Attacking the Attic!

Well, I've decided that I should be documenting this entire process more than I am.  If we actually live to see the day that the house is finished, that we no longer have PODS lining the driveway, when the entire house is no longer covered in dust, when we are not living out of boxes stashed all over the porch and yard, when we get to eat something that requires more than a toaster or microwave..... when/if that day actually comes, I'm absolutely SURE I will enjoy looking back and laughing at how crazy we were and how it was all worth it.
Right???? 
Yes!  I'm sure.
I hope.

As of today we have the typical renovation issues.  
#1- Everything costs more than you think. 
#2- Everything takes ten times longer than it should.
#3- Everything requires twice as much material than you thought. 
We are all sore, exhausted, cranky, dying for real food and a clean surface, and completely and totally hating the big fat liars on HGTV that make it look so easy and fun!
     
Things are moving along.... I guess!  We have kitchen cabinets, but we can't put anything in them!  I have partially done build-ins in the dining room, but no dinning room furniture!  The new walls and lighting are done!   Still on the "to do" list is all the painting (except the bedrooms), trim, flooring in the kitchen, re-staining all the hardwood, counters tops, back splash, fixing the fireplace, and basically the entire addition.   Oh, and appliances would be nice!
 I laughed in my contractors face last week when he told me they were going to be completely done with Everything in one month!  Seriously, laughed, Out Loud!! 

Here are the "not to be touched, because they are not completely done" kitchen cabinets.  They are beautiful right!  All kinds of fancy stuff happening inside those things too!  There is one missing that came in the wrong size, and also they are off-white even though all the pictures I showed the designer were of white cabinets.  And yes they talked me out of white cabinets and said "antique white" would be much better, but now that I see them I see that they are clearly NOT WHITE, and how my gray walls with white trim is suppose to work with NOT WHITE cabinets.... I'm not sure.   Luckily the interior designer is coming out to talk me down from that ledge.

Here is the wet bar (that is not going to be wet anymore, because apparently the sink part of the wet bar was NOT included in our original estimate???) and the powder bath. 

Here are the cool build-ins the carpenter did for us!  Picture a cool long farmhouse table sitting there with chairs on one side and I'll make cushions to go on on the bench!  They all have piano bench style tops too that open up for storage inside!!
(They will be painted to match the cabinets!  And don't forget gray walls and white trim... well, unless the interior designer has a better idea!)

Looking at the wet bar/dining area from a dark living room.  You can see the laundry door being blocked with plywood!  That's where my barn door is going to go!  I switched from a sliding barn door to a dutch style barn door.  The kind where the bottom and top can open at different times.  I thought it more useful for me because currently there are three dogs and a pig on the other side of that plywood!

Tomorrow, rumor has it that drywallers are coming to drywall the entire...... addition?!?   We haven't figured out what to call it!   It use to be a three car garage.  We are converting it into a big rec room, with a guest room and pool bathroom.   Calling it a Guest house seems snooty!  Calling it a pool house seems Really Snooty!  Calling it the "space we hope to keep the kids and all their noise and mess will be in", is just too long! ;)
I guess I'll just call it the garage for now!

We spent the entire day in the garage!  We thought we were only going to spend a couple of hours in there.   It turns out that installing an attic ladder, and attic lighting IS in the original estimate and covered in our loan, but installing the Actual Attic..... is not.   Figures.
So, no big deal right?  How hard can it be?  Throw some 2x4's and plywood on the beams and be done with it!
Eight hours later, we are almost there! 

BTW- I am better with a hammer than David!  (Just don't tell him I said so!)  It's not a competition or anything, but I can get the 3 inch nails in both 2x4s in six hits, and the 2 inch through the plywood and 2x4 in four hits!   I'm kind of awesome really! ;)

Ta Da.... ATTIC!

Did you know that once you become a "ranch kid" you no longer feel it neccasary to ride on the INSIDE of vehicles!?!  The kids think it's awesome that they can hang on the side of the car and drive around.  It started off as something they did on our long driveway after someone got out to open the gate (that has not been fixed yet to be automatic!), but it has now turned into something they do throughout our "neighborhood"!  Funny thing is, all the other "ranch folk" just wave and smile! 
The kids get very annoyed when we reach 2243 and they have to obey the law again!!

Luckily, after a long day of work and grumpiness we can come together around the campfire in our front yard and relax!!

There is no way to capture how amazing the stars are out here!  Thank God for the "takes your breathe away, makes it all worth it" view we get from our wrap around porch!! <3

More updates coming soon!   Hopefully!!