Pillars of progress

We tried a little experiment this week. How long could we go without seeing the house? We had been going almost everyday for a while, and the 25-minute drive after work everyday made it hard to keep up our temporary apartment (hello, piles of laundry!). So, we vowed not to go to the house for a week, to let us catch up on our apartment, and then get the added surprise of a lot of things done.

It wasn't easy - I kidded Lauren a couple times about seeing the house on my lunch break from work - but it made for quite a nice Friday night. Here are some of the things we saw:

Yep, they added the shutters to the outside and the pillars to the front porch. (The pillars and door will be painted later, and the trim is also yet to come). 

We have paint! (at least a first coat). Here's a view of the family room (with the outlet for the mounted TV). 

This was quite a surprise. We thought the door to the study was going to be just a standard inside door, but we got a French door 15-light door (thanks CMM) instead. If that's not right, we aren't going to complain. 

Lauren's spindles are in with the railing too. Can't wait to see them really pop when they paint the railing to match the hardwood downstairs. 

A good look at our bonus room closets. The room, which we created ourselves, is actually a lot bigger than it appears. It is about 22 feet long, and 13 feet wide except for the 2-foot bump out shown in the picture. We created the idea ourselves, and we are pretty pleased with how it turned out. 

A view from the front door into the house. 

Woo-hoo!! A lot of other bloggers chose Maple Cognac too, and you can see why. It looks so good in the kitchen. (we have black Uba Tuba granite to come). 

Our bathrooms all have Andover Maple Spice cabinets. 

Upgraded tile in the kids' bathroom (we also did that in the guest bathroom). 

Here's a lot of our Rite Rug money. One thing we noticed is that they are planning to put one of those corner caddies in our shower, even though we actually wanted them in the secondary baths. We think we may just keep it in our shower anyway. (we don't know yet if they have a spot for one in the guest bathroom, so that tub might go without). 

So, obviously, waiting a week was pretty cool. Unfortunately, they still haven't fixed the grading in the backyard, something both Abe and Amber said should be done this week. We'll have to get something in writing to ensure it is done at this point (Amber said that won't be a problem). We understand that the developer has been busy (they've cleared almost an entire road for new lots and things), but we've been requesting the grading in the back for six weeks now and nothing has been done. So, we'll get that this week and get our buyers' agent involved too. Our official closing is July 19th, and this needs to be done well before then.

But other than that, it was a pretty exciting week. Waiting was pretty fun, but something tells me we won't be able to hold out that long in the next few weeks. :)