Carpet In!!!

We officially have carpet!!!

And it's really nice!!!


This is the living room and entry...











Another of the living room...


















The family room...













And the microwave and dishwasher were installed.





















It's beginning to look more and more like a completed and ready home to move into. We still have a bit of painting to do... but we're getting closer. The downstairs bathroom is still waiting for some tile work and we will have a plumber in for part of a day...

But we're getting closer.

Jim

Appliances and Paint

We are getting pretty close to coming around the bend into the "home" stretch on the house updates and what-not.

I realized today two things:
1. I hadn't put pictures up in a little while... and I know that some of you out there are following the progress that way... so my bad.

2. My blog has devolved into dealing only with the house... and that may not be appealing to some of you. If that's true know that we move in next weekend and then my blog will return back to it's normal "whateverness" including more about ministry. So if that's what you dropped by for, my apologies.

Move in day is next Saturday, November 29th. And things are coming right along. Todd and Andi, two great friends and high school leaders, came over Tuesday night and we jammed on paint for a while.

The living room is done... the downstairs is done (minus the bathroom)... the upstairs is done (minus some trimming in the master bedroom and the rolling in the closet)... Which is good.

Because the carpet comes tomorrow.

Three of the five new appliances are in. The fridge is in... the gas range is in... and the chest freezer (with my beautiful wife standing beside it below) are in. The microwave and dishwasher come tomorrow along with the carpet.

So we are getting closer.

The downstairs bathroom should be getting ready for new tile today and it should be going up today or tomorrow. So, the list of what needs to be gotten done is getting shorter.

This morning I was greeted with a maze of boxes in our apartment. Those boxes weren't there when I went to bed... but my wife closed at Starbucks last night and is usually pretty wound up when she comes home. So she stayed up pretty late last night (not having to work today) and packed. She packed up CDs, movies, pictures and other nonessential stuff. Some of which I'll transport to the house this afternoon.

So we're getting closer. And getting more excited. I'm starting to look forward to it being done!

Which it will be soon.







Here's that beautiful wife and that chest freezer!

Jim

Painting was AWESOME today!!

First off... let me just say that today was awesome painting!!! I knew that we would get a lot done. But I didn't think that we could and would get about 80% of the house painted!!!!!!

Second... let me say "thanks" to the crew that pulled it off... Todd and Andi, Ben and Vicki, John and Nancy, Mike and Nancy, Justin, Joan, Daryl and Will, and of course my beautiful wife.

It was truly incredible what we got accomplished. I was talking to my dad earlier and told him that it would be easier to share what we didn't get painted as to what we did.

The downstairs family room, bedroom and hallway are completely done. The downstairs bathroom still needs to be done... the drywall was recently fixed and needed to set up. The living room is pretty much done with a little touch up here and there to be done. The closet in the living room still needs done. The upstairs hallway and bathroom is done. The master bedroom has it's first coat and will need a little touch up when we do the closet. But it's looking awesome.

Carpet comes on Wednesday. Before that we need to:
-finish the living room and closet
-finish the master bedroom and closet
-touch up as needed

Overall painting left:
-downstairs bathroom
-kitchen


But it's really starting to shape up. Once the carpet gets there on Wednesday, then things will really begin to come along. But honestly, the work today was incredible.

And our realtor dropped off pizzas at lunch time. Just made it that much cooler.

Here's a picture of the downstairs family room in it's doneness... waiting for carpet on Wednesday!!!


Sweet.

It's really starting to come together. And we'll be ordering appliances tomorrow. They should be delivered and installed middle part of the week!

Jim

Tile is done... primer is on!!!

The tile is done in the kitchen and dining room. It looks incredible.


Tonight we think that we found the appliances to go in that kitchen. (Sears... Kenmore...)







On the flip side, the drywall is done as well. This afternoon, it got a fresh coat of primer in preparation for tomorrow's "Paint Fest." (There are about 12 of us meeting at the house to paint it... should be a fun day!)

More pictures tomorrow night.

Jim

Most of the kitchen floor is done!!!

As you can see, most of the floor is done in the kitchen. Currently the spacers are in there... they should be out by tomorrow and then the floor in the kitchen and entry will be done!!!

Jim

New 705 Updates!!

We had some pretty major action going on at our house today.

Jackie and I had school... but the work was getting done.

First, yesterday we picked up tile. Today, the entry way was installed. Looks great!!






The drywallers were there. They put the walls back that were destroyed by water (like here in the living room) and also 2 closets.


















Some of the tile was started in the kitchen. Looks great.

















Ceiling fan and new fixtures were installed in the kitchen (as well as the upstairs and downstairs halls and entry way).









And the closet where the pipe actually burst causing all the damage was replaced.



Starting to look like a house.

This weekend... Friday (?) and Saturday (for sure) there will be a whole lot of paintin' going on.

Jim

Almost Tile in the Kitchen

We're getting closer to having new tile in the kitchen.

We picked them out tonight... it's the tile on the left (under the ceiling fan). It will be installed tomorrow and Wednesday.

So exciting!!!

Jim

Painting started tonight!!

The painting officially began at house tonight.

My Dad traveled back from Ohio with me yesterday. Thursday afternoon I left with a 16 foot box truck to return with the stuff we had stored from our house in PA (i.e. washer/dryer, Christmas tree, etc). Friday morning, we loaded it up. Dad came back with me.

Today, we launched into a few things. First, we changed the locks. We also keyed them all up the same! So, one key opens things up.

Plus, we also made a stop at Home Depot and grabbed some paint and supplies. After student worship practice, our weekend student worship guy stopped by, we all grabbed some chinese buffet before hitting the paint!!! (My dad above... Justin below...) We painted the ceilings in both upstairs bedrooms and the walls in the spare bedroom. It went well and was actually (surprisingly) fun!

Finishing up a couple of things over there tomorrow and then Dad's gotta go back tomorrow night. :-(

We also have had several other things done over there over the last couple of days:

• New hot water tank
• Plumbing all repairs
• Carpet, old tile and old hardwood removed completely
• Garage door repaired and opener installed
• New lights and ceiling fan purchased (Tuesday night)

Fun!

Jim

Done house hunting!!!!

The house hunting is officially done. (And if you are tracking this line of blogs by subject or label, you will want to notice a new label below.)


If you haven't heard, we have officially bought a house. We have purchased 705 Chesterfield Lane, North Aurora. We signed the papers on Thursday and it was official on Friday. (Here are the blog posts about this house... HERE, HERE, and HERE.)

It has been a long and exhausting process. But if you live in the area and you are looking for a great realtor and mortgage guy, I've got a couple of names for you. Sandy and Ken were incredible.

But we officially have the keys. It belongs to us. We went over last night (Sunday) before high school church and took some pictures. The picture to the right is Jackie in the family room.




We wanted to take some pictures so that we can put together a video later of what it looked like before, during the construction and when it's finished. So we took some 50 or 60 fresh pictures.











Not only do we have the keys, but we also have work beginning. Our good friend Mark, who is heading up the repairs for us, has already begun work. I dropped by this afternoon to pick up the mail and a take a couple photos as he has already begun to remove the floors. But the end of the week, the old floors should be gone and new paint should be going up on the walls!!

Very exciting.

Check back for updates with pictures. But the house hunting is officially over. From now on, we'll talk about 705 or HOME!!!

Jim

We're pumped by the way!!!