CO - Certificate of Occupancy - approved!

Hoooooooray! You did it, Kenny! (Kenny Lidard - project manager for Millennium Construction.) Thanks for all of your hard work, Kenny.

The official approval to move in was granted on Friday, December 3rd. Just in the nick of time, since the moving truck comes Monday. Whew!

Appliances

Here comes the Sears truck! Yep, they had the best prices for the products available. They even matched a lower quote that I had from another appliance store. And - - I asked the guys if they were going to recycle those boxes!
The counter depth frig almost slid in - oops! Not to worry, Kenny will call the cabinet guy to make an adjustment. The dishwasher goes to the right and wood panels will come later.

Yea! The last panel was installed today, my birthday! Thanks, Brian Brown of Brown's Woodworking. Your work is amazing!

Floors please

Hey, can ya bring that carpet in the house? (Good thing I'm at the end of the court with no house on this lot - - plenty of working room to make their cuts.)
Thanks, guys!

There's carpet in the guest bedroom and the master bedroom. Sorry, it's boring beige. But, the installer loved the wall color and asked me the stock number so he could get some!

Wood (Hickory) is in the rest of the house where there is not tile. Here they are starting the family room. It seemed a little light, but they say it will darken a bit with age. There's different shades so it blends well with the cherry cabinets.

Here's the dining room.

This GREEN house needs some - -

Greenery! The landscaping is complete, hooray! The island in the front has a small type Magnolia and a Red Bud tree (the one with no leaves!) In the spring it will have pink flowers and then dark maroon leaves until next winter. It's in memory of Stuart since he planted one in the backyard of Willowleaf Way. I thought it was wimpy until I saw the beautiful flowers in the spring - he was always right about trees and plants! There will be more to come in this backyard, especially his favorite "weed tree", a Mimosa.
A small type of palm, Pindo Palm. Aren't they cool?

And - - all of us northerners move down here and insist upon a big palm tree(Sable Palm), so I had to join the crowd. It just exudes warm weather and the tropics! The big fronds should come out in the spring. Let's hope I can keep it alive, they are a bit touchy since we aren't really in the tropics were they belong.

And here it is in the back yard. I should have a good view of it as I sit in my hot tub which will be on the corner of the patio. Talk about "stay cation"!

Drive on in - -

The forms are going in for the driveway that just barely fits between the house and my property line! I sure hope they move the porta potty before I move in - -
At least there is a "turn around" spot at the back. I'll back out of the garage and head out forwards cause there's no way I'd maneuver the curves to the street.

The walk to the front door. There's lots of space between the walk and the house to plant flowers and grow weeds!

Thanks, Kenny, for designing the voluptuous curves! First one to knock over the mailbox wins a prize - NOT! Actually, it will look pretty after the landscaping goes in.

Let there be light - -

Well, once the electricity is hooked up. But, the fixtures are in. The one below is in the master bathroom.
Pendants over the island and spots in the ceiling.

The dining room.

The family room.

AND, two GREEN things; all fixtures will have CFL bulbs and the cardboard from the boxes was recycled. The installer was nice enough to separate out the plastic. Thanks!

Water - water - -

Yep, got to have water in and water out! Thank goodness for plumbing. The toilets are another GREEN thing, dual flush to save water. Also, the shower head is a low flow type, but the pressure should still be okay.

Push the little button for little jobs and the big button for big jobs. Oops, but I keep pushing both just to see the difference. Hopefully, the fascination will wear off!

Oil rubbed bronze finish in the powder room. Another brave choice for me. The light fixture is the same in a "craftsman" style.

Brushed nickel finish everywhere else. Notice the "accessible" lever handles that are easy to operate even with arthritus or other issues.

Granite counters are in - -

A lighter beige speckle than most granite you see. I like it!

And, everything including the kitchen sink! It's a big single bowl, I just don't like the confusion of making a choice with the double bowl sinks!

Sue's green house is - - - -

GREEN !
A very muted, tasteful green! It does look more green in person and without the bright sun. I think it looks good between my neighbors; one has yellow and the other beige.

Cabinets !!!

The cherry cabinets are here! Below is one corner in the kitchen.
Below is the family room.

Below is the master bath. Another cabinet will come later to sit on the counter in the center. It will have a roll up door so I can shove back my make-up clutter and then close the door - yea!

And - the shower tile is complete. The stripe is transparent glass tile, very cool. I'd love a whole wall, but my budget only alloted for a stripe - ha! I still think it looks great.

Colors ! !

Yes, colors are here ! No more boring beige! I had to paint everything beige in the last house I sold to appeal to "a wider range of buyers." But, hey, this is my place now and I'm old and crazy, so here goes!

Family room, pale yellow. Also in the foyer, halls, second bedroom, and bathroom. You get 3 color choices, but I added 2 more for an extra fee. I figured it would be less expense and bother than to try to change colors later.

Oh yes, the GREEN thing again. The paint is a "low VOC" type, meaning very little smell now and little "off gassing" of volatile organic compounds in coming months.

Dining room. I tried to find a different color than the family room, but nothing seemed to work. Maybe later?

Studio, ahhhmmmm - - I'll make some "centered" pots in here! They also completely finish off the garage and paint it - it's this same color. (Open Air)

The master bedroom. I already have fabric for a matching bed spread and window treatments. Relaxing aqua kinda color. (Tidewater)

The guest bedroom - otherwise known as the kids room. They each claim it as their own! I have a bright pin striped fabric for the bedspread that has this "coral" color as one of the stripes. Quite a brave choice for me! Hunter said that he wanted "dark orange" - we won't tell him it's actually coral!

The first room as I come in from the garage, the laundry. Since the cabinets and washer/dryer will be white, I thought this denim color would set it off nicely. See how I'm only daring in the kids room and laundry room! Baby steps!

Tile guys came - -

The tile on the master bath floor is finished and the shower area is in progress.

By the next day, they also installed the tile in the foyer, other bathrooms, storage room and laundry. All mostly in the beige tones - boring! I did get wild in the laundry and chose a darker grey/blue. It should look good with the white cabinets, washer and dryer.
Another goal for this house is to be as assessible as possible for anyone that may have physical challenges. Including possibly me in the future! Notice that there is no raised threshold to enter the shower, a "roll -in" shower or maybe a stumble in after a hard night of partying!

The floor slowly slants to the drain in the center.

Siding is finished - more details for the interior - -

Here's the back of the house with all of the siding. It will be painted within the week. What color do you think it will be? There may be a big prize! Ha! Tammi, you are disqualified since you snooped yesterday!

The sreening for the porch will be done at the very end to avoid any damage. There will be a door from the porch onto the deck that will be outside the slider doors and the deck will have steps down to a concrete patio. The all important hot tub will be set on the patio making it lower so as to not block views of the woods.

Our feathered friend is back. His owner, Jim is in charge of finish woodworking. He will be making the built-in shelving for the arched area in the family room. I need to let him know some of my preferences very soon. Mmmm, should I leave space for a really big TV? Ha!

But - wait - there's more - - -

The siding is going up, the gray color is the primer. It will be painted on site and supposedly not need repainting for 15/20 years!

The siding is made of a fiber/cement product. Much stronger than typical vinyl siding and also a much Greener choice. The brand below is made with 50% recycled product in the form of flyash.

Below, the stone work is almost complete.

Most of the drywall "mudding" and sanding is complete.

The guest bath is in. The place is starting to look like a real house. Now, when will be the completion date? I'm doing lots of deep breathing and trying to stay mellow! Ahmmmm- - -