Landscaping and Wood Flooring

Every week is so exciting around the house, there have been some major changes! A big thank you to Fred Gratto for helping us get and plant all of our trees, bushes & flowers. It really changes the look of the house. See for yourself . . .

Curb appeal.

Butterfly Plants, Knockout Roses, Fall Cassia, Muhly Grass, Juniper Parsoni . . . We are also going to put down a pavered walkway from the driveway to the front porch, explaining the large expanse of dirt.

The plants on the right side of the yard: more Knockout Roses, Changs Ruby Loropetalum, Gardenia, Juniper Parsoni and Fall Cassia.

I guess there’s a reason they call these butterfly plants. The butterflies came out before we even got all the plants in the ground.

We have a Lace-bark Elm in the front yard, it’s doing well.

We put down another four pallets of sod on Friday. The backyard is staying like this until next year (give or take) and we’ll finish the sod then. We’ll probably put some seed down in the mean time. We planted an oak tree in the back and it’s not looking so good. I’ve been trying to water it a bunch – any other tips out there?

Here’s the side yard, next to our neighbors. This was part of the four pallets we put down last week.

On the inside of the house, we’ve started the wood flooring! Here is the office, about half-way complete.

We finished the office, hallway and it’s two closets. I didn’t take up all the cardboard flooring protection, but you get the idea.

Here’s the hallway – ignore the cardboard. We’re glad to get out of little spaces with this flooring; the larger rooms should be easier.

We have also been preparing for carpet. This floor is much cleaner now than how it started, trust me. The two back bedrooms, stairs and master closet get carpet. It is scheduled to be installed tomorrow!

The stairs are clean and the trim is caulked and painted. Adam installed the brackets for the handrail, which is stained and ready to be put in after the carpet.


Brian has been installing the hardware on the cabinets – like our pulls? Also, notice the gap above the refrigerator has been filled in, looks much better.

What’s next – since there’s so much already complete, you ask? Well, we have to do the wood flooring in the Dining, Living Room and Master Bedroom. Then, finish all the baseboards. The shelving, mirrors, towel rods, paver walkway, front porch columns and railing also needs to be installed. But, we don’t need all that done for the final inspection. So, we’re going to push for our final inspection to be next week and then get the bank inspector out here. We’ll see what they say – please pray that everything goes smooth and we get our Certificate of Occupancy next week and the loan process goes well. We’re excited to get this thing done – or at least done enough to where we can finish the rest at our own pace.

Also, tomorrow is our 5 year wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Adam - I love you!!