Making Good Progress

It's been almost two weeks since my last update about the progress on the house. The last time I posted about the house Derrick and I had almost completed the bottom cabinets and the floor company had just finished the floors. Well we've now painted the entire upstairs except for Cooper's room (which will not be painted); put in new shoe mould; moved about 1/4 of our boxes and all furniture except for our TV, armoire, and what furniture we are using at the Hood's; Derrick and I have moved the bottom cabinets upstairs; and we put a new door in the laundry room. We've done other things here and there, but that's the majority of what we've completed over the last two weeks. There have been several LATE nights, but we've gotten a lot done. Allison went a few days ago and picked out our counter tops and sink. The company is coming on Tuesday to measure for the counter tops and they told her it would be one to two weeks after that when they will come to install them. This weekend we are planning to move the remaining boxes as well as the TV and armoire. I am also hoping to get my dad to help me tile the laundry room floor.

These rooms turned out better than I thought they would

There's still work to be done on them, but the cabinets are up and mounted in the kitchen

Four Whole Years!

Has it really been four years? Four years since Allison called me that day while at lunch and said "well, your going to be a daddy today." I can't believe Cooper turns four years old today. For those that have older children four years probably doesn't seem like much. But for us, we really can't believe how big he is getting. Coop, we love you so much buddy. You light up our house and we love how much you love others. You are a great little boy who loves to explore and learn new things. You are a lot like your mommy from you looks to the fact that you don't like for things to be out of place. You like whoopy cushions, nut crackers, and Tennessee football (although you told me you were going to play football for Auburn). You are very curious about everything, and don't really like a general answer to any question. We love you buddy, and hope you have a great fourth birthday.

The Next Steps

The next steps are under way. Derrick and I got started on the cabinets on Monday night and the floor company sanded and finished the floors on Tuesday and Wednesday. The floors look great and we made a lot of headway on the cabinets.

Let's be clear, Derrick is the one driving the cabinet ship. I like to call myself his apprentice. I am doing what he tells me and am trying to learn and soak in as much as I can. It was very cool to see the corner cabinet as an assembled product and I had a lot of fun helping and learning. As most of you know, I have not ever been accused of being handy, but hopefully through this project I will learn to be a little more handy than before. Now I just need some more tools...

We finished most of the bottom cabinets on my day off yesterday

We set up the cabinets as they will be arranged on the back wall of our kitchen

The Floors are In

Tuesday morning I met the floor installation guys at the house at 8:30. There were 2 of them and they got the kitchen/dining room floor installed. From what I can tell they did a great job. When I met with the guys from the company at the house he said he wasn't sure if they would be able to get it woven into the hallway and den area or not. When we got there to check it out, however, they were able to get both doorways done. This coming Tuesday the finishers will be there to sand the entire upstairs and finish all the floors to look the same. This will take three days, since they are putting three coats of polyurethane down. We are going with a natural finish and are definitely excited to see how it looks when it's finished.

Tomorrow my dad is planning to finish up the drywall. Allison and I are going to measure for trim, baseboards, crown molding, as well as do other odds and ends that we can get done. We have a long list of to-dos, but I think we can make a small dent in it tomorrow. Hopefully the roof will be replaced early next week. He said the timing will depend on if the shingles we picked are in stock or not, but he will let me know when they will be there. Moving right along...

The Latest Home Update

Okay, so we're now a few weeks into the home renovation/repair/remodel. Our chimney has been rebuilt, the hardwood is being installed today, and the drywall has been hung in the kitchen. My dad has put one coat of drywall mud on the walls with at least two more to go, I think. Also, Derrick replaced the valve in the garage to allow water into the house last night/this morning. After the guys finish installing the floors today, Derrick and I will start on the tile in the laundry room as well as other projects that need to be done before moving in. As you can see, there are lots of things going at once, hopefully culminating with getting finished and us moving in the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Beginning stages of the chimney repair. Completed pictures coming soon.

Walls up and floors out.

Here's the pile of flooring that's going in the kitchen. Maybe I'll have another picture tomorrow.