Doors, and windows, and tiles, oh my!

I won't lie, the house has been stressful the past few days, but it should be mostly over tomorrow. 
It all started with the surprise phone call two weeks ago, that we needed to make a decision about the door.  We met with Mr. Carpenter two weeks ago, and we showed him a door that we really liked. 
He got back to us on Monday with an offer.  He offered us two doors:  one wood, and one aluminum.  The wood is about 1/3 more expensive than the aluminum, but I keep worrying about how the aluminum door will look.
Here are our two options:

Both would have two sidelights, instead of the one.  The grey door is wood, and we would probably paint it black.  The white door is aluminum, and I am undecided on the color.
We need to decide by tomorrow, if at all possible, because doors have an 8 week delivery time.

That's just where the fun started though.  Yesterday afternoon, the stucco guy called and said that he cannot start with the outside stucco until we get something like window sills outside on the first floor, where the windows come into contact with the ground.  He told us that our options are stone or aluminum.  Joern wasn't too keen on the aluminim option, as we will be walking over these window "sills" very often, and aluminum can dent, or break if too much weight is applied (or if Joern launches himself if he isn't paying attention.)  He had a better feeling about stone.  But, the stucco guy cannot start until the sills are in, so he suggested that we go buy them today.

This morning, we headed off to the tile place, to ask about stone exterior window sills.  Imagine my surprise when the saleswoman told us that the delivery time on the stone sills would be EIGHT WEEKS!  I calmly turned to Joern and said, "be careful, my head is going to explode."  ARGH!  If someone had ever told us that we even needed these, we would have dutifully chosen them at the right time, and they would have long been ordered by now.  BLARGH!  So, Joern called the architect, who suggested we head to a DIY store, and chose something we could pruchase immediately.  After Joern got off the phone, he decided to ask the saleswoman how long it would take to order the tiles.  Even though we chose the tiles in October, we never officially made our decision, or placed the order.  Our growing concern was Mr. B's decision yesterday that we would finalize our decisions at the tile showroom after I return from the States.  While that sounded good in theory, we also realized that I fly in on a Wednesday, which more than likely meant that we would have an appointment at the tile showroom the following week, which would be one week before "Cute Tile Guy" wants to start work. 
Fortunately, we asked today, because she said that some of our tile could take up to 4 weeks to get!  Obviously, this would NOT work if we wait until after I return from the States.  Its a good thing the steam could come out of my ears, because it surely would have exploded upon this news. 
We agreed that we would go to the tile showroom tomorrow to finalize our selections, and that Mr. B would coordinate with the tile place today so that as soon as we finalize our selections, the order can be placed.

After we left the tile place, we headed over to the model home park, which brought back some amazing memories of looking at model homes, and dreaming of our "one day" home.
We looked at doors:

And we looked for exterior window sills:

Honed granite

Aluminum

"peppered" granite



I think it was the best decision to go to the model home park.  We got the opportunity to see a lot of things we needed to, and its always best to see things on exisiting homes, rather than in a showroom.

Joern called me this afternoon and told me that he went to a local granite dealer.  He chose the honed granite sills in black, which I really liked as well.  They will be on Monday, so hopefully, we can get started with the stucco on Tuesday!

Its really nice to know that we're in the completion phase.  I know that we can get stuck here in this phase too, but we're not building anymore, we're wrapping up!  Despite the stress and craziness, it feels good to be here, and know that soon, we'll be done!

Second Window Day and our first visitor visit in our house

Yesterday, the window installers came to finish the windows.  There wasn't much left for them to do- just the window in the foyer and the window in the kitchen.  But, what was much more exciting was having my friend, Iris, come and visit the house.  This was the first time we had someone come over and chat with us in the house, like a visit, not just a show here and there and go somewhere else experience. 
I also got our first house gift- a bottle of window cleaner.  Thank you, Iris!  Since receiving your first house gift is such a big deal, it must be forever immortalized, as it will now be, in my bog :)

Of course our visit included a tour.  And Joern so very sweetly set up a beer table with some water for tea and a few pastries.  So very cute and sweet, Joern!  Oh, and you can see the now completed kitchen wall with all the windows.  I know it is a little different, but I think the overall wall is very cool!

And here are a few more pictures of the house, which is now almost completely closed!

This is something cool that German windows do, you can tilt them in a little to let in air.

                                 And this is just a cool picture of the sun setting on the castle.

                     
The windows are pretty much done.  There are two windows that need to be changed out because of a defect and a scratch.  Also, our back door is a bit sticky- if doesn't close unless it is locked, but you have to push against it too to lock the door, but the window guys will work on that. 

We're now looking forward to next week- the coming of the plumbers!

Alles gute zum Fenstertag!

I know, I know, this is an English speaking blog, but we are in Germany, and today was Fenstertag (Window Day.)  I'm pretty sure the inspiration for the name of our new holiday came from one of the students in our class, whose grandma (Oma,) comes to pick him once a week, a day which he has aptly named, "Omatag" (Grandma Day.)  So, that's how I came up with Fenstertag (Window Day.)  Joern and I have been wishing each other a Happy Window Day since last Friday, when we thought the windows would be installed.  But, as it turned out, Window Day was, in fact, today.  I must admit, it was totally worth the wait, and Window Day turned out to be a wonderful day. 
The three window installers who work for Mr. Windowman showed up today at 8:30.  Sadly, I didn't get ahold of Joern until 3:30 this afternoon, and the suspense was driving me crazy!  But finally, at 3:30, Joern was able to confirm that the installers were there, and that they hand been working hard most of the day. 
First, the installers put in the frames. 

And then, they installed the windows.  Here is what our house looked like this morning:

And here is what it looked like this afternoon:

                                            And a view from inside the dining room:

All but one window were installed today.  We also realized that today was the last time we could hop in and out of the back of the house without a key.   Inside the house really has turned from an empty building into a future home. 

Tomorrow, the window guys have to come back to install the kitchen window, because the screws were too long, so they needed to order them and they will be in tomorrow.  We had so much fun opening and closing all the windows though, and walking, or actually hopping, through the windows today.  I'm excited to show my friend Iris the house tomorrow when she comes to visit!

Windows part 1ish

Today was supposed to be "Window Day," and it kind of was.  Mr. Windowman came by with a few of his guys today to start the installation.  This morning, Mr. Windowman told Joern that he needed to get ahold of Mr. B before he did the installation, but couldn't.  So, they started out by moving the windows and their frames to the proper rooms.  And tried calling Mr. B multiple times. 
By lunch time, no word from Mr. B, so Mr. Windowman decided to install only the cellar windows.  The good news is that the window in the light well was installed, as well as one window in the foyer, before the end of the day.  But, Mr. Windowman couldn't do anything further without speaking first to Mr. B.  So, he left for the evening. 
When I got home today, I was excited to visit the windows in their respective homes and to walk through the one window that opens and closes!  Here are a few shots:

                                         Okay, I am holding KEYS to our back door!

With one half of the dining room front window.

The light well.

Our window handles are all silver.  Cool!

The windows are 16 cm (6.2") thick.

After work today, Joern tried again calling Mr. B.  Of course, we had our suspicions as to why he was unavailable, as his wife is pregnant, but had no confirmation.  Joern finally called his cousin and his wife (our structural analysts and very good friends of Mr. B.)  Neither had any news either, but then Joern's cousin's wife called Mr. B's parents, who confirmed that Baby B is on the way, and that Mr. B was in the hospital.  Obviously, you can't be mad at your architect when his wife is about to have a baby! 

Mr. B actually called at around 7:30 tonight, appologizing for causing trouble.  No Baby B yet, but he worked out everything with Mr. Windowman, and confirmed that Mr. Windowman will be able to install tomorrow!!!!



Disappointed

Well, we had hope.  Since it is 9 pm now, all hope for today is lost.  No windows.  Mr. Windowman never showed up.  But, Joern did say later that it is expected that the windows will be in by Wednesday, so obviuolsy, Mr. Windowman still expects to come on Monday.  Either that, or we'll be getting a phone call sometime in the near future. 
But, beyond the disappointing news, we got some exciting news as well!  We met with Mr. Plumber today to hammer out a few financials, well, quite a few, like the gigantic price of the fixtures.  We did a walk-through of the house with Mr. Plumber as well.  He said that before the plumbers begin installation, we will do an official walk-through, during which the plumbers will mark off the exact location of all the fixtures and faucets on the walls.  So today was just a quick walk- through.  But after our negotiation session, Mr. Plumber said that we can expect the plumbing work to start on- APRIL 4th!  We can expect the plumbers in 10 sleeps!  I don't think I can take the excitement!  Wahoo!  This means, it is really crunch time, plumbingwise.  We need to make sure all of our decisions on the bathroom fixtures are final, because installation time is almost here!
No house plans this weekend, as we're headed up to Rhineland-Pfaltz to visit my friend, Mandy and her husband, Doug.  I hate to wish the weekend away, but I am so looking forward to Monday, and so hoping that Monday is "Window Day!"

WINDOWS!

While we were in America, Joern spoke with Mr. B concerning the windows.  He said that we could expect the windows to be completed by calendar week 14 (Germans love calendar weeks.)  So, after spending a few moments counting through my dad's "antique trucks" calendar, we quickly realized that the windows were expected sometime around the 4thish of April. 
This all means of course, that we were totally caught off-guard this morning when the phone rang at 7:10.  I was in the middle of putting on my eye-liner, which meant I was still a good 10 minutes out from being ready to leave for work, when my mother-in-law called to inform us that our windows being delivered.  Crap!  I was already in danger of being late for work this morning, and spending a little gawking at our new windows simply was not in the time plan this morning.  After running around like a crazy woman though, we did make it out the door by 7:15.  I calmed myself down, by realizing that this morning, being late paled in comparission to the arrival of the windows.

 I was able to truly enjoy a few minutes to walk around the delivery truck, watch one pallet be offloaded, and give Joern a thousand-and-one kisses because it was all so very exciting before heading off to work.  Have I mentioned before how work gets in the way of life?  If not, I should have.  Today was just another day that it killed me to drive away from all of the house excitement, knowing full-well that by the time I came home, the excitement would be over.
Here's what I missed during the morning:

The kitchen windows sitting on top of Joern's garage. 

My father-in-law made a good supervisor today.

                                   A second, much larger, and stronger truck with a crane was
                                     called in to bring the remaining pallets of windows onto the garage.

Of course, it was exciting to round the bend on our future street, and see this sight when I returned home from work:

It isn't so easy to see, but there are paletts of windows on top of Joern's garage and

on top of our foyer.

We had a very pleasant visit from our friend, Marcus, who we haven't seen in quite a long time.  We enjoyed a chat and the sun, and caught up on our lives, his kids, our houses, etc.  It was very enjoyable and very nice to see Marcus, and I am sure Joern was very proud to show him around the house. 

After Marcus' visit, I ran around the house, to take a bunch of pictures.  I realized that not only did I need to take pictures of the windows waiting to be installed, but also needed to take "official," pictures of our completed second floor interior walls.

                                     And, I felt the need to take one last picture of the "shell."

We also received a cover for our light well in our cellar.  It needs to be covered, but also

allow for light to enter. 

Master bedroom

                                              Front, very light-filled children's bedroom.

While I was running around, snapping pictures, a stucco worker truck pulled into our private street.  Since we're nowhere near this point in the house, I just continued to merrily run around the house until Joern said, "oh, they are here for us."  Huh?  Turns out that the stucco workers do not only do the exterior stucco, but also prepare the interior walls, and in our case came out to insulate the four very large front windows.  The insulation serves two purposes: 1) to eliminate any thermal bridges from the front windows, and 2) to make the openings for the windows that much smaller so that we could still get french doors that would be covered under warranty by the window installer.
I was shocked that the two guys pulled up at 5:30 and started working.  5:30 is pretty late and uncommon on our building site.  But, the two guys were really nice, and got to work quickly installing the insulating sheets.

                                 You can see the insulation on the left side of the window opening.

And while the stucco guys were doing their job, I decided to check out how our "new" driveway looked with one car, and no construction trailer in it.

Yup, one more sign that we are moving on:  the construction trailer is gone from the driveway, as of today!

I have to say, the driveway now looks much bigger!

The window installer is set to start tomorrow morning with the smaller windows. Evidently, two windows have a problem with their coloring, but Mr. Windowman will check this tomorrow.  The large windows are on the plan for Monday.  It seems crazy to think of how different our home will look tomorrow!