I Made It!

I am not going to say how I got up to the top floor but I did tonight and I did so safely. If certain things were left around on purpose Brad I want you to know I appreciate it!

The view is beautiful! And it was so much fun to be up on the top floor and walk through the rooms. Almost all the interior walls are up and a lot of progress is being made.

More Top Floor

A lot more work was completed on the top floor today. I still can't get up but I am hoping the stairs will be done soon and then I can go.

The holes for the windows were cut out today in my sewing room. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about these windows - it doesn't take much to make me happy most of the time! For years we have lived in houses where I have no natural light in my sewing area. It makes it difficult and frustrating to sew sometimes. My new sewing room has these two huge windows and another one at the back of the house. I am really, really thrilled about this.

Top Floor

The outside walls on the top floor have been started. Now I just have to figure out a way to get up there safely!

Second Storey Flooring

Wow! Today it appears they finished all the second storey floor joists and they laid most of the plywood flooring. Things are moving fast. Monday will be a quiet day as it is a holiday here.

Second Storey

They have started putting on the floor joists for the top floor. I love taking pictures of the floor joists - there are so many great angles.

I have been really excited about the top floor getting started. I am anxious to see what the view is going to be like. The kids are looking forward to seeing where their rooms are going to be.

I am amazed how many floor joists the students did today. On the first floor it seemed to take awhile to get going but they seem to have gotten the hang of it because it looks like most of the second floor was done just today.

Rooms are Taking Shape

The rooms inside the main level are taking shape! I was able to walk around the house tonight and go into every room. The kitchen looks nice and big, the laundry room looks tinier than I pictured and my sewing room looks fabulous. They have also put on the first roof truss. Now is when I am starting to think 'oh, we should have done this or that'. But we put a lot of thought into this house and I am sure everything is going to be great.

Walls are Everywhere

Today was a very rainy day, as evidenced by the shelter that was built for the plans.

There are interior walls everywhere, stacked up against the exterior walls. The main floor looks larger now with the exterior walls up - it looked so tiny when there weren't any.

They also poured the cement for the small patio area that is coming out from the basement doors.

Pro-D Day at the Lot

Today was a Pro-D Day for the students and staff at school. As a result you would expect that there would be nobody at the house today. Not so! As a Pro-D activity for the staff they could choose to come to Ocean Oasis. For those with no experience building they were able to learn about the different tools and techniques used in building a house, and get some hands on experience.

Guy and Rob both came and spent the day with Brad. They were able to build some walls for the house. I hope you had a great time. Thanks guys!

More and More Walls (and the Guest Room)

Lots of pictures today. Here is a breakdown of the different photos:

The first picture is the back of the house facing the ocean. The big open space in the middle (on the upper level) is in the dining area and is going to be a window seat. The second picture is the same wall from the inside.

The third picture is the front of the house (you can see the door opening).

The fourth picture is of the front side of the house. On the left is the garage, in the middle is going to be a mudroom and laundry room, and on the very right is the front of the house wall again.

The very last picture is one of the most important rooms in the house and one where I hope you will all visit often - our Guest Room! It is in the basement but it will have its own bathroom so you won't have to share with the kids. We are taking reservations starting in November!

Welcome...

Ella and Wyatt would like to welcome you to our new home!

More walls came up today. Wow - they are moving fast now! It looks like an actual house now. It is exciting to see what it is actually going to look like and visualize where the rooms are going to be and what it is going to look like out our windows.

More Walls

Everyone has been busy putting up more walls today. Ella and Wyatt have both commented on how it is looking like a real house now.

They are building the walls laying down - you can see in the last picture the front of the house wall that is laying down. Maybe we will see it up tomorrow!















Front of the garage:

Another First

Tonight's post needs very few words other than a simple thanks to Owen, Tyler, Justin and Brad. Thanks guys.

You have to watch the video to find out what happened today!

I promise more pictures tomorrow.

Main Flooring Complete

The plywood has all been laid on the main floor. They have also put extra support in the kitchen area where our island and some kitchen cupboards are going to be. We really appreciated this as our kitchen island is going to be quite big and now we don't need to worry about the weight.

On Monday we will possibly be doing a walk around with Brad and Dave making sure all the walls are where we want them. It seems like every step is exciting and I am still really enjoying the process.

Flooring, Mountains and the Yard

The floor is over half way done. It is sure getting dark down in the basement! The weather has been terrific and the days are longer so it is easy now to drop by the lot in the early evening. Brad and a few die hard students are usually there working away. Ella loves going, especially since she can poke around a bit more than when there are a lot of people there working. Her rubber boots are almost permanently stuck on her feet and they ride with us every where in the truck in case we decide to drop by the house.

I was excited to notice tonight that we will be able to see some North Shore mountains from our main level. When we lived in Vancouver we had a great view of downtown and the North Shore mountains from our kitchen and dining room. I miss that view a lot so I was thrilled tonight when I saw those mountains.

On a side note, almost totally unrelated, we had asparagus from our garden tonight for supper. We love to be out in our garden, especially growing fruit and vegetables, but our current yard is so small. Our yard in our new place will be much larger so we might be able to feed the entire neighbourhood with our asparagus! It is just another thing we are really looking forward to in our new house.