Holy Sh#t Our House Is Done!**

**Jamie does not approve of the title to this posting.

We closed yesterday. Now all we have to do is move, paint, unpack and open up a revolving line of credit at Home Depot. We're gonna have a lot of good Saturdays. Here's a few more pics of the finished exterior and plexi in the loft. We'll post some more once we get the furniture in and get the innerwebs all hooked up.


Plexi on stairs and loft railing:

We had a visitor the other day. Nice complement to the stucco:

That's it for now. Hopefully the next posting will be an open invitation to a gigantic party.

Chairs and Pendant Light

The house is very close to complete and we should be closing on or before September 10. Even though we've been waiting for so long, we're still scrambling trying to get everything ready to move and shopping for furniture in the meantime. Today we bought a dining table from Four Hands and chairs and a pendant light from Design Within Reach. If you make it by DWR reach ask for Melissa - she was very helpful.

We don't have pictures of the table, but here's some pics of the chairs and the light I snagged off the interwebs. The light is actually going to be a glossy white to match the chairs.




We'll post more pics of the house soon.

Landscaping, Front Walls and Screen

More random pictures. We have grass now and some trees. One tree was planted right smack dab in the middle of the front of our house and we had it moved. We also have a CMU wall and stone wall that extend from the front of the house. The CMU was stuccoed and will eventually be painted to match the stucco on the house. Finally, we have a screen in our carport to prevent pets, toddlers and party attendees from escaping the backyard.

The offending, recently moved tree:

Backyard (we got a fence too!)

CMU wall

Carport screen

Bathrooms

We haven't posted an update in a while and lots of things have happened at the house. I've got a bunch of pictures from different visits that I'm going to attempt to categorize. First up: bathrooms. We've got tile, floors and plumbing fixtures in both upstairs bathrooms. We're very happy with how our choices turned out. The master bath shower is huge.

Master Shower

Slate Floors (and a "modern" toilet)

Master Sinks

Bathroom Faucet

Guest Shower

Also, last time I promised to post pictures of the light fixtures in the loft. Here you go:

Fans & Fixtures

The ceiling fans and light fixtures went in last week and they look good. We're changing the fixtures over the stairwell, so we'll post pics of those as soon as the new ones are in. In the meantime check out these fans. George Jetson has nothing on me.

Fan Switch:

Outdoor Fixtures:

Bathroom Fixtures:

Finally, no posting would be complete without an appearance from our lovely spokesmodel. Here she is showing off our brand new back steps and one of our ac units:

We're expecting tile, bamboo floors and counters any day now so we'll keep you posted.

Stainkonia

Jamie and I got a pleasant surprise this week when we took one of our nearly daily visits to the house and found that our cedar had finally been stained. We couldn't be happier with our decision to go with a dark color and we're very relieved that the international wood stain shortage has obviously come to an end.

Also, it looks like we'll have an entry walkway and steps any day now.

Slow but Steady

Slowly but surely our house is starting to look like, well, a house.

We have a driveway, nicely modeled if I do say so myself:

Drywall and interior paint are done:

And, we have cabinets:

Oblogation

I just took a look at our site and realized it has been just over a month since our last post. We've seen some progress since then and should get some pictures up soon. We now have drywall, a driveway and cabinets. The drywall has been textured and they were painting yesterday. Pictures coming soon...

Colored & Stuffed

No more need for a placeholder. Although it's still not moving as quickly as we'd like, there has been some more progress on our house. Last month, they managed to paint the exterior and install insulation. Golly these guys are fast - an example of efficiency. We've been told that the house should be done by August 15th, or by the end of August, or Mid-September depending on who we talk to. At any rate, things have improved and the house is moving along.

Even though it's not stained yet, they also managed to finish the cedar trim in the upstairs balcony:

What's next? Drywall. We may be in this thing by mid to late August or maybe September or whenever after all.

Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35

And, we have stone:

I promised to explain about the stone, so here we go. Our builder Joe called the other day and told me to come out to the house because we had a problem. Turns out the problem was not really a problem. The mason ordered the wrong stone and Joe, conscientious guy that he is, wanted to try and save the mason some money. We liked the sandstone better so we kept it. That's called making lemonade people.

FM 969: Creative Gateway?

"Villa Muse" is a proposed 681 acre mixed-use development centered around "an innovative professional campus for the creative industries." Villa Muse will be located 15 minutes east of dowtown Austin on, you guessed it, FM 969.

For those of you who don't live in Austin, or who aren't familiar with Agave's location, FM 969 is the same road our little neighborhood is on.

More from the Villa Muse website:

"It will offer high-end production and post-production facilities for film, television, commercials, music and videogames. Key elements such as soundstages and recording studios and an outdoor amphitheater will be designed and operated by a team responsible for some of the best facilities in the world."

Sweet.

Are the Drawers Upside Down?

In addition to our new chairs, we have also purchased new bedroom furniture. It arrived last week to our modest size apartment. Late into a furniture assembly marathon, we realized we put the drawers to one of the dressers in upside down. Ha! Well, it really wasn't that funny at the time. One less room to furnish, a heck of a lot more stuff to move. I know, we should have waited to buy this furniture. However, I was afraid if we waited too long (like until the house is complete)...well, you know the rest.