The Skinny

Before I get to the juicy news I wanted to share with you some of Week 17's progress.

The updated TBC list:

TBC

✓  Paint

✓  Flooring

✓  Cabinets

✓  Posts and rails for internal staircase

✓  Plumbing fixtures

✓  Appliances

✓  Countertops 

✓  Fence

     Stairs to RTD

     Garage door 

     Permit

Plumbing fixtures are in. Here is our kitchen sink, well the faucet at least. 

The crew is protecting the countertops beneath as to why I don't have a "money" kitchen shot.


Countertops you say? I am so spoiled lucky! The countertops I have dreamed of are now my own little reality! They are Carrara marble and the island is butchers block. 

The fence in the back of the house was completed. Hadyn's mother suggested we put up rod iron to ensure our safety or possibly glue down broken glass. Depending how some of these neighbors behave we may entertain those options.

Lighting fixtures are up (not all of them)

Here is our little powder room.

The posts and rails were built for the internal staircase. 

The stairs were being stained over the weekend to match the dark wood floors. 

The laundry closet complete with full size, spiffy washer/dryer we pretty much stole got for cost from the appliance store, HHGreg. Washer/dryer : me :: SuperFridge : H

Now where on earth do I keep the laundry supplies?! (soap, fabric softener, etc)


The second bath.

This weekend H's family visited to celebrate our sweet, nephew Charlie's baptism and middle brother/uncle/Godfather/DDS extraordinaire's birthday.


Said BIL (brother in law), James was busy scaling the walls to the RTD while I snapped this FFF (forced family fun) photo of H and his 'Papa Bear' in our master closet. I was trying to show just how large the closet is.

All in all the house is looking pretty ready to move into. 

But, alas, it is not. 

Here's the skinny on why:

The house is VERY close to done. As in, Mr. C says he will be 99% complete (excluding the final punch-list) on Tuesday (tomorrow!). 

However, the house has to be inspected and we have to receive an Occupancy Permit from the City before we can legally move in. The permit will likely NOT be granted if we cannot get the power on. As in this is still tied into the power-line dilemma I told you about here. 

It is my understanding that the permits have to be signed and processed through the local power company, BGE.
Once approved, the power has to be hooked up and turned on by BGE. 
Then the inspection for our Occupancy Permit will happen. 
THEN we can move in. 

All in all, the BEST case scenario we will move in by August 1. WORST case scenario we will move in by August 16. 

We have to move out of our rental house by the morning of August 1. (I didn't plan that - it just worked out that the owner of our rental is moving back in and needs it by that date.)

Please say a little prayer, meditate on it, send positive energy, or just think happy thoughts for us! 

TBC

Last week I showed you a list of To Be Completed (TBC) items. Here is the updated list.

TBC

✓  Paint

✓  Flooring (first floor hardwoods have since been installed)

✓  Cabinets

     Posts and rails for internal staircase

     Plumbing fixtures

✓  Appliances (purchased-to be delivered by Thursday)

     Fence

     Stairs to RTD

     Garage door

I should add:

     Countertops (measured and being cut)

     Permit (contact made, fingers crossed)

Just to prove it to you:

Paint

Flooring
Dark Maple hardwoods (love!)

Appliances (purchased) 

It was a long and rough Friday night project, and I wasn't quite sure if H was going to make it.

But, like a proud father (or super fridge owner) he could barely take his eyes (or hands) off of his most prized possession. Don't know a lot of people who like food more than H.

Here is the spot where the new super fridge will live.

Cabinets

One thing I am going to note about the kitchen cabinets is that, I had to do a little bartering (begging and compromising) to get exactly what I wanted. 

During the design process we took out the cabinets that were originally supposed to be here (see big red star).

In order to get this spectacular island.

From the living room.

I am hoping to put a few open shelves up on the empty wall for displaying some of our pretty and colorful things. I actually think I prefer this design layout better than cabinets all the way around. You?

My other favorite thing about our kitchen is that I requested bench seating in the dining "room". After only a little begging, Mr. C obliged. (gotta love him)

There is still a backing that was being built at the time I snapped this photo.

View of the kitchen from the dining "room"

T-minus 7 days (but really, who is counting?)

Down To The Wire

I'm not referring to The Wire, although H and I did just recently finished watching the series. For those of you who do not know, The Wire is a critically acclaimed tv series that aired on HBO from 2002-2008. The show was (in my mind) a true-to-life depiction of Baltimore, Maryland (aka Body-More MurdaLand); at least for those in the police department, in the drug "game", and in local politics. 

Photo credit

My realtor begged us not to watch it. Claiming it was not "research" (as I fondly referred to it) and that our life up in Charm City would not be like that. I'm not convinced but, we will soon find out (in about ten days). <cue mouth and stomach dropping>


Bottom line is, if you haven't watched The Wire, you should. It is an excellent show and we we were sad to see it end. (Can you believe 'Omar' went out like that!)


Let's get back to business shall we?


So, things have been running pretty well over at the new house. The anticipated date of completion is still only ten days away. The only thing that could substantially slow us down is that we need to obtain the "John Hancock" of one (maybe both) of our next door neighbors. The property owners on either side of us need to grant us their permission to carry the power in through the back of the house, crossing the plane of their property.


The power was originally brought in through the front. You can see that here.

This is known as an electric power line easement. Which, is a pretty common occurrence in baltimore city because the power (in most cases) runs above ground and the row homes are so close together that it is difficult to transfer power without encroaching one's property line. 


This is a picture of the proposed way of bringing power into the house.

The real issue at hand is not if they will grant us permission but, how exactly to get ahold of our neighbors. The people living on either side of us are renters, and don't speak English. So, using property tax records and a friend/coworker of mine (who should consider becoming a private investigator rather than a physician) we got ahold of them. 


Just waiting now to see if we can dot all of the i's cross all the t's by the end of the week. 

Keep your fingers crossed folks!

The Final Countdown

Everything is happening so quickly at the house now. Thankfully, because two weeks from today we are supposed to move out of our rental. (ohmygoodnessiamfreakingout)

Last week our closets were built but, looked a little bare. 

Our master walk-in closet, then.

(for future reference this is, "Side B")

Mr. C requested that I tell him how we wanted the master walk-in closet to be customized. Rather than typing a lengthy (and most likely confusing) essay describing the closet; I decided to channel my inner architect.

(Don't be jealous of my amazingly untapped and outstanding graphics skills) 

When I went to see the house this week my vision had come alive!

"Side A"

"Side B"

"Side C"

Corner of "B/C" 

Both of the smaller bedroom closets look like this.

The trim (was installed), closets, and internal doors have all been painted. I promised you that they wouldn't stay that yucky off-white color with the gold hardware!


A few weeks ago, Mr. C asked me to choose two paint colors that would go throughout the house. There is a "house color" which, the majority of the walls will be painted. As well as a second color that is going in the master bedroom and the second bath. You can see a smidgen of that color in the picture below. Please note that this is one, wet coat of the color that was accidentally (whoops!) painted in the master bath; so, not that accurate of a portrayal but, good enough for a teaser.


I will (officially) revile both of the colors later this week.

Last week you saw the second bath's tile. Now, here is a sneak peak at the the master bath tile.

The kitchen pantry shelves were built and installed.

The windows and doors were trimmed.

Kitchen window (above sink)

The door to the back "patio" was installed. Here is one of the doors (& me- Hi Mom!)

AC unit. Which, apparently even H's oldest brother, "Big J" who, is an expert in such equipment was impressed with the model.

Things that are still to come:
Paint
Flooring
Cabinets
Posts and rails for internal staircase
Plumbing fixtures
Appliances
Fence
Stairs to RTD
Garage door

For now, the construction crew boards it up each night with that trusty plywood.

Two weeks to go. Anyone placing any bets?

Cherry On Top

Did I give you enough time to figure out what else we found while exploring our roof last week?


I thought so.


The roof top deck *RTD* (woop woop)


So, we walked up the steps here.

Turned the corner (hoping to find stairs leading to the RTD).

 

Nope. Oh well, at least there was a ladder. Good thing I wore a dress that day. 

So, we scaled the ladder and finally got a look at our view of Charm City.

We definitely have views of Downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor but, since we couldn't actually stand (no stairs) on the RTD we still don't know if we might have a sliver of a water view. To be continued I suppose.


One RTD fact I will let you know about is that Mr. Contractor put in the supports when the house was being built but, we didn't have enough money in the budget to complete the entire deck. So, we have a RTD that is about 12' x 12'.  Once H and I obtain some skills (and a little extra cash) we will be able ("pretty easily"-Mr. C) to finish it off.



Someday our little, baby RTD will grow (I hope) into a big RTD. At its full grown, adult size it would be approximately 12' x 24'. 


I'm just grateful to have the option to expand the little guy someday.

 Until then, this little slice of outdoor space will suite us just fine!

While We Were Gone

Terribly sorry for the delay in recent posts folks. We were busy driving from Maryland to Wyoming (and back). No, that is not a type-o, I did mean to say "DRIVE". We returned late Sunday night and swung by the house Monday. This is my recap of what went on while we were away.


(But, if you need a refresher of what things looked like before we left look here.)


The windows were put in.

As well as our front door.

This is a view of those from the outside.



The concrete was poured for the garage and for the patio out back.

The HardiPlank was installed in the rear of the house. HardiPlank is a fiber cement siding.

(gutters were also in place)

The fence posts for the rear patio were set.

 

The house was insulated.

Sheetrock (drywall) was installed.

(kitchen)

(small bedroom)

Some internal doors were installed.

 (they will be painted and the gold hardware will be removed-thank goodness)

The tile man was at the house showing off his goods and I'm not just talking about his stellar 'plumbers' ('tilers'?) crack.

 

(second bath)

If all of that wasn't amazing enough, here is a picture of a transom window that has been framed out. There will be one for each of the three of the bedrooms. Allowing more (all together now) LIGHT into the rooms. You surely remember how I do looooove light! If not, refer to this old post.

We also went on the roof for the first time. This is a picture of our roof ridge. The upper portion of the picture shows the front side's asphalt shingles. The lower portion shows the backside's (hehe) rubber roof. The roofing material is different because of the difference in roof pitch (and for another reason I will get to eventually).


I wonder what else we found while we were up there...