Putting the kitchen to the test

Wow... my last post was June 8th.  Here we are the day before Thanksgiving.  I've been moved in for a while and had quite a few Housewarmings.  I have not finalized my 203k yet though.  The building inspectors in my town kept pushing off the final inspection.  I got my final sign off a few weeks ago and we had our final 203k inspection.   Now we are just dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's and should be done soon.

But, I will post final pictures and final wrap up soon.  But in honor of the only person who reads my blog--here's my Thanksgiving apple pie recipe.

My "recipe" is the Betty Crocker Sugar Kissed recipe with premade pie crusts and lots of extra cinnamon and sugar (and far too many apples).

Roll out bottom pie crust into glass pie pan.  (Keep cat at bay)

Apples, I get pretty much two-three of each type that they have at the store (a few macoun, empire, cortland, macintosh, granny smith, honey crisp).  Peel them and then core slice them.

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix together 3/4 cup of sugar, 2tbsp flour, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, dash salt and tsp of cinnamon.  (I go heavy on cinnamon and sugar... and use some fresh ground cinnamon.

Mix the sugar mix gently over apples and squeeze into pie shell.   Dot apples with butter and grind cinnamon over top.

Cover with top pie crust. 

Mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.  Put 1/4 milk in bowl.  Brush milk over crust.  Cut vents into crust. Sprinkle sugar mix over crust.   Place pie in oven.  (Have a foil lined baking sheet under pie... it will bubble over and it burns oven... TRUST!)

Check pie after 40 mins.  Pie is done when crust is golden brown and you can see bubbles through glass pie pan.

Let is cool... and enjoy!

The kitchen...

Quick Update

So we had our second inspection today.  The first one was easy enough.  The check came within a few days.  I forgot there is a 10 percent holdback so it looked like a smaller amount.  I paid for three inspections so we figured we'd have one today to get another chunk of change before the final inspection.

What's done:
Kitchen
* gutted to studs/new drywall
* hardwood floors
* new lighting
* new cabinets and moldings
* new appliances
* updated electrical
To Do: counters/finish painting/sink/electrical/gas for stove

Bathroom (upstairs)
* gutted to studs/new drywall
* new granite tile floor
* new bath
* gorgeous tile (love the little glass ones)
* new vanity/sink
To do: toilet/finish plumbing

Bedrooms:
* Gorgeous hardwood floors refinished... just awesome
* New doors
* Closets done
* New closet in office

Other;
* New front back door
* New screen doors
* Paint paint paint
* Back porch windows/paint

Here are today's pictures...
Kitchen

Bathroom

 Blue stripes in bedroom (can you see them still? yikes!)
But look at the FLOORS!  I know, right?

 Living room:

 Back bedroom:

 Porch with horrible dead tree peeking in... bugger!

The First Draw is the Sweetest

Had my first draw inspection today.  Not sure what I was expecting but it was amazingly fast and easy.  (I work 15-20 minutes away and was back in an hour!)

So last week we had our inspections and got the heat turned on (woo hoo).  So the work has started on the finishing.  The insulation and drywall have started.  We picked out tiles this week too.

As far as the 203k process, my GC is working away (two months now) without any payment.  To get payment, you need to submit a Draw Request.  This is completed by the 203k Inspector.  He/she makes sure the work is complete and to code.  They do not pay you for any work not yet completed.  (For example, I have ordered the appliances and Sears is holding off delivering them.  But they are not 'completed' until they are installed.  So even though they are paid for, the bank won't release the money until they are installed.  I am sure some shady investor purchased top shelf appliances, got the check and then put cheap ones in, so now this is the process.)

The initial 203k inspector told us to submit our first Draw Request after we have our permits and are about 1/3 of the way through.  The gas line was the biggest hurdle we had.  Without gas, we had no heat and without heat not much work can get done.  Its been a (depressingly) chilly spring with cold nights so heat was more than a requirement.   If we had submitted our Draw Request earlier a lot of the work would not have been completed enough for the inspector to release the money.

The inspector came through, took some pictures of the progress and filled out the form.  My GC will get his check in about five days.  The check is for about 50 percent of the loan... so further along than 1/3.  I think its made out to both of us but I will be happy when he is paid.

Inspectors pictures:

bathroom

 basement (laundry sink)

 new front door

 bed room (nice trim! ugly paint)

 (furnace!!!)

 (ghost of oil tank)

 (not sure...)

 (spare room closet)

 (bed room closet)

 (trim, baseboards, sawdust)

 (brand new closet!!!)

 (tubby time)

 (insulated kitchen)

All Packed Up and No Where to go...

Quick update, my first mortgage payment was May 1 so rather than pay both mortgage and rent I am temporarily homeless.  My sisters have graciously allowed me in their spare room.  I packed up my apartment (who knew I had that much stuff?) and after a tense moving day, now have a basement that is loaded with boxes.  The movers did not organize it well so I went back today to do some rearranging.  I forgot my camera but will try to get some pictures this week.

The plumber has gotten a lot of work done.  The furnace and water heater are in place and I believe he is waiting on an inspection.  There is a jumble of plumbing pieces in the kitchen... its amazing that he'll get that all together.

The electrician has also done a ton.  He replaced a number of the older outlets and rewired some existing ones.

The carpentry work looks amazing.  The window trim is up.  The old trim wasn't terrible but the old owner painted with the wrong paint.  My GC encouraged me to just redo all the trim.  I am glad I did... something that seemed so minor to me really does make a difference!  The closet in the small room is in.  It looks awesome.  Its fun to see it coming along.

For the 203k, I heard from my mortgage company.  They asked why they hadn't heard from me yet.  Work has to start within 30 days for the loan.  I explained that work had started but for the Draw Request we were only about 10 percent in.  So we wanted to wait for the plumbing inspection to submit the first draw request.  They said this was fine because we were waiting on the gas line.  I checked in again last week just to make sure we are all on the same page.

So things are happening... I will try to get pictures this week.

Think positive thoughts...

Go a call from National Grid today.  He was at the house and wanted to know where we wanted the gas line!  Hope this means they are moving along.

Right now EVERYTHING hinges getting the gas line installed.  The house is gutted but its been getting pretty cold at night still so the house install is cold.  We do not want to do any work until we can get a constant temperature in the house.

If we can get the gas line installed quickly, the rest can follow pretty 'quickly.'  I know its a relative term but c'mon gas line!

Today's Walk Through

Met with my GC today to do a walk through just to take a look at everything before he meets with the electrician and plumber.  They've been doing demo and getting stuff cleared out.  Wow... what a difference.

Bathroom:

Kitchen:

Kitchen looking into bathroom:

Garbage barrel full of icky tile:

And the floors... really great shape:

Except for this one area, in front of bathroom... bad doggy or kitty:

All in all great progress!  Exciting... its getting real!

Sneak Peek

Here are some 'before' pictures to show you what I am dealing with

The floors:  The crackheads previous owners installed their own laminate floors.
See how close it is to the wall... quality work.

The paint:
I wish I knew what possessed someone to do this... actually I do not want to know what was going through their veins minds when they did this.

(shudder... its manic!)

The bathroom:
I love the color red... but redum from The Shining comes to mind here...

The kitchen:
There is not much redesign with location but we will upgrade cabinets and get rid of the tile.

 This tile is on all four walls.  Its cheap and ugly.   So we have to take the walls down to the studs and put up new drywall.

The plumbing:
The prior owners had the water turned off in 2008 due to non-payment.  The house was not foreclosed on winterized until October 2010.  At some point, several pipes in the basement burst.  Look at this fun stuff:

The heating:
The home had oil heating and the furnace original to the house and with the lack of water to the home its essentially rusted and cracked.  Even if I wanted to keep the oil heating, I'd have to redo it.  So out with the oil, in with the gas.

The porch:
I love the back porch.  Its a small mud-room porch.  The windows were broken and snow was coming in.  The de-winterization people boarded up a window.

I am excited to show the 'after' pictures!  My design inspiration is 'Beach Cottage'... so pretty much every picture you can find!