There is Farm House Progess

I've noticed a difference in how we talk about our farm house renovation these days.  We used to focus on the work ahead, the next stage in the process, and never really dwell on a timeline since it seemed pointless to pressure ourselves when we had no idea how long each task would take.  But these day, we are beginning to discuss the beginning of the end.  We even tentatively set a move in month - June, to inspire us to work a little faster.  I think this means that we can see the end of the road, but it could also mean that we've been spending all our spare time working on this project for nearly two years, and we are looking forward to shifting focus away from the house on onto something else too.  

There is still lots of work to look forward to, for sure, but if I think of our work in layers, starting on the outside of the house and working in, we've accomplished the weather barriers of siding and roof, the structural carpentry of rebuilding the walls, floors, stairs, and windows, the inner circuitry of the house including the plumbing and electricity, and now we are so close to finishing the fluffy inner layer of insulation that I can taste it (it tastes like foam and fiberglass!).  The ceilings should be finished in just a few more work days too, and we've gotten a good start on the inside shell, the drywall.  Then the fun begins, right?  Detailed carpentry for trim, cabinets, columns, and the messy stuff like spackle, paint, and caulk.  

I was about to say that the insulation installation has been the worst part of this project when it comes to enjoyable tasks, and then I thought back to those many days of scooping out giant piles of rubble from the plaster wall demolition, and realized that the insulation isn't really all that bad!  Oh, and I nearly forgot the knee pain of laying tile, and the struggles we had working around the low beams when installing the upstairs ceiling.  Okay, I take it back.  It's all equally fun.  

We took advantage of Jamie's volunteer labor this weekend, and bought sixteen sheets of drywall while he was there to help us load it.  They didn't get more than five of those sheets on the wall, but Brandon made sure they tackled all the most difficult to reach places while he had stronger arms than mine to help him.  We celebrated our accomplishments with pizza and poker, right there in the middle of the construction zone.  Joe and Ashley brought the baby and Ashley's mom, and we all sat around our scruffy work table in lawn chairs and played poker by clamp light.  This house is already so much fun.