On the Threshold

This is what our house looks like from the front, these days.  No change, really, unless you notice the odd light in the attic window.

Walking by, you might think you see something interesting through the front window.  If you were to (climb the construction fence and pass the port-potty, then) walk through the (still locked) front door and through the house, this is the sight that would greet you:

They're building a house back there.  I can't believe how fast it's going.  I know that the speed is partly because I'm a grown-up and time zips by for us, and I know that there will probably come a time in this process when progress seems to slow and I will be markedly less enthusiastic.  For now, I am utterly flabbergasted at how fast a debris pile is turning into a house.  I need to sing the praises of our hardworking crew here; they're out at dawn, and they're still there when I come creeping by near sundown.  I'm glad for them that the weather is currently pretty nice, and I wish them much future weather pleasantness and all the donuts they can eat, but I cannot believe that they're putting up walls faster than I can fold laundry.

On Monday morning I was pretty excited to see some lumber stacked at the site and structural stuff taking shape,

By Monday night they had built a whole room.   I walked through the actual back door of my house and it gave me chills.  It's hard to process that my dream house is being made real (knock wood!).  And that's all I can say about it, because I'm too superstitious to talk or write about how it feels lest something be tempted to go horribly awry (knock wood!), but that door-shaped wood thing up there is a miracle.

And by today they had the whole first floor.

Standing in the kitchen, looking at the porch.

In the garage, looking at the house.

That's my fireplace.

All of the walls are put together and then raised and bolted to the rebar in the slab.  That seems both awesomely secure and way too easy, to me.  It's almost magic.

I can't tell you how tempted I am to unscrew this and see what happens.

Back there is the new wall that will link the old part of the house to the new.  And they're cleaning the insulation and HVAC out of the attic, so I know the second story and new roof will be here before I know it.

This is just the prettiest attic ever.

I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow, and I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Probably something to do with these stacks of lumber.

Stacks of lumber, artsy version.