Uh, hun, it' snowing in the house!

Well, no roof. I was *really* hoping that the house would have been closed in before it snowed. Now I have an inch of snow inside! The entire house has now been framed and the roof trusses are just about in. This week the plan is to finish the roof, and to get all the windows and doors installed.

To no one's shock, the dumb-ass developer - who has been months behind on everything, including keeping the contractor up to date on the status and availablilty of service, etc. - didn't let my builder know until last week that we won't have natural gas access for FIVE more weeks! There seems to be a loose plan in place to make use of propane heaters until they can heat the house with a temporary furnace but the heaters will only work if the weather holds out. Fingers crossed people...I want nothing to slow us down now.

I want something special!

We met with our contractor last night and, after several weeks of sloooowwwwww progress on the house, things are picking up.

From the beginning, Dallas and I knew that we wanted to have finishes and products in the house that were different than the average home. After the fiasco with the glass counter top, we decided to look closer to home to get what we wanted. And we think we've found something really special in our choice of flooring. It's a product called Arteca, a man-made product that recreates the look of just about anything and everything you can imagine...even glass! We decided to scrap our plans to install hardwood and slate and have, instead, chosen a couple of amazing finishes for the main floor, and laundry and bathrooms.

Here is a sample of the living room floor we chose.

I am told that we might have (gasp) a roof by the weekend...I'll be sure to post pics and an update then!

Bummer

I was so enthusiastic after the progress we saw last weekend that I drove out to the house this morning fully expecting to see a second floor on the house. Much to my dismay, the only thing done this week were the bases of the garage walls. I kept saying to myself that they couldn't go ahead with the second floor until this step was done, but I secretly hoped that they would somehow **magically** speed up the process and have something more tangible for me to see this weekend. On the UP side, having the base of the garage poured gives us a really great idea of the scale of the house and a great vision of what it'll look like from the front once all is done...and I think it's gonna look amazing!

Walls!

For the most part, I am a practical and pragmatic kinda girl. Though exciting, I have tended to approach this whole construction project with the attitude that it is an investment, a business endeavor of sorts. That all changed this weekend when I drove out to check on progress and got my first taste of emotional involvement. For the first time, I saw a glimpse of what this home would look like once completed and I was overwhelmed. There stood the first floor of my house, not fully complete, not closed in, no windows even…but it was my house. Then it dawned on me…HOLY CRAP I’M BUILDING A HOUSE! It was so much fun to walk around and visualize where things would be, what it would look like. The garage hasn’t yet been added, the footings are poured but no walls built yet. Even still, it looks great! Here are some pics of what’s standing!