A bunch has happened since the last post mid April. We had just moved in and started working on the landscaping. We had the same guy that built the retaining wall in the back build some more rock cutouts for us in the front. 

At first it was hard to fully invision what the guy was doing with the rocks. But when he was finished it was almost like he took a firehose and washed the dirt away from the rocks and the following pictures show what was left.

It's also amazing what 5-6 truckloads of topsoil will do for the looks of a place. We had the guy do the rock walls, irrigation, Burgandy rubble in the park strips and topsoil.  

Zach and Barb dug the holes for the trees and shrubs. It's confirmed to be true that we have a 4" rock every 3" in this lot. Zach said something about take the rock out and put the tree in.  

The Japanese Maple and the Dwarf Boxwood will eventually hide the irrigation back flow preventer.

We decided to save some of the Scrub Oak in the back. Free trees-well, give or take the price of the lot. We got a bunch of rocks as well not forgetting the Prickly Pear Cactus. 

A couple of the neighbors dropped by to check out the work.

One of the other rock cutouts we had the guy build in the back to soften the slope. It took some doing but we got the sod delivery guy to place some pallets of sod in the back so we wouldn't have to haul it so far. There is 600 square feet on each pallet. We had 10 1/2 pallets delivered. Bobby apparently didn't pay attention in geometry class because with all the angles and curves in the yard we ended up with a pallet and half left over. Ugh! :-( 

The two green boxes in the bottom part are where four of the seven valves for the irrigation are located. The other three valves are in the front with the timer located in the garage.

We had the delivery guy place 4 pallets and the partial in the back and the rest in the front. The rolls are 2 feet wide and five feet long weighing about 25-30 pounds each. The sod is called Bio Grass and is a seven seed Kentucky Blue Grass mix that comes from Vernon Utah. They had cut it the night before or early morning and delivered it around 10 AM on Friday the 13th. They recommend having it down and well watered within 24 hours of receiving it.   

Can't afford real curbing yet so we have make believe curbing.

After several hours of fun in the sun-two days in a row, back muscles that won't be talking to us anytime soon and a barrel of water each-we have instant lawn. Thank you Tyson, Bill, Barb from one well meaning supervisor. I won't take any of your gestures personally. :-)

One of three Purple Leaf Plumb trees in the park strip. We also planted a Shademaster Honeylocust in the other cutout, Dwarf Barberries, Ornamental Grass and a Dappled Willow.

Hopefully towards the end of summer, early fall, we will have a fence built around the back yard and most of the shrubs put in the bottom part around the back and sides of the house before snow flies next fall. The spot on the west-side of the garage will be home to some raised planting beds for vegetables and herbs next spring.  

We've been in our new home for two weeks now. We've spent nearly the whole time unpacking and getting settled in. The blinds are in, the water softener is in, pictures are hung and the handles and knobs are on the cabinets. The next step is the front and side yard landscaping. The same contractor who built the rock wall in back will be helping us with the hardscape and the irrigation trenches as we've determined we have a 4 inch rock every three inches with various size boulders every now and then to break up the fun.

OUR NEW HOME

Our new home. The day finally arrived. We sold the town house and closed on our new home all in the same day. The builder told us it took him 100 days from the time he marked the lot for the foundation until the final inspection passed. He's never built one that fast and certainly never in the middle of the winter. The final inspection passed the first time.

The next thing for us is getting the front and side yards landscaped before June 1st-city ordinance. :-)

The new house is almost finished. The plastering on the foundation, a little landscaping in the front and the final coat of paint on the exterior doors to match the green garage doors and the outside is complete. 

 

This is a good picture of the stucco. When the snow finally leaves, the 12 x 16 patio will be poured

 

The Beagle was having a good time checking out the new surroundings for the first time. She had a lot of fun running through the new house and exploring the basement.

This is the Knotty Alder cabinets with black glaze and the Santa Cecilia counter tops.

This is the garden tub and vanity in the master bath.

Fireplace with the mantle installed and the carpet.

The inside needs a few touchups to the paint and the finish hardware. The house will be completed as promised by the builder on March 18th. He told us that he as never built a home this fast before even during the summer months.

The new house is coming along nicely. The drywall is finished and the painters have primed everything and started painting the trim and interior doors. The tile is all down, the handrails for the stairs leading to the basement are in and stained, the roof is done, sofits, brick and the first layer of stucco is completed.

Tile surround for the garden tub in the master bathroom.

Master bathroom shower.

Main bathroom tub/shower tile surround.

Kitchen and nook tile. This tile is in the 1/2 bath, laundry room, entry from the garage and front entry. Stan the tile man puts down a wire mesh and builds up a mortar bed everywhere before he lays the floor tile down. He does this to make it stronger and avoid cracks. He'll come back later and seal all the tile and grout joints when he does the backsplash in the kitchen.

This is the black granite tile surround. The mantle will frame the tile eventually.

We are very pleased with this handrail. The cabinets and mantle will be stained this same color.

The painters spent about 4-5 days preping the drywall, caulking the trim joints and taping off everything for paint. He apparently had different colors of primer because the walls are all different colors. :-)

This is the den and looking at the wall where bookshelves will eventually be. We dig the high ceiling and the view from the windows which overlooks the valley to the North. There will eventually be a hardwood floor in this room.

This is the coffer ceiling in the master bedroom. Too cool. We picked out a ceiling fan/light to go in here.

These are the closet dividers that the builder puts in his home. We had the choice to design them anyway we wanted but chose his design.

These are all the interior doors being painted in the basement. They nail a painter's stir stick to the top and lean them against the foundation wall to spray them. To get the other side, they turn the sticks around 180 degrees and lean them against the wall again.

After the painting is done, they will start installing the cabinets and counter tops. The finish plumbing, heating and electrical will follow. The interior doors will go on and all the hardware throughout the house. At the same time the rest of the stucco on the exterior will be completed, the foundation will get plastered and the final cement work. The builder believes it will be done by March 18th.

Another week or so has gone by and the house is different once again upon our arrival. Each time we go out there is a surprise for us. The drywall is hung and the first tape or fire tape is done. The garage below will be taped when the weather gets a little warmer along with the garage floor concrete being poured.

This is the stairs going down to the basement and the utility closet coming in from the garage. Eventually there will be a nice oak/wrought iron hand rail along the stairway.

The cool thing about this builder and his contractor is that they hang whole sheets of drywall over the doors and then cut the door opening out so there are no joints around the doors that usually crack later when the doors are open and closed. They do the same thing around the windows and other areas that are normally susceptible to cracking.

This is the kitchen and pantry. The black and white pipes sticking up is where the island will eventually be installed.

This is the dining room/nook area.

This is the great room and fireplace.

This is looking from the kitchen at the great room and hallway leading to the bedrooms.

 Barb is really excited about the shelf on top of the great room wall for knick-knacks and such.

When it's around freezing or below, the brickers and stucco contractors drape plastic over their work area and heat it for them and the product.

Front entry and windows for the den and guest bedroom. On the other side of the front entry is the window in the back of the 2-car garage. The remaining exposed wood areas will be covered with stucco. They put down a heavy builder's felt, chicken wire and 3 coats of stucco with the final 3rd "skim" coat having the color we selected. The jury is still out on that but so far all the colors we picked look pretty good and not like a bag of skittles had Barb not been in charge of colors. Everyone who knows me knows that at best I'm an 8 crayon kind of guy narrowed down to a 2 crayon black and white kind of guy narrowed down to a single black crayon kind of guy when coloring on white paper. I digress.

Another closer look at the brick and windows for the den.

This is the other window in the 2-car garge.

We promised a rock wall that skirts around the back of the house earlier in the blog. Here is the beginning prep where the contractor clears out dirt and sets the grade for the back and wall.

We couldn't have dreamed putting the wall in better than Derek, the contractor, did for us. He used a track hoe and bobcat to set these stones. He sets the stones the way he wants them and then back fills with dirt before setting the next row. The majority of these rocks came from our lot. I say the less we have to dig through for the sprinkler system. :-)

The next task back here will be to remove the remaining scrub oak and set the grade for what will eventually be grass, shrubs and a butterfly bush in the far corner between the rock wall and back property line which is about 25 feet or so.

We asked Derek if he could put some rock stairs in for us just off the patio so we could get to the upper part. This is what he created. Too cool!

At this point, the drywallers are finishing up the walls and getting them ready to be painted. The tile guys are in and laying tile in all the tiled areas. The cabinets are being constructed. The stucco will be going on, garage floors poured, the roof finished up-we had a spell of cold weather so the roofer had to stop. The shingles have strips of tar on the back to seal them together. When it gets too cold, they won't seal correctly and can be damaged easily by wind. The landscaper has a little bit more to do when he can get to the front after the stucco guys are finished. When the stucco is finished, another contractor will come in and do the facia and soffits. Really the only thing to maintain on the outside of this thing is the wood trim around the doors.