this NEW house

The 2 pictures I forgot...

2010-01-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

The storm shelter. Also where the trim carpenter is storing his equipment and will have to move it out REAL SOON!

We're almost finished!

2010-01-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to see the house. Amazing how far we have come! I can't believe we're almost finished. In all honesty it's a little surreal because I was starting to think we weren't going to get there. However, we are starting to move our boxes in TOMORROW and movers come on MONDAY! Here are some pictures I took tonight so the coloring isn't that great but it will give you an idea... before we let the Mackey kids run wild in the new house and it doesn't look like this anymore:). The pictures start upstairs, main level, and basement/garage. I tried to get them in order as if you were walking around, but it didn't quite work out that way for all of the pictures.

Kaden's room. His view last night was amazing. The sun was setting and the snow clouds were thick. The little mountains we have and the yard were covered in snow. It was beautiful!
McKinley's room

View of hallway to McKinley's room and then Christian's room. If you turn to the left you would see Kaden's bed and bath. Keep turning left all the way around and that's their living room.

Christian's room. These windows face the street, she's at the front of the house.

Kaleigh's room. She also faces the front of the house.

My upstairs storage closet. Those are ADT's wires, we're still waiting to get phone installed so ADT can get set up. This is down a hallway that leads from Kaleigh's room to the upstairs living room and stairs.

Opposite of the closet is the laundry room.

Upstairs living room

Stairs going up

Master bath/shower... still waiting for shower door

View of master bath from our room

Our room

My kitchen.

The dining room is directly to your right as you enter the front door. The windows look out at the front porch.

The living room and kitchen

The study is directly to the left of the front door as you enter.

Stairs from main level down to basement and garage. These are across the hall from the powder room (I forgot to get a picture of this room) and in between the living room and our room.

Workshop area of garage

Garage

Basement

View of basement from the door to the garage. To the left are the stairs to go to the main level and on the right is the bathroom and hidden is the door to the storm shelter.

* Oops! In my attempt to organize the pictures in order I accidentally deleted the storm shelter picture.

1.5.09 update

2010-01-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

Well, as of today we have postponed the movers 3 times now! This weather is RIDICULOUS! I mean a high of 25?! I don't have any new pictures, but we're getting very close. The painters came today after bringing in heaters to warm the house up. We FINALLY received our certificate of occupancy but won't get temporary power until Wednesday. The painters didn't want to come but I am tired of waiting around and moving our move date over and over. So, they came today for me. I'm sure my next bill will have a nice diesel charge to keep the heaters running! Oh well. The paint looked great. All we have left now is for the tile guy to come back and put grout in our backsplash and fireplace tiles. The painters need to finish, we need the closet hanging bars, toilet paper holders and things like that. And, lastly landscape and a mailbox! We need that mailbox too because I've changed some of our addresses on things. Needless to say, we're close but no home run yet. Keep us in your prayers that we keep our sanity and get moved in before my maternity leave is over!

Christmas Day

2009-12-29T18:54:00.000-08:00

Again, these are the pictures I can find from our Christmas Day. Santa brought Rie an Easy Bake oven, Kaden got a basketball arcade hoops, Christian got a little trampoline, and McKinley got a bouncy chair.

Rie made a potholder for me at school. This is when she gave it to me.

Christmas Eve the kids were running around and Kaden bumped his head into the couch. He got a pretty yucky scratch on his left eye.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-29T18:35:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I received an external hard drive so I can save all of my pictures in one spot. Unfortunately I was trying to be cool and saved all my Christmas pictures to it before I could put a date on them. So, I'm having a hard time locating the pictures. This is what I found so far...

rie's picture for nana. picture taken by christian

some of our stockings. kaden and rie have 2 because they made one at school and wanted to hang it up. another picture by christian.

Making Santa's cookies.

Our yummy cookies.

We have concrete!

2009-12-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

And, we thought we would NEVER get concrete....

But, today we had the front porch rails and...

THE DRIVEWAY!! WOOHOO! Finally.

Thursday, 12/17/09

2009-12-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

back porch and stairs

fireplace (will have brown tones once they put the glaze on)

kitchen island

ovens

stove top and cabinets

powder room

master shower

Back porch

2009-12-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

If it doesn't stop raining we are going to go crazy! We haven't been able to pour the driveway and sidewalks for 2 weeks now and we can't bring in appliances or get a certificate of occupancy without them. Thankfully, they started the railing and stairs from the back porch. Today they were supposed to put the last coat of stain on the hardwood floors so we can't do anything tomorrow inside the house. Wednesday should be big, though. We should get all tile, paint, and trim finished. We set the movers up for Dec. 29 and our closings are both set up for Dec. 30th. We are on a super tight timeline right now so pray for sunny, warm weather:).

12/11/09 update

2009-12-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

Today we went to see our wood floors. Yesterday they sanded them and started the stain. Today the 2nd coat of stain went down. They also put up front stairs, columns and our house number. If it would ever stop raining we could get some concrete poured, but so far no luck. We do have air conditioners and the Rennai system installed. Hopefully tomorrow they will work on the back porch putting in the railing and stairs and then on Monday the wood floors will get their last coat. Next week the trim carpenters will come in and finish up and we'll get our appliances installed. What do we have left? Finish the paint, cabinets need to be finished, driveway, fireplace tiles, backsplash, mailbox and landscaping. Then of course the punch out and clean up. We're close, but still seems like a couple of weeks if we're lucky. Oh, the good news? We sold our house!!! Thankfully even in this economy we sold our house so we may either move into our new home or into a hotel until our new home is finished... we'll keep you posted.

Counters have arrived!

2009-11-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

Master bath counters

Kitchen counters

Kaden's counter

Laundry Room

Christian's counter, hmm.

Light fixture pictures

2009-11-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

Once again my camera is playing tricks on me. Sometimes there are spots and sometimes there are not. Sorry.

Foyer and study

Master bedroom fan

Girls room fan

Dining room light

Kitchen table light and recessed lighting

Living room fan

Basement fans and recessed lighting

Solar power flood lights on the back porch

Garage door opener and lights

Back porch fan

Garages and lights

Kaden's bathroom

kitchen cabinets

2009-11-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

Yeah! Kitchen cabinets. We are so excited to see the cabinets installed. Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy, I was using a different camera that apparently needs to be cleaned.

garage doors and cabinets

2009-11-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Kaden's bathroom

Christian's bathroom
Kaleigh's bathroom

Laundry room

Garage doors without the hardware yet.

Basement bathroom

Master bathroom

Kitchen

More tile and wood

2009-11-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

Master Bath tile

Dirt and Flooring

2009-11-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

Now that the time has changed and it gets dark earlier we had some trouble getting to the house before the light was gone. Here are the latest pictures. Dirt is in and hardwoods have started.

and we have paint!

2009-11-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

This is just the first coat, but you can get a pretty good idea... beware there is pink involved:)

master bedroom

mantel in the living room

basement

stairs going down to basement

stairs going up to kids level, living room and dining room

front doors and study doors

dining room

stairs again

rie's room

christian's room

baby's room

kaden's room

study

Updated closet systems, trim, and stairs

2009-10-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

Master closet

Other side of master closet

window above the tub

Master bedroom

Pantry

Kaleigh's trim and closet

Main level stairs going to upstairs

Study

Trim updates

2009-10-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

Interior doors

Closet organization going in. They started with Kaden's closet.
The fireplace mantel

Rob's study with coffered ceiling and french doors.

The foyer: front doors and into the study.

The dining room.

Trim!

2009-10-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

Trim is going in, above the front door and crown molding

crown in the upstairs living room

Base molding and trim around the windows in Rie's room

Crown in the main living room

Metal roof on the front porch, a little hard to see.

Flooding, thankfully not the water kind of flooding...

2009-09-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

Rob's garages

Basement and the mess

From the front door

Looking from the study into the foyer and dining room

Looking at Christian's room (on the right) and the baby's room (on the left).

Looking from Rie's hallway into the upstairs living room

Upstairs living room

Rie's room

Roof of our back porch, yeah.

Sheet Rock!!!

2009-09-26T16:43:00.001-07:00

Looking from the pantry into the kitchen and living room.

Sorry this picture is out of order... but this is looking downstairs from the upstairs living room.

Rob is so happy with his big shower and overhead rain shower head

Our closet

Study

Upstairs living area as you walk up the stairs

Rie's room

Christian's room , the door leads to her dressing area.

Coming out of Christian's room. The baby's room is on the right, then the next door is Kaden's bathroom and the next door is Kaden's room. To the left are the stairs going down and the upstairs living room.

9.24.09

2009-09-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

The brick is finished!!!

And here comes the sheet rock!!!

Rain, rain go away

2009-09-21T18:02:00.001-07:00

GO AWAY RAIN!!! I love the rain and yet I'm so tired of the rain. We are at a stand still! No bricks, no sheet rock, nothing being moved/fixed inside. Pray we can stop the rain and get back to work. Thankfully we have had more traffic on our current house, but still waiting for a contract... so please say a prayer for that too:)

9.17.09

2009-09-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Finished with one side of the house! You can see our wonderful weather, too.

Going up the back of the house

Some drywall went up in the garage so that they could spray in the insulation on the other side (basement side).

In Rie's room, this is inside her room looking at the sitting area and the window.

A look at the wall/ceiling area after it's been sprayed. In yesterday's picture I showed the batting for the soffit and now it's been sprayed over.

As with all multi-level houses you worry about hearing people go potty above you. Ok, maybe that's just me. So, we had the plumbing sprayed with foam insulation as well!

PICTURES!

2009-09-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah, they finished this front part of the bricks. Now they have to take down the scaffolding so the sheet rock can load up through that opening (we stapled plastic over the opening because rain kept pouring in). That should be loaded in by the end of the week and we are really hoping drywall is finished by the end of next week!

Back of house. It's been raining EVERY day this week. We hope they are finished by Saturday.... we hope.

Spray in insulation in the kitchen/living room

one front door, study, and stairs going upstairs

Hallway. Powder room is the door on the right and then the other door is to the master bedroom. The brown is "green" recycled batting.

Study and stairs going up

Looking out the front doors

Looking up from the hallway upstairs into the attic. Foam insulation in the attic! What a difference it makes already, even way up high.

Spray in insulation in the walls and then batting where the soffets are outside. They will come back and spray over the batting.

Then, it will look like this. View of the upstairs rec room, sprayed in walls and attic

9.15.09 update

2009-09-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

After we started the brick (well maybe not "WE") the rains poured down on Monday and Tuesday. It did finally stop this afternoon for awhile so they started to brick some more. We are up to main level on the garage and back sides, which is about 10 feet tall. We are probably up to 8 feet on the front and the right side of the house where the fireplace is. We did get most of the insulation installed. The spray in foam is pretty amazing and has closed in the house quite a bit. They have just sprayed the outside walls, not the attic yet. But, with just the sides sprayed the amount of noise you hear from outside when you are inside is dramatically reduced. I can't wait to see how it keeps out the cold :) We hope the weather will cooperate tomorrow and they can finish bricking the front of the house first. If they do the drywall can be brought through Rie's front window up there and then they can finally install her window. (They left it open so they could load the drywall through her window, an easier lift than up the stairs or through the front door that has no front porch or walkway yet!) The insulation price came under budget (yeah!) so hopefully that will even out from the dirt we had to haul in at the beginning of this process... and maybe my appliances too! We just received our first drawings for the cabinets and emailed back our changes. So... we have to finish insulation (or installation as Rie and Christian call it) and finish bricks. We still need them to move a vent and the shower head. We also need to install another special hook up for the "high speed oven" we are getting. It's a microwave that also acts as a oven, now I just have to learn how to work it. Ha! Then the drywall and trim... As of right now our timeline is Thanksgiving.... we'll see.

**I promise to take a DIFFERENT camera the next time I go to the house. I'm starting to think it's the cable that connects to the computer because it's not working for 2 of our little digital cameras. So out comes the big Canon next time!

9.13.09 update

2009-09-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, we have pictures. We just don't have pictures that can download to the computer. I promise I'm trying! We did go by the house today and they started the bricks!! Yeah. We should have insulation tomorrow, hopefully. They were supposed to start last Friday but their machine broke. We are getting the spray in insulation in all the exterior walls and the attic. This type of insulation is supposed to decrease utility bills dramatically. After they finish then they can start sheet rock. That is scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday start date. I promise to keep working on our cameras so we can post pictures soon. But, at least you know we do have progress. We're still waiting on a couple of things to be fixed like a vent to be moved and the overhead rain shower head to be moved, but other than that everything is going well as of yet. Keep checking back!

9.5.09

2009-09-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Rob started adding audio cable (the white cable hanging down) so we could add speakers later.

We also put it out on the back patio...

Hook ups for the air conditioners

Air intake

Light Buff mortar... or a HUGE sand pit to climb in according to Christian

BRICKS!

Rough-In

2009-09-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, so what's new with the house? We have had plumbing including the kids tub/showers, HVAC come and put the vents in, J&K Electric put in our wiring, plugs, light switches, etc. And, ADT was out yesterday making sure we didn't have any windows that 3 teenage daughters could eventually sneak out of!

All of our electrical wiring meeting down in the garage as well as one of our AC trunk lines. We have one in the garage for the basement and main level. We also have another one in the attic for the kids level.

The view through our closet into our bathroom. On the right is my washer and dryer connections in the closet. Our laundry room will be upstairs with the kids so why not have my own in my closet?! Now all there is to do... teach the kids to do their own laundry!

View from the front door/study area. We have a plug and cable in the wall for the TV to hang on the wall, no little fingers changing the channel! There are can lights, plugs, and light/fan set ups. AND, 7 outlets in the kitchen. Woohoo!

View from Rie's room into the hall through the right door, her closet are the left doors. Past the closet is the laundry room and the upstairs living area with a view of the fields and "mountains."

Hopefully we will have a rough-in inspection by the end of the week.

Then, we'll start sheet rock and brick!

An update, finally

2009-08-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back online with a camera that is working. We have Renai water heater lines going in.

Here is the Renai panel.

And our duct work is going up.

Our fireplace has finally made its debut.

And the opened up the top window again. First it was big and then they made it smaller because we added the eyebrow expansion roof under the window. But, we decided we wanted the bigger window anyway.

Monday, 8.10.09

2009-08-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

We have a concrete pad for our fireplace and a rough in plumbing as of today. I am posting pictures, but framing is hard to see in a picture.

Kaden's bathroom

utility room

I forgot to post this picture last week. Our back porch.

Thursday

2009-08-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

Looks like the framing crew is finished, but we found a few things they didn't do. Other than that we are very happy. Coming along and they're doing a great job!

one week later...

2009-08-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

It's officially one week since we started framing the house and look how far we've come! We hope to put shingles, doors, and windows on by the weekend. Amazing. Can't wait to see what another week brings. Keep watching...

Front of the house

Back of the house

The view from our kitchen windows and door.

2nd floor

Front view from Rie's room

Upstairs playroom

View from the front door, except our stairs are not curved yet. To the right is the dining room to where the framed beams are up front. Beyond that is our living room and kitchen. Behind the stairs leads to the master suite.

How the back porch is tied into the main house frame.

Our family enjoying the process.

The kids and I looking out the master bedroom door that leads to the back porch. Of course we always have a comedian...

Friday and Saturday

2009-08-03T04:25:00.000-07:00

Friday was the main level day. The exterior and interior walls went up, as well as stairs from the basement.

Saturday morning we met our project manager, Scotty, at the site. We even had a few changes and by the time we came back at 4 pm they had already fixed them. And, they started framing out the second floor.

back of the house

main level

2009-07-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

It rained last night, but when we woke up the rain was gone. The day held out for us and even cooled off for the workers. When we went to the site today at lunch the framers, Ayers Construction LLC (contact information on the side), had already floored the main level. While we were there they raised and secured two of the outside walls.

Cut up extra wood for blocking the interior walls. Great for recycling wood.

One wall goes up.

So does another.

Rob and I went out with friends tonight so we couldn't get to the site tonight. However, while we were out the big storm came through with hard rains and winds. We just couldn't wait until morning to see if everything was still standing so we took a trip out there. It looked great! In fact it looked like they had finished framing the interior walls on the main level. Can't wait to see it in daylight. Now if we can just hold off the rain, or at least keep it coming at night so they can work during the day.

Progress

2009-07-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Well we couldn't have asked for more... yet. Our framer, Hampton, was early to the site and working hard. They finished the basement framing and will start flooring the first floor if the rain holds off. It's been looking pretty stormy but nothing yet. Guess we'll see in the morning....

View from the street

From our neighbors back patio

Both garage bays

Inside the garage bays
View looking up

Basement bathroom

Basement

Storm shelter

**I take that back... it's raining cats and dogs now. Hmm...

Concrete and rain!

2009-07-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

Monday the workers put out the plastic coating and rebar that ties into the basement walls. We weren't sure when the concrete would be poured because the afternoon sun was too hot and rain was predicted for today. But, thankfully Alabama Concrete showed up by 7 am and they began their process. Rob was out there for awhile and made sure it looked good. By 9 am it was raining. Yep! When Rob went back out at noon they had fans over the concrete drying it and wiping the rain off. Thankfully it wasn't a hard rain! When Rob was leaving the site again our trusses and floor system showed up. Now we'll see what the weather has in store for us and our new house for the rest of the week.

Monday 7.27.09

Tuesday evening 7.28.09
View from the driveway

View from the back corner of the basement

our wood

WE HAVE WALLS!

2009-07-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

We have walls! I know it's hard to believe, isn't it? This is a shot from the street. The opening on the left will be our garage. The other half of the box will be a storm shelter, full bathroom and man cave:), or basement, depending on who you're talking to.

The sun was shining right at me, but this is a picture from the backyard.

My Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bubba give the basement walls thumbs up!

So, now they have to plumb for the basement bathroom, add more gravel for the garage, and pour concrete inside. We'll keep you posted! It's getting exciting to see movement:)

Walls!

2009-07-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today we FINALLY had 5 sections of our concrete Superior Walls delivered to the site. Of course, once they were set down here comes the rain. Tomorrow they are supposed to deliver the rest of the walls and set them up. Hopefully the weather will hold out, yeah right, and we'll get these walls up and ready!

Rain, rain go away

2009-07-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well, now we have rain. Of course! Working on 3 weeks of delays. Still waiting for Superior Walls to finish their other job and the rain has delayed their installation. Hopefully ours is next week. Thankfully our builder is patient with us and stays on top of our contractors....

What's the hold up?

2009-07-14T10:41:00.001-07:00

An update for all of those who ask and those who don't but keep logging on to see the same pictures...

We are waiting and waiting. The architect took longer than expected to return our final plans which then delayed our basement plans. We are now behind a big project they are trying to finish..... so we wait. For two inpatient people, this is not easy.

We have been told work will begin within the next week. We will post new pictures and information as soon as something new happens.

Status 1 month in

2009-06-29T04:51:00.001-07:00

We started our project about a month ago with our land purchase. We are currently waiting for the final plans and once we see those we'll have a construction schedule and start going vertical. The unforeseen site prep work wasn't a killer but we will need even more dirt for the back yard. So, as of today we are a little behind schedule and over budget. I believe we can make up some time when we get started.
RM

clearing and adding...

2009-06-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

The land cleared and our gravel base in the backyard

We're going to need dirt...
30 truck loads later we have a nice footer

View from the back corner of the house where the basement will soon be...

Permission granted...

2009-06-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Our lot and permit.

Welcome!

2009-06-23T19:11:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our new blog! We have alot of new changes happening and wanted to share one journey. This NEW house, instead of This Old House. We are trying to build a energy efficient, LEED certified home. Our hope is that this house will be one way to help our budget and the Earth. Hope you enjoy watching it grow with us. If you're a friend that lives in the area we'll try to get our contractors and their information up to date if you would like to contact them.

Enjoy.