Remember a couple of months ago, I introduced you to the Lake House? I’m excited to say that its coming right along!

Today, as I write, the electrician is hanging light fixtures and installing new outlets and light switches and the floor is going in.

We are in the final stretch!

 We’ve done the work of creating a layout that will work well for this family by removing and moving walls, creating new bedrooms, moving the kitchen, creating a new bathroom, replacing the roof, and updating the plumbing and electrical systems.

Since the last update we’ve done the following:

• Framed in the new master bathroom and closet
• Framed two new bedrooms in the area that used to be the garage
• Installed drywall
• Insulated the new bedrooms and added insulation to the attic for greater energy efficiency
• Removed the wall between the living room and the new kitchen
• Both the interior and exterior of the house have been painted. In a later post we’ll talk about choosing white paint. If you’ve ever painted with white, you know there are about a gazillion different whites!
• The roof is brand spanking new, with hail resistant shingles. This was an upgrade, but we are prone to hail in this area and these shingles qualify the homeowner for a discount on her homeowner’s insurance
• The electrical service has been updated and the electrician is doing the electrical trim work
• The plumbers completed all of their rough-in work
• I added shelves and hanging bars to the closets and made sills for the new windows
• The bathroom window glass was replaced with safety glass

Now, we get to start adding all of the fun finishing touches, the things that will give this home it’s style and personality.

The homeowner chose a farmhouse look for the interior. We’ll achieve this by using white paint, gray trim, white shaker cabinets, bronze faucets and light fixtures and a mini-galvanized steel backsplash. To complete the look, we chose a rustic, wood, vinyl plank flooring.

This flooring is amazing. It easily clicks together, can be scored and snapped with a utility knife, installs over wood, concrete, tile and vinyl and is suitable for use in basements, has a built in underlayment, boasts a lifetime residential warranty, is waterproof and resists scratching. Wow! Amazing!

On top of all of that it’s available in a variety of colors and it looks great!

This particular floor is the Lifeproof, Walton Oak and you can find it at your local Home Depot.

It you want a low maintenance floor, this is a great choice!

We are all chomping at the bit to get this finished, but there’s still a few things left to complete before we can get the Certificate of Occupancy.

These include: 

• Set kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 
• Hang tile in the master bathroom and repair tile in the other bath. 
• Have the final plumbing work completed
• Lay the flooring
• Install the trim
• Hang siding
• Finish the final electrical

It’s been fun watching the transformation of this house. I love seeing the house morph and change into something that will meet the needs of this family, that will become their home, full of laughter and life, a place where kids and grandkids will gather and where memories are made.

Stay tuned … I’m hoping to have this completed in three weeks so the family can get moved in and settled before Christmas!