You can stop begging now....

Well, I was planning to hold out until the end before I posted a new blog. We accomplished a lot since the last time you saw us...but I don't feel like all of the projects photograph that well so I was going to wait until the end to show you our glamour shots. But I didn't realize that by me not posting a new blog update I would be upsetting so many of you. So, due to your constant begging (you know who you are!) I am giving in and giving you a recent glimpse of the construction. Get ready for a long blog! (I am hoping that this will satisfy your cravings until the rest of the project is complete!)

Just kidding, I love that so many of you are interested in our progress and so supportive as this has been a huge undertaking and this deRoo clan can't wait to be moved in and a permanent fixture in the Central Avenue neighborhood. More specifically, we're looking forward to becoming Centrennialites!

First things first...we have a new driveway! If you'll recall we had two driveways before. One on the east side and one on the west side of the house. This was because the house was a two family rental. We pulled up both driveways and re poured a new driveway on the west side of the house. Our plan is to line both sides of the driveway with brick pavers. (but this won't happen until later this summer.)

Leave your boots at the door! Here's a glimpse at our laundry room/mud room. The color on the wall is called Cowboy Boot. Cute, huh?? You can see the floors have been finished in here. The legs on the sink have been removed so they can be painted and the built in cabinet is getting a little makeover this week. Before I know it this will be a full fledged laundry room with a pile of laundry waist high (I am sure the excitement of a brand new laundry room will wear off pretty quickly as I am sorting through Taylor's dirty socks! (argyle socks, mind you!) :)

And here is our new kitchen sink, making it's first debut! This sink might be one of my favorite things! It's big and beautiful and all mine! (oops, I mean ours. All ours!) And let me tell you this thing is heavy!! You can also see in this picture that our butcher block counter tops have been installed! On Tuesday the plumber comes to hook up the kitchen faucet and the dishwasher. I would say that sometime this week we will be putting the cabinet doors back on to complete the look. Still holding out for the perfect kitchen island.

Here's the crew installing the counter tops. Nice guys!

Want to talk bathrooms? Pick one, we have three. Two full bathrooms were existing when we bought the house so we kept them but put in new fixtures (since they didn't have fixtures before) and we added a full bathroom off the master bedroom.

Downstairs vanity waiting to be installed.

downstairs bathroom checkerboard tile floor.

Upstairs vanity waiting to be installed.

Upstairs shower & checkerboard tile floor

Master vanity waiting to be installed. You may recognize a pattern. The plumber has his work cut out for him on Tuesday. :)

Remember Jeremy, our tile guy? You met him a few blogs ago. Well, we think he does great work! Check out our new master bathroom shower!!

And check out the wood floors. This is all the original wood from the house. 1865! Those are some old trees!! Our amazing floor crew cleaned them up beautifully! Don't mind the trail of paper on the floor....just a path so we don't scratch them up as we finish the house!

Living Room. Old Wood.

The office. Old Wood.

Guest bedroom #1. Old Wood.

Guest bedroom #2. Old Wood.

The only areas in the house where we had to lay new wood are the dining room and the staircase & upstairs hallway. Everything else is the original wood from the house.

Dining Room. New Wood.

Upstairs hallway. New Wood.

So, there ya have it. That's a pretty current update. A few things didn't make into this blog, such as the kitchen appliances were delivered last Friday and the garage is completely sided now (just waiting on the garage door to show up!) Only a few things left to do this week and then hopefully we can officially move in this weekend!

Once we're in we will start concentrating on finishing the landscaping, etc: install & paint our front door, put up the shutters & touch up some exterior window paint, install a fence for the dog run on the east side of the house, plant box woods out front, etc, etc, etc. Some how this list just doesn't seem to be getting shorter!!!! The backyard might have to wait until next year!!

Ok, well we will keep you posted. Now stop pestering us and let us get back to work or we're never going to get moved in!!