Dream House – House of Hyperbole

Slumber Party Turned Move-In Weekend

October 12, 2023October 13, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

did

it!

_{^{You best believe this hand-me-down dining set was one of the first things we brought across the street.}}

_{^{We’ve been bringing them down for porch hangz so long they thought we were going out. They stood by the door for a bit before realizing we weren’t going out and they could explore the whole house.}}

As I type this on October 12, I’m reflecting on the month-plus that’s gone by in what feels like mere seconds. We’ve done so much and I haven’t had any time to myself, but I’m going to attempt to walk you through our first few magical nights in our dream house…

True to every promise I’ve made since we started building, I made Mike help me drag the guest bed and some other miscellaneous furniture down on THE VERY FIRST NIGHT we were “allowed” to be in the house. That was Thursday, August 31. Technically the house wasn’t even done. We had to frantically gather the dogs and a few items and haul ass outta here Friday morning so the crew could finish the screen porch and a few odds and ends.

^{Sans screens and a panel of balusters, but you get the drift.}

We dropped the dogs off at the kennel and busied ourselves with cleaning and other background activities that kept us out of the building crew’s way.

They were somehow able to knock out their entire list on Friday and we were good to move in for real on Saturday.

We had a big group of people help us schlep everything from our storage unit in Latrobe back to the house. Oh, and from the trailer down to the big house. And then also assemble and rearrange furniture.

It was a long day, but at least we had plenty of refreshments…

Sunday and Monday were largely spent unpacking and cleaning. Just over and over. Nonstop. I swear we cleaned everything at least twice. We got the dogs a de-shed bath prior to bringing them home and that lasted about a full 48 hours before our two dingleberries were making everything dirty and smelly. LOL

They slept on the same pillow the first night in our master bedroom and I think it’s so unbearably adorable. Yes, they were tired, and yes, Kona often makes a bee-line right for the big bed. But the fact that they opted to snuggle in a new environment was stupid-cute.

Also, peep those sweet temporary curtains in the background. Don’t sleep on floor-to-ceiling tension rods. They’re a game changer, and they’re way better than regular tension rods—especially if you have wide windows.

Everything Everywhere, All at Once

July 3, 2023July 5, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

We’re (hopefully) in the final stretch! We’re also in a sort-of liminal space in that we have a ton of projects going on simultaneously so it’s been hard to gauge where we are on the timeline because it feels like everything is happening, yet almost nothing is technically “finished.”

The biggest project we’ve made tremendous progress on is the flooring. And right behind that is the tilework. Both of which look absolutely fantastic.

^{All the vinyl plank flooring is down!}

^{The guest bathroom tilework just needs grout.}

^{The master shower shelves are looking great.}

^{Super stoked I let the builder talk me into a bench.}

This will easily feel like the longest one to two months of my life because 1) my excitement has reached critical mass, and 2) the trailer is hot and damp this time of year. We have three floor AC units and five dehumidifiers running almost nonstop and it still feels muggy inside. All. The. Time.

Love from the Other (Siding)

June 19, 2023July 1, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

It took two months, but she’s finally dressed for the ball! We went with a fancy-pants composite siding and, unfortunately for our builder, that siding was difficult to work with. So it took longer than expected to get the house fully covered.

Shoo, it was worth the wait though! My original desire was to go as dark as possible (duh) with a vibrant green, red, or charcoal-verging-on-black, but even the highest-quality siding will fade eventually. So we went with a medium sage green, which has the added bonus of helping it blend in a bit.

Drywall for Days

April 17, 2023May 13, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

There have been several milestones in this build that made it feel like a real house, but this one might be the most significant. With four walls and a ceiling, there’s no more imagining how big or small the rooms will feel. It’s. GLORIOUS.

^{You might be saying, “Hey, that looks like the same old wrong door to the screen room.” You’d be right. Nobody has any idea when the right door will arrive. The drywall guy had to just leave extra so our builder can eventually fit the new door in the hole.}

We got our driveway apron poured and that was a pretty big deal. Also, I had no idea that the apron was more than just the bit that transitions from the driveway to the interior of the garage. What I was calling a parking pad is apparently an apron. Who knew?

^{It’s a lot of concrete but it’ll be nice to have a level surface to wash the cars, set up the tailgate tent for parties, etc.}

We went with this length of apron for a couple reasons. One, to have ample room for activities. Two, for extra parking when folks visit. And three, to provide a level, smooth surface on which to get some traction prior to ascent because our driveway is going to be gravel and it’s a doozy of a hill to climb.

^{The picture doesn’t quite do it justice (probably because I’m even farther downhill). It’s very steep and there’s also a hump in it that makes it even worse. The plan is to at least shave the hump down, but this is still going to be INTERESTING in the winter.}

We Can Finally Start a Garage Band

March 29, 2023April 10, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

We ordered our garage door in December. That’s how absolutely bonkers supply reliability has been. I really wanted windows that went down the right side, but Mike convinced me that would look dated so I acquiesced.

Not only did we get the garage and man doors, we also got a lovely concrete floor! (Not pictured because I forgot to snap a pic before they installed the door and I’m afraid to open it because I don’t know what it’s anchored to. lol)

This round of work included can light installation in addition to fixture and fan boxes. They also started putting up the insulation.

^{Can lights and insulation and the wrong screen room door—oh my!}

And we got our furnaces (yes, plural, because we’re apparently building a palace—lol) hooked up.

To the Windooow(s)! To the Wall(s)!

March 6, 2023April 10, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

Boy howdy has it been a busy month-ish since my last post. When we last left off, we were waiting for the basement floor to be poured. That happened!

^{It took THREE cement trucks, but we go ‘er done.}

Then we got into a ton more digging. We had three separate trenches dug for water, gas, and electric. So that was fun. I think water and gas are all buttoned up, but our electric provider won’t hire enough people to support the demands of their outdated system (that they refuse to maintain or upgrade) that keeps getting absolutely wrecked by every storm that passes through. We’ve had two or three tie-in dates so far and every time it’s been pushed because of a storm. The last storm was so bad that we were without power for somewhere between 36 and 48 hours. Mercifully, the dogs were at camp and we were staying elsewhere for most of it.

Next up was one of the milestones I’ve been dying to reach: WINDOWS! One of the things I absolutely adore about this house is the massive windows the plan calls for.

^{Fun fact: There was supposed to be a second front door on the far left. W H Y Y Y ? ? ? I have no idea. We nixed it with no plans to do anything with the space. I started to have some regrets, but we accidentally ordered an extra window, so we get a ton of natural light in the mudroom now. Not mad at it.}

While windows were being installed, they also started roughing in the HVAC, plumbing, and wiring. I’ll spare you photos of that because there are so many pipes, wires, and vents that it makes me go cross-eyed whenever I look at it. Why not enjoy some more window/natural light porn instead?

^{Even the garage gets in on the window action.}

^{Entryway after and I’m OBSESSED with this door and sidelights!}

Empty Walls, aka Interior Framing

February 11, 2023April 10, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

I was so busy watching the roof go up that I didn’t even realize the interior was getting framed out. Seriously. I normally go over every day and see what’s new, but I didn’t check inside for a couple of days because I thought they were just doing roof stuff. Then one day—bam! Wall studs are up.

^{View from the front door (that big opening straight ahead is where the triple sliding door will go.)}

^{View of the front door if you’re standing in front of the triple slider.}

Here’s something fun: Cathedral ceilings were NOT included in the plans for the kitchen/living room area at the center of the home. The roofline was practically made for a cathedral ceiling, but we had to ask for it or we would’ve gotten straight ceilings. Considering we opted for eight-foot ceilings elsewhere in the house, these extra three feet in the main area will keep it from feeling like a hobbit hovel.

^{Master bed leading into the master bath. I’m fairly certain this bedroom is bigger than our current living room in the trailer.}

^{Nothing makes me feel fancier than this skylight. It was also not included in the original plans. Apparently, we have to think of everything.}

^{Mudroom. I kinda like the bathtub here. Maybe we’ll keep it there and start a new trend. lol}

Thank the old gods and the new for all this progress. Even at this break-neck pace, I think we’re running about two months behind thanks to the truss drama, a temporary gravel shortage, and uncooperative weather. Now that we’re under roof, though, we can mostly take weather delays off the table because so much of the upcoming work is indoors. In fact, they’re already prepping the basement floor for concrete!

Roof Raisin’

February 10, 2023April 10, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

It happened! It finally happened! The right trusses were delivered, installed, and covered with shingles. We have a real roof—hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol?!

^{A reminder of where we were last time…}

^{Plywood, plastic sheeting, angles for days, and—oh, look! More snow.}

The original plans had a flat roof straight across the front porch with some cool columns poking up through, but with the winter/snow we get here, our builder advised against it. It looked fancy, sure, but we didn’t want to have any water or weight issues with winter storms getting as out of hand as they can around here. Our builder ran into a few other issues with some of the angles because they weren’t really worked out in the blueprints (cool, cool). But he sorted it out and we’re ready to move this party inside!

We Have Truss Issues

January 4, 2023April 10, 2023JessDellen2 Comments

Look, I didn’t want to have to make two “truss” puns in a row any more than you wanted to read them, but desperate times…

The trusses were delivered on December 20th. It was pretty exciting with all the trucks and cranes and absolutely massive-looking trusses everywhere. Alas, most of them are somehow the wrong size.

Don’t ask me how. They have access to the blueprints. Our builder has impressed upon them near-daily that the house needs to go under roof for winter work AND the trusses are already nearly a month behind, but here we are on January 4th still waiting for the new ones.

Oh, and the real kicker? The truss company isn’t coming out to take back the wrong-sized ones. So our builder has to disassemble them himself because they’re taking up a ton of space. He’ll use the wood for extra bracing and support, so it’s not going to waste. We’ll get whatever’s left over and hopefully be able to build a shed with it.

^{Look at all these (mostly) unusable trusses!}

It’s absolutely wild to me that we’ve hit so many roadblocks this early in the process. From the loan taking three months longer than expected to having the block crew pull out at the last minute to the roof trusses being late and then the wrong size… It feels like a lot. It also feels like it’s taking forever. That’s partially because we’ve been living in a very small space for almost a year and a half. (Our original goal was to only have to live in the trailer for a year, but that was aggressively optimistic.) And it’s partially because we started the loan and contract processes back in March and we’re not yet under roof 10 months later.

At any rate, this is the number one reason why we insisted on buying property with an existing home on it so we’re not at the mercy of anyone else’s timeline. We can stay here for as long as it takes to build the big house without any concerns about being out by a certain date, renting back from new owners, living in a hotel, etc.

Truss the Process

December 2, 2022April 10, 2023JessDellenLeave a comment

We’ve hit our first of what I presume will be many hiccups along the way. For whatever reason, the company building our trusses is behind. We were supposed to start framing the roof at the very beginning of December, but now it’s looking like we won’t have trusses until at least the 18th.

Our builder is itching to get the roof on so he and his crew can be sheltered from the elements now that the weather has turned. Because we’re so far behind schedule—thanks to a certain loan company I won’t name—it’s especially important to enclose the house and work over the winter because 1) we want a house to live in, and 2) the folks building it need to actually, you know, work on it and be paid.

When we were slogging through the loan process, I felt like I was herding cats all day, every day for months on end. We’re at a point in the process now where I’m able to be patient and relax a bit because I know that for as desperately as we want to be in the house… our crew is even more eager to finish, get paid, and move on to the next thing. I no longer feel a constant pressure to command the ship—I think that at this point, everyone else is rowing just as hard as we are toward our destination.

We live in unprecedented times where supplies and staff seem to wildly fluctuate from embarrassingly bountiful to unimaginably rare. I know that everyone is doing what they can, and hopefully we won’t be too far off schedule because of the trusses. Anyway, please enjoy some interior shots from exterior framing!