After painting some of the rooms, we decided to dress up the mantle over the fireplace a little. Here is the before and after of our first project. There are many more to come

This week all the lighting and appliances showed up. After the AC got hooked up we did not have to roast while looking at the house. Maybe this will also speed up the sub-contractors as they don't have to sweat to death while working in the house. Most of the electrical work should be finished by next week to include lights and such. Its great to see the details of the house start to fall into place.

After going though the pain of picking out "another" option when it came to the granite, we ended up with our original picks. When we showed up to pick out the three slabs, we were quickly told that although they confirmed just that morning that they had at least six in stock, they mysteriously could no longer be found. We picked something similar just to have the same vendor tell our builder that they gave away our granite just days before it was going to get installed. Needless to say, we did not use that vendor. The Granite turned out nicely. This granite has the propensity to sometimes be too "peach" or "orange". That is why we were going to pick the slabs. Happy with how they turned out though.

Cabinets are in except for the finishing trim. You get the idea of what its going to look like though. Hard to believe that there is more real estate than our present kitchen. It will be a perfect kitchen to entertain in. Counter tops come in next Friday. :)

The kitchen cabinets arrived and are getting installed. The countertop folks come in on Friday to do the template for the countertops. Its nice to start seeing the interior come together.

The drywall is coming along. Taping and mudding happened over the last couple of days and is getting close to completion. The front steps were poured and it looks like the walkway is getting close to getting done too.

Drywall is in progress. Will be nice to see it once they get it done early next week.

All but the front door steps are done now. We have to finish the Portico before that can happen. The siding should get put on starting on Wednesday and as long as the weather holds out this week, should be done by the end of the week.

Not much exterior work this week due to some rain, but most of the stone is done. Just some odds and ends before the scalfolds can be removed.

Although it is not much, the lines are starting to show where the future kitchen cabinets will be places. This starts to give an idea of what the kitchen will look like. Still a ways off for now, but its always nice to see some progress. If you look closely enough, you will notice that the window in the picture will have to move a little bit to the right to be where the plans called it to be. Right now, the edge of the cabinets will be in front of it. A little oops that should be taken care of soon.

Over the past couple of days the rest of the windows were put in and the roof was put on. I guess we start worrying if we see water in the house from now on out. The stairs were also put in so we now have access to the second floor.

Yet another hard day of framing. The roof is mostly decked. Only a small part over the morning room still needs to be decked. Some of the windows made it onto the house and the half-rounds above the sitting room in the master bedroom and entry way got cut in as well. Looks like the big work is mostly done. The weather has really cooperated this week. Before we know it, the house will be dried in and the weather will play less of a role.

The house is starting to look like a house. We are well on our way to finishing up the framing by the end of this week as promised. Hopefully the process stays ahead of schedule as it has been.

They got most of the walls for the first floor up today.....well.....at least the exterior walls. Hope it stops raining by morning so we can continue to see progress.

Since it rained this morning, the framers got a late start, but the I-beams did make it in as well as the frame for the stairs leading to the basement. Weather tomorrow should be nice, so we'll see how far they get.

Most of the large scale grading is complete. You can see that the large piles of dirt are all but gone. Some fill dirt will still be brought in as the construction continues, but the yard is starting to take more shape.

Now that the basement walls are poured and waterproofed, we start to see the yard take shape as the piles of dirt start to disappear. Most of the grading will be done at this time, but the final grade won't take shape until closer to the end of construction.

This is the view from the other side looking into the kitchen and morning room.

Today they started the dig to get ready for the basement footers. As long as the weather holds out, they will start to put the forms in on the 10th.

The boys loved stopping by the site to check on the progress. The last time they had seen the site was when it was in its untouched state, so they saw a huge change. They love to see the progress so far.

The clearing of the lot begins.

This is a shot of the lot from the southeast side facing west. The trees between the lots should stay, but some grading will be done to level it out just a little bit.