Settling In

We are finally moved into the house!  It is hard to believe that we got to this point - it seemed like it kept stretching on forever. It is such a relief, and so exciting. Our first night in the house we feasted on take-out on the floor. We have been slowly moving things over for a couple of weeks, and had been in a very in between stage with just enough stuff in both places to never have all of what we needed at either one. So although we packed what we thought were the essentials, we spent our first night without pillows and toothpaste.

First meal: bbq pork and champagne. Obviously.

Things are still in quite a bit of chaos. Some of our furniture is staying in the condo to stage it for selling. We are also hoping to acquire some new things. However, we'll probably do that pretty slowly and after seeing how we use the space first. In the mean time, a handy stack of cardboard boxes is serving as my dresser. Classy! Also classy is the terrifying electric cat. 

We were so excited to be in the house that both Henry and I have already had friends over. I had some friends over for brunch, although Henry and I had to eat standing up because we don't have a table or chairs yet. Henry had a friend over that same night to try out a new grill for the first time.

Having space for a dedicated office feels like a huge luxury for us. Clearly, productivity has increased since getting this space.

Business cat

Salvy was terrified for the first 24 hours and would not come out of the basement. We kept trying to coax him out, and he would occasionally emerge covered in dust before going back into hiding. By now he seems his old self, sniffing and exploring everything.

looking for warm towels to sleep on...

We have a whole room just waiting for visitors, so start planning a trip!

That is a big building

My parents visited last weekend and we had an awesome time that went way too fast. They made a bold choice to drive out here. This meant that for the first time in more years than I care to count, I came home to some Nebraska sweet corn in my freezer. I am so excited. That is like having a freezer full of gold.

The weekend was spent checking out a few Seattle classics, relaxing and playing games, and eating some good food.

Even though I have lived here going on four years now, I had never been to Volunteer Park. It's a pretty impressive park. We walked up a water tower that has 360 degree views of downtown, the water, the space needle, and the east side. Points to Volunteer Park.

It was a lot of steps, however.

Of course, the thing I was looking forward to the most was showing them the progress on the house. It was such a bummer that they were so close but not able to stay there. However, I think they got the idea.

It's a house!

Henry and Larry not moving the stove. That's right, not moving.

Contemplating the number of rocks we have to pick out of the "yard".

House!

Even though the house is mostly on auto pilot and wrapping up soon, there is quite a bit of landscaping and yard business that has to occur before we'll get our certificate of occupancy and are able to move in. Step 1: trees. We have to have a certain diameter of total tree trunk on the property. That means we can plant several small trees or one larger tree. So we went to a nursery to check out some trees.

It was Seattle - they had to experience at least a little rain...

We also stopped by Ivar's (a seattle classic) on our way to the Boeing tour. 

yes, folks, they ate fish.

Boeing has an assembly plant in the suburbs of Seattle. By volume, it is the largest building in the world. It is large. So large, that it actually has it's own weather patterns and is known to have snowed inside. We got to see the assembly of three different planes, the 747, the 767, and the 787. I actually know something about the difference between each of these planes now, which I'm not sure I thought even existed before.

Mom in front of an engine. A big engine.

 We also introduced parents to Korean bbq. Delicious.

Can I say it again? Delicious.

When we were at the nursery, we also got some plants to spruce up my deck. My mom was instrumental in creating these beautiful arrangements. I love them!

Best my deck has ever looked. I'm taking bets on how long it will last...

We spent their last day in town perusing Pike Place Market. We sampled a bunch of tasty treats, including the famous beecher's mac and cheese and some crepes. We also watched a couple of street performers. This guy solved a rubics cube in 17 seconds. Impressive.

As enthralled as 2 little kids...

We ended our time at the market with some dessert.

No Thimm says no to a french eclair...

It was a lovely visit and I can't wait to have them back again!

Tiles and Backsplash

So we got some tiles put in, in the kitchen, bathrooms, and around the fireplace.

Installing tile is pretty messy, and it is part of the deal that we do all the cleaning up before we move in. So there's that to look forward to. Some time I will post a picture of the current state of the showers. It's unbelievable how messy they can get when no one is using them as a shower. I think they are currently functioning as very large trash cans for the workers.

Henry would not agree to white subway tile, because it reminded him too much of a YMCA gym shower. This was our compromise.

Tiles made the fireplace go from moderately sized to seemingly huge...

If you count each tile when you brush your teeth you'll always get your two minutes in.

We are dying to see how the mirror and that outlet interact.

Countertops and Stuff

we can make things cold but we can't make things warm yet

House Progress

Here is the current state of the house:

Most of the lights have been installed, with a few stragglers that were not yet delivered still missing. The cabinets are in the process of being installed, and this is one of the most exciting things to watch so far (perhaps I've said that about every step so far...).

Space for the fridge.

Along with the kitchen cabinets come the bathroom vanities. I never really equated the two before, but I guess they are a lot more similar than I first gave them credit.

guest bath

We're assuming the master bath vanity will not remain in the master bedroom where it is currently located. That's a safe assumption, right?

master bath

 You can almost picture it...

linen closet

They also finally installed the garage door. This is the tiniest garage imaginable for my midwestern sensibilities, but that's how they roll here in Seattle.

The baffle or the gimbal....

So the house currently looks like this:

Woo-hoo! It's looking like an actual legit house with a roof. Exterior painting is almost complete, although we are planning on painting the front door a fun color (current front runner is teal). Drywall is pretty much done, which means that the next steps are focused on finishing off the interior.

This all means that we are within approximately two weeks of installing all the lighting, some of which is yet to be acquired. Henry and I had a marathon lighting shopping trip this past weekend. This was probably the worst shopping experience I have ever had. I am truly at the end of my decision making capacity, and each new choice, no matter how small, feels like it takes so much effort to eek out a decision. For our recessed lighting, do we want the baffle or the gimbal?  No one should know the answer to that. Friends and family are probably also getting fatigued and sick of the many questions, texts, and links I continually send out.

who knew one house had so. many. lights.

There are two lighting decisions still to be made, and because each new decision requires more effort than the last (and the relation between the two is quadratic), deciding what fixture to put over the kitchen sink should take 8 hours, and the light fixture for the entryway should take 16. No problem. It's not like Henry or I has anything else going on right now that might require planning, time, or effort.

But lighting aside, things are moving along very quickly and excitement is building. We have been able to walk on all the floors for quite some time now, and the view from the top is fantastic. Of course, we'll only be able to see it about 4 days out of the year. However, you can definitely see the Cascades from the front two rooms. Tiny, tiny, far away Cascades, but mountains none the less.

House Buildin'

Henry and I are building a house. Or, we're paying people to build us a house. So many people ask us to clarify when we use the first statement. I would think it would be obvious, but I guess you never know. I am not building anything. This house is going up on a piece of property that had been in Henry's family for a while. The old structure was going to be brought down by weather if we didn't do it ourselves, so it was time.

Tearing into a house isn't an opportunity that comes along every day, so we took full advantage. There was a lot of hatchet, crowbar, and sledge hammer action. Safety goggles were worn by all.

So after what seemed like months of planning (it really was months of planning), construction began on the house. Although Henry and I poured over the plans and every detail, there were still some questions in how our two-dimensional picture would translate. So we have been watching anxiously as it is going up.

First step: earth work. I'm not even including any pictures because it's all just dirt. Although the hole they initially dug was quite impressive (and a little bit terrifying). Moving all that dirt took forever (forever = less than 2 months). 

After we got the dirt mostly where we wanted it, we got a foundation. Cement has truly never been so exciting. Also - where is our fourth wall?

Proudly surveying his new cement.

Cement is exciting!

 Henry was there the day they poured the slab, and was able to put our initials in. Awwww.

 

Somewhere between pouring the slab and framing was a whole lot of retaining wall drama. I mean, who hasn't had drama over a retaining wall before? Basically, when you have two people who know as little about retaining walls as Henry and I making decisions about them, it leads to drama. 

So we ended up with 1 rockery to hold up our dirt, and one huge cement lego brick wall to hold up some more dirt. Our dirt isn't going anywhere it isn't supposed to any time soon.

The rocks want to be more exciting than the cement. But do they pull it off?

Just try to get away, dirt!

Finally, walls started showing up, including the elusive 4th wall of our basement. Our house will not ultimately be this awkward yellow color (that is just the color of the siding before paint).

 After the exterior walls frames went up inside, finally giving us a sense of what the space would actually feel like (so far - just like Grandma's basement).

A man and his castle.

 Currently we have two stories and a basement, but no stairs. I can't wait to walk around on the top floor and see what our view actually looks like. Probably looks like the neighbor's bedroom, but there is a good chance we'll actually get to see something quite pretty.

Ta da!