Getting closer to completion

Part of the house is starting to look like a home. Pictured here is the living room. Andrew moved in a couple weeks ago, so we hung some curtains for privacy in a few rooms. The kids and I are making the best of traveling back and forth after school for dinner on weekdays and hanging out to help on weekends. Despite how much time he spends with the basketball team, Andrew's making good use of his time over here painting and finishing the final trim work. Basketball season will be over at the end of the month; and we didn't sign the kids up for any soccer or softball this semester, so we should be able to wrap this work up soon. Here's the general rundown of what's left to do:

• Cut and install aprons for each window sill
• Strip the final pieces of original trim and install on 6 doorways downstairs
• Install all the shoe mouldings
• Caulk all the nail holes and gaps in the trim
• Prime the remaining trim and all the shoe
• Two coats of the trim paint on everything including the stairs (so time consuming!)
• Clean all the doors, prime, paint, then install doorknobs
• Paint the girls room
• Cut in the wall color in a couple rooms
• Second coat the wall color in a couple rooms
• Touch up paint in most rooms
• Install and paint beadboard and trim on the bar side of kitchen peninsula
• Install toekicks in kitchen
• Tile the fireplace hearths
• Strip and/or paint the 3 antique mantles and install
• Build mantle from reclaimed newel posts, paint, and install in boy's room
• Call the Bathtub Man to refinish the tub in the hall bathroom when the dust settles
• Caulk the shower in the hall bathroom

I'm tired just thinking about it all! But we're pressing on...one day at a time. We just hired a realtor for the Browntown house, so there's plenty to be done to keep that house show ready too!  We'd appreciate your prayers at this time.  As always, if you run across someone looking for a home in Chattanooga, send them our way...we've got two they can pick from! :)

It's Official

We've officially been approved as finished with the Vance construction! Pictured here is our Certificate of Occupancy from the City of Chattanooga.

This is issued after the building inspector signs off on all of the final inspections for the different permits that have been pulled throughout the entire process. I can't tell you how thrilled, excited, relieved we are to have hit this milestone!

Now Andrew can move in - to keep the place occupied instead of vacant - and a buyer can come along and move in!! There are quite a few cosmetic tasks on the list to keep him busy while he's here: priming the trim, caulking the trim, painting the trim and doors, tiling the fireplace hearths, installing and painting the mantles, trimming out the chimneys, installing the doorknobs, touch-up paint on the walls, and adding beadboard to the kitchen bar. The kids and I will be running back and forth between the two houses so we can still spend time with him in the evenings.

I'll admit it is exhausting, but we'll do what we have to do until one or both of our houses sell! If you know of anyone looking for a beautiful home in Chattanooga, send them our way!! ;)

Cleaning Tip

Earlier this weekend, the floor refinishers applied the last round of sanding and top coat of polyurethane. Now that all the sheetrock is done, floors refinished, and brick scrubbed clean all the really dusty, dirty work is done. We noticed a film of light brown dust all over everything including the walls after the floors were sanded the first time.

Obviously we'd have to take care of that because there's more painting to be done, and it's just plain gross to li - plus it distorts the way the paint color looks. Cleaning all the walls, light fixtures, cabinets, and trim in a 2400 sq. ft. house seems like a daunting task. So I'm thrilled that we thought of this idea to help move along the process much quicker!

You know those old Swiffer wands we all got when they first time they came out? I'm pretty sure I haven't used mine at all in the house we've lived in the last 5 years, but I reached to the very back of the closet and got that little guy out. It's PERFECT for wiping the walls down all the way from the top (9'-10'+) to the baseboards without breaking my back or moving a stool or ladder from room to room!