The Voice (and Smell) of Color

Our house has been painted!!! The siding is prairie dust with flint gray shingles and china white trim.



First, the large expanses were sprayed with impressive speed, then the trim finished by hand.





With the painting mostly complete, the shingles went on next.





And we weren't the only ones to get a roof...





We also had our pre-drywall meeting today. We made a few requests, asked a lot of questions, and learned about the innards of our house. This weekend, we plan to systematically photograph every square inch of wall for future reference, before the insulation goes in early next week!

Graffiti

Our house is covered with graffiti.



Some of it refers to unfinished projects, others to minor corrections or repairs that need to be made.



And few hold exciting surprises, such as a light in the closet under the stairs. Well, we get excited about the little things...



Projects on the interior of the house are winding up as we near our pre-drywall meeting this Thursday. Building inspectors have been visiting, and in some cases requesting strangely inconsistent changes. All the Willies built before ours have 2"x4" studs for the tall wall in the living room. Ours has now been reinforced with 2"x6"s and is rigid enough to withstand a tornado!



In addition to the pre-drywall meeting this week, we have our first sit-down meeting with a mortgage broker tomorrow morning. It's months until we close, but it will be nice to have one less thing to worry about.

Water, Wires, and Wit

It's been bleak, cold, and rainy here lately. Although we have tar paper on the roof, it's not exactly water tight, so the inside of the house has gotten wet and muddy.







Despite the puddles, electricians and low-voltage wiring technicians have been working indoors. We’ve got a lot of copper, and Timothy’s amazing plan for surround sound and hidden electronic devices is going in.







It's been awhile since we posted photos of the pool and bathhouse at the pocket park down the street. Actually, now that I look back, there wasn't much of anything there in November. The bathhouse, designed by Studio 8, has exposed concrete walls and a butterfly roof over part of the interior. You can already tell it's going to be a really great looking building. Timothy works for the engineering firm that designed the structure, and we recently dropped by for a site visit during one of our lunchtime trips to the house.





And while we’re promoting firms, how about this clever slogan? This is for you, Dad.

Movin' on up to the East Side

The roof, the roof, the roof is on... well, it's not on fire, but our builder is. We're a week a head of schedule.


The plumbing is connected to the main.


Power and lighting



Even the mailbox and neighbors have been installed. They thought of everything!

Our Evil Twins

Yesterday we met our evil twins. (Or perhaps we're their evil twins... ?) They're a young couple without kids but with three cats. I think my cat is enough of a handful to count as three. And they're buying a Willie down the street from ours, with eerily similar design choices. Same ebony cabinets in the kitchen with a glass tile backsplash. Similar living room wiring set-up, with a spot already designated for a projector and conduit to take care of the TV in the meantime.

Speaking of evil, the black glass windows on the non-functioning dormer have gone in. I've never noticed that similar windows on other houses are not clear glass - it just looks like a very dark attic. Likely the only reason we now can tell they're different is because we know they are.



Also, cladding on our window seat bump-out has been completed. All that remains on the exterior are a few pieces of trim, roofing, and some paint!



The other houses on our block are progressing nicely, with the exception of the two affordable homes. We're hoping work starts on them soon so we don't wind up moving in immediately adjacent to a construction site. Also, it would be nice to know who our next door neighbor will be!

One Month Later

Our house has been under construction for a month now, and we've got a week's worth of photos to show you at once! We really have to stop slacking, because so much has happened - the last of the framing, roof decking and wall sheathing, hardiplank siding and shingles, windows...























Meanwhile, on the interior, most of the plumbing, air-conditioning ductwork, and air handler have been installed. Deviating from the earliest Willies constructed, they've moved the air handler from the highest part of the attic - above the second floor hallway - to outside the guest bedroom, where the water heater will also go. I imagine it will be much easier to service this way.







Briefly we thought that maybe, just maybe, we'd have a view all the way from the University of Texas Tower on the north down to the State Capitol and Frost Building on the south. Since this photo was taken from the guest room window, framing has gone up for the two-story at the end of the block, and the Tower is no longer visible. The Standard Pacific houses across the street may block the Frost Building (no big loss there), but I think we'll still be able to see the Capitol when all is finished!

We've Got Wood!

We'll let the photos speak for themselves. The first was taken Friday morning, and the last this afternoon.











The walls going up in more detail: