Still Feeling Those Audition Jitters!

The outside of the house is really starting to take shape. Jim & Paul, the siding guys, seem to be back on track and have finished much of the south side of the house, including the side porch! Yesterday they were working on the beadboard ceiling for the front porch. My hopes that they would finish up this week were not realized, but we're happy to see progress!
The stone went up on the lower quarter of the house and is a lovely complement to the red siding. We had a little bit of an artistic difference with the stone mason, but that was resolved amicably and I think we'll all be happy with the final result. The stone doesn't have the grout/mortar in these pictures, but my understanding is that they will be back today to add some more smaller, rounder stones to fill in the gaps and then mortar the whole wall. FYI, that's Steve our electrician standing on the front porch. He's posing for Mr. February in our soon-to-be released Bungalow Boys calendar!

Inside the house, they painted all the drywall and the living room is full of molding - crown, baseboard and window/door trim. The wood floors go down on Monday, so we're cranking right along.

I am finding that the two emotions I feel most often in building this house are anxiety and relief. I think the joy will come later. You pick all these pieces in isolation and then just keep your fingers crossed that they will all mesh seamlessly and beautifully in the final product. So when they do go up/in, relief is the strongest emotion..."Oh, thank goodness I didn't screw THAT up, but now what about....?" I'll be very happy (beyond relieved) when October 21st rolls around and we're done with all the big choices. There will still be a million 'decorating' decisions but most of those won't seem nearly so permanent!