This is the hard part

Laying out space in functionally efficient ways and organizing storage and rooms comes a thousand times more naturally to me than choosing finishes.  We are just about done with the spatial decisions, and now I am out of my element!

This week's agony was the hardwood stain selection.  27 of my closest Facebook friends weighed in on the question:  "Hardwood floor color choice poll: 'Dark chocolate/espresso' or 'light natural oak'? Imagine it with dark wood furniture in a midcentury modern house with white trim. Help, design friends!"

The input was super helpful, and in the end, we chose Saddle (in right column, second from the top).  It's darker than we have now (the sample is resting on our existing hardwood floors), but not as dark as the Dark Chocolate.  We hope it shows less dust, and doesn't darken the ground floor level as much, while still contrasting with our dark wood furniture and white trim.

I should note that this is another "whileweareatit" item - turns out, we'll be replacing all the existing floors, since the contractor worried that the mid-room transitions wouldn't work well for a variety of reasons.  He's not charging us extra for labor, just the additional material cost.  Hurray!

3/4" thick white oak hardwood samples

The next round of inspections

They're about to put up the drywall, so there are several prerequisite inspections.  We started off Thursday with the final framing inspection, which went well, though we need to finish one shear wall and have that reinspected (it has plumbing, so we had to leave it open a bit longer).  The inspector mentioned "wow, this is totally overengineered."  You all can come to our house for the next big earthquake.  :)

Thursday afternoon brought the plumbing inspector around.  We didn't pass plumbing (yet) because the contractor replaced all the plumbing in the kids' bathroom (not the original plan), and we needed to add that to our permit.  Also, the plumbing inspector wanted to see the fireplace permit, and the fireplace company "forgot" to file it (though they did not forget to charge us the $300 permit fee), so we had to get them to complete that task.  We get a redo tomorrow.

Electrical inspection went smoothly on Friday, though the inspector wants "load calcs" to show that we have enough electrical capacity (gulp). 

Insulation inspection was today, we passed that one.  After the plumbing inspection do-over tomorrow, we'll be ready for drywall!

Next big inspection after this week will be the final inspection!

Contractor is estimating completion at the end of February, but I'm still managing my expectations and planning for March completion.  :)

The living room will be cozy and warm with all
that lovely insulation!

New electrical sub panel

New kitchen "appliance?"

Wired today, for inspection tomorrow. I'm thrilled with all the new lights, but hoping to heck we actually have enough electrical capacity to run everything. Solar panels on hold while we analyze our hourly usage, especially in non sunlight hours...

Neighborliness

Glad to replace the old rotten wood wall
with strong concrete!

Dear S,
You have been the most patient, kind neighbor a person could wish for! In fact, you give the word "neighbor" a whole new meaning.
Thank you for letting us constantly block your driveways, hammer, pound, and bang away from 7:30-5 including Saturdays, and completely destroy your side yard. Here is the first installment of many attempts we'll make to repay you for your graciousness: a new retaining wall! We'll make it pretty with some wood. We'll fix your side yard too.
Sincerely,
The V family

A great time for a storm

We're glad that Friday was stormy and that we've had rain all weekend.  What better test of our new roofing and gutters while our contractor is still onsite for any necessary fixes?

All seems to be holding tight - no leaks!

Foundation drains are in!

Perforated pipe with mesh sleeve carries water
around the house to a new drain

Bituthene waterproofing membrane is applied
on top of liquid sealer over the concrete

Gravel goes on top

The house is ready for today's rain, but we didn't think the drainage would get finished in time. Surprise! They finished it up today. We were a little worried about rainwater sitting next to the foundation, but we can now put those worries to rest!
The drainage was always a big wildcard in my mind in terms of time and expense, and I am so relieved that it is done!

Continued electrical work...

...to be completed by inspection day next Friday (in about a week). We are gunning for electrical and plumbing inspections so we can start Sheetrock (which was delivered en masse on Tuesday).

LevelQuik

Left downstairs bedroom

Right downstairs bedroom

We had a little snafu with the level of the concrete slabs in the kids' rooms. They were an inch or so lower than the existing family room slab. We need a completely level condition for the radiant heat. LevelQuik self-leveling concrete to the rescue!

Moving the beast

Will it survive another 50 years?

Our contractor has decided that we need to replace all our duct work and move our huge gravity furnace back a couple of feet to clear access to the garage/family room door. Okay, sounds good! He built the square concrete pedestal you see in the photo to support it.
We are keeping our furnace monster because he does such a good job heating our house without a blower. The second floor heats in minutes in near silence, and no blower means no dust for the asthmatic (that's me). It's pretty cheap to run, too.
Long live the beast!

Electricity, eeee-lec-tri-city

Cute templates help with placement

The electrician is installing the recessed lights in our existing LR and DR today. We sat bleary-eyed late last night and puzzled over how to handle the light spacing with regard to the slightly off-center chandelier and dining table. Luckily, Howard has opinions and answers. Hooray for Howard!
I've forgotten to report that all the lights and outlets have already been placed in the main level of the addition. He needs to finish the downstairs and install the new subpanel, but we are making great progress.

Next on deck: the deck!

Deck joists are going in. It will be awhile before we tackle the actual decking, but it's exciting to see this going in, nonetheless.

Boring, but necessary.

Downstairs bathroom

New powder room

Master bathroom

Plumbing vents and drains for all three bathrooms are done...

Stucco and downspouts

South side downspout

North side downspout

Finished stucco

Short of paint, our exterior is all sealed up! Stucco is finished, and downspouts are in place. Let it rain!

Where should we put the powder room toilet?

How about on this side?

Progress on the downstairs bath

All gutted, and stud walls going up...

Fireplace install

Yessir, go ahead and cut a hole in my brand new roof...

You know you're under construction when...