Brrrrr.

An arctic front pushed its way into Central Texas, dropping temperatures from the 70s to the 30s.  But progress continues. The forms and fill have been finished and we also have a construction driveway. The cold weather, however, did not deter our plumbers. When we stopped by the job site, they were out diligently laying the plumbing pipes in the cold. We had a quick, shivering chat to discuss a few details and ask about the placement of hose bibs on the back side of the house. I’m glad we did, because we were able to request that they be plumbed closer to ground level rather than the top of the foundation (otherwise I couldn’t reach them!).

This week, we had appointments with ProSource to finalize our flooring and tile selections and with 84 lumber to finalize our windows and doors. We love working with Amaris and Craig. They’ve been so helpful in listening to our desires and understanding the look we want to achieve, working within our budget and navigating the overwhelming number of selections (As Amaris says, “we have pretty at every price point). They rock! We also met with our cabinet guy, Ron at Bill’s Cabinet shop and sat down with him at his computer to visualize/finalize our cabinets in both 2D and 3D.  Very cool. We asked a lot of questions because we will be staining and installing the cabinets ourselves. Ron had lots of great tips and resources. Staining cabinets will be a new endeavor for us, but we gained experience in installing them during our repairs after Hurricane Katrina.

We’ve made most of our selections for indoor/outdoor lights, our appliances and our tubs/sinks/plumbing fixtures, however we still need to shop for the less exciting but very important items such as water heaters, water softeners, and of course toilets.

I’ve been trying to keep up with the paperwork with several binders, folders and notebooks. The husband and I agreed we needed to have Monday morning “business” meetings to discuss what will be done during the week.  I knew we’d be busy, but I didn’t realize how busy during the early stages.

Hopefully next week, we’ll have the plumbing finished, the rebar set, the electric laid and the concrete poured.

Hard to believe that this summer there will be a house setting on top of this foundation.

Aerial shot of Oak Haven, courtesy of Mark Langford Photography.