The Mitchell House

Welcome to THE MITCHELL HOUSE!

Welcome to The Mitchell House!  This is a step by step - photographed accounting of the construction of our new home!  As they say down here in south Mississippi - "This one and one more will be two I've done!"  

There are few reasons to build one's own home.  It is not something you should attempt unless you are committed to about 7 months of hard work - late nights - etc..  However, there is one overwhelmingly good reason to attempt it - MONEY!!!  The cost of this house will be CONSIDERABLY cheaper than a lock and key job. 

So - each category will chronicle the work on the house.  Our target date for occupation is the week before Christmas!!

SELECT A CATEGORY IN THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN TO VIEW THOSE POSTS AND PICS!

Update on Outside!

We have been slowly starting to do a little outdoor sprucing up!  The yard is growing nicely (finally) and we are putting out shrubs and flowers.  It looks a little better in the sunshine - but here are a few pics.

Been A While! IT'S OFFICIAL - ALL BLACK PLASTIC IS GONE!

YEAH! I no longer have any black ground cover anywhere at my house!  We got up early this morning and I used the tiller to plow up the last portion of yard by my garage. It took nearly a solid hour of tilling to break it up. Some of it is only a couple inches deep - others a little deeper.  I sowed grass and then raked it again. 

The ground cover was protecting the brick - now I have pine straw doing that.  See pics below.

Shuttered!

Just a couple more good daylight pics of the house with shutters.

SHUTTERS - AT LAST!!!

Well, almost three months after "finishing" the house, we did some more today - and it really changed the appearance.  We added the shutters.  Robert K. did the drilling - I did the holding!  The sun was behind the house so the light is not too good. I will probably take another one in the morning when the sun is shining on the front of the house.  I will put a "before" and "after" pic up for now.

New Pics of Outdoors!

Slowly but surely, we are starting to transform the yard from a "sea of red dirt" to a "sea of hay!"  Of course, under the hay is a healthy sowing of rye grass.  I am hopeful to get a stand of it up before long. I need to fertilize as well.  Anyway, that is what the pics show below.

More or Less - Finished!

I'm not sure what constitutes finished - because I imagine there will always be stuff to do! BUT - this evening, after I got through caulking and painting the mantle, and Andrea got through vacuuming  and mopping the floor, and after Chris finished up some electrical stuff, the house was pretty much finished. 

Yeah, there are some odd and end things to do.  But for the most part it is finished. I don't have any new outdoor pics showing the concrete outside, and it was dark when I took these - but these pics are from inside tonight!

The freshly painted mantle and surround.

Across the living area from the kitchen.

The kitchen area - pretty much hooked up!

Looking across to the dining room area and foyer.

From the kitchen looking toward foyer and dining room.

Master bedroom with carpet freshly vacuumed.

Master closet looking in to the left.

Master closet looking right.

Garage from Kitchen area door.

Garage looking back towards kitchen area entrance on
left.

Some Almost Done Pics (day before Thanksgiving)

Completed Master Shower

Carport is walled up inside. We are using it for a cabinet
shop for a day or so while we build closet shelving.

Carpet is installed in all bedrooms. Will show more of those
later.

Cabinets and appliances almost complete!

Carpet, Trim, and Closets

Later today, just before we shut down for Thanksgiving, I am planning to put up a good number of pics.  The carpet man is finishing that up this morning.  The trim painters are getting closer to being through. The shower door man put up the shower glass yesterday in the master bath. It looks awesome. 

I am waiting on the A/C man to finish up.  By next week, we will be working from a "punch list" getting final details to close on December 10th. 

Again, I hope to have a good number of pics by this evening.

I need to post pics!

I have taken pics but have not had the time to upload them.  Today I hired someone to go back and cover nail holes on the crown and baseboard and to do all the caulking and painting on the trim - (cased openings, doors, windows etc.

Unless I am badly mistaken, all I have to do now is a little minor grouting - a little bit of repair work - and I have to put down the 3/4 inch shoe mold on all the base that is sitting on tile.  Then I have to put the interior wall board up in the garage.  That should wrap me up.

Stuff that I am pretty sure will get done this week!
Master Shower glass will be installed.
Trim (all that stuff listed above) will get it's finish coat.
Concrete will get formed up and poured for sidewalks, outside garage pad, and some driveway.
Possibly get the garage door up

NEXT WEEK:
Carpet on Monday

WEEK AFTER THANKSGIVING:
Final work on closets and punch list.

Close on house and start moving in!

Every Piece You Nail Up is a Piece You Don't Have to Nail Up Later!

Well, it is getting done - but it is sort of in this "stew" right now!  Today I had to go pick up toilets. I think we have everything pretty much lined up to get the plumbing connections done this weekend.  We got started just after lunch - and the rain gave us a bit of trouble - but we built a saw bench on the back porch. 

We got all but two of the window casings installed.  Of the two left, we have the box built for one-  and we are out of trim for both.  So, 6 of 8 windows look incredibly better!  More caulking and nail-punching to do!

The marble thresholds we had to get to transition between tile and carpet are installed - along with a tad of tile work! Robert did that in about 45 minutes tonight.  

We have all but one door up - the other door is just not here yet - and we have to get door-knobs and door stops - SOON. 

Thursday's (tomorrow's) list!
We are going to work on the casings for our large openings in the house.
The cabinet people are supposed to come back to finalize the cabinets - mainly putting a countertop on the island.
The marble people are coming to install the poured vanity in the master bath.
Not sure about the glass door guy!
We may get some plumbing work done Thursday evening.
We will install baseboard wherever we can.
When time permits (and it may not) I will work on nail punching and filling nail holes in trim.

As tired as I am of working out there this week, I plan to stay late tomorrow working on the trim.