After a long week at work, including a very long Friday, it ended well with a trip to the building site. The concrete was poured, so we gathered the kids and went out to put our handprints in. Because of the timing and the window we had, we even pulled the oldest kid out of school.
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After putting some hands in concrete, we went to the stone store and picked out the brick and stone for the foundation as well as the columns out front. It was a pretty quick decision.
Also over the weekend, we got another option from our builder, Rusty, about the slide, where it could fit closer to the kids' bedrooms, but it would take a decent chunk away from the living room. It would also dramatically change the layout of the living room. We pretty much said 'no' right away, but Rusty was looking at options to help us keep our sunroom. Nice effort, but we want the living area intact, and we've sort of resigned ourselves to losing the sunroom at this point anyway.
Monday morning I went to the window and door guy at Overman's Building Supplies in Burlington. I presented our front door choices and gave him the specifics on the interior doors as well. We also told him we wanted to price double-hung windows in addition to casement, which originally were our first choices. However, the whole idea of the sill cracking over time due to the way casements are made has opened our eyes a little.
Apparently the company we were originally going with, Atrium, has to add child safety locks to the casements as an after-market option, meaning they do not produce the locks at the factory nor are they "part" of the windows. This didn't really scare us at first. However, when I was in at Overman's I was told that Atrium does not have a viable lock system right now, and they are not sure when they will. So we are getting quotes from another window vendor there now.
Later Monday, before I came into work, I got a call back with the prices on the front doors, so we know what we are going with. Another item to cross off the list.
The weather was going to potentially turn nasty starting Monday, so we weren't sure if anything else was going to be done. It was mainly some light-to-moderate snow fall. However, a load of wood made its way to the site and Rusty and his crew started framing the basement. So finally, once the basement is in, things started moving again. I think there is snow and cold weather planned for the majority of the week, so even if little else gets done, at least we have out basement!
Other minor development over the weekend: Dawn convinced me to switch the bathroom stuff back to the way we had it. If we moved the fancy sink from the basement upstairs to the half-bath, we would have had to get a cabinet for it. We are going with a pricey (but very good) cabinet maker, so any cost savings we would have given back with the commercial sink would have been negated by the cost of the cabinet. I'm still planning on white tiles and mint green walls.
Lastly, we got a letter in the mail from BB&T saying we had not yet cashed a check they sent us in regards to the old house. We did not receive one, as far as I know, so that's good in that the money will likely pay for most of the appliances in the kitchen. Good news, right up until I got tired of waiting on hold for 25-minutes before I hung up. I'll have to try again tomorrow. I even went into the local branch and was told it would be easier to just call. Nice.
