Board week

All four of us spent last Saturday at the house finishing up some last-minute sound-proofing, backing and clean-up for the drywallers who would be starting some time that day.

One of our helpers must have stayed up a little too late the night before. Very resourceful, these teenagers, they can always find a place for a nap....

and so considerate too. Look how Shea made sure his big brother didn't get cold - tucked him in nice & cosy under a pile of construction debris. Warms your heart.

We now have roxul sound-proofing insulation (the green stuff) and donna-conna (those flimsy-looking brown sheets) across the front of the house to stop road-noise and around all rooms where the stereo or TV will be blasting. Oh, also in the wall between the powder-room and kitchen so we don't have hear the sounds of people 'powdering their nose'. In spite of the open lay-out it's going to be a very quiet house.

Around noon I looked out the window when a big red van pulled up and watched as men started piling out of the van. It was like that circus act where an endless stream of clowns tumble out of a tiny car, they just kept coming.

After saying Hello and finding out where they were starting we went back to work clearing all of our junk out of their way upstairs. Pretty soon we were lured back downstairs by the most wonderful smells. These guys give new meaning to a packed lunch. They were sitting around on top of the drywall sheets having a veritable feast of hot food and drinking tea from china teacups. They even had a sugar-bowl there. No paper cups & fast food for these guys. Unfortunately they hadn't brought enough to share (Yes, I did ask) so now I have a craving for Indian food. We'll have to go out a restaurant soon, or at least pick up some samosas.

The guys were finished boarding by Thursday so we now have skin on our bones. Well, maybe muscle & fat, it still looks pretty rough until the 'skin' of drywall mud & paint goes on.

What a difference it makes. This is the living room and great room beyond. Taken from the front door, the same point as the picture at the top of this post, just a few days later. This is so exciting, it is really starting to look like a home on the inside now.

The upstairs hallway looking towards the front of the house.

To the right of the 1/2 wall is where the stairs go down and under the window is one our last-minute changes. We had planned for that area to be a mini office/study area but the boys both thought it was a "stupid place" for a computer desk so Kim built a window seat instead. A much better use of that nice little space. The seat will be hinged so I'll have a storage chest for blankets and things. Right now it's been used to store our tools.

Two opposite walls of our bedroom.

The door beside the bathroom is our walk-in closet. The spot under the window where Kim is standing was going to be a window-seat but the framer-who-didn't-read-plans framed it with a floor instead so we're going to take advantage of the extra space and put our bed there. It's a good thing our old bed-frame broke because we'll have to buy a new, extra-low one to fit under that big window. It's one of the tilt'n'turn windows we have - can be swung open or tilted open at the top.

Next week we have our heat installed so the trades can stop whining about being cold and the drywallers can start mudding.
Then it's paint (I'm gathering quotes right now) and then ..... My Kitchen! It's been so long since I ordered it I can't remember what it will look like.