I would like to thank everyone that has helped us paint and lay flooring last week. Robbie, Paul & Joelle, Dave & Tina, Steph and Chuck, and all the kids. We couldn't have made it this far without everyones help. Even those that weren't able to be there last week, have helped before or in many other ways. I know that Jen and I have great families and friends.
As a more complete update, Shannon is officially on the market. She's had a significant facelift and does not show her 63 years of age at all. She will make someone very happy and hopefully, very soon. Jen has been working every evening there getting all of the trim finished and cleaning / organizing the basement. Not to mention packing, cleaning and such. I think we're both going to the spa when this is all over with.
Kane is in the home stretch. At this point, the excitement builds and the money dwindles. All the grand plans begin to be scaled back, when you realize how much money is really left. Here is just a small list of the items that were eliminated or scaled back, simply due to our determination to stay in budget: Geothermal Heat, Concrete walls, Full cavity foam insulation, finished basement walls, garage heat, hot tub, central vac, concrete patio off basement, landscape retaining walls, additional stone veneer. This list probably isn't complete but just goes to show the amount of compromising you have to do, in order to stay in budget. We probably could have afforded most of the above items. But, in the long run, we want to be able to enjoy our lives after we move in. I refuse to be "house poor".
So far, we are still a bit over our budget. Some things happened that are outside of our control, and some other things were "no compromise" issues. For example, we decided to keep one inch of the spray foam in the walls. This took us over our insulation budget. However, the long term benefits of comfort and heating bills were too much to give up. Also, the siding came in over our allowance. Our estimate was a bit low. Roofing also was a bit underestimated and cost more. On the flipside, Jen has been able to save money on fixtures and such so we are doing better than if I were in charge of the money. :-) Then again, if I were in charge of the money, I'd be living in a cardboard box.
Here are some more photos for you. I again thank everyone that has helped us get to where we are. Talk to you soon.
Dave
