Saturday, January 3, 2009

Drywall and a furnace in my kitchen

After an extended period away from the building site, we started the new year off with a trip up north. The insulation is installed and drywall hanging has begun. The change is dramatic and makes the inside feel much less like a pile of sticks with a roof, suddenly rooms are defined. The first change we noticed is that the garage doors have been installed. This lead us to walk all the way around the house checking doors before realizing that we should manually open a garage door to get in. We were told that they put in temporary furnaces to keep the house warm, which is especially important so that the pool water doesn't freeze. That didn't prepare me for the furnace in the middle of my kitchen!! I got word a week before Christmas that the cabinets have arrived in town are are waiting to be installed-- no way is that happening soon with a furnace there! We lost a considerable amount of time in November and December which has pushed our "completion date" to late March (if we're lucky). Though I love how the house is coming along, I'm battling with panic over the new completion date. With our house to sell in the Detroit area (is there a worse place to try and sell a house right now?) we're moving past the dates when we would like to move and into the time when we need to move. We need time to paint and catch the prime time to list the old house. Alas, this is a problem I just have to mentally deal with since there is no easy fix. I just have to keep thinking about how fabulous it'll be when it's all done...whenever that may be. Here are some pictures to see the progress so far:
Icicles on the pool room (a picture from our exploratory walk around the house)The patio view in the snowThe kitchen furnaceThe kitchen
The living room
The pool room windows in the living room
Alex in the hallway to the bedrooms
The master bedroom
The master bath view and Alex
The foamy Icynene insulation in the master bath showerThe top floor bonus room, west
The top floor bonus room, northeast
Alex is standing the powder room doorway
The top floor bonus room, south
The view from the southern window of the bonus room
The basement stairway The basement family room
John's office The pool room, west
The pool room skylights The whipped cream like insulation in the pool room

6 comments:

Shayne said...

wow it has been a few months since I looked at how the house was coming along and it looks like a house now. I bet your so excited.

Shayne

Nurit "1 family. friendly. food." said...

I can only imagine the added stress you have when building a house and needing to sell (compared to only buying and selling). But the house looks beautiful. I love the exterior color you have chosen! Ours look a bit like it.
And, hey, you’re going to have a pool room!! And a gorgeous kitchen!
Cheer up!
Happy New Year! Nurit

Maggie said...

Shayne: We were just two days shy of two months since our last visit, I can't believe we were away that long! Even though it hasn't progressed a lot, the drywall does make a dramatic difference. I'm thrill but hoping more delays don't pop up. How's your packing going?

Nurit: Happy New Year to you! I will make an effort to cheer up, a couple more months is nothing in the big picture even though it feels like forever right now. I'm really happy with the exterior color. There is a a lot of white trim that hasn't been painted yet and I think it'll look even better when that is done.

tavolini said...

Wow!! This looks incredible!! I love the yellow--so cheery :)

I did have to laugh at the furnace in the kitchen--perfectly random, I'm glad you got a picture of it.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your home sale--its a very tough time for Detroit.

Maggie said...

TavoLini: I know it's silly but I complained to John a ton about that furnace. I want the kitchen done!! Thanks for the luck, Detroit is such a depressed market.

Unknown said...

You should also have a humidifier installed as part of your new furnace. Adding humidity to the hot air coming from your furnace improves comfort, making the indoor air feel warmer (that's why in cities like Toronto we have a Humidex advisory -- the added humidity makes hot air feel even hotter).

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