I, of course, say this tongue in cheek. I’ve been inside a simple mud hut in Zambia. My dream house is much nicer than that.
Layers and layers of mud
However, I am struck by how much of a house is still mud! The sheet rock is made by mixing things together in a way that is reminiscent of mud, even if it’s not plain brown dirt. This How Stuff Works article about How Drywall Works tells not only exactly what is in drywall, but gives the unpopular history of drywall. It was interesting to put into perspective why the walls of our previous home were old-fashioned plaster.
So the drywall is mud-like, and then they put more layers of mud (and they call it mud) on it for hiding cracks between pieces of drywall. Then there’s MORE mud for texture, which is supposed to make all the layers of mud blend!
With stucco on the outside of our house and a 3/4 basement on the lower level, our house may be more mud than most. The video below is about a 6 minute tour of the current layers of mud.
Painting and floor coverings soon
I thought the changes to the interior would be less remarkable with all the concentrated work on the walls, but each change has been fun to see. Now, they are hanging doors, putting up window and door framing, and working on shelving in closets. We have an appointment with the painter on Monday.
After the painting the upper level and stair floor covering will be laid. The basement cement will not be stained until the very end. The garage doors are going up as I type, so it all may be locked up soon.
A little splurge on designer pendant lights
We tried to order lighting that was all in stock, so hopefully the shortages that are plaguing builders won’t affect our finish date. We had fun, but weren’t too extravagant with lighting, except for the designer pendant lights in the kitchen over the island. I am working with a friend who owns a glass shop to design and make those. I’ll show you more about that soon.
First come cabinets, then come counters
The cabinets are a little behind schedule, but installment should be close to September 25. The counters won’t be cut until those are in.
I’m a little confused about tile, but stucco is a go
There is still a lot of tile work to be done. We’ve theoretically made all our tile choices, but the gal who was supposed to be leading us through that 1) seemed to have us confused with another project of Walt’s and 2) hasn’t gotten back to us about prices that had to be looked up. We did tell the supervisor for our house (who happens to be Walt’s dad and that gal’s grandfather, haha), so it should get cleared up soon.
We were given a sample of the stucco with the color we chose. It was perfect. I get the impression we should see that soon. So exciting!
Fences and things
I’m meeting one fence contractor over at the property an hour from now. With any luck, we will have that all ready to move forward with when the final grading of the lot is done. Then we would be able to move in before winter. We can’t move over there until dogs, horses, and goats can be contained.
