42 weeks! That seems crazy to me. Though, not all 42 of those have been on the house. We only got started on the house at the beginning of March, so we’re just over 6 months in. Not bad!
So I left you yesterday by telling you that I was shocked when I arrived at the site on Wednesday because so much had changed in a week. I feel like before the roof went on it was a lot of weeks where things just looked the same. Just blocks and cement. And more blocks. And more cement.
So, where are things at?
You guys! The stucco is all done in our bedroom, Alex’s room, Olivia’s room, the nook, the upstairs storage room, the upstairs entry way/linen closet area, and the hallway. The only room that wasn’t done was the bathroom, but that was in progress while I was there.
The nook. My nook. It’s small, but big enough for a desk and will be a secondary office space for me when I need to have quiet to do things like write or edit photos. I already have some fun ideas :)
The upstairs entry from the upper deck. This is directly across from the nook. Linen closet is on the left behind the plywood. The glass blocks here weren’t in the plans, but Chris got the idea and I’m so glad we did them. I love them.
The upstairs hallway. That’s Maggie with Olivia. None of the upper floor even existed the last time Maggie saw the house. This was taken from our bedroom doorway, so nook is on the right where the cement blocks are, and entry is on the left. The next door way on the left is the upper storage room, and the doorway right by Olivia is her bedroom. Right across the hall on the left is Alex’s room. You can kind of see it. Right next to Maggie on the right is the upstairs bathroom, and to her left are the stairs.
Upstairs storage room. Not the most exciting shot, but it’ll be fun and interesting to see how the lighting changes with paint, tile and well, actual lights. :)
This is Olivia’s room from the doorway. I’m excited to do some fun things in the kids rooms. I know I’ll be building a few things, but I’m also going to have some fun with existing furniture that the mission has all through the house. Some great pieces that just need a little TLC or a revamp. I’m looking forward to sharing that stuff with you as it happens.
The upstairs bathroom! Sail is standing where the bathtub/shower will be. Yes, we put a window in our shower. We have a window in our current shower/tub, though it was only supposed to be a shower stall next to the window. We found a bathtub that fit kind of at the last minute, and installed it, and the window has been a bit of a challenge. This time around I did the “chest test” and went down into the work yard to see what kind of view there was, then had the guys add two more rows of blocks to the bottom. Ventilation is key, but so is some privacy :) In the past week we’ve started talking about things like tub placement and installation, tiles on the walls, tub surround… Yay!
Also in progress was the upper part of the stairwell, which is a beast. They had to build a platform to be able to reach the second storey ceiling.
We have to put glass blocks in two window openings up there as well, so all of that will get done, along with a good chunk of the painting I think, before the platform gets taken down and the lower walls are done.
Just so you understand what a big deal this is – the bathroom and the stairwell are the last parts of the interior of the house that need to be stuccoed. The last. parts. We were thinking we wouldn’t be here until well into October.
Um, and the reason I was so shocked when I arrived on Wednesday is that Boss Biren was stuccoing the outside of the building. The OUTSIDE. He wasn’t just starting, he already had the one wall of the upper deck finished, and he was moving on to the shorter wall. Haven’t been out there today. He’s probably got half the house done…
I was literally oohing and ahhing and the guys were all laughing at me because I was so excited. And then I saw our bedroom.
Last week we came out and there was the first coat on one wall.
Yesterday the entire room had two coats done. It needs one more because the cement is just drinking up the paint and three coats seems to be the magic number, but it looks so different!
You may be wondering what those wires sticking out of the wall are for. Two words. Air. Conditioner. Yes, we are installing an a/c unit in the office, and in our bedroom. Our kids are still going to sweat it out. But, Olivia wakes up cold most mornings, so I think they’ll live. We decided that it was worth it to donate the money to the mission to get a unit for our room because we’re the ones that need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the mornings. It’s all for efficiency. And sanity. Some of you are probably wondering what took us so long… :)
The tile downstairs is moving right along too. Abner finished the deck and all it’s edging early this week.
Then he started working on the downstairs bathroom and was doing all the little edge pieces when I came by yesterday. All of the tile needs a good cleaning, and the joints need to be grouted, but it’s looking so good!
He still needs to do the living room and storage room, but until the rest of the tile can get moved upstairs he has to hold off on that one. I’m guessing he’ll be ready to start upstairs sometime next week at the pace he’s going.
The entry. Abner is in the doorway to the downstairs storage room, and the downstairs bathroom is on the right in the entry. I have plans for some great built ins on the left.
Downstairs bathroom. Paint and tile make a huge difference! The window still needs to have it’s edges finished. The toilet could be going in soon, and I have a fun idea for the sink/vanity.
We’ve already decided that Abner will do the hallway and entry area first so we can get all the exterior doors installed. Our windows should be ready any day now, which means that we’re probably only a couple weeks away from being in full lock up!
As Chris and I were talking yesterday I mentioned that after all the stucco is done the only work that will really be happening in the house will be the tile and the paint. And after that Evens gets to start installing bathroom fixtures! Annnnddd someone else needs to get her butt in gear and start building some things…
On that note, I did actually start something over the weekend! I stained 5 of the 10 interior doors. We actually still have to buy one door because it’s a smaller opening and I haven’t been able to get the door when I was in town. I know where to go, they just didn’t have them in stock the last time I was there.
I can’t forget what was going on up on the roof either.
The beams for the solar panels were getting a second coat of protective paint. They should be putting those in place by next week, if not sooner. And then we can start mounting panels! We’re still waiting for our batteries to get shipped from the US, and until those arrive we can’t fully connect our power system, but we can start putting things in place.
The other thing that’s been going on is that the last, last, last part of construction on the house was done on Friday! They finished putting the roof on the little room on the roof.
A room just Olivia’s size. Us tall people will have to duck a bit.
This “room” is what will support the water tank. We needed to get it to a certain elevation so that the drop would provide enough pressure in the upstairs bathroom. And, because we like to make the most of what we have, it doesn’t make sense to just make a tank stand when we could make a little storage room on the roof. It probably won’t be used for much, but it is there when we need it.
Yesterday Boss Dja was finishing the stucco on it. He kind of surprised me, and then I wanted to throw up when I got over the little startle.
#doingitwithoutanet
Just in case it’s hard to see, the cobble stones are the driveway. And he’s not standing in the driveway. Oiye! No thank you. The guys are a mix of crazy and amazing.
So that’s where things are at! So exciting! And now I need to go get some work done on the new website for the mission because until I get that done, nothin’ is getting built in my house. #motivation
Have a great weekend!
~Leslie
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