Final Inspection. In order to get approval from the town, we needed to pass Building, Fire, Electrical and Plumbing (Boiler). Throughout this process, I have had no luck and an absolute lack of respect from the inspectors. It was so annoying. So it came to be that I insisted that my father (who happens to be the architect) needed to be present during the inspections. Sure enough, there was more respect in the room and I started to get the passing stickers. Building passed with flying colors (she didn’t even look under the stairs). The fire inspector saw the boiler was ship shape and test the smoke/CO alarms (I had to get Wren out of the house for that one). Passed.

Electrical passed after I installed a shut off outside the hot tub. Makes perfect sense, but the interesting thing was he saw this connection months ago and said nothing.

Plumbing had a little issue with the ventilation of the boiler room. Lots of burning, no air, so to speak. So I piped the air intake of the water heater directly to the outside using the old dryer vent, taking it out of the equation. Then cut away a bottom piece of the door and installed a grill in order to create a convection current (the top is a louver). After that, passed.

January 18th, 2007. Almost a year after we bought the house, we officially (according to the town, anyway) finished construction. We got the Certificate of Approval. There were a couple more things I need to do, though.

The second the building inspector passed us I started working on the server room. First up was building the component stand. For a while I was thinking of using some parts from a metal pro stand that I got from a friend, but then I found out it was too expensive to get new shelves...so I built it myself out of wood. I had some plywood left over in the garage and I went to the Ikea lumber yard where I got predrilled wood for $5 a piece. These are the same legs that are from the shelves in the work shop. A couple of L-brackets from Home Depot and I was set. I even stapled some Elfa shelf liners to the top of the plywood. It should have fit perfectly, but thanks to the wonderful contractor I had, the opening wasn’t square. So I had to chip away a little on the inside to make it fit. There are 6 shelves, which technically are adjustable, but I doubt I ever will adjust them.

The original plan was I would also make a door there and I left the wood unfinished because of that, but after I added trim around it I didn’t think it needed it. It looked fine. Maybe one day, I’ll add a door.

I also needed a couple of shelves in the server room and I had the perfect ones. We had some white Elfa shelves left over from the apartment that we couldn’t use anywhere else (the rest of the house uses the platinum color). They fit perfectly.

When I looked at the temporary curtain in front of the server room I actually liked it. That, and as it turned out, a custom louver door of that size wasn’t cheap. So I got a door frame, you know, the same one the doors had but without the door, installed and trimmed it and now it really was finished. Now to do the thing that has been plaguing me for months - the master bedroom window frames/trim.

The thing about this is it was never supposed to be redone, but when the demo guys tore apart the rooms, they destroyed the frames, even thought they knew we weren't replacing the windows. I could have done them a long time ago, but I kept pushing them off because it wasn't something that needed to be done in order for something else the done (like inspection), and, as you’ve probably figured out, there was a lot of that. I had a couple days off plus the weekend at the end of the month which I devoted to finished up this lingering thing. It wasn’t that easy. In following the same style as the rest of the floor, the frames were made up of 5 pieces. It took 2 days to build and 2 days to paint. After that one of the first things we ever bought for the house, the blackout blinds, were put up.

Then finally, the absolute last thing I needed to build was done (keyword: needed). It was a small drawer cabinet in the master bath. Since the tub is 6 feet and the room is 7 feet, we put in a seat with the same stone top as the counter and underneath I made a small drawer for extra storage. I had the wood and stain for a long time, but this was clearly low on my priorities, but it was significant none the less because it was the last thing that I had to make.

And we are done. Just as in any house, there’s always something else. I considered this the completion of the original plan that we started when we first laid eyes on this house. Once again, done.

The Future. The something else. It starts today, as they say. Literally. As I write this, we had some landscapers clean up the side and the front of the house. Not just for aesthetics. You see the container was parked there during the construction and not only did they destroy the front yard, but all these little bits of crap were lying around that we just couldn’t get rid of. So they fixed it up nice. I just have to keep watering the lawn so the grass can grow.

Next up is doing something with the sun room. There’s a glass ceiling in there so like a greenhouse, it gets REALLY hot in there. We decided it would be worth it to have some people come in and put some UV filtering film on the windows to help keep it cool. The filters also help keep the heat in during the winter as well. Put some blinds in and move the couch in there and we can start enjoying the room with Wren. She has to share.

The other interior thing I’d like to tackle is the attic. A lot of the floor boards are open, so if I cover them up I can make it more useable for storage. Condition it (it’s already insulated) and it’s a useable room.

Further in the future we need to fix the retaining wall for the exterior stairwell. This requires us to dig up the front (not where the landscapers were) and rebuild the wall. We also want to landscape the backyard, but we’re not in a hurry for that one. I think we’ll rest a bit first and enjoy the house.

Still want more? See the original and final pictures, click the right arrow.

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