the house update you didn't ask for

From the beginning Mr. Hedin and I have said that this house will take one year to build. When you casually say “one year” it doesn’t sound like a long time. But then… ONE. YEAR.

The Chip & Joanna Gaineses of the world don’t make it any easier. They manage to have the whole house completed in one episode. We all know it takes longer but there’s something so satisfying about watching one hour of a house going from nothing to completed. It also sets a weird expectation that things will HAPPEN. They don’t discuss 12 week lead times for windows or that the tub wasn’t delivered when they went to the plumbing supply house the first time so they needed to go back the next week.

But here we are. This week marks six months of being out of our house. Five months of actual construction (permits took more than a hot minute). There are days when it feels like absolutely nothing has gotten done and there are days when excitement takes over and I can see progress.

I’ll walk you through where we are now and what’s to come. It’s actually getting really exciting.

Plumbing has started going in. I had already chosen all of the finishes I wanted before we even started so that part has been easy. We ordered everything from Ferguson and it has been so simple. Not only because they have a great showroom but because we were able to pick up all of the rough-in pieces as soon as we needed them. Not an ad, just a fan.

One of the plumbing choices we went for is wall mounted toilets. The plumber talked us into these when he first came out because we have one room that’s a little small and hanging the toilet on the wall gains us an extra six inches in the room. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but in that space, it will help. The other bonus of a wall hanging toilet is that there is nothing on the floor - I can now mop all the way under the toilet. No weird seam where the toilet meets the floor that gathers funk. No yucky floor smudge that you can’t get up. If anyone else has boys then you understand the need to be able to COMPLETELY clean under a toilet.

Fingers crossed these things don’t break. If they do, we’re taking apart a wall…

This outdoor space has been the most work recently. First, we had to wait for the steel to get fabricated and delivered. Once it was in place, our painters came over and coated it with a primer so it won’t rust. Mr. Hedin then had to notch out each beam so it fit over the part you see sticking up on the beam. It was a tedious project and the tool he actually needed to do the job got stolen from the job site the day before he was going to use it. Ugg. Life in the city.

Here’s what the end goal will be…

Which is a huge improvement over what it used to be…

Sorry it’s fuzzy, it’s all I’ve got of the original.

This living room plan has changed a bit since we first concepted it. While the basic bones of the plan have remained the same, a few things have changed. Here’s the original plan and here’s what it will more likely become.

In order to see where the new chandelier will hang in the living room, I used spray chalk to mark out where all of the furniture will live.

There’s also a chance that my dream fireplace may have to change a bit. I’m not thrilled about it, but I think we’ve come up with a plan that I’ll be ok with. Stay tuned for what that may change to. The good news is that we have time to change our mind.

Due to the fire codes and UL codes and what ever else, we can’t have a gas fire without glass all the way round it. Since I don’t love that idea, we’ve been targeting a bio-fuel solution for the fireplace anyway. It’s clean burning and it’s super simple for a fireplace. What that all means is that nothing is plumbed into the floor that would be a hassle to move. We can pop this thing into place when we want to. Simple.

Thanks for following along. I can’t wait to get things really rolling in the next few months. Just in time for the rain in Seattle! Here’s hoping our tarps hold.