Homeful & Optimistic

The pieces are starting to dribble into their respective positions. Room by room... or more like square foot by square foot, the house is starting to look like just that: a house. Finally. It may have taken several months (the coldest ever that I remember), but it is about to be complete!

Well, many people say that a home is never truly "finished", and that is sometimes true - but damnit this one will be the exception. We are actually spending this week moving the rest of our things in! Yes... so you may be a week or two behind when reading this. I promise more information will come soon (I am saying that more and more often, I am sure). In fact, as I type this... I am sitting on the remains of our packing, which will soon also be my bed for the night: a sleeping bag, on top of a folded up comforter, on the hardwood floors of our "old" house. I told James that I felt as if I were homeless, when in fact we are just the opposite.

One of the pieces that fell into place was the glorious farmhouse sink. I purchased this from Vintage Tub and have been amazed by it ever since. This is the same place that I bought our bathtub from. It is a beast: weighing in at 105 pounds. We had some extra supports built into the sink base to support it. Think of a shelf underneath to hold it up. I am still not sure how confident I am that once they install the granite overtop of it the whole kitchen won't end up in the basement.

The master bathroom is also getting its finishing touches. As of this moment all it really needs is a nice showerhead. The plumber won't install the "pos" one I got and wants me to buy a Delta. He insists it is because, after all the time he has spent at this house, he doesn't want to come back. And neigh, you don't get any grand reveal pictures just yet. Hold your horsies!

Speaking of plumbers... Tim also got us some toilets! It only took about 4 months of strategically scheduling our supply runs around our bladders to have the damn things put in place and working. I can't wait to write up the "What we would have done differently" post. Guess what my number one piece of advice would be?

We ran into some trouble when installing crown molding in the dining room, but, all thanks to a good friend who had been there, done that - we were able to implement a suggestion. Corner boxes! The decorative little pieces of wood kept us from having to spend hours mitering one corner of the molding at a time. Instead of the 2 hours it took James and the contractor to get one half of one room done, James and Nick were able to take it all back down, re cut it, and re install it in both rooms. It looks grand. They seem to think I am going to paint it at some point.

So, piece by piece, the pictures we have had in our heads for the past few months are beginning to appear before our eyes. I must say that so far, I am pleased. There will forever be a piece of baseboard needing paint here, a knob needing polished there, a window needing trim... but for the most part, things are looking up.

We are nearing the peak of the hill, and yes - it was an uphill battle for a long time. Something about walking into a giant brick box and knowing you spent all of your money on a terrible looking, awful smelling, gross, gutted monstrosity; you can't help but be discouraged at some point. However, with great difficulty lies opportunity...