Our First Home

2011 Master Bathroom

2011-04-24T21:57:00.004-05:00

For 2011 we decided it was time to take the carpet out of the master bathroom. Ashley loved the carpet because it was soft and warm which was nice. However, carpet in a bathroom seems nasty to me so it was time to get rid of it. The walls and trim were also repainted and the shower floor was re-grouted. The pictures below don't show the paint color very well. It really isn't yellow. A look into my closet.

A look into Ashley's closet

A look at my vanity

A look at Ashley's vanity

A look at the toilet.

A look into the shower.

2010 Basement

2011-04-24T21:47:00.003-05:00

2010 marked the completion of the basement. It took about a year and half to complete with all of the work done by me with the help of Ashley. Below is a glimpse of the layout and each room follows with a separate post showing construction from start to finish. I did hire out the 3 parts that I didn't want to tackle myself: Insulation, Drywall and painting.

In the layout below you can see the following

Top Left: Bedroom which I am using as a Den.

Bottom Left: Storage/Utility Room

Top Middle: Great Room

Middle Right: Kitchenette

Bottom Right: Bedroom which is being used as a guest room

Bottom Middle: Bathroom

2010 Basement (Great Room)

2011-04-24T21:25:00.007-05:00

Below are the pictures of the great room. It ended up being quite a large room with full 9' ceilings.

A look at where the 14' entertainment center will be.

All basement ceilings were insulated for sound with spray-in foam insulation.

A look after the crown was installed. I was able to get the same 7" crown that we used upstairs 4 years ago. You can also see my make shift cabinet shop set up. I built all cabinets and doors.

The finished product.

The entertainment center turned out pretty good. I made the TV hole big enough for a 65" TV. We don't have that yet so the 50" will have to do. All components are hidden in the vented cabinet below the TV.

Even has a play area for Makell.

We love the couch. It is enormous measuring in at 14'x8' with a 5' square ottoman.

2010 Basement (Kitchenette)

2011-04-24T21:16:00.005-05:00

We decided to put in a small kitchen area downstairs. It's located right at the base of the stairs. Below you are looking from the great room towards the hall. The door on the right is the stairway and kitchen area is on the left.

Cabinets in. Built by me.

The hole on the far right is made for a dishwasher and the one on the left is made for an under counter refrigerator. We have yet to add those.

2010 Basement (Bathroom)

2011-04-24T21:06:00.006-05:00

Below are the pictures of the basement bathroom. It doesn't seem like a basement bathroom with 9' ceilings, double vanity and 6'x3' jacuzzi bathtub.

First look after the cabinets went in. Cabinets, doors and drawers were all built by me.

Ashley showing off her tile skills.

2010 Basement (Hall)

2011-04-24T21:02:00.003-05:00

Below are the pictures of the hallway looking from the bathroom down. The first door on the right is the entrance to the guest bedroom. Straight at the end is a storage closet. The entire basement has full 9' ceilings except the hall which is dropped to accommodate the duct work.

2010 Basement (Guest Bedroom)

2011-04-24T20:38:00.007-05:00

Below are the pictures of a bedroom in the basement. This room is being used as a guest bedroom and has a king size bed in it. The room size is 13'4"x 12'6".

All of the walls and ceilings are insulated. In the ceiling and exterior walls I had the spray on foam insulation done.

Here is a picture looking into the closet.

2010 Basement (Bedroom/Den)

2011-04-24T20:29:00.004-05:00

Below are the pictures for one of the bedrooms in the basement. I am currently using this room as my den. The room size is 12'x12'6".

Spring 2008 Landscaping

2008-10-25T22:53:00.001-05:00

For 2008 we decided to add some more landscaping down the side and around back.

2008 Flowers

2008 Flowers in full bloom

Summer 2008 Project - The Garage

2008-10-25T22:41:00.001-05:00

I decided it was time to improve the garage space. After all, the cars need a nice place to sleep don't they? I re-built the entrance to the garage so we could have a platform and a cedar lined cabinet to keep all of our shoes in. I also built the cabinets on the left for all my other storage needs. The floor has the do-it-yourself epoxy coating which turned out really well; it just took forever to get all the control joints cleaned out and filled with Vulcum caulk. I also wired the garage with a 240 volt outlet for a heater. Since we insulated all the garage walls and ceiling, it only made sense to have a heater since those Omaha winters go into sub-zero temperatures. Another angle of the garage. What you can't see is the pulley lift I rigged up for my camper shell. If you look close to the left of the clock you can see a cable coming down into a boat wench mounted on the wall. That is what raises and lowers the camper shell directly on and off the back of my truck. It's a one man operation to install and remove my 300 pound camper shell.

A New Member to Join Our Family

2008-10-25T22:38:00.001-05:00

Preparing the room for the newest member to join our family in February 2008. Hope she likes it.

2007 Christmas Lights

2008-10-25T22:36:00.000-05:00

Here was our little light show for 2007.

Spring 2007 Project - Redo the Front Yard

2008-10-25T22:30:00.001-05:00

Ok so we moved in only 6 months ago. Still, our front yard needed some attention. Look at the "Sod!" posting and you'll know what I mean.

Building the walls

Getting ready for sod.

Project complete. Waiting for trees.

Complete!

Winter 2006-2007

2008-10-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

Looking out the front door. It doesn't just snow in Omaha, it's windy too.

Moved in & Settled

2008-10-25T22:20:00.000-05:00

Here was another project we did after closing - the backsplash in the kitchen. Scroll down for the final product. It turned out pretty good.

Great Room

Dining Area

Kitchen (Notice the backsplash)

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Sod!

2008-10-25T22:17:00.000-05:00

We have sod!

Crown Molding & Carpet

2008-10-25T22:09:00.001-05:00

Me painting the 7" Crown Molding (Doesn't it look fun?)Dining Area (Notice the Crown Molding)

Great Room (Notice the Crown Molding & Carpet)

Entry Way (Notice the Crown Molding)

Master Bedroom (Notice the Crown Molding & Carpet)

Kitchen (Notice the Crown Molding)

Interior Paint & Tile

2008-10-25T21:54:00.001-05:00

The house has been painted and so now it was our turn to put down the tile. We had some help from friends and family laying the 500+ square feet of backer board. Then we set out to lay our 16" tile. Of course we layed them on a diagonal so there would be plenty of cuts to make.

Looking from the kitchen into the great room

Looking into the kitchen. Floor is complete. Notice our special area for the dining room table on the left.

Looking from the dining area through the laundry room into the garage

Close-up our our dining area tile work

Looking from the great room down the entry way

Looking from the great room into the hall

Floor covered so it won't get damaged during the final stages of construction.

Exterior Painted

2008-10-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

The exterior has been painted

Trim

2008-10-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

Some pictures of the trim work that we installed ourselves. We decided to put the crown molding up after we moved in since the painter wanted $7 per foot to paint it.

Kitchen cabinets installed

Looking down the hall

Drywall

2008-10-25T21:43:00.001-05:00

We went on vacation for a week and when we returned the drywall was almost complete. Luckily we were gone during this week because we are now up to hang the trim.

Insulation

2008-10-25T21:39:00.001-05:00

Ashley and I insulating the interior walls.

Windows & Siding

2008-10-25T21:34:00.000-05:00

As you can see the windows are now in and the siding is complete. Also notice that Ashley and I have dug some trenches across the driveway. We dug one for a drain pipe for the downspout and the other was for us to feed sprinkler lines through later.

Windows, Siding and back porch poured

Wiring the Essentials

2008-10-25T21:24:00.000-05:00

Here's some more work Ashley and I did ourselves. We wired the house for Cable, Internet and Surround Sound. All the blue and white wires you see are ones we ran. Some might think 2 Coax, 2 Cat5 and speaker wire to every room is a little overboard. Not me!

We wired everything to a central closet on the main floor. With the right components someday we could watch the same movie or listen to the same music in every room or just the rooms of our choice.

Shingles, Brick & Tyvek

2008-10-25T21:19:00.001-05:00

This shows the brick going on the front. Also notice the Tyvek house wrap that Ashley and I put on ourselves.

Roof is complete and so is the Tyvek.

Framing

2008-10-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

The framing begins. This shot is taken looking towards the kitchen. The pantry is slightly to the right. The door to the garage is on your left.

This is looking towards the kitchen and dining area.

This is taken from the back of the house. The kitchen is on the far right corner and the master bedroom as on the far left.

This is taken from the great room looking over the stairs towards the bedrooms at the front of the house.

You can see the roof going up here. In Omaha, most of the builders stick build it instead of using trusses.

We now have a roof.

Here's a shot from the front.

Inside looking towards the kitchen.

Further progression of the picture at the top of this post. Pantry is off slightly to the right.

Foundation and Main Floor

2008-10-25T20:56:00.000-05:00

The forms were set and the walls poured.

Forms removed, Basement and Garage floors poured, walls sealed and back filled.

Main Floor Framed

Ground Breaking

2008-10-25T20:51:00.001-05:00

Lot is staked out

Digging the hole

Hole dug for the basement. Ready for the footings and foundation walls.

The Plans

2008-10-25T20:36:00.000-05:00

We moved to Omaha near the end of December in 2005. We rented an apartment at the time since we weren't able to do any house hunting before moving. After a few weeks of living in the apartment we decided to start looking around. We spent countless hours on the Internet looking at listings for homes for sale and researching different builders. After looking at the many listings and visiting many existing homes for sale, we knew we were too picky to buy something that someone else had built – we wanted out own home the way we wanted it. We were able to find a builder that allowed us to make changes to one of their model floor plans and they would even let us do some of the work ourselves. Below are the plans for our first home. These aren't too detailed since they are ones that I redrew on the computer. In the posts that follow you will see the progression of our house from start to finish including work we performed ourselves during and after construction.

Main Floor

Basement (Unfinished - Above is my potential plan for finishing it)