Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

So we're building our house, celebrating the holidays, what could go wrong?  Well, this is a photo of our car after it got transferred to the second tow truck on its way to Newberg from the Santiam Pass.  We were on our way to a winemaker dinner that I was supposed to do near Bend, and it died close to the summit of the pass with no cell phone reception.  The engine got so hot it melted some components, and is beyond fixing.  After 208,000 miles we have no complaints, but the timing certainly puts a focus on our remaining budget items.

Back to the building site, and the drywall hangers have been busy!  I know we keep saying this, but it's really starting to look like we imagined it!

looking down the hallway toward the bedrooms.

We also spent much of the holiday season selecting colors, carpets, etc.

Back to the house.  The angle and light are funny, but that's me on the stilts.  The cold weather slows drying, so this has taken more time than expected.  Besides, I kind of like walking around in the stilts.

Looking toward the kitchen end of the great room.  We are doing very smooth walls and ceiling, and they are looking great.

Who knew there were so many whites?  Color selection seemed daunting, but once we got to it we had little trouble agreeing on things.  We also got some great advice later from Karen at Miller Paints, and that gave us the confidence to move forward.

We had been looking at a very tasteful quartz countertop, but at the last minute we got talked into looking at granite.  So glad we did!  We walked through the slab warehouse and chose this beauty - much more interesting and colorful than the quartz, and it works great with the walnut that Dysthe is holding up from the cabinets.  Curiously, Nordic White is not very white and is from Brazil.  Go figure.  

 

 

That pretty much sums up the past month.  January means painting, cabinet installation, floors, counters, appliances, carpets, and probably a lot more things that I'm forgetting right now.  We are still trying to stay ahead of the details, like getting the drawer pulls to the cabinet maker this week.  Still officially tracking to move in by the end of March.  Happy New Year!