Thankfulness

We spent Thanksgiving with my dad and step-mom in Las Vegas this year.  Before we left I called him to lament that the forecast listed highs only in the low 50s.  What kind of Vegas weather is that?!?  Then I looked at the Denver forecast and started counting my blessings!  We came back late last night to snow and a thermometer that read 19*...

This morning we've graduated to 25*, and with the sun it definitely feels warmer than that.  Thankfully!

We picked up the dogs from the sitter this morning and headed over to the house.  It looks amazing!  All of the coverings are off the floors and counters, so it's ready for our walk through on Monday (get that blue tape ready!).

View from the front:

Note that the kitchen still has the builder appliances in it - we're selling those immediately and having our favorite GE Cafe series put in:

Here's the laundry room - I just love this tile:

I think that's it for now.  Maybe when we close I'll get fancy and post a video tour!

Whoops!

I missed last week's post, which is indicative of how much busier life is getting as we approach the holidays!  I haven't been traveling as much lately, though this week I was in Boulder for work.  It was COLD!  We had a blizzard pass through on Monday night, which was embarrassing for Denver - downtown didn't even get snow sticking on the streets and the next day it was 50* again.  I heard it was pretty bad outside of town, but there was no sign of snow in Boulder either.

With the colder weather settling in we are starting to think we won't have landscaping this year.  I'd rather wait and have everything live than have to ask them to replant half of the yard next spring, so the yards will be nothing but mulch and gravel for now.

Another whoops happened last week.  Our builder sat us down when we stopped by before seeing the house and said, "Now tell me what you had envisioned when you ordered the rough cut cedar mantle."  My response, "Um, I didn't?  We had always wanted the white mantle."  She laughed and said, "Thank God!  It does NOT look good in there!  I'm having them fix it!"  Needless to say, Boulder Creek Builders has been pretty awesome so far, and we've also been really pleased with our construction manager, Chris.  He has a great attention to detail.

Without further ado, here are last week's photos with the wrong mantle:

And this week's, with the correct mantle - much better!

In other news, the house appraised at slightly more than what we paid, so the remaining big hurdle is Monday's inspection.  Fingers are crossed!

Clarity

It's cold!  Not just "you'd better wear a sweater" cold, but "bring out the down jacket, hat, and gloves" cold!  We even had some snow the other night (though it was pretty much gone by the time we woke up).  For some reason the cool air makes everything look different, more clear.  I love fall and winter afternoons when the sun makes shadows longer - the air is still so clear, but everything looks a little golden.

I snapped a quick photo in the new neighborhood.  This is a new park a few blocks from us, you can see they are still planting, that faces the mountains.  Just gorgeous!

In the theme of clarity, the house is moving along and the tarps have been removed so we were able to see all of the progress!  Mostly it appears that they put in countertops, some light fixtures and most of the switch plates.  They were working on gutters when we left.

One of the most exciting changes for me is the landscaping!  They still haven't planted anything but our fence is up and we have mulch and stone down now.  (Keep in mind that we went with the basic, included landscape package, which we will probably rip out and re-do next year.  I want more patio space to entertain, but we didn't love the really expensive packages they offer.)

So, onto what you're really here for!

Next week most of the flooring is going in so it's going to look really different!

Southern Hospitality

Last week I went to Charleston and Savannah for work - what beautiful cities!  The way the moss drips from the trees overhead reminds me of how I wilt during the oppressive humidity of summers in the South.  Thankfully we've moved past those days and last week it was a gorgeous 70* and sunny.  The buildings lining the side streets and alleys there remind me of every John Grisham novel I've read and I wonder if maybe I had attended law school in the South and saw how picturesque my office could be I might have actually practiced.  But then I remember that humidity issue, so probably not.  Maybe we'll just go back for a visit sometime!

I flew home on Thursday night and it took all of our willpower to not leave work early to check on the house on Friday!  We went on Saturday morning, when the workers are still there with their radios playing Mariachi bands and a paint-splattered microwave plugged into an extension cord sitting in the middle of the living room floor.  We found a lot of progress: paint, cabinets, fireplace, metal roof...  Unfortunately everything was still tarped from the paint so it's not pretty, but here are a couple of new photos:

We're expecting countertops to go in this week and what started as a hole in the ground is starting to look like a real home.  The inspection and appraisal have been scheduled, and we are set to close on December 11th!