The House is Almost Finished

As forecast, it was raining this morning as we got out of bed. Not a great day to install carpet, considering the red mud surrounding the house, but , it arrived, all the way from Dallas, at 8:45 AM, so it was going to happen today. The guys did a good job of keeping the mud out of the house and I think they were proud of the job they did. We were very pleased with how everything came out.

When you buy a house that's already been built, you know exactly what you're getting. When you buy a house that you've only seen as a drawing, it gets a lot more "theoretical."

I've had butterflies in my stomach more than once about how one feature or another would look and feel. We took a house plan that the builder had built many times and proceeded to make several changes to it. The builder didn't really know how to handle some of our requests, so we have had to work some things out as it was being built.

The "Western Room" turned out great. That's the room with all the windows, looking out toward the back of our property (and the sunset). Everyone who sees it loves it.

The fireplace had me worried. Was it out of proportion? Was the brick as pretty in person as the samples? Today, after the carpet was in, I knew it was alright. It really looks good.

We have electricity and usable bathrooms now. We got to try out the heating today since the temperature was in the 40's. Wow! In less than 5 minutes, the house got cozy.

Next week, we will get a driveway and a yard put in. The yard will just be dirt until I figure out whether to seed it or sod it. I'm thinking maybe hydroseeding.

As you can see from the photo's below the cut, it's very muddy when it rains. All the foundation work and contractors trucks have left the yard a complete mess, exposing the red clay to anything that touches it. If you try to walk through it, it just keeps building up on your footwear so that after a few steps, you're lifting pounds of mud with each step.

Although this is a "turnkey" deal, there have been several situations that I've had to throw money at it to make things the way we want them. My cash flow is not the best right now. Crossing my fingers, hoping that not too many things pop up that I'll have to tap the bank accounts again.

You may notice blue tape marking little defects that the touch up crew will clean up.