well, i don't know about that, but we did pass our electrical inspection. hooray!
next up: plumbing inspection, spray insulation, finishing the electrical, fixing some HVAC issues, and then maybe even...drywall? possibly next week?
we'll be in boston/new hampshire over the weekend to visit maggie and wes. we're looking forward to the break from house stuff. we found out that our one working bathroom's sink is leaking. most of the stuff in the under-sink cabinet was soaking wet. funny. i'm looking forward to staying with them for many reasons, but one is that it will be a construction-free home. :)
*UPDATE*
i snapped a few photos of our remedy for the aforementioned sink problem. maggie and wes, we can't wait to be your houseguests and leave this behind for a weekend!!!
our remedy, a fan to dry it out:
the plumber's remedy, cutting holes in the wall to access the pipes:
we have recessed lighting in the kitchen! check it out.
i think it looks fabulous. recessed lighting makes a room really sparkle. we actually have eleven cans in all - we were going to have eight plus one over the sink, but the dining end of the room was looking a little dark. the electrician added two more, and now the kitchen is super bright.
we have our electric inspection tomorrow. i hope we pass the test! :)
today we're going to play a game! what in these two pictures is not the same?
picture #1: taken at 9am this morning. study it carefully!
picture #2: taken at 4pm this afternoon. what's different?
yeah that's right. the porch is gone. just to refresh your memory, this is what we have been using it for:
it was a great storage room, but the time had come for us to lose it! it was in really bad shape - broken windows, etc. tearing it down was actually a lot of fun. dave, klaas, ben, justin, and i worked to move all the house debris to the dumpster. then they did this.
we were amazed at how well it came down! here are some more pics from the day.
the dumpster started like this:
and ended like this:
and praise God for fantastic weather today. He held off the rain, and it was nice and cool to be working outside. we are so thankful for friends and family who sacrifice their saturdays to help us out.
while the boys were working with crowbars and chainsaws, i started raking out our garden. crissy and "favorite aunt patty" came by while we were eating lunch. they scoped out some of the existing landscaping and put in their guesses for what perennials would be coming up. looks like we'll have lilacs, peonies, chives, and some other plants i can't remember. :)
God is so good, and so faithful. today i just felt this overwhelming sense of peace and thankfulness that He provided this home for us. this is our home - we don't have to move out any time soon! what a blessing. something we do not deserve.
i see God's goodness so much in this situation. we've been looking for houses for about two years, and it amazes me that God had this perfect home in store for us all along. i love that God orchestrates these things to be just so. i am a fool to not trust Him and His sovereign grace.
one funny story from the day: dave and i were taking the sledge hammer to some cabinets in the front yard. the activity drew over a neighbor boy and his parents, so we were thankful for the chance to meet them! the little boy was like, "i wanna smash stuff, too!"
we've met quite a few of our neighbors, actually. one family in particular has been especially kind. they told us they have been praying that a young couple would move in and really work on the house. that really touched me. we met another neighbor, too, who told us some interesting news: apparently the last three owners have all divorced. it was so sweet to see ben look our neighbor in the eye and say, "for us, divorce is not an option." i love my ben.
the house is really coming along. on the first level, we've had the HVAC guy, electricians, and clyde (the plumber) come to get us set up. those projects are fantastic and necessary, but they don't give a large visual difference. tearing off the porch was just what i needed to remind me that the things we are doing to this house will make a BIG difference. here are a few shots of the kitchen.
you can see where the sliding patio door and window above the sink are framed in. we're moving along, slow and steady. now i think ben and i are going to go watch zoolander. as a parting shot, here's dave in his zoolander pose:
i was scrolling through the blog and realized that thus far, the pictures have been REAL ugly. like poor lighting, lots of dust, and power tools galore.
so, in the effort toward beautifying the blog, i'd like to change my tune and talk about what we'd like the kitchen to look like. i've been trying to hold back the inner decorator until we have walls in place, but it's good to think ahead, no?
(plus, a special friend named kaylee gave me this fantastic domino book last week for inspiration. squeal!)
but first, i have to do a "materials list" for those interested. when ben and i decided to buy this house, a huge plus (in my eyes!) was that the kitchen would have to be redone. there was no salvaging it. it was a total bust.
i love white kitchens. for the new kitchen, there was never a question in my mind about what color of cabinetry to choose. it was all white, all the way. i'm so picky about wood - i only like really dark or really light, but that is for the time being. i'm too nervous to commit to either of those. so while white cabinets were my first choice, they were also a safe choice, making it a win-win situation.
the door style was pretty easy, too. nothing fancy, nothing ornate. straight lines. simple. not too modern, but not too country, either. these shaker-style doors are just right. and ben and i could agree! these aren't the exact cabinets, but they are pretty close. we've been in touch with a place called designed cabinets, and they've given us some very reasonable estimates. we'll likely order maple cabinets and have them painted white.
our condo had laminate countertops. not inherently evil, but they had this dark brown granite-like pattern. my real beef with them was that it was very hard to tell when they were dirty. i had to lean down to get the light just right, then i could see where there were spills and such. no fun.
again, my love of all things white played into our countertop decision. i want white countertops. call me crazy! they always look clean, and they will always be somewhat current. i really liked marble countertops like these:
but marble is way out of our budget, and very porous to boot. ben's parents have corian countertops. i really like how they look. no, they are not the trendiest option. but they are both classic and current looking, which is what we are going for in the kitchen - a kitchen that we will like five, ten, and even twenty years down the road.
i pulled this image from domino's web site before it shut down. i think it is what sold me on corian.
love it! it looks so clean...which wasn't the case with our dark brown speckled laminate ones. so that is what we have chosen so far: white, shaker-style cabinets and pristine white corian countertops. ben has put a veto on the all-white kitchen, so i'll have to decide on some paint/textile colors to keep things looking punchy. i'll leave you, dear reader, with some serious kitchen eye candy.
this post doesn't have a topic sentence. just some random pics of the house from the last few weeks.
here's the new mudroom/closet/half bath from the kitchen. on the left, you can see where the closet is framed in. on the right will be a *very* tight half bath.
and perhaps the most exciting part of all...access from the garage to the house! we think it will be well worth the sacrifice of the formal dining room. now we just need a doorknob.
here's the lovely miss beth modeling where our new john will go. i love calling it a john. so funny. i hope it's not crude? (and the falling-down duct tape represents where the window will be.)
here's a shot of our basement kitchen-cave. as you can see, we have a range set up. and a table. the other side has a fridge and microwave. there's a little pantry area, too. it'll work for now. the lights usually flicker while we eat, casting a romantic glow that could be mistaken for candlelight. very dharma initiative.
and here's a shot of me and my twin, mrs. mary jane hanson. love you mom!
and a shout out to my sister, who turns 22 today. signing out!
