Perfectionism-Induced Drywall Stress

On Friday afternoon, we returned from a lovely 5-day trip to Florida. I was sad to leave the warmth, but eager to see the progress made on the drywall while we were gone.

I'm not going to lie...I have major perfectionist stress right now, and have since Friday evening. I haven't seen many drywall project in-process, but I really really hope that all look rough around the edges until the tape/mud/sanding is underway. I just have a really hard time believing that Ben (our drywall guy) is going to be able to smooth everything out. Look at the pictures and tell me it will be okay....!

Worst case scenario, we hire someone else to finish off the project, right? Ugh.

Ready. Set. Drywall!

We're ready for drywall! Nate has been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the little details, but he continues to do an amazing job. The last two weeks have been busy with inspections - framing, plumbing, electrical, insulation have all passed "rough" and we're hoping the HVAC company will call in their final inspection on Monday morning so Ben, our drywall contractor can start hanging on Monday. He has a team of 5 or 6 and they expect to have it all hung by Friday. I have a feeling this is going to feel like a huge step forward...making our stud exposed house seem more like a home.

Pictures from today:

Pink insulation, strapped on for fire blocking, required by code

Glorious attic (view from the storage room)

Kids' and guest bath

The guest room wins the award for most windows

2nd floor with steps up to the attic. The diamond shaped window is being rebuilt

The girls' room

The girls' room

Our bedroom

Our bedroom

The last of the windows to be installed (well, except for the diamond window)

From the stair landing

From living room, looking into front entry, where we added a coat closet and widened the doorway

From the dining room, looking into the kitchen and playroom

1/2 bath off the playroom

The playroom (with pocket doors Nate found on Craigslist)

The dining room and kitchen, divided by a penninsula

Dining room and living room (view from the playroom)

I'm super excited to have a pantry...

...and main floor laundry!

The mudroom with door to screen porch

Mudroom hungry for organizing cubbies and hooks

She's feeling warm and loved these days

Let There Be Baths!

Today I was able to sneak over to the house and take a few more photos! Nate and my dad worked to get the tubs installed, setting them in concrete to give them more of a cast-iron feel. Tub install was one of the things on Nate's long "pre-drywall" list. He felt great about what he and my dad were able to get done today!

While the men were busy at the house, my sister, mom and I corralled the kids around, from Kids in the Rotunda, to lunch at home, then naps or park outing (depending on your age) and a visit to a friend's new wine shop in the Atwood neighborhood. We all came back together for some pizza at Glass Nickel before Sarah, Axel, Ollie, my mom and dad drove back to Oconomowoc for a good night's sleep. Lou, Cora and Peter loved seeing their cousins from D.C.

Insulation, Brackets and Happy Kids

The new house got a lot warmer last week! FoamTech came and filled in our walls with marshmallow cream...or at least that's what Louisa was hoping as she slowly moved her hand toward it. Can I touch it? she asked. She was surprised at how hard it felt and asked what it was like when they sprayed it. I don't know for sure, but I told her it was probably like shaving cream that she gets to play with at school. Nate was really happy with how fast they worked - it took the crew 5 days to insulate the entire house and they filled every hole, every exterior stud space (is that a technical term?) and the entire underside of the roof. Toasty warm!

 

On Sunday we had a little heat wave, so Nate enjoyed some time outside, building new brackets to support the landing of the main staircase. This is an important step because we need to have the final three windows installed before the drywall can go up. The brackets needed to be in place before the windows because the windows could break if things shifted. Leave it to Nate to think of these crucial steps. I think he had fun with the first of many artistic pieces. The brackets are nice to touch - super smooth! That grid of circles between the brackets is where they sprayed foam into the cavity under the stairs. Spraying it in from the outside, through these holes meant we didn't need to rip out more lath and plaster from that 5x2x3 unusable space under the stair landing.

Cora took the opportunity to wear the kid work gloves and hold the tool bag since Lou was not around. It was incredibly difficult (and very entertaining) to get her fingers in the glove fingers.

On Tuesday Peter napped early and I delayed Cora's nap so the three of us could go to the children's museum while Louisa was at school. Peter loves exploring and it was nice to let Cora decide which areas she wanted to play in, instead of having her simply follow Lou-the-Leader around.

Seems like yesterday when this same "castle" was taller than Cora. Soon she'll be 3!