Final inspection...signed off!

The nicest King County building inspector gal that Jake has ever met came out today and gave us the mighty blessing!

Oh sure, we have to finish the back deck and have her come out to see that when completed but basically we are ok to move in. Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was very decent and knowledgeable and it really topped off the whole arduous process with a positive note.

I really haven't talked much about this addition. Probably because it has been such a daily process for so long but it looks like it is now coming close to the end. Those of you who know me well, have been living and breathing this blasted project forever. So, thanks for hanging in there with me!

So, it is time for some picts:

First, let me say, Jake did all the finish work in the addition except paint, flooring and tile. Finish work is his real forte. His perfectionist tenancies really pay off on these sorts of projects. He was responsible for picking all the colors and I think they really turned out nice. I was very involved early on with design process and layout so I do feel like it has been a collaboration although Jake did all the work.

This is the long awaited master bedroom. Don't mind that drop cloth on the floor. Behind the blue wall, which is really a head board wall, is two walk in closets. One for each of us. Yah! Jake doesn't have to look at my piles anymore, or visa versa! Notice the sweet little gas fireplace in the corner. Cozy and simply flip a switch!

Here is the master bathroom which is a pretty big deal for us. After living in a 2 bedroom house with one bathroom for 8 years as a family of 4, we have been feeling a little bathroom starved. This one is all our very own, no sharing, unless we really like you.

This is the trick shower in the master. We are big shower people in our family. The kids are the only ones that bath and now that Molly is getting to be a big girl, Shea may be the lone bather.

I pushed for those pebble mosaic tiles. They come in a 12 inch square sheet with mesh backing. I am just tickled the way it turned out. The shower pan is also the pebble mosaic and it feels like a little foot massage as you stand on it.

Hat tip goes to our excellent tile guy, Sergi. He really did a nice job.

We did two shower heads, one on each wall for added grooviness. And, I can safely say that this is the most excellent shower I have ever been lucky enough to own.

So, all is well. I am beginning to fill the closets, quickly. And, we plan to tackle moving our bed down tomorrow. We have one of those Sleep Number beds and it comes apart in 82 pieces or there abouts so I want to start early enough that we can get it up and running by bed time.

Molly will move across the hall into our old room tomorrow as well. The kids will finally get their own rooms. Kisses and accolades to my great kids for hanging in there too. They have been such good sports about sharing a very small space all this time.

So, it is a busy weekend ahead but exciting, like a new chapter.

The addition to the house

I haven't really written about this yet. Probably because it has been part of my consciousness for so long it didn't really seem like news. But, now it really is coming to fruition and I am fit to bust.

When we moved to Vashon, we bought a 1908 "fixer" farmhouse on 5 acres. Our little piece of paradise. Although, it was completely trashed and had a gaping hole in the roof. I was scared to death but Jake knew what he was getting into.Or so he said. The house originally was said to have 4 bedrooms but after Jake took it down to the studs and added brand new wiring and plumbing it ended up a 2 bedroom house. Both downstairs bedrooms turned into needed living space.

Those were back in the days when it was just Jake, Molly and me. Two bedrooms was going to work for us but then the sky opened and dropped little Shea into our midst. We were thrilled with our family of four but had to go back to the drawing board on how to fit all of us into a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house.

Needless to say, we have been talking about a 3rd bedroom with bathroom for quite literally YEARS! At first we were trying real hard to just stay within the footprint of our existing house. Mainly to avoid getting building permits with King County; a particularly tiresome, expensive and frustrating necessary evil. Believe me, if it was possible, we would've done it that way, long ago.

So, big decisions had to be made, the inevitable really. With much thought and discussion, Jake designed a simple rectangle addition that would bump out on the north side of the house. To make sure the proportion worked, he changed the roof lines on the addition, one higher than the other which matched the existing pitch of the house. In the addition we were getting a big master bedroom with 2 walk-in closets with master bath. AND, another 3/4 bath which I lovingly call the glorified powder room. Can you tell we are a bit bathroom starved here at our house?

CAD drawings were pulled together from Jake's design. One thing we did right from the top was hire someone to help us with the permitting process. That was money well spent. He helped us pull together the important info and submitted it to the county. Wait, wait, wait. Denied. Non-conforming septic system. Argh! Thankfully, we found someone to help us with a new septic design and re-submitted it. Wait, wait, wait. This time is went through successfully! Hurrah! The permitting process ended up taking a year and a half total.

We broke ground in March 2008. I thought it was a romantic idea that the addition would happen when the house turned 100 years old. Jake did a lot of the work himself. He did the grading for the foundation, framing, sheathing, drywall & mud, siding and of course, will end up doing all the finish work. We brought in island help for the foundation, roofing, electrical, plumbing, tile work, insulation, painting and flooring.

Well, here it is Christmas eve and all I want is to move into my new bedroom. I was really hoping we would be in by Christmas morning but we won't be. Close but not quite. As I type, we have the last of the flooring happening, the plumber is bringing gas to the fireplace and setting up the new hot water tank. We are ready for fixtures to be set in the little bathroom but it may not happen until after Christmas. It's ok. We have come a long way.

With this addition, we've made the commitment to stay put until the kids get out of school. 15 years or so. Wierd to even think so far ahead but now we all have room to grow.

Molly will finally get her own room and Shea will stay and take over the existing kids room. We get to move downstairs with our own bathroom and closet space. Bliss.

Merry Christmas, indeed.