battles.  We believed him when the timeline in the beginning was 4 to 6 months but it ended up taking over a year and a half.  We built our other home by being our own General Contractor in just a little bit longer time frame so what did we save in the end because we ended up doing so much of the work ourselves?  We will not be doing this again mostly because we have found our forever home for however long we have left on this earthly plane but if we had to do this again we should have just become our own General Contractor again.  I'm pretty sure we have enough contacts to be able to make informed decisions about sub contractors and their work.  

We met some outstanding workers and made some new friends and we are extremely happy with how our drawings became the house we are living in.  

If I had any advice to lend to anyone reading this blog....I'd tell you to really give your General Contractor a microscopic look over.  Speak to present clients and not just past ones.  And if you dont know anything about building a house or any of the systems ( plumbing, electrical etc) then DO NOT use anyone other than a large home builder because they have it all down to a science.  

Thank you dear readers for coming on this journey with me.  I'm looking forward to getting the front steps in place, gravel for the driveway and under the carport.  I'm looking forward to planting a garden and hosting family get- togethers once again.  Peace

Done at last!!

The last pieces of the puzzle came together on Thursday and Friday of this last week.  The cabinet makers had our custom panels ready to install for the fridge and Fridge/freezer drawers.  That was Thursday and Friday morning the mirror and glass people called and asked if we would be around so they could install glass and mirrors.  I cannot tell you just how happy I was to get these last 2 things checked off the list. 

Of course we still have a few things to hang on the walls and I'm working on 2 different photo gallery collections.  One for the guest bathroom that will go over the tub and the second group of photos will hang over the antique courting couch in our bedroom.  But I need to have photos printed and I need to find frames and figure out sizes for all that so its gonna be a process.

At long last we finally found a nightstand for Bob.  In our old home Bob's nightstand was actually a kitchen cabinet set that was built for our kitchen but wasnt the correct size.  We kept it and actually inserted it in the wall upstairs next to his side of the bed.  It worked perfectly for all his "stuff" and the gun he keeps in case theres something that would need that type of attention.  I hated everything I shopped for and it was all too expensive for what you were getting.  In this area we have a plethora of "antique" shops and I would just know when I found what would be perfect.  And yesterday we found it. 

Its oak which matches his dresser and mine and it was in great shape and it was only $60.00.  A bargain for sure.  

We are on the hunt now for a church pew for this wall.

I think a church pew would be perfect and I might have found one at the price I want to pay.  I'm waiting for the woman to call me back to let me know how long it is.  She said 10 ft but that would be too long for this.  8ft would be maximum and 6 would be the minimum I would even consider.  This pew is not close to me so I want to find out as much as possible before I make a road trip.  Then we just need another piece to go on this wall.

I'm thinking something like an antique sideboard and Bob thinks the same.  It's one of those "I'll know it when I see it" pieces and this is a marathon and not a sprint.  

I'm heading out this week to look and hopefully purchase rugs.  We need a big one in the living area, I need 3 small rugs for inside each interior/exterior doors, I need heavy duty mats right outside the front and back doors and bathroom rugs as well as bedroom rugs.  It's all a process and because there is nothing close, it requires a trip into Georgetown, Cedar Park and probably even Round Rock.  But hopefully not Austin proper.  I wont be driving but Austin gives me the willys.  Too many people, too much traffic, too much of everything!!

Heres a picture of our custom panels.  First up is the fridge and then the Fridge/Freezer drawers.

The color difference is because they haven't a finish on them.  The cabinet people were supposed to do it but I'm thinking they forgot.  I contacted our paint guy and he said he'd do them for free if he could come out and hunt arrow heads.  Heck yes, come out all you want!  He actually found 2 bird points right in front of the house.  A bird point is a very small arrowhead...used to shoot birds.  

 So essentially we are done.  Feels good to have space again, feels good to sleep at a comfortable temperature and feels good to cook like I'm used to cooking. 

I'll probably do one last blogspot on looking back and lessons learned and pictures or maybe a video but we've reached the end of the trail my friends.  

Are we there yet?

Yes, we are there but there are still things left to do.  After getting ghosted by the 2 guys who said they'd come back and finish out the electrical we decided to just do it ourselves.  On one hand it will save us some money but on the other hand I'm angry that 2 guys who we treated much better than they deserved ended up blowing us off.  3 weeks ago one of them came to me and said they would be happy to finish up.  We'd already let Mr Muse go and even though they worked for him they would come finish up but it would have to be on the weekend.  That was just fine and we would pay them a fair wage.  1 weekend passes and another weekend passes and no word from either of them.  So I sent a text asking if they would be coming this weekend.

The text I get back says maybe on Sunday as he has a funeral on Saturday morning.  So I texted back, please be sure and let me know ASAP if you will be coming on Sunday.  Yes of course is what I got back.  I told Bob on Thursday that I wasnt going to hear from either of them so we might as well do it ourselves.  And so we hooked up the water heater in the master bathroom.  The other water heater required 2 large wires and they only ran 1.  We bought the extra wire but after thinking about it we decided that we could just buy another water heater the same size as what's in the master bath and it would service everything it needed to no sweat.  So that's what we did.  I texted the electrician on Sunday morning ( I'd never heard from him) and said we figured everything out and didnt need him.  Thanks.  And I got what I would consider a very snarky reply back.  The last item for the electrician was putting up the lights for the vanity in the master.  They didnt put them up till now because they wanted to center them over the sinks.  Wires were run and coiled up behind the sheetrock.  We have pictures of where they were so we are hoping that we can find them and mount the lights.  

Custom panels should be done for the fridge and freezer any day now and the mirrors and glass for upper cabinets are now 3 weeks overdue but that hasnt stopped us from moving in.  Besides I could not spend another night with my back issues on our old bed.  It should have been replaced almost a year ago and we did buy a new bed for the house.  

UPDATE:  We found the old wires left in the sheetrock ( thank goodness for lots of pictures) and the lights are now hooked up.  All that's left is the custom panels for the fridge and fridge/freezer and they will be installed in 2 weeks.  Still no word on the mirrors and glass for cabinets that has me scratching my head.  Hopefully this next week.

We are moved in and spending time trying to figure out what to do next.  The yard will probably be the next item on the list.  NO GRASS will be planted.  Just like the old place it will be mostly native plants and a few cacti and yuccas.  The tractor has the new hydraulic lines that Bob installed so we can use the grappler hook for dragging brush piles away from the house and onto the burn pile.  We were able to save a bunch of the left over rock to build curbs that will more or less keep the yard dirt where it belongs and we can use the Tractor to place those pieces.  We've also decided that we need a couple of large flat rock to build steps leading from the parking area ( in front ) up to the front door.  We will take a day trip into San Saba for that and puck them out ourselves.  Right now we have other things to attend to.  My 4 Runner has a light on the dash telling me my anti sway and anti lock breaks arent working.  We ate pretty sure it's a glitch but need to have it checked out and Bob's Dodge truck needs new break shoes.  No rest for the weary!

Crawling to the finish line

So last week the mirror and glass guy was supposed to be here to install the mirrors in the bathrooms and the glass in the upper cabinets.  As luck would have it his little girl got sick and they had to take her to the hospital and they do not know what is wrong.  This is a small local company and apparently they have 1 installer.  I am really sorry that his child is ill and I cannot imagine how he feels, but 1 installer?  Come on.....

The company had no idea when he was gonna be back so I'm hoping they have a plan B.  Of course we can move in without mirrors and glass in the cabinets but sure would be nice to have them especially when we WERE supposed to have them.

All the plumbing is finished but it wasnt as easy as it was supposed to be.  And here is the reason why....

Most sinks are made with an "overflow" hole.  And this "overflow" is a separate section of the sink and goes into another compartment in the drain.  My sinks do not have an " overflow" hole and therefore do not need a drain with an "overflow" portion on it, if it had that then youd have water leaking out of the drain all the time.  I did not realize when I bought my faucet sets that all the drains had the "overflow" section.  Took a while to figure out what was going on but we did and ended up having to order 4 new drains.  All done, all installed.  Everything good on that front.

The cabinet makers were back to the measure the fridge and freezer for their custom panels.  It was much easier with them in place to see how they related to the other cabinets. So they are working on them now.

I told you before we have a little electrical work that needs to be finished so Bob and I decided to tackle a couple of the projects ourselves because we have time and it will save maybe an hour or 2 less if the electrician ever gets here.  

So we installed a "puck" light.

I dont know why they didnt install it when they were installing the others but they didnt and these new LED's go in really easily.  

We also decided to install the undercounter lighting.  And instead of the whole fixture thing we went with a LED light strip.

This is what it looks like.  You can hook several of them together to get a long line of light.  It does have to have a power source but we had that covered with the plug for the microwave and the other side has the plug for the fridge.  Lines are small and can be easily hidden and the light they give off is so even and bright.  I'm super happy with how it turned out.

This is with the room lights on.

This is with the room lights off.

Super happy with this project and another item we can check off the list.  All that's left now is to get the electrician here to finish hooking up the water heater in the master bathroom.  Add another 240 volt line to the other water heater and hook it up and then put in the 2 over the sink lights in the master bathroom.  I should mention here that the electrician who is coming is someone who has worked here when Ronnie was in charge and he still works for Ronnie so I can only get him on the weekends.  Hopefully this weekend.  Then once the panels get installed on the fridge and freezer there is nothing to hold us back from turning those suckers on and completely moving in.  We can live without mirrors and glass in the cabinets for now but I'm gonna call Monday to see where they are and if we have any hope of installation soon.  Like I said....crawling...

Official Countdown begins

Well we finally got the signed Unconditional Release of Lein back from Ronnie.  Although we didn't have a lein on this place since we were doing it in cash, it's just a safety precaution in case he happens to get vindictive.  You never know.  It really would only affect us if we were to sell the place which we dont intend on ever doing but that lein might cause who ever we leave the ranch to issues if they should decide to sell.  I hope it stays in the family for a very long time and my deepest wish is that Christine and Justin return to Texas one day and live here.  Rumor around town is that hes gonna file bankruptcy,  dont know which chapter yet.  He got himself into hot water by taking on far too many projects, not enough hired hands to complete the work, too much partying and a lawsuit from another person who's having a home built by him.  I've heard nightmares about the place.  

The granite guys were back to install the backsplashes in the bathrooms.  We can't finish installing the fixtures until the drains arrive.  Because our sinks are thin, made out of copper and have no overflow we cannot use the drains that came with the faucet sets.  We had to order special drains with no overflow....who knew.  I guess this is stuff they teach you in plumbing school.  And I'm guessing this is something new because we had a thin metal sink in the previous home and there were no issues with the drain.  But that was almost 30 years ago so things have changed.  

The painting should be finished today along with the texturing and I'm hoping that they get started on the floors.  We were hoping to move the washer and dryer into the mud room and maybe get at least 1 spare bedroom situated.  If not we will start figuring out the shelf situation in the master closet.  We were given a bunch of ClosetMaid wire shelving and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.  Of course we didnt get off completely scott free, there were still brackets and supports and rods and holders that added up to over $700 but this gives us the flexibility to change it up if our needs change.  It's a project I am excited to start on. 

The electrician is coming by tomorrow to look at what needs to be done and also the mirror and glass people are coming by to measure my upper cabinets for glass and mirrors for the bathrooms.  

The big thing is getting that second coat of sealer on the floors.  Once that's done there is nothing to stop us from moving in furniture etc.  We've already begun to move stuff...I'm getting the big pantry stocked and figuring on what pots and pans I can move now.  It's really becoming exciting but it's also happening at the hottest time of the year...we have 100+ degree days behind us and ahead of us so doing things very early and very late in the day.  

Water Wall

The mud room is where we have the water wall.  So the mud room has washer, dryer, whole house filter, water conditioner, tankless heater for the water and a utility sink.  It will also eventually have a standing freezer and a spare refrigerator but right now we are just dealing with what we have.  

This was another room that 2as giving us fits because of the way the plumber brought stuff in and connected it. A hodge podge mess for sure.  It's like nobody thinks about how they bring stuff in and how the people who own the home will deal with it.  We try very hard to not have to rely on someone else to fix stuff.  But we also know when we are out of our league and to ask for help.

I didn't take a before picture and should have because it was a real mess but we took it all apart and reworked everything so that it makes sense and we can cut off individual sections so if we have to work on something you dont have to shut the entire system down.

Water from the cistern comes into the house at 1.  Its then sent through the whole house filter.

From the whole house filter is gies into the water conditioner and then if hot water is required it goes into the tankless heater. Once it leaves the heater it goes into washing machine, guest bath sinks, bathtub, shower or utility sink.

Cold water is fed to the other side of the house at step 5.  There is another tankless heater in the linen closet in the master bath.  It will feed the dishwasher, kitchen sink, master vanity sinks and shower.  It just made more sense to have 2 heaters because of the long run the hot water would have to make.  

Some may be asking why we have a water conditioner ( softener) .  The reason behind that is the tankless heats up the water very quickly.  This requires a lot of heat.  We have very, very hard water with lots of calcium and minerals.  When this water is heated up quickly it developes calcium scale and that will ruin the heating elements in the tankless.  An expensive mistake we learned about 28 years ago with our first tankless.  Besides having softened water saves your clothes in that you dont have to use the amount of soap that you would normally have to in hard water.  Saves your diswasher, saves your washer, saves your plumbing fixtures.  It's just a great thing to have all the way around.  

Granite part duex

Granite is here, granite is here!!

Those are our pieces!

And heres what it looks like.

On the agenda this weekend is to try and finish up the plumbing so we can get most stuff hooked up.

Guest bath.  The guys forgot the backsplashes for both bathrooms so they will have to come back. 

If you notice we have what is referred to as a " vessel" sink in the master bath.  It sits on top of the counter.  For a vessel sink you also need a vessel fixture.  Ah ha....nobody tells you that.  So even though I had these fixtures that had a high neck, they apparently weren't high enough so I had to order something else.  I was able to find Kingston Brass stuff that matched but I didnt have a lot of selection unless I wanted to go higher in price.  I already have a bath fixture that's going on Ebay or Craigslist so I'll just add to the ever growing pile.

 Hers what I bought, vs heres what I had.

I think it will be just fine but I would have rather had what we picked out first.  Sometimes you just have to know when it's time to say Uncle.