House Update #4,203

The flooring has begun! Oh, first you have to hear this little "coincidence" that happened to us. We have ALWAYS tried to use friends when we've had jobs bid at our place. If they had the supplies we needed, or a crew who could use the work, we offered them the opportunity to bid - when it worked out for them and us, we'd give them the work...we'd just as soon give our money to someone we know and like, kwim? Anyway, for as long as I can remember, Brandon has been saying things like, "When we have the flooring done, I want to see if Ron McM. needs the work. Ron is a guy that we've known for years. He and his wife joined our church back when Brandon was a bishop. They are a wonderful family! When we went in to purchase carpet (from a whole-in-the-wall shop a co-worker old Brandon about), we asked the guy if he had installers. He told us he only uses 2 installers. They are the only two that he trusts enough to stand behind. So we figured, "Hmmm, at least we asked" - having a guarantee on the installation was pretty important to us. So we walk to the counter w/ Doug the carpet guy to see which of his installers could start our job first. Doug flipps through his calendar and says, "Looks like I can have Ron there May 1st" and he hands Brandon Ron's business card. Much to our "surprise", Doug's Ron and our Ron are the same guy! We had NO idea Ron worked with this little carpet shop - we were stunned - not to mention relieved that someone we KNOW and TRUST would be the one working in our home while we aren't there! What a blessing!

Ok - back to the update for reals now.

Ron has the underlayment down for all of the vinyl. It's amazing to SEE where my kitchen really starts! He'll be back on Wed & Thur next week to lay the vinyl. Then Wed, Thur, Fri of the next week to lay all of the carpeting. "So when are we moving in" you ask...well, we hope by the end of the the month - for sure by mid-June. Not bad when you consider that May 18-ish, 2006 is the day we had the basement dug. We've gone from a big hole in the forest to a fabulous home in one year. Man, Brandon is amazing! He'd hate to see that I put that in here - but it's so true. He had help from a brother framing last summer - help from a crew of brothers and friends roofing - and help from my aunt doing odds and ends all along - but that's it...the rest has been all him!

Here are a couple of pics of the kitchen! Can't wait until I'm showing you the carpet!

This is the kitchen from the livingroom - there's Brandon standing at the sink doing dishes! :)


The kitchen from the top of the basement stairs.


This is looking out to the livingroom from the far corner of the kitchen (the wood stove GOES some time this week - it's served it's purpose...the furnace man comes this week to hook up real heat for us).