August 27, 2006
For the last 3 months it has been just Bill, John and Wes in the house. But now that the walls are up and the roof is on things have kicked into high gear. Toby says that when she is in the house it feels like being trapped in the middle of a beehive. A team of plumbers were here most of the week, drilling holes through the walls and ceilings and trying to figure out how to route pipes around structural beams. (A major detail our designer conveniently ignored.) There have also been a lot of other specialists coming by to check out the situation and give quotes. Bill said to expect this level of activity for the duration of the project.

It was also a very busy week for Toby. It is the last week before the kids go back to school and a lot of shopping, decisions and more shopping had to be done. The biggest chore was getting the plumbing fixtures picked out. Toby knew what she wanted but spent close to two days driving back and forth from one plumbing store to another to find valves, handles, spigots and shower nozzles that belonged together.

In addition, we also needed to pick out flooring, cabinet material and bathroom countertop colors. This was tricky because all we had were small samples and we didn't feel comfortable making a firm decision on one piece until we first decided on another piece. This made me feel like I was trapped in a giant circle of indecision, with no rational way to decide anything. I tried to help by suggesting "white" a lot. It all seems like complete guesswork to me. Too bad my mom doesn't live closer to us; I'm sure she could figure out things like this in her sleep.

We also needed to select the shingles for our roof. Toby did a lot of research and picked out energy efficient "cool roof" shingles. Unfortunately, it is relatively new and there are not too many houses in in the area that use it. We got addresses to four buildings in a 20 mile radius and spent Saturday afternoon driving from one side of the Bay area to the other. It took awhile, but we liked what we saw. Now all we need to do is pick out the color. (It doesn't come in white so my suggestions haven't been too helpful.)

August 20, 2006
This week the first layer of our roof was put in place and it has made a big difference. The one thing you notice right away is that it feels like you are standing in a house now, instead of on a giant deck. I miss the bright blue sky, since it made taking pictures much easier. It's a lot darker now and things feel a bit more claustrophobic. Your footsteps make empty echoes as you walk across the hard wood floors. I also miss the fresh summer air. Now you mostly smell the scent of fresh sawdust.

But it is all coming together nicely and looks gorgeous. The main rooms have vaulted ceilings which makes everything feel open and spacious. There is plenty of storage space, including 30 square feet of hallway closet plus close to 140 square feet in the attic. (Unfortunately most of that space is going to fill up immediately as soon as we relocate the junk out from our rental storage unit.)

August 13, 2006
The house keeps growing. This week we got our rafters in place and the roof is starting to take shape. It looks like our house is going to be slightly taller than the neighboring houses so all I can say is, "Take that, puny neighbors!" After years of listening to them mock our diminutive stature we will finally have our revenge! Bwah-ha-ha!

One thing that we've realized is that the windows along the left side of the house have a not-so-attractive view of the bedroom windows in our neighbors house. I'm sure they are not too excited about their new view either. We will put reeded glass in the long stairwell windows, but we're not sure what to do with the other two rooms. We would like to plant some trees to block the view, but it is going to take a few seasons before they are tall enough to screen the windows. In the meantime it looks like we will be ordering some good thick curtains.

August 6, 2006
After all the chaos, July ended on a positive note. The heat has diminished and the crew is able to work full days again. Even though a lot of time was lost we are still slightly ahead of schedule. All the walls are framed and the first of the roof joists are starting to appear. We don't need to imagine what the rooms will look like any more, since we can just walk around inside of them. (That has freed up our imaginations for other things...) So far we are happy with the sizes of the rooms and the overall layout.

For the last two months Bill has called all the shots and done what has needed to be done without much input from me. After all, he doesn't have much reason to consult with me about foundations, lumber or framing. But recently he has been asking a lot questions: "What kind of flooring do you want?", "What type of shower are you getting?", "Do you want ceiling fans?", and many more. Toby and I are doing our best to get informed as fast as possible. Actually, Toby is getting informed quickly. I'm just trying to keep up.

We spent Sunday at Home Depot (in the first of many trips there, I'm sure) trying to get a basic understanding of what's to come. We have also visited the shower stall store, the bathroom countertop store and the window store. I'm looking forward to future trips to the Closet Shelf Outlet, the Door Hinge Depot and Light Switch Plate Covers R Us.