7 Faith Lane is Ours!

I realized that I haven't posted a picture of the front of the house all complete. Here's our new home!!! Here's our cute house at 7 Faith Lane:

Plans for this week: We have some friends coming to help clean and move over the stuff from the garage today. We'll take a break for Sunday. We plan to move all the miscellaneous stuff from the apartment over on Monday. Then maybe on Tuesday have some people come help us with the remaining big stuff. Clean the apartment Wednesday. Turn apartment keys into Larry and Missey on Thursday and then we will officially be moved.  I can't believe our house building journey has come to an end. I plan on posting a few pictures of the things that still need to be done as they are completed. And some pictures of the rooms inside the house when we get all set up. I know you can't wait to see so I'll be a quick as I can! ;) Thanks for joining us in our journey! Until next time.... 

{Oh please- let there not be a next time! LOL}

Here's what our lot looked like in December 2013 (It's a panoramic of the east view of our road to the west view of our road: 

Here's the same shot of what it looks like now (July 26, 2014) :

Day 189: Closing Date!!!

Today was a busy day!!
Months ago, Liberty planned a party with her friends to come out to the new house and do an all day Marvel Movie Marathon. As this house project has stretched out WAY longer than promised, we told Chuck that she was having it regardless if we closed today. So, we brought over a TV, a DVD player, blankets, pillows and large beanbag chairs (borrowed from the Paynes- thanks guys! You're awesome!) and set up a Theater Room in the master. I took Liberty out this morning to meet all her friends for a long day of teenager fun! I was in and out all day to "supervise" the chaos. It sounds like they had a blast! They are already planning Part 2 & Part 3 for the coming years! Cute girls!

I also met the Sears technician out on faith this morning to check out the fridge. He did some assessment and told me that the circuit board is fried. Anytime he bumps a wire, it shorts out. He called the manager out at Sears and they are going to see what they can do to get us a new fridge. However, that could be a week or two. Holy Bummer! Thank heavens we have an extra fridge we are bringing with us. But nothing like a brand new house that you have to go to the garage for your fridge items. LOL

Dustin made it out this morning to put the crown molding in the laundry room. I love it so much more with it on! Now I have to figure out how to get a pole and a shelf between them. I thought it would be wide enough to do a wire shelf but it isn't. Plan B, I guess. What is Plan B though, I wonder?

He also covered the hole under the sink. Not the most professional looking thing but at least stuff won't fall under the cabinet down there.

I started moving some loads over as I went back and forth between the apartment and the house checking on kiddos. I am SOOOO excited to decorate this place! So fun!

I started lining the drawers so they will be ready and protected when we get all our stuff over here!

I stuck my deck chairs out on the back deck. Seriously!!! It's like a picture from a House Design magazine! Is that not the most gorgeous back deck you've ever seen!!! LOVE it!

Around 3 pm, I met Brett at Rocky Mountain Title to sign papers. Brett went early and got something worked out with Chuck to make sure he gets done the things we still need finished (or reimburses us so we can do it ourselves). Kevin was there with us and we got everything signed. So, officially this puppy is ours! [OK, it's the banks but we'll take it!!!] Kevin reiterated that their "job is not done just because we signed papers" I rebutted with the fact of the million horror stories we've heard from others that have built. {and get dropped as soon as they get their money} But he assured us that they are at our disposal for things that still need to get done. It was a nice gesture so hopefully they'll keep their word about it.

We spent the afternoon watching the party girls, moving over a couple of loads in the van and setting things up a bit. I can't tell you how excited we all are to be in our new home.

Justice and Victoria helped me put together our bar stools. I am so happy with them! Cutest kitchen ever!

Here's a close up of my cute chairs. I actually redid the seat tops to match my floors. Darling, right? The flowers were a house warming gift from the family of one of the party girls. How sweet was that!?

And there you have it. Operation MT House is now complete!!

Day 188: Blur & Sarcasm

Blur! Days are running together. Thank heavens I take pictures. ;) Also sarcasm is spewing out of me these last couple days. Sorry!

This is the caulking around the tubs?

Scott got the Sprinkler Valve installed on the east side of the house right in the way of where we want to run the pipe for the generator. So helpful!

However, the vents look good. Amazing how things get done right if you ask a zillion times plus take the tops off and leave them laying around until they are done correctly.

Here's the patch job on the front porch. It's perfect, don't you think?? Holy Crap! Who is in charge here? Maybe their two year old came for an art lesson this morning.

Supposedly Chuck paid $500 for someone to come and clean the house. I wish I had that job!!! Almost every drawer has sawdust, nails and other debris inside. This one in the kitchen island though is by far my favorite!!!! LOL Best cleaning job ever!!!

We are scheduled to close tomorrow afternoon. There are things still not done like they should be but we are seriously just ready to be in the house. We plan to work something out with Chuck before we close to make sure he keeps his word about finishing things up. We may be shooting ourselves in the foot but at least we'll be in our house when we do it.

P.S. Oh yes! I forgot.. The appraiser stopped by today to do a final walk through. Chuck had put the stairs back on the deck so she could cross it off her list. I love the steps! Can't wait to get some cement at the bottom and some grass back there. She helped us out by getting it turned in so we can actually close tomorrow instead of not turning it in until Friday and then closing Monday. Hallelujah!

Day 187: Inspection & Darkness

We decided to get an inspection done on our own for our own peace of mind. We called Jeff Krattiger from Inspect-It (406-422-5223) because he did the inspection on our apartment when it got bought by Larry & Missey. He came out today. I met him out there towards the end of his inspection. We went over the things he noticed.
#1- They cut through one of the floor trusses to put in a pipe. That's a no-no. He recommends that we get a written document from the truss people to say that it is still a sound system or we would be held responsible for anything that went wrong. (Even if it was in a different area of the floor system)

#2- Bathtubs are NOT caulked at the bottom

#3- There is a rip on the fireplace screen outside. It wasn't there yesterday.

Plus the fireplace fan (that we bought) has not been installed. I guess Chuck had it somewhere else when Smitty's came to hook up the fireplace. They didn't know we needed it installed. Now Chuck will have to have them come back out to hook it up. It was interesting because Chuck kept saying "You aren't going to need a fan. As soon as you turn it on, you're going to heat yourself out of the room and turn it off." Maybe because of his opinion of that, he thought he could get away without putting it in? So here it sits on the counter in it's box. One more thing I'll have to keep tabs on to make sure it gets done. Bug!

#4- He went to do a Radon test but the Radon fan is NOT hooked up. I guess they overlooked it. Chuck called Jess and told him to come back out tomorrow and get it hooked up. Jeff will have to come back later and do that. We may have to close first and do it after. That's a little irritating!

#5- A few other minor things- Railing on the deck if we choose. Window well covers for the window by the garage so people don't fall in. Door stops so the walls don't get ruined. Paint touchup which we know and have discussed with Darvin. He says he'll come back in a couple weeks and finish up. (That way if anything in the move happens, it can all be fixed up. Along with that there is also big clumps of mudding and paint on the cement floors int he basement and the garage that need to be scraped off. This should be done before we move in so we don't pile all our stuff on top of it. We'll see if they get out here to do that.

This is the basement. Not too many here but there are some.
The garage floor is really bad though.

I also did my own walking around. A few others things that I would like fixed as well are-

The downstairs bathroom drawers won't open more than this.

There is not a hole drilled for the deadbolt in the garage.

And the vents are NOT cleaned out. Chuck said he thought they had done them. Sure with a tiny vacuum hose. But really!!! We asked several times for them to be covered. He assured us that he gets them all cleaned out when he's done. Does this look clean? And that's just what we can see. How much crap is way down them? GRRRRRRRR!

The painters did fix the corners of the outside of the house. I had asked them to paint them grey instead. I like them a lot better.

One more thing- The fridge has not cooled down. Both the freezer and the fridge are not running properly. It is staying around 71-79 degrees. Maybe great for growing bacteria but not necessarily awesome for edible food. Chuck, Jason and the inspector tried to help me see if we could get it to cool. We even unplugged it and plugged it back in. The motor starts up after that but shortly stops. Maybe it's shorting out somewhere. I'll have to call Sears and see if they can help me figure it out. Unfortunately, this is our deal not Chuck's because we bought them ourselves. 

I went back out way late to check a few more vents and pull off the covers so they'd know which ones needed to be cleaned out better. It was DARK!!! It's crazy because there are NO street lights in our neighborhood. Brett loves it because you can see the big Montana Sky with no obstructions. But it makes for getting out to the car a fun experience. (This is a bit of an exaggeration because this is what the camera picked up but it's close!) We may need to get motion-sensor lights. LOL Here's what my road looks like when I face east:

Here's what my street looks like when I look to the West. (Neighbors at end of road have lights on there fence gate)

Day 186: So Close

Chuck hadn't ordered mirrors for the bathrooms- which I guess he usually does but wasn't sure the sizes we wanted. ?? But he suggested that for the master bathroom we could do 2 framed mirrors instead if we wanted. He said he could look and pick some up at Lowe's. From experience, I have learned that I am more picky than Chuck's taste so I decided that I better go take a look first and decide which one I liked. ;) So after Football Camp and the Summer Movie with the kids, we stopped by Lowe's and picked up 3 different mirrors I thought might work.  We took them to the house to make a decision.

We decided on the brown framed oval. I had to run the mirrors all back to the store to return them so Chuck can buy them up later and install them. What a pain! But I think it was worth it to get the ones I really wanted.

Later in the afternoon we went back out to check what was done today. Here's what the Master Bath Mirrors look like all hung up. I like them!

Here's what the other bathrooms look like. I guess because I bought my own mirror for the Powder room, they didn't think they needed to hang it up. Lame! if you ask me. But what do you do? Guess we'll do that one ourselves after we move in.

They did change out the outdoor lights. So much better! He still hasn't got the one for behind the garage. Plus he's still trying to tell us that he usually doesn't put a fancy one in the back (trying to get out of it, I think). But we are still putting it on our list of things to be done.

Jess put in lights down the stairs (They stay lit) and the handrail got hung.

They cut the benches for the fireplace sides. Kind of a crude job but maybe some paint will help? I am happy they open up though. The insides of it are gross but I will work up a little magic and fix that. ;)

We went over to hang up Justice's closet tonight. But unfortunately the anchors that came with the closet system are not working. They pull away from the wall too badly to be safe. So we didn't get his up at all. Bummer! {Liberty's were mostly into studs so it wasn't a problem} But the girls did take all the tape off the fridge and get all the shelves in. Looks awesome. We set the temp and it should be all good to go tomorrow. Yay!

There are just a couple more last minute things that need to be done and we should be good. Almost, baby!

Day 185: Contact (Finally) & Closets

We finally got in contact with the Realtor and the Builder today. Both seemed a bit nervous but tried to be as helpful as possible. I'm sure they want their money and our good word as much as we want to be in our house. O.K....- probably not quite as much as we do but enough. LOL

Brett talked to Kevin this morning. After a lengthy conversation, he told Brett that Chuck would call him by this afternoon.. Around 3 in the afternoon, I sent Chuck a text as a reminder. Here's what I said:

It could have been coincidence but Brett got a call around the exact time I sent it. Brett had a long talk with Chuck as well and he agreed to meet us out at the property tonight. Since he didn't make the deadline of June 4th or June 30th or July 15th, Chuck has agreed to pay the additional appraisal fee, bring us in 15 yards of roadbase for our driveway (that's like a dumptruck full) and make sure we have a sprinkler box installed. (so we can put in a sprinkling system soon) The original deal was that he would pay the lock fee for the loan but the loan company is willing to wave that fee for us so we just made an arrangement that was close to what that would have cost us. We tried to be fair but also make him keep his word.

Chuck did meet us out on Faith Lane tonight. He definitively has a personality that puts you at ease when you are in person. I was in tears yesterday and I'm still pretty disappointed that we aren't in the house yet. But he has a way of making things seem like they are going to be ok. He's tricky that way. ;) 

He's working hard to make sure everything on our list is done this week. Unfortunately, there are a couple things that may not get done. And we are struggling because we want to close but also have heard the horror stories of them never coming back after they get their money. Grrrr!

Things that may not get done if we want to close this week (or Monday):

* Last bit of trim on bottom of kitchen cabinets. Chuck hasn't even ordered it yet.

* Other doors for the basement. Chuck hasn't ordered them

* Gutters- Supposedly Gutter people in Helena are booked 3 weeks to 3 months out. Don't ask me why we didn't have them scheduled 3 weeks ago? Nonetheless they probably won't be on until the weekend or next week if we're lucky. Or it could be 3 weeks.

* Getting roadbase here would be easier for Chuck if he does it the same time as his new project which would be in 2 weeks.

 I think we have a deal worked out that he will write us a check for the amount it'd cost us to finish the items. We'll hold the check for 2-3 weeks to give him time to finish it. If he doesn't come back- then we cash it and finish them ourselves. Hopefully, we'll never need to cash it.

While Chuck was there, we used a piece of another door handle I had and made it work for the front door. Now it shuts without having to lock it everytime.

They added my handrail brackets today. I supplied the oil rubbed bronze ones so they would match.

 They painted the handrail in the garage. They're waiting for it to dry before they put it up.

Here's how they fixed under the railing. It looks nice. I almost wish we would have had them do the same thing to the other side. Oh well! It just got finished with a quarter-round trim.

Chuck picked up the right lights for the outside of the garage. He only got 4 because he said they don't usually do the back of the garage one fancy. But we told him we want them to match. He said he'd pick up one more. They are sooo much better!

After Chuck left, we stayed there late putting up Liberty's closet shelving. We bought all the closet stuff and are installing them ourselves to save a little money. One down, 9 to go! Oh boy, what did we get ourselves into? LOL It is a bit more complicated than I thought it would be. Each person has to decide how they want it to look. Whew! I'm tired already! And all I did was boss people around while they put them up. ;)

Because it was getting dark, we left off the other lights and turned on our party lights in the kitchen. So fun!

{P.S. You can see that my bar never got painted. Oh well. I can do that myself and even glaze the cracks to match if I want. But kind of a bummer it's not done. Although- if we had bought the stuff from the cabinet company prefinished- it would have been $900. We ended up spending $30 twice for beadboard. Now, a little paint and Whoala!- who needs the pre-finished stuff, right?}

I did want to mention that the painters/cleaners (the same crew does both) have been working hard to get things done. Here's the downstairs bathroom. It's almost ready for us to move in. Yay!