We have now been in the house for about six months now. It feels like home! It’s a space that we imagined and thought about for over two years. For the most part, reality has matched our hopes and expectations pretty well. And most of the few surprises have been positive ones. Here is a quick rundown of the highlights and lowlights so far. Highlight: The Views One of the main reasons we chose the lot we did was because of the big southerly views. And one of the biggest priorities for the design and layout of the house was to further maximize those views. All of that process has paid off. Nearl ..read more

As we worked our way up to the final inspections required to receive our certificate of occupancy (permission to move into the house), we tried to keep our expectations in check. Hardly anything had gone exactly to schedule, and we had failed some inspections in the past, so we didn’t want to get our hopes up too terribly much. That said, we definitely wanted to get into the house by Thanksgiving, and it was creeping up on us. Then, the Friday before Thanksgiving, we got the final word: we passed! But we couldn’t get the Certificate of Occupancy unless we got to the planning department before ..read more

As an aside, as I write this in January of 2022, we’ve been [spoiler alert!] in the house for a couple of months now. Looking back at the final month or so of the build process before we moved in, it’s not a particularly bright spot in our memory. It wasn’t terrible – don’t get me wrong – but we’ve certainly been more at-ease since we’ve moved in. I’m not particularly eager to revisit the last month of the build, but here’s a rundown of what took us from getting water to getting in the house. Making Do The second half of October and most of November started to wear on us. What we had hoped wou ..read more

Though we had water, we needed a couple of more things to happen before we got our certificate of occupancy. The mechanical contractors had to hook the water up to our systems and make sure everything worked, and we needed a bit of final electrical work done. While we waited for those things to happen, we worked our way through our punch list of additional finishing work. Faucets and Fixtures First on the punch list was final water and light fixtures. We had purchased most of them months ago when we worked through our big interior to-do list. Fortunately, we were still happy with our choices ..read more

At long last, at the end of September, we finally got our sewer and water lines it. This was something that we were originally shooting to complete in early August. We weren’t particularly happy about the delay, since 1) it was clear we would need sewer and water for the house, and 2) it was clear we wanted to be in the house by mid-August, on a timeline that had started over two years (!) earlier. Once we had the contractors on site things went all-right, though not absolutely smoothly. Some rain delayed things for a day or two midway through. And since the work involved cutting into the roa ..read more

It didn’t take us long to settle into the routine of living in Summit County. Our kindergartener was off at school five days a week. We started her at the bus stop near the house even though that meant we had to drive or bike there for pickup/dropoff. Logistically it wasn’t so bad, since it was about halfway between our temporary housing and school anyway. I continued to try and tackle house projects where I could, at least when I didn’t have my plate full with day job stuff. Sewer and Water Status Though the house wasn’t done yet, getting our sewer and water connected was still the biggest hu ..read more

I had a couple of significant built-in projects to tackle before we moved in. The first was handling a Special Request for a library wall. The second was figuring out how to outfit the first walk-in closet we’ve ever had. It was time to do some Ikea hacking. Hacking Built-In Billy Bookcases from Ikea Ikea’s Billy Bookcases are ubiquitous, and for good reason. They’re cheap, look good, and are surprisingly sturdy. So way back in our design phase, we designed the high transom windows to clear over the top of the standard Billy Bookcase plus it’s height extender. 24 or so feet of bookshelf is qui ..read more

As we moved into mid-August and approached our plan move-in deadline, interior finishes continued. Shaun handled a lot of it, since we didn’t have much in the way of budget left for a crew. Budget-wise, that was good news. Timeline-wise, not so much. Engineered Hardwood Floors Back when we were buying up interior finishes, we found a pretty solid deal on engineered maple hardwood floors from Floors To Your Home. As far as I can tell, they’re a liquidator that tends to handle specific lots of hardwood flooring, and handles a lot of lower grades of flooring. Generally, lower-grade floors have sh ..read more

One of the reasons we bought the lot we did was because it is in a neighborhood with municipal sewer and water connections. That meant we could skip the hassle and expense of digging a well, which can cost anything from $20,000 to $200,000, and a septic system. When we excavated the foundation we ran the sewer and water lines from the house to out near the road. That meant all that was left was to cut into the road and connect the house lines to the municipal sewer and water connections. Seems easy, right? Not so much. Starting in late July, when we were targeting a mid-August move-in, we lea ..read more

Getting closer to our move-in date, the delays started to matter more. They couldn’t hide behind the idea (or myth?) that delays could be evened out by extra “slop” time in the schedule. We were shooting for a mid-August move since school started for the kids near the end of August. Up until mid to late July, the forecast we got was that it would be a “push” but still doable, even with some of the minor delays like the drywall texture.  In late July, we got word that we still didn’t have a contractor booked to do the sewer and water line connections. We had the municipal sewer and water ..read more