September progress report

September has been a good month so far regarding the progress on the house.  Jeff and Jim replaced the final window in the front bedroom and finished the siding.  Hopefully, this Friday, the Jeld-wen techs will be here to replace all the trim on all the windows and replace glass in 8 windows.  When that issue is totally resolved I will breath a sigh of relief.

The dry-wall installers have finished the install of drywall.  The crew that will do the taping and muddying will start tomorrow.  Depending on the weather, Jeff, Jim and Roberto will start on the columns and railing on the porch or start the deck.  This week should see a good amount of progress on the house.

So as promised previously, here are some pictures of the various rooms now that there is better definition of the rooms.

This is the front garage with storage units

Steps up to the mudroom, Space on the landing for

a freezer.  See the little cubbyhole for passing grocery bags

through to the landing. 

The landing space for the freezer as seen from the mudroom door. 

The mudroom; first door on left is the door to half bath and door closes to

outside will be my cleaning supply closet. 

The entry and hallway as seen from the living room. 

The landing at the bottom of the stairs, 

door leads to a lower level bedroom

 Short hallway to back bedroom and door on left 

leads to a future lower level bathroom. 

Living room as seen from back hallway

Living room south wall with fireplace as 

seen from pantry doorway.

Sunroom as seen from front hallway

Looking toward the kitchen; the doorway leads

to the pantry. 

The master bathroom as seen from the doorway 

from the bedroom.  It's bigger then our whole trailer!!!

I could just live in the bathroom.  Ha-ha!!

The master bedroom with a door to the covered deck

and window overlooking deck.

The geo-thermo room

The door leads to the storm shelter under the front porch.

The future family room in the lower level, maybe we can

get it completed next year.

 Another view of the family room/sunroom windows.

Stairs to garage from lower level.

Airstream garage, each of the garages has 14 ft ceilings.  

We are getting so excited!!!  It has been so cold here in north central Iowa, just in the low 60's today.  We are ready to be in a house as we started the Airstream adventure in cold weather and we will be ending it in cold weather.

Thanks for checking in, hopefully I will have more pictures soon with more finish details to them.  Really looking forward to having a full kitchen and space for the dogs to run outside.  We are hoping to get a portion of the backyard fenced before winter so they have some running room.

House update

It has been awhile since I have checked in and frustration is ongoing with the continuing issues with Menard's delivery system, lack of customer service (it is nonexistent) and Jeld-Wen windows.

Every time we have a delivery from Menard's, either something is missing or something is damaged.  Their department reps or Managers have been good to work with, but their dock and delivery workers leave something to be desired.  Their customer service is a joke.  The store manager just refers us to Headquarters which will only communicate in writing, will not talk to you on the phone and the only level of response is a letter saying they will look into it, which they NEVER do.  Then no further communications from Headquarters or the store manager.

Jeld-wen customer service is very good at communicating, but not so good at paying attention to details.  Three replacement orders so far, and each one of them was either the wrong size or damaged before it reached us or sent out sized wrong from the factory.   It is extremely frustrating!!!!!
Well, thanks for letting me vent!!!  :)

Some grading has been done on the front yard and more gravel added to complete the circle driveway, but we will need some more loads to widen it.

Insulation was completed yesterday, which gives us a better feel for the room size.  We have traditional insulation in the garage and sprayed foam insulation in the house.  This house is going to be very airtight!!!

Drywall is being delivered as I write.  Wonder how much of it is going to be damaged?????  

House is moving along, but slowly.  Our builder is doing a great job and this house, thanks to Dave's design and Jeff's tweaks will have some nice features.   The garages are huge and will have a large amount of built-in storage.  

We are continuing to hope for an end of October or before move-in date.  If they ever get the windows replaced!!!  Other than that one complaint, I am so happy with the job our builder is doing; he is a great guy, so good to work with and he has great ideas for improving the design.

We are now living on-site on the RV pad next to the garage (I'll have to take some pictures).  We have full hook-ups with 20/30/50 amp electric.  Unlimited water and sewer connections makes our life easier.  Showers that last longer than 2 minutes are wonderful!!!!   :)

Thanks for checking in!  I"ll take more pictures as things progress, but pictures of plumbing and electrical and insulation aren't too exciting.  

Here is the view from the front porch which I am enjoying.  

Siding is going up!

Quick update on the house status:

Windows are in, though we have a few issues, we are working with the manufacturer directly to resolve the issues.  Interior walls are up, additional "room" was added for the master shower, steps from garage and entry are in and porch is poured.  I have issues with the workmanship on the porch so that is an in progress situation to resolve also.  The couple issues are with outside contractors, not our builder.  He is great and has come up with some ideas and modifications to our plan that we are going to utilize that will make the home even more user friendly and unique; we are grateful to be working with him.  

Right now they are starting to install the siding, in Sable Brown, and since the picture I posted on FB came across as blue here is a true picture:

These pictures are from the side of the house facing south which includes living room, guest bedroom and bath and in the lower area an additional bedroom and bath (in the future). 

Including some additional pictures of the inside:

Hallway to bedroom, looking down from entry way

Kitchen area with butler's pantry behind it

Living room looking at windows that face southeast

View from front door 

More to come, check back soon.  Hoping everyone has a great weekend!!!

Baby Girl Jones

This last weekend was time to spend with family and celebrate the coming arrival of our first grandchild, a girl, with a family baby shower.  Our daughter organized the shower with assistance from her two Aunts.  It was nicely done and appreciated.  After a meal of BBQ pulled pork, coleslaw, watermelon, and chips we enjoyed a delicious cake that was also very cute!!!

My son and daughter-in-law then opened the thoughtful gifts.  This beautiful quilt by one Aunt will be a cheerful addition to the baby's crib. 

My niece had a creative idea for a gift:  a diaper baby!!

This clothesline/gift was a cute decorating touch by my sister. 

The tables were decorated so cute by my sister-in-law with little cutouts and baby teething items. Each guest had little bags with packaged mints labeled "Baby girl".  

Thanks to all that came and shared this time with us.  A huge thank you to my daughter, sister and sister-in-law for making this such a nice shower for my son and daughter-in-law.  Thank you!!!

So now we are back in Iowa waiting for October and a call saying the little girl has arrived.  Meanwhile, we are keeping busy with the construction of our new home.  

The interior walls on both floors are now up, windows are in and doors should be coming this week.  The garage doors should go up soon and the siding should be installed.  After that I'm assuming they will start the plumbing and wiring.   So many decisions ahead!!!  Fun times!!!

House update, yes it looks like a house now!

Even though we have had six days in the last month without construction due to heavy downpours, we are making progress. Jeff and his crew are very considerate and have put in some longer days.  So without further ado, here are some pictures.

Two garages, Airstream garage on the left

Pouring the porch today, stained dark brown

View from the south, looking northwest to the future patio with covered deck above.

The two levels of sun rooms and the fireplace extension.  We originally did not

design it that way, but Jeff thought with building out the fireplace would allow more

hearth space in front of the fireplace. 

Living room windows with fireplace between them

View from the front door looking down the entry way into living room and sun room

Lots of light from all the large windows

Looking into the kitchen end of the room and the sun room

The back saw horse is against the wall for the butler's pantry. 

That's the latest pictures from earlier this morning.  Still planning for a very early November move-in date but wishing for a finish date of October.  So.....we shall see.......

Check back soon, hopefully more progress will be shown by later next week. 

Have a great weekend!!  Looking forward to celebrating a baby shower for my son and 

daughter-in-law with family. 

Report on Southern Indiana Vintage Rally

On the 12th of June we joined my brother and his wife on a road trip to Terre Haute, IN for a vintage rally.  We enjoyed ourselves with not only inspecting all the neatly decorated and restored trailers, many of which I have never heard of before, but also exploring the area and its many antique and collectible stores.  Dave and I were on a search for a specific size and brand of cast iron skillet, but no luck.  That's ok, we will just keep looking.   :)

Thought you might enjoy seeing a few of vintage trailers in attendance at this rally.

An older and smaller Airstream

Brother and sister-in-law's Friendship along with

their wooden canoe. 

Pictures just do not do some of these trailers justice, but hope you enjoy them, we did!!!