Building our new house - Ha felépül egyszer a házunk...

Exciting day again...the trusses for the roof arrived this morning, as it was promised. So we'll have roof over our heads soon...:) Ismét egy izgalmas nap...megérkeztek a tetőelemek ma reggel, ahogy igérték. Szóval hamarosan tető lesz a fejünk felett:)  

I like http://www.houzz.com   because you can browse tons of pictures and  get interior design ideas (you can even save them in your own folders) Here I've collected a few ideas for our bathrooms...Vanities, fixtures, lights or just the layout...Feel free to comment, share your ideas, or just say hi:) Click on the link below to see the design ideas I like... Nagyon szeretem ezt az oldalt: http://www.houzz.com   mert rengeteg lakberendezési ötletet merithetsz nézegetve a fotókat (ami neked tetszik, saját könyvárba rendezve el is mentheted)  Ezen az oldalon pár ötletet gyűjtöttem össze...mosdók, szerelvények, világitás vagy csak az elrendezés... Szivesen veszem, ha megosztod a véleményed (neked tetszik valamelyik? :), ötleteidet, vagy csak be akarsz köszönni. Klikk az alábbi linkre: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/62562/list/Bathroom-ideas

While we are waiting for the trusses for the roof to arrive (hopefully tomorrow), I have my homework to do: finding plumbing fixtures for the bathrooms. Vanities, faucets, bath tubs, shower and shower heads, toilets let alone all the accessories, that I can buy later (towel racks, soap dispenser, toilet paper holder etc.)...my head is starting spinning...Anyway, I've found quite a few things online, and we also visited a big showroom in LA just to have a taste...:) I like contemporary style, so I've tried to pick all the fixtures that fall into this category... I added a link with some of the ideas I saw online, feel free to check them out and let me know what you think...:) (I know, you can't argue about taste:) http://www.houzz.com Oh, by the way, the second floor is done! yay:) Mialatt a tetőelemek kiszállitására várunk (remélhetőleg holnap), én nekilátok a házi feladatomnak: ki kell választanom a fürdőszobai kellékeket, és szerelvényeket. Mosdók, csaptelepek, kádak,...

It's been a while since I wrote anything here, but the life hasn't stopped...only for a couple of days at Thanksgiving:) How interesting it is that "big things" always happen when we are about to go somewhere (summer vacation, trip to San Diego and now our traditional Thanksgiving family get-together). Before we headed out to Half Moon Bay the last Tuesday morning, the big crane arrived and all the big beams were put up on top of the first floor. So now the workers can start working up there...The house is getting higher and higher...I'm afraid we're going to block the view from the neighbors :) But we'll have the best view in the neighborhood. I can picture myself sitting on the balcony and enjoying the great panoramic view of the mountains...But we're not there yet...:)  Egy ideje nem irtam a blogra, de az élet nem állt meg azóta sem...csak egy pár napra, Hálaadáskor. Milyen érdekes, hogy a "nagy dolgok" (értsd: látványos:-) mindig akkor ...

The first floor is almost done..well, at least the framing:) it's exciting to see how fast the walls have been put up. In about 2 or 3 days almost all the walls are up, the only one missing is the one with the arched windows on the North side of the house. Dave gave me some brochures and I've got my homework to do: choose windows and doors...so now I'm studying vinyl windows, exterior and interior doors...styles, shapes, materials..wow, my head is starting spinning:) Az első emelet majdnem kész, legalábbis ami a falakat illeti :) Izgalmas látni, milyen gyorsan felhúzzák a falakat. 2-3 nap alatt elkészültek vele, már csak az északi oldalon levő oldal hiányzik, ahol a boltives ablakok lesznek. Dave adott nekem egy jó pár prospektust, és megkaptam a házi feladatom: nyilászárók kiválasztása:) szóval most bőszen tanulmányozom a bel-és kültéri ajtókat, ablakokat, anyagok, stilus, forma...ajaj, a fejem már kezd szédülni..:) View from the kitchen - Kilátás a konyhából Po...

Wow, I've got to catch up, because things are speeding up here:) My guess for the entire floor to be finished up in a few days turned out to be an underestimation, since it's actually been finished in a day! That's impressive! Not only was the floor finished, they also worked on the stairs into the basement, and now we don't have to use the ladder to climb down, if we want to look around, but can go on the stairs. They did a great job on that. When we looked around downstairs, it looked great, and huge :) What a difference it makes to have a 10" ceiling! It makes the basement look much bigger and spacious. All we need to figure out is the interior design :) Ajaj, bele kell húznom, mert a dolgok kezdenek felgyorsulni :-) Alábecsültem, hogy a teljes padlózat elkészitéséhez pár napra lesz szükség, ugyanis egy nap alatt elkészült! Lenyűgöző! Nemcsak a padlót fejezték be, de a basementbe levezető lépcsőn is goldoztak, igy már nem kell létrán lemásznunk, ha körül akaru...

Another step closer....we've got the garage floor done ( or basement ceiling)! It's good to see the progress, and how Dave's crew is working on our house. As I told Dave the other day, I didn't really like Mondays in the past, knowing that the whole week is still ahead, and the weekend is so far....but now I kinda like Mondays, because after a "long" weekend when they're not around, the crew is back and back to work...:) So yesterday I was talking to Dave and he said they'd probably be done with all the floors by the end of next week, and then they can start working on the framing of the first floor..and I was like, "so when is the concrete coming?" Since I'm from Europe, I can't imagine a house, especially floors, without solid concrete:) Dave started laughing and pointed to the floor saying, "hey, this is SOLID...you'll have concrete on the driveway". OK, I trust them, they know it better than I do...:)) Just in case,...

It's very exciting to see the very first wall up. When we look down in the basement now, we can see the wall that's going to divide the whole area into 2 smaller ones..we haven't really decided it yet, what to do with it...maybe a workout room and an entertainment area or something like that...It was fun climbing down the ladder and see the basement from a different perspective. It looks much bigger down there than it is from above...:)  The next step is putting up the floor joices and pour the concrete...that means we have the garage floor done soon, too:) Nagyon jó látni, hogy áll az első fal! :) Ha most lenézünk a basementbe, látjuk a falat, ami elválasztja majd az egész területet két kisebbre...még nem igazán döntöttük el, mit csináljunk vele...talán egy edzőterem-féle meg egy tévézős-játszós hely lesz vagy valami ilyesmi...Jópofa volt lemászni a létrán, és egy egész más perspektivából látni a basementet. Sokkal nagyobbnak néz ki ott lent, mint fentről...:) A követk...

Well, it's time to celebrate...at least a little bit:) We've got to the first milestone of our big project: the basement is done! The slab has been finished today. Dave and his crew arrived early in the morning, and started the day with some energy booster Mexican breakfast:) Then they got to work and by around noon they were almost done. We were very fortunate with the weather, because showers had been forecasted earlier, but we had only light drizzle during the day. It actually helped, because the concrete didn't dry fast, so they could smooth it. When we got home from school with Noemi, David came up with the idea of having her hand print in the concrete...just like the big stars in Hollywood :-) So Noemi climbed down the ladder and put her hand in the plaster as well as wrote the date next to it...So another step's done and we're moving up to the next phase, which is going to be the waterproofing, then compacting the soil around the walls and sta...

Since it takes a few days for the concrete to dry, I thought to "take a brake" and show you around in our little, cozy motor home :) Though Wayne is an expert when it comes to living or traveling in a motorhome, I had no idea what it was like, until we first were "introduced" to this guy. It's a 1985 36' Titan, and still running. Of course a lot of stuff have been replaced or changed in it. Until about 3 years ago, my parents-in-law used it, and as far as I heard, they had had some adventurous trips, as far as Alaska, British Columbia etc. Well, seems that after 20 years it was time for a change, so they bought a nice new Rexhall push-out giant, and we "inherited" the old one. As a new "homeowner" I had to learn how everything worked. By now I've been familiar with most of them...air conditioning, gas stove and oven, ceiling fans, shower and bathroom (well, that's kind of an exaggeration, since there's only a sink and a toilet...

I can't believe it's October! I know it's a cliche, but time flies by so fast. The workers have been working hard lately, and voila...the basement wall is finished! Yay :) We're are now at ground level, and the pit is actually getting the shape of a house. I can't wait to see the framing to start. Alig hiszem el, hogy október van! Tudom, közhely, de csak úgy repül az idő. A munkások keményen dolgoztak az utóbbi napokban, és ime...a basement elkészült! Hurrá! Végre elértük a "talajszintet", és a nagy gödör kezdi egy ház formáját felvenni... Alig várom, hogy kezdődjön a falak felhúzása. The basement wall is finished - elkészült a basement fala...

...so today's accomplishment is this: the blocks have been delivered, the crane arrived on time and the blocks are being lowered into the basement area just right now. Not bad...Good thing it is "just" 95F today. ...szóval a mai nap eredménye: a betontégla megérkezett (nem is tudom, téglának illik-e nevezni:), a daru is itt volt reggel időben, és most éppen pakolják a raklapokat a basementbe...jó kis munka...szerencsére ma már "csak" 35c-os meleg van..

So we are making progress...The rebars now are where they should be, and concrete has been poured. Much easier for the workers to get around in the hole:) All we need to do is to get rid of the dirt...Dave hired a bunch of guys and using the good old method (ie. wheel barrow) they are going up and down on the ramp...Boy, it is a hard work, especially today, when we have record heat, 110F (42c). Szóval haladunk...A vasbetonhoz szükséges acél és beton ott van,ahol lennie kell :) Igy már könnyebb közlekedni ott lent a gödörben, nem kell bukdácsolnia a munkásoknak...Most már csak a felesleges földet kell valahogy eltávolitani a gödörből :) Dave felfogadott egy kisebb brigádot, hogy - a jó öreg módszerrel - lapát, talicska, rámpa - ma ezt a feladatot is abszolváljuk. Hát, nem mondom, kemény munka, annál is inkább, hogy ma rekordokat döntögető meleg, 42c van...

...well as far as I'm concerned, the fun begins now:-) Since I don't really know much about drilling, rebars, sump pipes and pumps, and who knows what else, I haven't had a chance to get involved in the project so far. But now, as we're transitioning to "my territory" ie. interior design, I'm getting more excited. I talked to Dave, our contractor yesterday and I was also introduced to our plumber (not Joe :-) I'm going to get a list with the number of faucets and sinks we'll need (it's not that I can't count them on the house plan)... So I'm ready for my first "designer" challenge :-) Man, I've just checked a website, and found thousands of different faucets... Good thing the price tags help me to eliminate quite a few of them, and I also got some good advice what to look for when we pick a faucet. I just realized that I haven't shared the house plan with you guys yet, so high time to upload it.  ( Click on the pict...

It's been a while since I last posted something on the blog, but life hasn't stopped and I need to catch up :-) So what's going on now? We have a big hole just in front of our motorhome! Our dream home is starting to take shape...well, at least we can see where it's going to be :-) The initial excavation started just before we left for our regular end-of-August visit with Wayne's parents up in Cupertino. We (the girls of course) felt like Rapunzel being "rescued" by prince Charming:)) Instead of letting our hair down though, Dave, our contractor helped us down on a ladder - into the big hole and out on the street...because there was no more "front yard" in front of the motor home...just the huge hole -  where our house is going to be:-) Coming back after a week, we found an even bigger and deeper hole. Man, it is scary! :) Basically, the entire lot is a big hole:) The only way we can get to the motor home now is going around on a narrow pathwa...