Need a Builder For Your Home Project?

Well folks, you've all been on the edges of your seats watching us complete our home remodel project. After all that has been said and done, I can recommend to you the following: if you are in the Denver area and in need of a contractor for your home improvement project, I WOULD NOT USE AR BUILDERS. My opinion is that they are terrible communicators who show far too little concern for the needs or the safety of their clients and consistently shift the responsibilities of their job to either A.) their client or B.) their subcontractors. In my opinion, they have done far too much to avoid actually managing the work. Additionally, they seem to create opportunities to produce unnecessary time constraints in order to pressure their clients into commitments and decisions. Lastly, to me, they are unacceptably unresponsive. We ended up reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. There's my consumer opinion!

The Floors are Finished!

We are just about ready for our final inspection! John finished the large task of installing the wood floors for the addition and Brendan installed the wood on the stairs. The banister is up on the stairs. It just needs some stain at some point. The kitchen is complete and all of the appliances are hooked up. They are both working on trim throughout the house - a large task that takes time and patience!

Counters and fences...it's looking good!

The long awaited granite tops were delivered and installed today. The first two pictures are the bar area in the dining room followed by John and Barbara's kitchen counters and then their bathroom "grotto." Now we just have to get the faucets in and hooked up and we are good to go. After 4 months of a relatively open back yard, Jameson is nice and secure with the new section of fence up. Of course now that he can relax outside in the sun without running away, he would rather nap on the couch. Go figure!

Goodbye Fred...

We said goodbye to Fred the shed today. It served us well and let us put a ton of things in him. We are very excited to see the backyard again. Got grass anyone?

Bet You Thought We Were Done...

Well, the answer is no. However, we are really on our way. The tile is done on the main floor as well as all the areas in the bathrooms. John has worked a tremendous amount on his kitchen cabinets and will have them up and ready for appliances by early this week. We also painted and painted and painted. John did most of the ceilings while Barbara and Meg worked on the walls. The great room is just about finished. It is "Svelte Sage" and ready for trim and crown molding. All the furniture is in and Brendan has the speakers throughout the house dialed in with a remote that he can use anywhere (we call it 'Tim Rainwater' style ; )). While we are tired and achy, we are loving the progress and excited for the next week. We expect the plumber and HVAC guys to finish complete their jobs as well as completing a dry wall punch list. We also plan to empty "Fred" our nice trailer that has held everything in our backyard since April. Once Fred is empty we will move dirt and get him hauled away. After that, you all have to come and help us landscape and move in. Sounds like fun, right???

Looking at the pictures, there are two views of the house, one of the shower tile in the boys bathroom upstairs, John and Barbara's bath tile, the main floor bathroom tile, John and Barbara's kitchen cabinets (some of the uppers are not hung yet), and then 3 pictures of the great room as you pan to the left from the fireplace.

More Sea World

Our meet n greet with Sandy. Shannon made our day so memorable. It made the boys' list of "Best Of" for them!

Meg and the Boys in CA

The boys and I came to Nana's house last Saturday for an extended visit and to get away from the the major messes on the addition and remodel. We ate at Gladstones on the way home which proceeded to make Owen throw up all night and Garret feel sick. At least they both got really cool foil sea creatures to take their left overs home in. Welcome to vacation!
In the first week we went to a birthday party, spent 3 days in San Diego, visited Sea World and got up close and personal with the dolphins, spent a day at the beach and an afternoon with Kari and John in Long Beach. We are now enjoying a quiet day back at Nana's.

The trim goes on.

The painters moved right along today - until the massive thunder storm drove them to the new garage. We also passed the HVAC inspection, had more electrical completed, the insulation guys foamed up all the holes, and we tried to pass the electrical inspection. We corrected all of his from yesterday and got his new list of things to fix.

We've got the big doors and color!

The garage doors came yesterday. We can't use the openers yet. We need to get the outlets connected, but we can park in there and get away from hail and tornadoes!

They are also painting the house, adding the trim detail to the pillars on the front porch (brick will go on the bottom), and putting in smoke detectors throughout the existing house. We had the electrical and plumbing inspections yesterday. We didn't fare as well as Garret did in Kindergarten, but the changes aren't too big of a deal and should be taken care of in the next few days.