Construction is contagious

I think they should rename our street from Crooked Lane to Construction Lane. In just our one block there are four houses including ours undergoing a substantial renovation much like ours and just this week the house next door joined the party. However, they are going a little different route than us and decided to just tear down the house and start over.. Yep, one day there was a house, the next day it was gone.. CRAZY.

Before this week

After..no more house

While it is sad to see the house gone that had been such a lovely home for so many years, it is also nice to see all of the progress happening on the street. It truly makes us feel that we are joining a neighborhood on the brink of a new phase and it's exciting to be a part of that.  

Construction vehicles line the street

And, just to keep updated on the progress of our house.. we are now pouring foundation! We received a green tag on plumbing and have been told that the progress will be fast and furious from here on out. We cannot wait to see the house really take shape.

Piers for foundation being poured

Sewer line marked. We learned we will have to put in a new sewer line.

Build your house upon a strong foundation

In the bible there is a verse in Matthew that talks about the wise and foolish builders, and even though it's a very literal application of a verse with very deep meaning it just seemed perfect for today as we watched the crew drilling the holes for the piers and preparing to pour the foundation.

Matthew 7:24-25: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."

Through the architectural process and by having the original blueprints of the home, we know that this home was built with a stable and unwavering foundation. We haven't found a single crack in the walls and many of the elements were very much over-engineered and completely steady as a rock. Given that the house was established on such a strong foundation and because the foundation is the most important element, we wanted to ensure that the new additions to the house maintained the strength and integrity of the original house and would withstand the test of time forever. When we completed the soil tests we learned that there is rock just three feet below the ground where the house sits and our POR (potential vertical rise) that tells you how much potential movement exists for the house was extremely low. This was great news and it meant we wouldn't have to go extremely deep with the piers for the new foundation and the concern for movement is low.

We truly have all of the confidence in our builder, engineer and foundation company and it was great to see them working today to begin building the foundation. They are going several feet deep into the rock to drill holes for the piers that will be poured. Now, that is truly building your home upon the rock!

This is what a drilling rig looks like in your backyard!

The drilling rig in action- very impressive!

The rebar sticking out of the holes marks the location for piers.

The orange circles indicate where a pier will be.
This will be the stoop and outside door from the laundry room.

The new west addition

Our foundation guy, Marshall is great and we enjoyed visiting with him about the process. He expects them to be finished in about 7-10 days with all of the foundation work. He told us the most encouraging words that stuck with me.. he said, "once we are done, you really begin building up from here!" Absolutely! Cannot wait to see the progress continue!

We can see progress (finally!)

We have now been officially under construction for one month and with each week we have continued to see demo, but it seemed like it wasn't really progress towards building the house- mostly just tearing it up. As James says, "We took a very livable, comfortable home and have completely devalued our asset." Well, today is the first time that we actually saw true building progress (insert happy dance here!)  Now, don't get me wrong the demo is finally almost finished in the existing house and it is still quite scary... you literally can see from one corner of the house to the other. But, they have marked off the new addition and started prepping for the pier and beam foundation to go in and we could finally today see the scale of the new footprint for the house. It is really getting exciting now!

View from the kitchen to the far eastern wall of the house.





Jack & Jill bath.. demo complete including the poured concrete floor.

The garage is no more.



View from the old kitchen window..Bobcat in action.

Garage roof is gone

The new garage! (see the edge of the old garage on the left)

And, I had to include one more before and after comparison.. we have all talked about these cherubs that were on the front fireplace outside the house and what to do with them. Well, one of the men working on the house said he would love to have them. We are so glad they found a new home!

Cherubs before

No more cherubs

Of course it's supposed to rain for the next few days, but we are hoping that the progress will keep moving quickly ahead despite the weather! 

Wedding Bells are Ringing AGAIN!





We have another Bilton wedding to plan! (And while I am so excited, I am also glad that I won't ever be the bride again! This time I get to just enjoy the festivities and fun!)

Katherine (James' sister) and her boyfriend Justin had been dating for awhile and we all hoped that the big proposal was coming soon. I cannot say enough about how fortunate I am to have a sister-in-law that is as wonderful, caring, fun, sweet and loving as Katherine. She truly is the sister I never had! :) And as I want for so many of my friends, I wanted Katherine to find the true and everlasting love that I have found and when she met Justin I could see that special look in her eyes when she told me all about how wonderful he was. As soon as we all met Justin, we knew he was the one for her and she was the one for him..they truly are perfect for each other!

So, when James told me that Justin had called him to ask him for his blessing, I was over the moon with excitement. "When?" was my first question (actually I think I might have said "when? when? WHEN?".... hey it's all about love and diamonds.. a girls can get excited!) and about a week later James' mom and I were talking about the details and when Justin was going to pop the question. Justin had the plan in place and just needed the ring to be ready. So we made plans for May 11th.. but then I got a call on May 1st that the ring would be ready this Thursday and Justin wanted to propose Friday night (yeah!). So, quickly Carol and I offered to help and the plans for a magical evening were underway. I was also delighted that my parents were coming into town for an early Mother's Day visit so they would be there to join in the celebration.  Justin's sister provided this inspiration from Pinterest for adorable photo balloons (oh, how I love pinterest.. but, that's for another post).. and Justin got all the pictures together. Mom and I were in charge of balloons and photos and Carol made the gorgeous flower arrangements of white roses and blue hyndrangea (Katherine's fav). The ladies and Justin had a ball decorating the private room at Mercy (J & K's favorite spot and first date location) and then we met the men and disappeared while Justin popped the question.

Here are a few photos from the setup..

Mom, Carol and Justin

Carol and Justin (he wasn't nervous at all!)

The room looked awesome!

Great photos of the two of them everywhere

Gorgeous arrangements

 We were told to expect to be back at Mercy no earlier than 7:15.. well, at 6:59 Carol received a text from Justin that said "Come on!". We went back to Mercy and celebrated with great friends and family. It was an unforgettable evening of wine, great food and laughter as we celebrated the love between such wonderful people.

Bilton family hugs all around!

Carol sees "THE RING!"

Telling the story again :)

Great food and wine for everyone!

The future Mr. and Mrs. Justin Bush

One of my favorite quotes from the evening was Carol when she said "If Katherine says no, I am going to disown her and adopt Justin".. it truly was a sweet sentiment to how excited we all are to have Justin join the family. As an 'adopted' member of the Bilton family, I truly feel that I have been blessed to have become a member of the family and I know Justin feels just as lucky!

And like the amazing woman that she is.. Katherine has her date, church and reception venue booked! We can't wait for Feb 16th!