So we're totally blessed and very fortunate in every aspect of our lives. It wouldn't be fair to those who might not be so fortunate to wade into a moat of self pity at this point.
It is Memorial Day, 2010. We didn't close on our house last Friday as planned, but will hopefully next week; a week later than we were scheduled to.
Maybe later on we'll post some pictures, but for now just a brief recap of the story.
I last posted Monday the 24th and joked about how the time seemed to be getting longer the closer we got to our closing. Sara was scheduled to leave for San Francisco on Wednesday morning for some important work meetings so we went out to the house together Tuesday evening around 8:30pm to see how they were progressing on all of those little items from our Monday walk through.
What we saw (what Sara saw first) was horrifying. Through the ceiling in the kitchen above the center island, water was streaming down onto the new floor, into the basement. The ceiling had already started to buckle and bubble, and the wood floor joints were buckling in certain places.
It was raining hard Tuesday night and for some reason our initial inclination was that it was something from the rain. We called Justin who said he'd be there right away, and then he quickly called back and said it couldn't possibly be the rain and that we should shut the water down at the main immediately (which we did).
Justin, Jason and one other guy were there within 5 or so minutes, and they went to work cutting parts out of the ceiling, putting out fans and dehumidifiers and tearing back carpet.
I'm trying to imagine what would have happened had we not gone over there Tuesday evening and water would have been flowing for 24 hours or more instead of 7 or 8.
Of course we'll reserve final judgment over time, and work through the necessary paperwork to secure some further peace of mind beyond the typical warranties, but for now, they were very responsive and helpful moving quickly to prevent further damage.
I won't go into the issue much further now other than to say it was determined that one of the employees of TJB hooked up the washer and dryer incorrectly sometime earlier in the day which resulted in hours of water flowing from upstairs to the bedroom adjacent and through the floor into our kitchen and then into our basement.
Sara left as planned (well, not as planned as she didn't plan to leave thinking about a water damaged house we were supposed to move into Friday) Wednesday for San Fran. Before she left we met out at the house Wednesday morning with Tom, the owner of TJB and a whole team of all of the vendors who would have to work over the next week to recreate what had been damaged.
Since then, they've been tearing up floors, cutting out sheet rock, wrapping the whole main floor in plastic and starting to fix the problem.
We moved as planned on Friday. . .
Ok, that isn't quite true. Uhaul gave us a truck two feet shorter than what we booked. "Strong as a Bull" was two hours late. . . as a bull (I guess) and midway through the second swing over to the house (that two foot short truck was just not enough) they simply left, leaving us to unload the second truck.
All of our stuff is sitting in the garage at the new house completely disorganized.
We're somewhat nomadic until the end of the week. Tom put us up in his gorgeous home for a couple of days. We decided to spend the remaining days in a hotel or multiple hotels.
Rather than spending our first anniversary in our new house, we went back down to the Edina Westin where we spent our wedding night a year ago yesterday.
Everything will work out in the end, and we'll be in our new house hopefully later this week.
More pictures to come.
Happy Memorial Day!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Final Stages
Who would have thought that the closer we get to closing, the longer the days would go. It turns out that days near closing of a new house have 36, then 56 and then 72 hours in them. Very strange.
We went through the house last Friday, and one of the things that they finished up with was getting the hot/cold spicket in the garage. I think they might have forgot to put this in. But here it is now.
Monday was our big, generally final walk through. We were told to schedule 3 or 4 hours to basically tell them every paint chip and other mistake we could find. After being a 1/2 hour late to the house, TJB was actually awesome with their attention to detail. Justin and Steve put blue tape all over the place where the painters needed to touch up or one of the other vendors needed to fix something. They'd been gone fishing for almost a week, and I think they were a little surprised and frustrated at how many little things that still need to be done in the next four days. Or perhaps they recalled from past experience that the closer one gets to closing, the more hours that exist in the day (see above). My guess is that strange issue with time only exists for the buyer, so in the case of the seller, they just have a ton to do in a short period of time. Good thing they left after the walk through to go finish landscaping the old man's lake home.
While we were there, our new fridge was delivered. There was a small snafu when we ordered all of our appliances and the dishwasher and fridge were left off the original order. Both are here now, and the fridge should be plumbed in and ready to go.
Sara and I had a second meeting at the house yesterday evening with a very nice lady named Mary Poppins from Budget Blinds. I guess her actual name was Joy, but you get the point. She had all sorts of ideas for window coverings. Wow, those things are expensive. For those who have been in the house, you will recall that we have a couple of very big windows overlooking the cul-de-sac in our Master Bath. That's about the only windows that we really care to get covered ASAP for obvious reasons. We'll also likely cover the windows in the Master Bedroom so the sun doesn't wake me up at 4:00am on Saturdays.
While we were there, the installers with Village stopped in to install the hearth and back splash around the kitchen counter. This was sort of last minute because it took us a long time to decide on what we wanted to do. We knew the style we liked, but without seeing the granite next to the walls next to the cupboards, we weren't sure exactly what colors worked (they had two or three possibilities).
We really like what we ended up picking out and by the looks of these pictures think it will end up turning out great. One of the pictures makes it look like there is some green. There isn't.
They've also now installed the vessel sink in the powder bath and stained part of the interior of the kitchen drawers that needed staining.
We're spending our "free time" (term used loosely if you've talked with Sara lately) packing up. We got the living room, most of the kitchen and the pantry done last night. Second bedroom and loft will be totally packed up tonight. Carpets and cleaning service are scheduled for Friday and Saturday after we close and are moved. Cable and Internet is scheduled for the new place for late Friday afternoon.
Everything appears to be on schedule for our early Friday morning closing (which if my new theory on time holds out, will seem like a month or so).
Sara leaves tomorrow morning for San Fran until Thursday night.
But we're right there on the doorstep. Should be an exciting next few days.
We went through the house last Friday, and one of the things that they finished up with was getting the hot/cold spicket in the garage. I think they might have forgot to put this in. But here it is now.
Monday was our big, generally final walk through. We were told to schedule 3 or 4 hours to basically tell them every paint chip and other mistake we could find. After being a 1/2 hour late to the house, TJB was actually awesome with their attention to detail. Justin and Steve put blue tape all over the place where the painters needed to touch up or one of the other vendors needed to fix something. They'd been gone fishing for almost a week, and I think they were a little surprised and frustrated at how many little things that still need to be done in the next four days. Or perhaps they recalled from past experience that the closer one gets to closing, the more hours that exist in the day (see above). My guess is that strange issue with time only exists for the buyer, so in the case of the seller, they just have a ton to do in a short period of time. Good thing they left after the walk through to go finish landscaping the old man's lake home.
While we were there, our new fridge was delivered. There was a small snafu when we ordered all of our appliances and the dishwasher and fridge were left off the original order. Both are here now, and the fridge should be plumbed in and ready to go.
Sara and I had a second meeting at the house yesterday evening with a very nice lady named Mary Poppins from Budget Blinds. I guess her actual name was Joy, but you get the point. She had all sorts of ideas for window coverings. Wow, those things are expensive. For those who have been in the house, you will recall that we have a couple of very big windows overlooking the cul-de-sac in our Master Bath. That's about the only windows that we really care to get covered ASAP for obvious reasons. We'll also likely cover the windows in the Master Bedroom so the sun doesn't wake me up at 4:00am on Saturdays.
While we were there, the installers with Village stopped in to install the hearth and back splash around the kitchen counter. This was sort of last minute because it took us a long time to decide on what we wanted to do. We knew the style we liked, but without seeing the granite next to the walls next to the cupboards, we weren't sure exactly what colors worked (they had two or three possibilities).
We really like what we ended up picking out and by the looks of these pictures think it will end up turning out great. One of the pictures makes it look like there is some green. There isn't.
They've also now installed the vessel sink in the powder bath and stained part of the interior of the kitchen drawers that needed staining.
We're spending our "free time" (term used loosely if you've talked with Sara lately) packing up. We got the living room, most of the kitchen and the pantry done last night. Second bedroom and loft will be totally packed up tonight. Carpets and cleaning service are scheduled for Friday and Saturday after we close and are moved. Cable and Internet is scheduled for the new place for late Friday afternoon.
Everything appears to be on schedule for our early Friday morning closing (which if my new theory on time holds out, will seem like a month or so).
Sara leaves tomorrow morning for San Fran until Thursday night.
But we're right there on the doorstep. Should be an exciting next few days.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Vessel Sink
After stopping at the house to see the newly installed stained glass I just wrote about, I arrived briefly at home to find our new vessel sink for the powder bath had arrived.
Our first one, which turned out to be a greenish tint that didn't look right, was ruined by the plumber who applied an adhesive to the frosted bowl that couldn't be cleaned off. He should have utilized a mounting ring, which we've since purchased on our own.
This bowl looks great. It is a little bigger (I'm hopeful it isn't too big for some reason). But it should work well with the look we were going for in the first place. I'm going to bring it all over to the house in the morning, and hopefully they are able to get it all installed yet this week or certainly early next.
Our first one, which turned out to be a greenish tint that didn't look right, was ruined by the plumber who applied an adhesive to the frosted bowl that couldn't be cleaned off. He should have utilized a mounting ring, which we've since purchased on our own.
This bowl looks great. It is a little bigger (I'm hopeful it isn't too big for some reason). But it should work well with the look we were going for in the first place. I'm going to bring it all over to the house in the morning, and hopefully they are able to get it all installed yet this week or certainly early next.
Stained Glass
Gaytee stained glass was at the house today to install the stained glass in the transom between the foyer and the office. When we were there finalizing the design, they were in the final stages of a church job and weren't sure they'd get this in by closing, but Sara found out yesterday that they were actually done.
This is a hallmark of TJB homes. Somewhere in each of the homes they build (usually where we have ours) they have a piece of stained glass designed by the homeowners.
We were looking for something that reflected "us" and what is important. The design is simple, but we think it captures us well and fits nicely with the house.
This is a hallmark of TJB homes. Somewhere in each of the homes they build (usually where we have ours) they have a piece of stained glass designed by the homeowners.
We were looking for something that reflected "us" and what is important. The design is simple, but we think it captures us well and fits nicely with the house.
A Quick Look Back 3.0
The summer between our engagement and our wedding, we inquired with a mortgage broker Chad, who is a friend of Kevin Huntington's and someone I had met a few times in the past. We were thinking ahead, but obviously in no place at the time to even think about a new place. We were still knee deep into planning our wedding.
After our tour of homes with Kevin in June this Summer, we doubled back with Chad and sat down over coffee to discuss some options if we were to decide to move forward.
Sara and I are in a unique situation given that we both owned (and currently own) town homes, and I am self employed. Six years ago, when I purchased my home, I simply told the mortgage broker how much I earned ("stated income") and that's the number they used for approval. Turns out some people were a little irresponsible with their stated income which may have resulted in some foreclosures when the market tanked. So the rule changes make my income reporting a little more precarious.
Chad is a creative guy, but after coffee and putting pen to paper, he didn't think he was going to be able to help us out until we unloaded at least one of our properties, or got some significant rental history on one or both.
As we were sitting down at Caribou in Eagan, he said something that was interesting to us at the time, but was really prescient in hind-sight. Building wasn't something that was on the front of our minds, but it was something interesting to us. Chad said that there are some builders who might be interested in purchasing an existing property in order to provide incentives to a prospective buyer. His rationale was that a builder would lose more money holding onto vacant land than they would purchasing and turning around an existing home. Or at least that they could find a way to make it work.
We were skeptical, but again thought it was an interesting concept. It wasn't until later on that it became a realization as to how that process might work.
After our tour of homes with Kevin in June this Summer, we doubled back with Chad and sat down over coffee to discuss some options if we were to decide to move forward.
Sara and I are in a unique situation given that we both owned (and currently own) town homes, and I am self employed. Six years ago, when I purchased my home, I simply told the mortgage broker how much I earned ("stated income") and that's the number they used for approval. Turns out some people were a little irresponsible with their stated income which may have resulted in some foreclosures when the market tanked. So the rule changes make my income reporting a little more precarious.
Chad is a creative guy, but after coffee and putting pen to paper, he didn't think he was going to be able to help us out until we unloaded at least one of our properties, or got some significant rental history on one or both.
As we were sitting down at Caribou in Eagan, he said something that was interesting to us at the time, but was really prescient in hind-sight. Building wasn't something that was on the front of our minds, but it was something interesting to us. Chad said that there are some builders who might be interested in purchasing an existing property in order to provide incentives to a prospective buyer. His rationale was that a builder would lose more money holding onto vacant land than they would purchasing and turning around an existing home. Or at least that they could find a way to make it work.
We were skeptical, but again thought it was an interesting concept. It wasn't until later on that it became a realization as to how that process might work.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Front Steps
It was a long day today. Dropped Sara off at the airport this morning for another trip to California. She'll be there until Friday. Spent the next couple of hours away from the office for work. Then tried to get caught up at the office.
I stopped by the house briefly on the way home. They installed the front steps to the porch today and have done a ton of cleaning.
As I posted earlier, we got to show the place to a lot of friends and family over the weekend. Then, it was caked with dust and the carpet looked like it had just been installed (because it had). Sherri and the crew have vacuumed, dusted and cleaned like crazy today, so it is really starting to look like a new, finished house.
It was dusk when I was out there, so I need to go back to look further at the steps, but from what I can see they look great.
I stopped by the house briefly on the way home. They installed the front steps to the porch today and have done a ton of cleaning.
As I posted earlier, we got to show the place to a lot of friends and family over the weekend. Then, it was caked with dust and the carpet looked like it had just been installed (because it had). Sherri and the crew have vacuumed, dusted and cleaned like crazy today, so it is really starting to look like a new, finished house.
It was dusk when I was out there, so I need to go back to look further at the steps, but from what I can see they look great.
Family Weekend, Pantries and Closets
Ahhh, where to start.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday were awesome, but nothing short of chaotic (in a wonderful way). This was Sara's graduation weekend from her MBA program and we had all sorts of family and friends around.
I think between Friday evening and Monday, Sara and/or I was at the house seven or eight hundred times. It was wonderful and we are so close to being done and in that it is kind of like showing people a completed house.
A few minor new changes and some big changes.
They installed our front door. For some reason, this was an early selection we needed to make. We did shaker everything, but not the front door because we chose this so long ago. Might be something we change out down the road, but for now we just need to decide what color we want it. Pre-weekend, we collected all sorts of different shades of red. I think after the tour of homes that we're going to do a white (still have to select among a pallet of whites) and let the focus be our awesome stone.
They installed the French Doors to our office off of the foyer. They look great. Just found out a few hours ago that the stained glass above the doors (a TJB hallmark) will be installed tomorrow).
They were able to pour the sidewalk last week as well. We met with a prospective landscaper last night, and he said I had them pour it perfect for what we were discussing as far as retaining walls go. That's my green thumb and landscape architecture proficiency in action. They also poured the patio off the walk out, which you'll see below.
They pulled the cardboard off of our wood floors. We chose Brazilian Cherry for the floors and selected a wider board. Aside from the inevitable coating of dust that still exists, we are very excited about the wood floor.
They also took the covering off of the granite. Sara and I detoured a week or so ago after being in Edina looking at closets and went to Hom (I spelled that correctly) to see if they had any cool bar stools. Even for the long term, we want to be able to sit at the island for meals, but in the near term we definitely need to because we're going to wait on purchasing a nice dining room table. I really like what we found. The color is like the floors rather than the stain. The chair covering matches our couch and chairs and really goes well with this whole part of the house. I think our plan is to keep these. We purchased five of them.
On Saturday morning, my mom, Sara's dad, Sara and me took a walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous morning and someone was out on the lake on their pontoon. The chain of lakes is stocked with fish, and allows boats as long as they are electric.
We decided to go with The Container Store's Elfa shelving system for our closets and pantries. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Sara's mom and Dick for their help with this. The system is very user friendly and are set up to be fairly easy to install. That's true unless you are impatient or imprecise. I'm imprecise. So thank you, thank you, thank you for your help on this.
This is all of the "stuff" for the master closet. We met with a few people for options on this, and found the Elfa system to be best for what we wanted. It isn't as fancy as the California Closet's options, but it is as functional, less expensive, and much more interchangeable. And, while a little more expensive, we found it is a far better option than simple wire shelves.
Carol and Dick sizing up the directions. Getting ready to go to town. The Container Store does a great "how to" instructional video online. I think Dick viewed it several hundred times because when he got to the house, he knew exactly what needed to be done.
After Sara's graduation reception, we brought a crew over to help. Here is Grandma Labadie helping prep everything for us. Thank you!
This is totally posed. I have no idea what I'm doing. But I grabbed some tools, climbed a ladder (without crying. ok, I cried a little) and pretended to be helpful.
This is the final product for our Master Closet. The huge (really huge) side to the right is Sara's. She's going to get frustrated with the vacant hanging space and go shopping to fill it. The side on the left is mine. It is well suited for what I might own at some point. That back wall is Switzerland. It may remain empty forever out of fear of one of us being offended.
This is the Pantry off of the kitchen. We are thrilled with this system. We have more room to put stuff than we have stuff.
The coat closet in the Mud Room. Nobody will ever see this unless they wonder too far after using our bathroom. This is where we walk in from the garage. So this is the only time you'll ever see this.
Yesterday, my wonderful wife walked across the stage at Northrop Auditorium and got her diploma for her MBA. She hadn't received confirmation that she'd passed her last class, but since then we've learned she got an A-, so it's a done deal. I think she was hoping and praying last night would be relaxing before she left today for another stint in California. I scheduled two meetings with landscapers (one to walk through a bid and the other to show them around the property to get a bid) at 6:30 and 7:45. So much for a relaxing evening.
We're excited to move ahead with gutters and landscaping, which I'm spending time on this week while Sara is traveling for work.
I can't believe we're less than two weeks from closing.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday were awesome, but nothing short of chaotic (in a wonderful way). This was Sara's graduation weekend from her MBA program and we had all sorts of family and friends around.
I think between Friday evening and Monday, Sara and/or I was at the house seven or eight hundred times. It was wonderful and we are so close to being done and in that it is kind of like showing people a completed house.
A few minor new changes and some big changes.
They installed our front door. For some reason, this was an early selection we needed to make. We did shaker everything, but not the front door because we chose this so long ago. Might be something we change out down the road, but for now we just need to decide what color we want it. Pre-weekend, we collected all sorts of different shades of red. I think after the tour of homes that we're going to do a white (still have to select among a pallet of whites) and let the focus be our awesome stone.
They installed the French Doors to our office off of the foyer. They look great. Just found out a few hours ago that the stained glass above the doors (a TJB hallmark) will be installed tomorrow).
They were able to pour the sidewalk last week as well. We met with a prospective landscaper last night, and he said I had them pour it perfect for what we were discussing as far as retaining walls go. That's my green thumb and landscape architecture proficiency in action. They also poured the patio off the walk out, which you'll see below.
They pulled the cardboard off of our wood floors. We chose Brazilian Cherry for the floors and selected a wider board. Aside from the inevitable coating of dust that still exists, we are very excited about the wood floor.
They also took the covering off of the granite. Sara and I detoured a week or so ago after being in Edina looking at closets and went to Hom (I spelled that correctly) to see if they had any cool bar stools. Even for the long term, we want to be able to sit at the island for meals, but in the near term we definitely need to because we're going to wait on purchasing a nice dining room table. I really like what we found. The color is like the floors rather than the stain. The chair covering matches our couch and chairs and really goes well with this whole part of the house. I think our plan is to keep these. We purchased five of them.
On Saturday morning, my mom, Sara's dad, Sara and me took a walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous morning and someone was out on the lake on their pontoon. The chain of lakes is stocked with fish, and allows boats as long as they are electric.
We decided to go with The Container Store's Elfa shelving system for our closets and pantries. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Sara's mom and Dick for their help with this. The system is very user friendly and are set up to be fairly easy to install. That's true unless you are impatient or imprecise. I'm imprecise. So thank you, thank you, thank you for your help on this.
This is all of the "stuff" for the master closet. We met with a few people for options on this, and found the Elfa system to be best for what we wanted. It isn't as fancy as the California Closet's options, but it is as functional, less expensive, and much more interchangeable. And, while a little more expensive, we found it is a far better option than simple wire shelves.
Carol and Dick sizing up the directions. Getting ready to go to town. The Container Store does a great "how to" instructional video online. I think Dick viewed it several hundred times because when he got to the house, he knew exactly what needed to be done.
After Sara's graduation reception, we brought a crew over to help. Here is Grandma Labadie helping prep everything for us. Thank you!
This is totally posed. I have no idea what I'm doing. But I grabbed some tools, climbed a ladder (without crying. ok, I cried a little) and pretended to be helpful.
This is the final product for our Master Closet. The huge (really huge) side to the right is Sara's. She's going to get frustrated with the vacant hanging space and go shopping to fill it. The side on the left is mine. It is well suited for what I might own at some point. That back wall is Switzerland. It may remain empty forever out of fear of one of us being offended.
This is the Pantry off of the kitchen. We are thrilled with this system. We have more room to put stuff than we have stuff.
The coat closet in the Mud Room. Nobody will ever see this unless they wonder too far after using our bathroom. This is where we walk in from the garage. So this is the only time you'll ever see this.
Yesterday, my wonderful wife walked across the stage at Northrop Auditorium and got her diploma for her MBA. She hadn't received confirmation that she'd passed her last class, but since then we've learned she got an A-, so it's a done deal. I think she was hoping and praying last night would be relaxing before she left today for another stint in California. I scheduled two meetings with landscapers (one to walk through a bid and the other to show them around the property to get a bid) at 6:30 and 7:45. So much for a relaxing evening.
We're excited to move ahead with gutters and landscaping, which I'm spending time on this week while Sara is traveling for work.
I can't believe we're less than two weeks from closing.
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