Getting Close!!!

Well, this past weekend's trip to the house was very exciting! Not that they all haven't been, but this particular visit elicited a fair amount of squeals from me!

At this point, they have to keep the door locked (you'll see why in a moment), so we had to go and get the key from Bill.

Of course, this was far more exciting when I thought this was THE key to OUR house, but it turns out it's a master that opens all the houses that haven't gone to settlement yet. Once we go to settlement, we'll be given our keys that once they are used to open the door, the tumblers will be reset and the master rendered useless. So still, kinda cool.

Check it out - the driveway is paved! At least the first stage anyway. It looks as though it will get another coat of asphalt and sealant. But it was very fun to be able to pull into the driveway!

In addition to the handle and lock, a knocker and kick plate have been added to the front door.

Here we go!!

The hard wood floors are in!!! Of course, they are all covered up since there is still painting and other work going on, but here you can get a glimpse of the color. I love them!!

And - drum-roll, please!!!

THE APPLIANCES!!!!!!!!!! (Hence why the doors now need to be locked!)

Look how pretty......

All GE Profile appliances. The refrigerator wasn't pushed back into place, but it was plugged in. I think the water line still has to be hooked up to it though. You can kind of see the fancy ice maker in the front!! There is a door alarm too.

Just another view of the kitchen... You can see the basic black laminate countertops that hopefully sooner rather than later will be replaced with granite.

Here's the kitchen sink - I like the little side sink where the disposal is. And the faucet has the pull-out sprayer. We didn't have a sprayer at all in the TH and I missed having one desperately!!

My pantry!!! Have I mentioned how excited I am about my pantry? Oh, about a hundred times?? Sorry.

Here's a close up of my nice brushed nickel hardware that will be throughout the house - door handles, hinges, etc. This was definitely worth the extra money in my opinion. Hate that standard builder's brass!!

Here's Tyler inspecting the fireplace...

We're thinking we'll probably do the Uba-Tuba granite in the kitchen to match the fireplace surround.

More lighting fixtures! And you can kind of see in this next picture that the railings have been stained to match the floors:

My big laundry room sink!!:

All bathroom tiling is complete, and the shower doors are in:

The boys gave them a good testing going in and out, in and out, in and out!!

All plumbing fixtures are in...

including the toilets (below in the hall bathroom), which Tyler went around testing as well. Pretty sure he flushed every toilet in the house...

ONE of my linen closets! This is the one in the hall outside Baby Girl's room. I don't have a picture of the one in the laundry room, but it's pretty much the same except the shelves are slightly deeper.

Insulation has been installed in the huge basement storage area. We're waiting to see what, if anything, they are going to put over it. It will be all too easy for this plastic covering to get shredded...

The 75-gallon water tank:

I'll need it to fill up that big tub!!!

Mom's bathroom:

Here is the back view of the house. I believe I was standing nearly at the edge of our property. It's going to be a pretty decent sized back yard!

The boys had a blast playing in the dirt....

They were FILTHY when we left!!

I believe in this next picture, Evan is showing us where he wants the swing-set....

While Tyler's job was testing the plumbing, Evan's was testing the doorbell. I took a video so you could get the full effect.

Nine days until the final walk-through, and 13 days until settlement!! Pretty soon we'll be counting minutes....


And lastly, here's just a fun little video from the past week of the boys playing with Grandad: