Railing

We are starting the railing.  We still need to install it down the main staircase.  It should be complete by next week.

What's coming next...
--Cabinets will come in in the next couple of weeks.
--Countertops
--Finish the tile work in the showers/bathrooms/kitchen/entry.

I'll post more by the end of January!

Thanks for reading our blog!

Sport Court

We did mention this is our "dream home", right?

Many people ask how this all came to fruition.  So, to make a long story short... Since college, Jeff dreamed of building his own home.  He thought it would be pretty cool to have a full-size racquetball court in it.  It would be something the whole family would enjoy!  Since age 20, he's been sketching ideas and putting them in a folder.  When the two of us met, he said someday he would build us a Dream Home.  Although I never imagined living in such a great house, my husband (with the help of many of our friends/family) has built us an amazing place we will be calling our "Home".  This Sport Court is the highlight of the house!

Plastic is layed down first to help with water-proofing.

The perimeter is lined with cork for expansion.

Two guys layed all the wood.

It took a couple of days.

It was sanded.

Last, they painted the stripes and sealed it.

Might I say, it is quite AWESOME!

 

Red:  Racquetball

Yellow:  Basketball Key

White:  Badminton and Pickle

We plan on playing a lot of volleyball too.

The net will be installed later though.

 

Santa brought us the basketball hoop.

Spiral Staircase

The staircase to the Sport Court is finally in.  It was delivered in two sections, then welded together once in place.  It took a lot of man power to get it install.  It looks great!

Delivered on the truck!

 

4 guys to carry it down.

 

Lowering it into place!

Making sure it's straight!

 

Complete!

Toilets

 

We now have a working toilet in the house!

 

 

 

I couldn't resist taking this picture! 

Solar / Tile (flooring and showers) / Interior Doors and baseboards / Painting / Stained Concrete

SOLAR PANELS
In October, we hooked up the Solar Panels.  We ended up leasing them through Sun Valley Solar (another great company we'd highly recommend!)  http://www.svssolutions.com - Russ Patzer.  Already, we're seeing huge savings. 

 

(Photo taken from behind our house)

The panels are attached to a platform that can tilt toward the sun. 

Four times a year, we plan on adjusting them in order to maximize their benefit.

 

TILE
Over the past few months, Jeff and I have been picking out tile and cabinets.  It has been a harder process than we thought.  There are so many options and styles, plus, trying to find something we both like takes time.  But...we finally picked it out and are both really happy with what we found!

 

Powder Room Tile Floor

We have all the tools, so Jeff decided to lay tile himself.  With the help of Martin, Ed, and me (Doti), we were able to get a lot of it done this week! 


INTERIOR DOORS AND BASEBOARDS
The interior doors are in and finally hung. Jeff and Martin have put in most of the baseboards, while Jeremy (friend) and Doti puddy and sand the nail holes.

 



INTERIOR PAINTING
In preparation of the tile and cabinets, we've started painting.  For the most part, the house will be a light gray.  However, a few areas are reserved for color...  for example, our Laundry Room!

 

Laundry Room - Painted Peace River Blue...I love it!

Jeff thinks it's a bit bright, but it's growing on him!

We are preparing to put the wood floor in the racquetball court.  First, however, we needed to clean the room.  It was full of dirt, finger prints, and dusty ball markings all over the walls.  (I wish I had a before picture!)  It took 3+ hours with 4 people cleaning it, but it's nice and clean now.  Notice the scaffolding.  Jeff was on top, Jeremy was in the middle and Doti/Martin were on the floor.  Jeff even wiped off the ceiling!

 

STAINED CONCRETE - photo to come soon.
We decided to stain the concrete in the basement.  It turned out great; even better than we hoped.  If anyone needs a referal, let us know. We highly recommend:
Majestic Stonework www.majesticAZ.com. Ask for Ray.
623-580-8895 / 602-570-9821 cell
ROC#252872/252874

Outlets, Switches, and Lights

Our main focus this weekend is to put in all the outlets, switches, and lights. Jeff and I have spent hours researching different types of light fixtures, trying to find the "perfect" one for each area. Wheh, talk about a lot of options! As you all know Jeff, he picked them out, I just gave the approval! It's quite overwhelming when you have the world at your finger tips. However, Jeff loves the multitude of options and enjoys the challenge (fun) of putting them altogether for the finished look!  If only a little of him could rub off on me!

 Today - nice storm coming in. The weather isn't quite as hot, but it sure is humid!  We turned on all the fans!

Installing Garage Lights

 

 

Garage Lights

Last night, the kids helped us line all the outlets, switches, and cover plates to each area in the house.  Jeff read off the blue prints so we put the correct switch in place.  There's so much detail!  3-way switch, GFCI outlet, dimmer switches, etc.  It's nice to be able to put everything exactly how we want it.  We have over 100 plugs in the house.  It took about 2 hours to go through the whole house.

 

 

Aspen was entertained by her Mr. Potato Head!

 

The "Communication Board"

Ed and his son, Luke, helped out today.  We love when they join us! 

 

 

Thank you boys!

 

 

 

And they're done!

Laundry room lights

 

Guest closet light

Dry Wall

WE HAVE DRY WALL!

(Sante Fe finish 90% smooth 10% texture)

It's amazing how dry wall makes a house look like a home.  Jeff worked really hard at designing special features throughout the house.  Now that the dry wall is up, these features stand out beautifully!

Front entry - notice the 3 open shelves.  They're mirrored on the opposite side too.

Great Room - Large windows show into the formal living room right behind it. 

Kitchen - Large skylights above add natural light.  The window in the back looks out to the backyard.  Our pantry is located through the door left of the ladder.

Master Bedroom - Offers a two-way fireplace from the master into the bathroom.  I also love the accent wall with the built in shelves. 

Computer Station - this is one of our favorite spots in the house!  The computer area sits across from the kitchen and looks out over the staircase.  It's out in the open, yet has it's own space.  As most of you know, we're not T.V. people, but we do sit at the computers all the time!

Main Floor Hallway - leads to the guest suite and the nursery.

Tandum Garage which connects with the two-car garage.

Oversized Two-Car Garage

FOR THE DOWNSTAIRS AREA... 

Basement Living Area

Staircase

Staircase

Doorway to the Theater Room

Spiral Staircase will take the place of the ladder which leads to the racquetball court.  The space behind the ladder is for our workout area.

1 of our 3 Kid Bedrooms (they're all the same)

Racquetball Court

While dealing with the stucco situation, Jeff and the gang worked hard at putting together the racquetball court.  It's a kit and fits together tongue and groove.  The panels are quite heavy and took two men to carry them onto the scaffolding.  Once held in place, they're glued solid.  What Jeff thought would be a full weekend project turned into a full month project.  

The ceiling before...

The ceiling after!

All the effort paid off; the court looks great! 

Now, we just need to add the glass railing and put in the floor.

Martin and Jeff get the first game.  Anyone else want dibs on game two?!

Summer 2013 - raquetball lessons for the kids!

...and Doti's Dance Studio's grand opening!

It's been a few months...let's play catch up!

FEBRUARY - MAY

Within a few days of having the stucco done, it started to crack!  We had cracks all over all the walls.  Not just small cracks, but large ones too.  We called the stucco company to come out and fix it.  They had a meeting to determine why it cracked and in the end could not come up with a conclusion.  They decided it must have been because of the ICF (insulated concrete forms - what we built the house in.)  Jeff was not very happy!  He insisted they repair the job.  Weeks went by and nothing happened.  Finally, some workers came out and "patched" the cracks.  In the photos below, you can see where the cracks were "fixed".

 

Some of the cracks cracked again.  Jeff sprayed them with orange paint to have them redone again!

Once all the cracks were fixed, the painters came out to paint the house.

Unfortunately, it was premature.  If you look close, all the "fixed" cracks show through the paint job. 

Now we had a painted house with stripes! 

Obviously, we were not very happy!

Of course no one wanted to take the blame.  For months, the stucco company refused to return any of our phone calls.  The painters were great to work with, but said we should have never accepted the "patch" work job and insisted they fixed it before we painted.  (Now they say that.  Why didn't they say that before they painted?)  Jeff hired an independent company to test the stucco chemistry.  That didn't turn out well either...he said it was the paint - it wasn't put on thick enough.  We didn't buy that excuse either as we knew the paint had a very thick primer and coat.  We were certain the paint was fine.

To make a long story short, two months later, Jeff insisted in one final meeting with the Stucco company.  They came out and within two minutes told Jeff that they did a crappy job and would repair the whole thing.  On top of that, they would repaint it at their expense.  We were shocked!  Why did this take 3 months to decide!  Although this put us way behind schedule, it's nice to know that the company took pride in their work afterall and came back and did the right thing. 

(Stucco company:  B&H - a usually highly reputable company that came with recommends.)