Day 240 - We're In!

HI!

It's the Polar Vortex in action again. Last year, the Polar Vortex brought weeks of minus degree weather and snow, bad road conditions, frost on the inside of the windows of the condo, ...... and it's coming again.

We're right now on the leading edge of the storm and expecting at least 10 days of below freezing weather ....... that means the daytime high temperature is below freezing! It's snowing a bit, but even the advent of Winter weather can't dampen our spirits today!

240 days ago the first spade bit into the dirt of 10647 Brown Fox Trail. Many people have told us over the past few months that they passed up this lot after being convinced that it wasn't build able ..... and there were times that I wondered if they weren't right about that.

As it turns out, Steve the Builder did EXACTLY what he said he'd do ....... He committed to 240 days from start to the day of the Final Inspection. Today was day 240.

And today we passed the Final Inspection and we started to move from the condominium in downtown Denver to our home in Roxborough Park.

Deb and I have just started to bring our stuff to Roxborough Park and put it away ...... and we're looking forward to the next few months of unpacking!

Cheers!

Finishing Touches

HI!

Along with the mandatory stuff that's going on (electricians, plumbers, stucco, tile), there are a few finishing touches being added .....

Appliances are installed and the tiling of the backsplash has started. The tile guy made a small mistake and tiled two walls that weren't supposed to be tiled, so there's a delay while newly ordered tile is delivered. 

The DCS barbecue has been installed and is ready to go except for the rock that will be applied to the outside of the enclosure. There's also a stone horizontal piece about 3' x 2' that will form a counter to the right of the BBQ for people to visit with the Cook while s/he is cooking. 

The chandelier that we bought in Palm Springs last year, and that we hauled around the West coast in the Camry, then stored for a couple of months actually survived and is now hung in a place of honor. The chandelier is not electrified, we think because it's so old, and the  candles are actually LED and remote controlled. Pretty good ambiance in the evenings after sunset and the lights go down. 

The stair is almost complete ..... seems that the installer was two balusters short and had to re-order balusters. Not a big deal, and after installation, the boots on the bottom of each baluster will be tightened. 

The interior doors are hung, but all except the exterior doors are minus the door hardware. In order to get final Certificate of Occupancy the door hardware has to be installed. So, a little work necessary there. This is one of two barn doors which slide right and left on tracks instead of opening and closing on hinges. 

A certificate of occupancy is a document issued by a local government agency or building department certifying a building's compliance with applicable building codes and other laws, and indicating it to be in a condition suitable for occupancy.

The overhead lights in the workroom are up and ready for our first "at-home" projects. Really looking forward to getting my tools back and starting on the list of projects for the house that are scheduled for post-construction completion. 








On the outside of the home, 

There were several windows that went untrimmed along the bottom. It turns out that, on the construction drawings, some of the windows were shown trimmed and some were not ..... probably just an oversight on the part of the architects. So, we decided to go ahead and put them on. In addition, the stucco crew will complete fixes identified by Steve the Builder. 

As part of the final grading process, the area inside the North Courtyard got a little raking and a little top dirt. It's really nice to see some of the construction debris gone from sight, but I'm afraid that when we start planting, we'll did a lot of it up again. Once the raking was done, Deb brought in a few accent rocks to grace the area just outside the great room window. That's the first piece of why will probably be a multi-year landscaping process. 


9 days left to the date Steve the Builder says we'll have the CO. 

Can't wait!

Cheers!

Aspens in Full Fall Flower

HI!

We just returned from an amazing day looking at the splendor of the Aspen trees in the high country turning from their Summer green to the broad range of flame Autumn dress. We drove from Denver down Highway 67, along the Platte River near Deckers and then South towards Cripple Creek. Along the way, we stopped to walk in the Aspen groves at Mueller State Park.