Things are Speeding Up!

Tomorrow is one of many big days this year! Drew is turning in our paperwork for our mortgage. Things will move quickly after this but I'm sure it will feel like forever. Our sales representative Robbyn emailed that closing will be October 29th. That's very, very, very soon!

Just in time, Drew is having a roommate move in to his apartment on Thursday. This will give him enough flexibility to move into our home. Then I have to pretend to not be jealous that he gets to live there first for the next three months.

Any advice on mortgages or closing are greatly appreciated!

Finally Friday

Wow it's been a minute since my last post - life certainly got busy for a moment. I've been playing catch up all week and now it's finally Friday! George Jones is singing in the background.

Grad school started back last week. At the same time Tropical Storm Isaac decided to play hopscotch in the gulf. Needless to say I am behind by two weeks on school work and am devoting my downtime this weekend to JSU.

On Wednesday, I met Drew at our house! Our mortgage guy sent us all of our paperwork this week to get back to him so that we can close on time. This is now Drew's responsibility. Teamwork!

 When I drove up, Drew was on our front porch talking to his best man about the house.

My first peek of the sheet rock! And they have delivered our doors!

Front Door 

From the Dining Room looking into the Kitchen 

From the Kitchen looking into the Dining Room + My Shadow 

From the Living Room + My Shadow 

I hurried up the scary stairs once again. Tiger thought it was no big deal until he got to the landing and realized he could see thru the stairs. This is where he stayed for the rest of the visit. 

 Our backyard

Just chillin' 

We couldn't convince him to come down. Drew had to pick him up. 

Our tread has arrived! Soon they will no longer be scary! 

Didn't notice before but it looks like Drew's doing a jig.

We can't wait to have everyone over! This visit was definitely a highlight of this past week.

Mismatched insulation?

Progress continues at the future Johnston home! Drew and I stopped by for a visit yesterday. The electrical work appears to be finished and most all of the insulation is back up. We did discover that we have two different types of insulation in our home – one set is brown and one set is pink. Has anyone ever seen brown insulation? We hadn’t but figured out that it’s the brand.
Here are some more pictures of the inside. I hope you enjoy! We’re always looking for feedback on what you think the builder will get accomplished next. Let us know!

While outside we dabbled with panoramic shots. Notice anything odd?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Yesterday's Visit to Mi Casa

So sadly the sheetrock has not gone up and the siding has not been painted. BUT there has been progress...I think...but this is not what I do for a living.

If I find out in any random conversation that you have some experience in construction, I will ask you a thousand questions about my house. Bless his heart, this usually falls to Drew. He built and installed cabinets for six years before moving to Tuscaloosa. At least in my mind, this makes him qualified to explain every stage of our house construction. He constantly reminds me that this doesn't mean he knows all the ins-and-outs but I think he's lying. :-p

To the best I could tell, the electricians were hard at work this week. I saw more wiring go up and more protection go around the wiring. I snapped a few pictures below. Up until now most of you have only seen the exterior. It's difficult to get good lighting inside so I took the best angles that I could. Enjoy!

Pictured from left: Front entrance, kitchen view (from dining room),

Pictured from left: Second floor (from stair landing) and kitchen view (from stair landing)

First off, if you're wondering why most of the pics are from the stair landing and none are of the rooms upstairs...I have a confession to make. I am scared to traverse the stairs on the way down because there's only a couple of boards on each step and I can see through them. And no one was there yesterday to hear me if I fell. I got as high up as I dared and snapped these shots.

Second, yay pics! I love our entryway. We have arched doorways into the hall and dining room. Our kitchen has a bar that looks into the living room. We have a second floor with 3 bedrooms and a game room.

Anyone have any idea what they might finish this week? Any guesses? You're guess is as good as mine lol.

House Update

I had planned to visit our house today after work but I couldn’t because of the bad weather. Also, Drew is working this weekend and it feels odd checking on the house without him. :-/
I get so excited seeing it progress. Each week it’s like opening a new present! Tomorrow I can’t wait to see what the builders have accomplished. I’m hoping for walls! And a painted siding.
What do you think has changed in a week? I’ll post pics as soon as I get back tomorrow!

One Brick, Two Brick, Red Brick…House!

  

Shortly after we were engaged, my fiancé and I sat down and worked out a plan for the first years of our marriage. There is still a LOT we don’t know but we believe that figuring all of this out is meant to be the fun part. :-)

We have a lot going for us. We both have stable employment and regular paychecks – a true blessing. But we live and work in two cities about an hour away from each other. So where should we live? In the middle of course!

We started by finding a realtor and visiting homes in the area. We struck out on the houses we were shown and decided to be adventurous and drive around some. We stumbled across a newer subdivision in Bessemer. The houses were everything we wanted for our first home. And so, after crunching the numbers, we realized we could build a house and start building our credit with the same money it would take for us to rent.

So building a house it is!

Our house is going up so fast! We get so excited turning onto our street to see the newest changes. We are very proud owners and have taken several friends and family members on a tour!

Last week the bricks and siding went up! I can’t wait for it to be painted. I will admit - I have been discouraged at times and not able to focus on the end result. For a while there it only looked like lumber. But the more work that is done on our house, the closer I feel our wedding day coming. This is a very exciting time for the future Johnston family!

Here’s the latest sneak peak. I’ll try to post updates regularly on our progress.

Building a house can be daunting. Have you faced this before? Any tips for the newbies? We’d love to hear some advice!