Day 12. Can you stand it? I can’t really believe we’ve made it this far: our first inspection is tomorrow! The framing is done, for all intents and purposes, until if/when the building inspector wants to take a look, and the electrical rough-in is complete. Today was mainly a day to finish any lingering tasks, and to clean up after the framing stage. Saws were put away, everything was swept and vacuumed, trash was removed, bits were tidied. Jeff and I ran errands to get specs on the framing for the shower door, and to seek out some more tile for a decorative element in the kitchen. All in all, a mellow, but productive day.

Unfortunately, the plumbers had to cancel. Again. The fear of sheetrock has been put in them (thank you, Dave), and hopefully (fingers crossed!) they will be here tomorrow and Thursday to finish what should have been started last week. We’re still on schedule, so the blip from the plumbing scheduling issues shouldn’t totally throw things out of whack. Shouldn’t. I’m hopeful that they’ll make it happen. I’m learning that the schedule is more of a guideline, and that the fluidity of the process allows for some measure of time adjustments. But, I’m also learning just how intertwined all these jobs are, and how much one subcontractor’s absence can affect the entire project.

Jeff and I assessed our budget (ick) and realized a crucial aspect to design: once you allow yourself one “splurge” it’s very difficult to pull back on other areas. You start to talk yourself into things, think about how much you’d hate to have to compromise, and you end up paying more than you’d hoped. Add to that extra unknowns that inevitably come up during the process and you can end up spending waaaay more than you expected in the beginning. But, it’s only money, right? In the end, we’ll have something, a home, that we really love, that will hopefully stand the test of time, to be loved by other families in the future. Design is, for me, about establishing a structure where life can happily buzz along, about creating a world where inspiration is all around you, and about respecting the world we all share. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, so make your world beautiful and inspirational to you. The rest will work itself out. Right?

We have more wrapping up to do this week, and Brad has a full list of electrical that needs attacking (and snaking, and slithering) before the drywall/sheetrock crew can come in an close up all the walls and ceilings. The carpentry Team will be on managerial tasks this week, mainly, hovering and directing to keep the plumbing crew on task so we can (hopefully) get another inspection by week’s end. This means we might have WALLS by next week. Walls! Crazy!

Pictures!