Amy and Colby: HOUSE UPDATE

Lately the question(s) for me have been, how's the house coming along? When do you all anticipate moving? Well, these are all really good questions. Usually my answers are, coming along nicely and I'm note sure. We have made tremendous progress on our soon-to-be home. The property is going through a complete transformation. Before and after pics are amazing, and the house is unrecognizable from where we started. The work that has been done so far is amazing. The fact that I've somehow kept my sanity over the last 9 months is amazing. Now if we can just get through this final push, get the house DONE, and get us moved! Once we move, I'm sure it will all be very amazing, haha.

So what's left to do? Another really good question. We're in the final push. Down to the nitty gritty. Everything, inside and outside, is shaping up nicely. Exterior has been pressure washed and painted. We painted the house a cream color to match the brick accents on the front porch. Compatible cream - SW 6387 - as a matter of fact. And I must say, I absolutely love the color. We had landscaping donated, and so far the company has killed the grass. Guess they'll be coming to do more work soon. The interior is where the house is really looking fabulous. I knew this house would turn out “nice” and “pretty” buy Oh My Gosh!! It's absolutely beautiful!! And I'm not saying that because it's mine (ours, you know what I mean). I'm saying it because it really is BEAUTIFUL! Anyone that has seen it lately says the same thing. It has far exceeded any thoughts or visuals I had of how the final product would look. Yes, it looks amazing! All the tile work is done – bathrooms and fireplace. Kitchen cabinets are installed. Bathroom vanities are installed. Basement waterproofing was completed last week. Donated hot water heater installed. Whole house generator delivered and ready to go. Donated shelving has been installed in the closets. I'd say about 80% of the painting is done. The last few weeks have been a picking/choosing frenzy! We've picked out paint colors for all rooms and the exterior, faucets, carpet for my bedroom and the upstairs, lighting, house numbers, pedestal sink, figured out the shelving logistics, and several other details I can't even remember right now. The carpenter is finishing up the trim, then the painter can come back and finish painting and stain the steps going upstairs. Once the faucets come in, the plumbers can come back over and hook them up, along with the toilets. For the love of all that is good and holy, can we just get a working toilet in the house already?! We'll call the lighting company tomorrow and give the final light fixture decisions. Still need to pick out stuff like cabinet hardware, but I'm thinking around 95% of the choosing/coordinating/envisioning is done. Thank goodness, that was super hard on my little brain. I even had tons of help, and it was still taxing on my poor brain.

When are we moving? That seems to be the $64,000,000 question. Technically our apartment lease is up October 31. So that means a big crapload of work has to happen in the next couple of weeks, along with getting Colby's huge shelving unit moved from the apartment to the house, getting the duct work cleaned, AND packing us and actually moving. We currently have 2 big hold-ups. The counter tops are going to take longer to get in than we had hoped. Actually, if that's the only thing stopping us from moving, I say let's go for it and we'll go counter topless for a couple of weeks. However, we're also waiting on the deck and ramp to be built, and that's the biggie we of course can't be without. The time line for this was originally mid-August to mid-September. Now the company is saying sometime in November is the earliest they can get to it. Hmmmm, not exactly what I wanted to hear, especially since we need a ramp to oh, I don't know, get Colby into the house! The deck and ramp are being generously donated, so beggars can't be choosers, right? We're looking into renting a portable ramp for November in the hopes that if the deck and ramp are the only items we're waiting on the last week of October, we could still move. But honestly, I just don't know right now. The stars are going to have to align perfectly and some major work needs to be coordinated and finished to get us moved by October 31. I can rent month-to-month, so if we're stuck in this horrible, dingy, stupid ass apartment for a couple weeks longer, so be it. Not what I want of course, but it's not exactly something I can control either. I'm very grateful and we're incredibly blessed to be having somewhere to go soon, and I try to keep that perspective. But you can't blame me for wanting to hurry up and move into our new, larger, more functional, beautiful house. It's going to be what it's going to be, and I've had to talk myself into being able to accept the outcome. Bottom line, Colby and I have a beautiful new house waiting for us, soon. I didn't think this dream would ever come true, but it has, and it's been a wonderful, although stressful at times, experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

That's the scoop on the house. More updates soon. Can't wait to blog and say we're packing!