instead of wallpaper

we're doing this cool spotty design in white on gray.
Rob has been working on the house most days, after leaving his real job. The mudding is almost done, so he'll be sanding it soon. The temps have dropped into the 40's during the day (except the other day when it was 23 degrees), and into the teens and twenties at night. But the house warms up with the propane heater.

At this point we're (and by 'we' I mean 'he') trying to get done. Because we have sold the house we're in, and are now paying rent, we have a lot of money going out each month for mortgages and rent. When we finish the house, we can refinance the building loan and the land loan into one lower payment, and obviously stop paying rent. Rob being less busy at the shop means more time to work on the house, but less money coming in to help supplement the building funds.

The flooring is on a truck to Wilmington from somewhere. We're excited to see it and lay out a few pieces. I found a large wooden futon at the Goodwill yesterday for $35. Crazy. The pad was huge and looked in good condition - the frame is solid but needs painting. hmm, who do we know who can do furniture finishing...? We just escaped making a terrible purchase on a beautiful, expensive like-new drawer dishwasher that had bad reviews online (but the price was great...!). We're going to start haunting the Habitat store looking for faucets and a dishwasher.

step inside...

my new frigec 'cause it could probably hold you. It's a 26 cu in Maytag side-by-side. I found it at the Habitat Homestore (see the links list) for 1/3 of its new cost. It seems to be new, with just one crease on the side down low. Now to find dishwasher and...

Drywall continues. Insulation was blown into the attic. We bought tile and flooring, and that's why I'm a nervous wreck. The tile we bought from a discount tile store, so we got to see it, and get advice from the store owners. But I bought the wood flooring online. There's something about doing it that way - I don't know, its a bit SCARY! So the living room/kitchen/dining room, and little bit of hallway all going to be golden teak (beautiful, but maybe too overwhelming?), our bedroom and closet are brazilian koa, which was my first choice for the whole house but Lumber Liquidators didn't have enough at $2.99, and the other 2 bedrooms are a dark elm, just because there was enough of it. Tan travertine tile for the foyer and our bathroom. And for the screened porch, a tile that looks like flagstone (sorta kinda, but it's fun). I could have papered the floor with money for less. If you visit, and there's nothing for you to sit on, or to eat, it's because I don't have any more money...