Things have slowed down with our general contractor but we have seen progress with sub-contractors that we hired on our own. The kitchen countertops, bathroom vanity tops, hardwood floor and carpeting have either been installed or will be finished by this weekend. Those are the items we sub-contracted out. Here are the most recent pictures of the house. I've included a picture of my new haircut too.

We have moved back in but still a month from finishing

We have seen some good progress over the last couple of weeks. The interior is painted, we have kitchen cabinets (few fixes with them), guest bathroom tiled and has the vanity w/out countertop, master bath nearly completed with tile and laundry area done.

Next we will have exterior paint, roof installed, master bedroom carpeted and master bath vanity installed.

Here is a sneak peak at the girls Halloween outfits too.

So they started on the final coat of stucco, which is much smoother than what we previously had and gives the house a more modern look. Here are some pictures of the updated window trim and stucco work. Soon we should have some pictures of the bathrooms with tile.

They are almost done with the stucco work as they have added trim around the front & back windows as well as the garage. Next they have the final coat of smoother stucco to go on. We also have some interior doors (one too many - as they put a door where we didn't want one) and the walls have been texturized. We are picking out paint and waiting on tiles to arrive.

August 26, 2008: We have drywall

New Dining room/living room area

Kitchen

Picture shot from new dining room and looking into the kitchen (which is behind the ponywall)

Hallway leading to new master bedroom

(guest bathroom which was always there is on the right)

New Master Bedroom w/pitched ceiling

After months at looking at the wood framing, it is very strange to see drywall up. Now we are getting a better idea of what our space is going be like. Still a ways to go, but nice to see this progress. Next goal is to get a working bathroom so we can stay at the house again. This whole process makes you appreciate the basic things you used to have :)

They were pretty busy this week as we had some framing done for the washer & dryer + a storage cabinet. They put the first coat of stucco on the house and will start on the second and third coats once the drywall is in place, which is supposed to start either today or tomorrow. The AC guy came and changed out our ducts and will be installing the new furnace and AC over the weekend. We have most of the insulation in, so the house is a bit cooler. Next week the house should show a lot different as we might have actual walls that are closed, as right now you can see right through them.

Stucco

A lot of the progress that has been made was not really noticeable (i.e., plumbing, electrical, etc.), but now we have decided to change the facade of our house that it matches the rest. So it will all be stucco and updates the look of our ranch style house to a more contemporary looking one. Notice all the brick is gone in the front too. We are having our furnace and ducts replaced, which you won't be able to see either and we are finally getting AC. I believe we are having inspections done today, so if all goes well with that then the ducts can be installed and hopefully drywall.

July 23, 2008: Garage

Prior to our remodel, we didn't realize they needed to install sheer wall on 2 sides of our garage. This was necessary to meet the latest codes. Poor Rick (because I was of little help), had to clear off the sides of the garage that had cabinets, the washer and dryer and lots of stuff that have been sitting there for over 30 years! It was a lot of work, but at least he has a clean slate to reorganize the garage the way he wants. These picks show the removal of the sheet rock.

July 22, 2008: Slowly Progressing

Yes, it has been a while since we've posted pictures, but nothing too dramatic has happened. Most of the work right now involves plumbing and electrical. However, here are some shots of the house with the sliding door to the master bedroom installed and a few more walls exposed. For those who know our house, we had a linen closet across from the guest bathroom. That has now been removed and makes our hallway seem pretty big. However, we plan to put our washer/dryer in that hallway which will bring the hallway back to "normal" size. Oh, and one more minor detail....our new toilet is now in our front yard. Yes, we have now been forced to use the porta-potty because they took out the toilet from our guest bathroom. However, we still have a shower for the time being :)

July 2, 2008: Walls are back

The kitchen walls are back up along with the new kitchen window and bay window. We are now almost fully enclosed, except for the sliding door in the master bedroom. And by the way, sorry for the spots on one of the pictures. I guess we need to clean our camera lense!