We have a deck!

Well it's been a few days since my last blog. Friday and Saturday I spent in Raleigh helping my awesome friend Lesley with her horse show. Good times. Stupid me forgot to put some sunscreen on my legs and the backs of my legs got FRIED! Opps....

As for the house the framers are done until the doors and windows come. We now have a deck, no railing, but a deck!

Below is a view looking out the eat in kitchen area to the fairway.

And here is a photo of the kitchen area looking toward the steps leading down the man cave!

So things are moving along nicely. As for our dumpster......7:09 am this morning it left our yard! With all the HOA drama over it, you have no idea how happy I was to hear the BEEP, BEEP, BEEP back up sounds of a diesel truck in my life. Some people like chirping birds in the morning, not me - BEEP - BEEP!

We got our approval back to change out the front door and add shutters, so hopefully in the next week I can get that done and post some before and after shots for all to see.

Otherwise all is well. Same crazy life, same crazy dogs...speaking of...here is Milo passed out after a day of listening to the nail gun!

Day 4 of Framing

Well even though it was raining off and on all day the guys got the roof almost finished and the walls done. Now it's starting to really look like something. You know when they poured the foundation last Friday I thought from the looks of it that maybe we didn't make it big enough. Boy was I wrong! I guess it's a good thing I'm not in the construction business.

So we got a letter in the mail this afternoon from the HOA about their decision. They are saying we are in violation and are fining us $100. Let's just say my go button has been hit and my filter is broken at this moment....so I won't say much on this other than we are contacting an attorney.

Now......sigh.......

With all this construction the dogs have been worn out by the end of the day. Claire was so tired last night she only made it as far as the throw pillows for the bed and that's where she called it a night. God love my big goofy girl!

How can you tell her she can't sleep there when she's just so cute!

Well I'm off to have a beer and see if I have any out of date eggs in the fridge. You never know I might go "sleep walking" later tonight to the HOA presidents house!

Em

The Roof Begins

Okay so I might have a slight headache from today's work! Lots of nail gun use today! (At lease Claire is not jumping out of her skin today when she hears the nail gun!) But I'll take a headache in the name of progress! Hard to believe we've been in this house a year. I guess when I do finally get to unpack it will be like Christmas as I've forgotten half the kitchen stuff I own. CRAZY....

Anywho....on to the photos.

Ah as for the dumpster and the HOA......I did not go to the "hearing". I decided that my "go" button might go off which leads to the filter being turned off to the mouth if you know what I mean....so Ben went it alone. We still don't know if we are being fined, they said they would mail us their decision. Oh and when Ben pointed out a run down car in the neighborhood with two flat tires that's been there since we moved in a year ago......wait for it......with expired out of state tags....wait for it.....rusted tires......turns out it's a member of the HOA board! But the fact that we are trying to make our house nicer and helping increase the value of the whole street if worse than that guys piece of crap run down rust bucket......ugh...... I think I'm going to start taking Milo and Claire up the street for their business if you know what I mean. Speaking of my "foreman" here is his other job....keeper of the front yard....head security officer Milo. (look in the lower right corner of the window)

Well that's it for today.

Em

Framing - Day 2

Well today....you guessed it.....more framing. They finished off most of the walk out basement area and started the second floor.

The photos below were taken while standing inside the "man cave". Below left is looking toward the laundry room/bathroom. Right is looking at the window/french doors.

Well that's all for today.

Em

And the building begins!!!

Well let us fast forward a month and we have the rebuild now under way. The foundation was put in on Friday. I'm sure the neighbors loved us when the cement crew showed up at 6:30 AM!

Today they started on framing....so here we go again! Notice the small window at the top of the picture. This is where Milo sits most of the day keeping an eye on everyone! I need to get him a shirt made that says foreman!

Here we have another view. The cement squares are the footers for the deck.

Hey at least today they did not start making a ton of noise till the neighbors were at work!

Here you are looking at what will become stairs to the upper level. I am standing in what will be what we are calling Ben's "Man Cave". Behind where I am standing is what will be a new bathroom/laundry room.

And this will be the view looking out the walk out basement doors once this is all done. Ben has done a lot of work on clearing out along the creek line so that we have a good view of the fairway.

Well that's all for now. Logging off to go to our "hearing" with the homeowners association over the dumpster. Just one question.....How do you do work on a house and NOT have a construction dumpster. Oh and to boot the rule they say we are violating....well in the same sentence it says "unless you are in a construction phase of a home" Well what the heck do you think we are doing???!!!! UGH....

I will keep you posted!

Em

House Update - Demo

Okay - so this is late news but you have to see what we started with. The above image is during the tear down phase of the sun room. The door area that you see leads into the family room.

The entire thing was covered in mold! YUCK - no wonder Claire has had hives since we moved into this place!!!!

To the right we have another view of the sun room.

The sliding door you see leads into the kitchen.

Milo spent a LOT of time at the sliding door trying to figure out what all the noise was about!

Below we have the aftermath of Ben and his brother Chris pulling out the supports to the roof. (Dianna and I stood in the yard with cell phones dialed to 911 on this one!)

This has been one crazy adventure so far. Yeah, yeah we are crazy, but it will be nice when it's all done.

Welcome!

Well dad's blog inspired me to set up one so that everyone can keep up with what we are doing. So welcome to the chaos. Be sure to check back for photos of the house demo and rebuild!

Love you all!

Em