construction progress: week 15-18

the last few weeks have been a blur. we have been doing a lot of work ourselves and have been at the house at least 4-5 nights a week, which has been exciting and exhausting. the house is really starting to take shape!

here is an idea of what has been happening:

we decided that we wanted to fully enclose the shower for a more custom look. here is my husband and a helper installing the ceiling curb.

we primed the entire main floor. we ran out of time to prime the upstairs, so that will be happeining in the next 2 weeks. 

the custom exterior doors were delivered...

...and installed. they are alder. although i thought it might be fun to paint them with a dark high gloss finish, my husband really want to see some of the natural grain, and so we are opting for an opaque stain. 

and, the HARDWOOD floors were started!

THIS is the main thing that has happening at the house the last 3 weeks.

we decided on oak floors, and in particular red oak. oak is affordable, looks great, and is very durable. when purchasing oak, you can get different grades. we always get RED OAK #2. this means that there are more imperfections that if you opted for grade #1. i love the worm holes and knots and variations that come with the #2 red oak. it adds a lot of character. another factor that affects the price is the width of the wood planks. the wider the plank, the more it costs. we chose 3 1/4" planks. 

we purchased our wood through al stosich at sunwood distributors in midvale.

the wood comes with a tongue on one side and a groove on the other, and must be fitted together and then nailed in place. after it is all laid, it will need to be filled (large knots and any gaps), sanded, stained, and then coated with polyurethane. yes...that is a lot of steps....but once you have had hardwood floors that have been finished on-site, you will realize how wonderful they are. manufactured and pre-finished wood floors just can't come close to the look and feel!

its been exciting to see the wood floors slowly going in.

keyword...s-l-o-w-l-y.

since a lot of the cost of hardwood floors is in the installation, we are saving a ton of money by doing it ourselves.  it is a lot of work, but SO worth it! we actually decided to run the hardwood in the master bedroom, because it was cheaper than carpet! crazy, right?

my kids have been troopers! they have spent a lot of time in the last couple of weeks, curled up on those camp chairs. they have been reading up a storm and getting some ipod time in as well.

we are ALMOST done. we are literally just a few hours away from being completely finished. i can't wait! phew!

another exciting day---the doors and trim were delivered, and we have started to install both. my husband has some great friends that have come over and helped. they have been fantastic!

as always, we continued to get snow. it snowed every single week of the last month. blech!

other happenings:

narrowing down carpet....

choosing cabinet colors...

narrowing down a stain color for the exterior doors.

trying to find tile in our budget that i like...(harder than i thought it would be. *sigh.)

looking at stone slabs. i hope we can afford to put in stone counter tops. we still have a few things that may "shift" our budget....

and FINALLY---the exterior siding is going up! the entire back side of the house is done, and they are working on the sides and the front. it has been exciting to drive up to the house and SEE the changes! my husband has tweaked the exterior details on the front of the house a bit, and i am excited to see his ideas come to life!