Update

8 days left!
No new pictures at the moment, but here's what's happened lately:

• Roof is on!
• Bought paint to match roof for trim.
• Plumbing and electrical are in work- Devon didn't get home until 10:30 last night.
• Insulation may or may not be coming on Friday or Monday... hopefully will be, but I think we're having trouble getting ahold of them.
• There is a HUGE trailer sitting outside the rent house, just waiting for boxes and furniture- thanks Dad!
• We bought a fridge at Lowes a while back (SALE!) - 29 cu ft of glory- its the biggest interior fridge, but no bigger on the outside (mind boggling I know). Anyways, it will eventually make its way to the big house, but we needed one anyways... french door, bottom freezer... I'm excited.
• If you search through Live Search, you can get up to 30% off on Ebay, so a few nights ago, I bought our kitchen sink, faucet and bathroom faucet on there. The kitchen faucet cost $228 at Lowes, but we got it for ~$80. :) I love ebay. It was, however, difficult to get a shower faucet on there- for whatever reason you have to buy some parts separately, which was very confusing, so we did that at Lowes. Devon hates chrome fixtures, but it was an extra $50 or so for brushed or stainless, so chrome won. They had all the boxes in the wrong places though, so it was like a treasure hunt to find the one we wanted. 3 different, but similar, all from the same brand, none of them in the right spot.
• The shower will be installed today- everyone keeps telling me its a standard size (36"), but it seems sooooo small. I must just be spoiled- haven't had a shower that small in... 7 years, if ever.

Lonely drive reflections...

I had an hour or so of silence on the drive to the Austin airport this afternoon (headed to LA for a last minute meeting)... gave me some time to decompress and reflect on all that's going on...

I've been slowly packing up the house for the past week, a task I decided to begin with a good culling of all of the non-essential items. I view this forced downsizing (1800 sq ft to 700 sq ft) as a really good chance to cull out all of the items I've been reluctant to toss, but don't truly need any longer. The number of trashbags filled in just a few days is eye opening- especially considering that I haven't (and won't) attacked all of the things we moved, but never unpacked.

My closet got the first wave of action - 4 piles: donate (battered women's shelter in Waco), toss, store (items I need only a couple of times a year, going to my parent's house), and move. It was a bit sad to have to get rid of some of the items I'd had since freshman year in college- there was a particular belt from Express I remember loving so much and wearing freshman year- unfortunately, its not something I would have an urge or occasion to wear any longer. The capri pants from Abercromie I wore on mine and Devon's first date were another item that was bittersweet to pull out- he HATES capri pants and I haven't worn them in at least a year, so its time for someone else to get enjoyment out of them, but still... By far the most difficult thing to pack away was all of my pretty high heels. I so rarely get to wear them (flat shoes required for work, unless its a conference) that it makes no sense to keep them in the barn-do, but most did make the cut to my parent's house. Good memories in those shoes (weddings, parties, etc), but again, life nowadays doesn't lend itself to dresses and high heels, so they get to go live in G-ville for a while. I will visit them. :)

The kitchen was also difficult to pack up. We won't have a real oven in the barn-do (not that I have that much time to bake), but that meant the cookie sheets, bundt pans, pie plates, etc were non-essential. They got placed in two big boxes marked with an S, for storage. Luckily, I did have a few small muffin tins that will fit in the toaster oven. All of my pretty items (plates, casserole dishes, pitchers, glasses, etc) remain... all will go to storage except for the bare necessities.

But I didn't just mope on my way down to Austin today, I also could see a bit of the silver lining.

Our house was a complete mess prior to all of this- I've been both lazy and busy over the past few months, and it was easy to just shove things into closets or let drawers overflow. (The dirt road disuades drop-by visitors, so I usually just do the quick clean/organize if we're having guests.) I'm confident that moving to the smaller place, where every mess will make it seem just that much smaller and constantly be in our face (no ignoring the dishes in the kitchen sink, its right when you walk in/out the front door), will force us to become more vigalent on organization and cleaning. My first dorm room might equate to this (3 of us in an 18'x21' room), and it stayed fairly neat, from what I remember . :)

I am also excited about being forced to master the art of grilling. Currently, its hit or miss with me, and intimidates both Devon and I in terms of knowing when meat is done, etc. I plan to throw the stigma of the man being the grill-meister out the window and embrace the outdoor kitchen. We have a little over 500 feet indoors, and over 10 acres outdoors, so I figure when we have company, we'll all be outside. When I packed away the cookbooks, I only selected a few for the move. Last Christmas, I got a huge book on outdoor entertaining and grilling, and it obviously made the cut. I'm itching to try pizzas on the grill, like Bobby Flay often does, fajitas, and maybe - if I get brave - some things in a dutch oven. I also slotted the Crock Pot for the move- my one attempt at this supposed marvel of easy cooking failed miserably, but I'll try again. :)

Most of the house is packed away, or slotted for last minute packing. The kitchen is about 1/2 done, and there are some BIG items that need to go, so today I moved onto cleaning. :(

And now, I'm off to LA, be back mid-Tuesday. When I left the site today, they were about to start the metal roof, so I should have some more pics of good progess soon! Thanks to Devon's Mom, we had yummy Olive Garden for lunch, AND chocolate cake. (Its a good thing we don't have a hammock! Otherwise, all of our yummy meals would severly impede progress.)

12 days and counting...

The latest pics!

Things are coming along nicely- Devon says he can't tell if we are on schedule, but that we are moving as quickly as humanly possible. Here's pics of how things have progressed this week:


Tuesday, Oct 14


Wed, Oct 15


Thur, Oct 16


Fri, Oct 17


Sat, Oct 18 (13 days and counting down quickly...)

Tomorrow: Roofing!

Pictures!

Here are pictures from the start of work until today. Unfortunately, we didn't get any before the dirt work began, but just imagine lots of little trees where the pad is. :)




This was my first glimpse of it on Sunday the 7th. I really like the location- makes use of some of the trees (to the right of this pic) we (I) fell in love with before buying the property (couldn't see any of the others because it was all so overgrown.)




When I came back from my trip to California on Wednesday, I called on my way back from the Austin airport just in time to take an emergency Home Depot order for a "Drain Waste Vent" 90 degree elbow... note that Home Depot stocks 3 types :).


Slab got poured on Friday, Oct 10.


We acid stained on Saturday afternoon. (The directions say to wait 28 days after pouring the slab... ha!) Above pic is on Sunday morning after scrubbing all the residue off. The wet color shown above should be what it looks like when sealed, and we're pretty happy with it considering...


The framing began around 10:30am on Sunday... didn't look like they were making much progress until after 2pm, but then Wall 1...


Wall 2...



Wall 3...


And then Wall 4 by 4:30!

There was another couple of hours of work after this to square things up, eat (my mom brought fajitas and we grilled!), clean, and then figure out a list for Lowe's.

What was I doing during all of this, you ask? I did most of the scrubbing/cleaning of the acid stain residue, then helped Devon a little with the floor plates. When my dad and Hefty showed up around 10:30, I left to go do laundry (completely out of clothes!) and get them Subway. I came back around 1:45 and then staying in my chair (where the last few pics are taken from) doing SpaceX work of one sort or the other. I also got drinks for the guys intermittently. Moral support, right?? ;)

Tomorrow, Devon and I are going to take advantage of Lowe's 12 months no interest/no payments and buy pretty much everything else we need from there, including our fridge (which we get an additional 10% off!). Tomorrow we also have to order metal for the roof and get electricity ordered.

We are still on schedule, possibly ahead if Devon does some work finishing up the framing in the evenings.

--Lauren

Blog 1

Greetings! I am starting this blog to chronicle the construction of the Dreyer Barn-do (aka Mini-House). I'll try to post frequent pics and updates over the next 3-6 weeks as we make our way to completion and move-in. (Barn-do is the term my boss, Gwynne, used when I told her about the project and the fact I may need some time off in the next few weeks to pack/move- apparently its the "it" thing out in California.)

Background: On Feb 13, Devon and I became the proud owners of 10 acres of land in Eddy, TX, near where we rent, that we plan to build a house on in the near future. We've been working on house plans ("big house") ever since and had just settled on something we like and can afford- we were thinking that we'd start in December or so. Then, on Sept 26 (yes, the same day I left for 8 days in Scotland), we found out that we had 34 days to be out of our rent house. Our landlord up and decided to move back from Virginia and wants his house back. Now, we always knew this was a risk- back in May we decided to go month-to-month since our house plans were seemingly settling in and construction was imminent (ha!). BUT, since we live right next to the landlord's father-in-law, who mows our lawn, we figured we'd get a little heads up that the landlord was at least considering the move back. Go figure. So, as I was flying to Scotland, Devon was scrambling to figure out a plan- either moving to another rental until we finish construction on the real house, or building a future garage/workshop we could finish out and live in ("mini-house/barn-do") until we finish the real house. After a quick search of the local rental market, we decided it was best financially and logistically to do the mini-house. So, with me still in Scotland, Devon began the floorplan and planning of this 700 sq ft (that's WITH the porch) house. By the time I returned, he had the spot picked out and the basic dirt work done (with my dad's help and equipment of course).

I'm sitting in a chair at the land, in front of the framed up house now (thank goodness I get internet out here in the boonies), so I'll try and review what's been done so far. Pictures soon I hope- we've been taking lots. :)

*Note: we're doing most of this ourselves, but I'll note where we're contracting something out with (sub).

Oct 6-7: Foundation dirt delivered (sub), slab formed up and plumbing work (Devon, my dad and Hefty (Dad's right hand man).
Oct 10: Concrete poured (sub), did a whirlwind trip (24 hours) to Satler for Tanner's surprise party- I had to study how to stain concrete on the way there and back
Oct 11: Prepped and stained concrete (Lauren with a little help from Devon), went to Lowe's to pick up all the lumber
Oct 12: Washed off concrete stain residue (Lauren and Devon), framing (my dad, Devon's dad, Hefty, Dustin, and Devon)

I'll try to add pics tonight, as well as a rough schedule of what's up next.