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.

Take a Load Off

We purchased two of these lovely chairs for our upstairs loft area from local Austin store I F + D. Kristen and George, the owners, have a fabulous inventory and the customer service can't be beat.

Stone & Stucco

Not much progress inside the past couple of weeks other than some wiring. But, the exterior is coming along nicely. The stucco on the North side of the house is almost done and should be painted soon. Also, the mason started the stone on the South side.

Front:

The stucco on the North exterior:

Stucco on the back living room wall and guest room balcony:
The stone:
Getting started on the carport:
South side of the carport:
We were originally supposed to have limestone like the other houses at agave, but instead we're getting sandstone in a flagstone pattern. I'll publish a full explanation when they finish up. How's that for a cliffhanger?

Sweet Progress

The stairs are in and so is our electrical. As expected, the view from the second story is excellent. For a little icing, the builder also started framing our kitchen island. Check it out:

The stair railing will eventually have plexiglass in the middle. For now it looks like this.

The beginnings of the kitchen island and a nice view of Joel's carport which, by the way, will make one heck of a movie screen once we're settled in.

The upstairs view; similar to the downstairs view only better.

And, finally, electrical things. Don't you wish your wires were hot like mine?


There was a big pile of stucco mix in front of the house this weekend. Hopefully that's coming next and soon.

Stairs and Superdogs

We had a bit of a lull in construction while the builder was waiting on the last of our windows to arrive. While they waited for the windows, our hot and cold water lines were installed and they built our stairs. Unfortunately, none of these additions to the house are particularly photogenic. What this really means is that I haven't taken any pictures of the house in a while.

So, in the meantime, and in an effort to trump Joel's puppy pictures, here's a picture of a dachsund in a superman outfit that Jamie and I saw at Mardi Gras:

Special thanks to soon-to-be neighbors Jason and Carrie for letting us tag along to New Orleans.

Windows, Wrapping and Wood

My old digital camera finally bit the dust after coming with me on every adventure I've had in the last six years. Of course, it did so only after I made a commitment (ie: this blog) to post pictures of something (ie: this house) on a regular basis.

So, I'm the proud owner of a brand new camera and a lot happened to our home in the meantime:

We were wrapped;

Our windows and cedar siding were installed;

And they put in the ducts for our a/c.

Once they get the stairs built, they will install the electric. Hopefully we'll be posting more often now that we've replaced our camera.