For those of you watching this blog over the course of the last few years, you will already be aware of the shipping and logistics nightmares that have been problems throughout the project due to the pandemic and supply line issues.

One of the biggest and longest-delayed items on the furniture front has been the sofa for the main living area. We ordered it in May from a company in California which seemed to have the best mix of design choices, materials and quality. On their website, you assemble the sofa from choices presented to you. Once you click “submit”, they respond with a schematic drawing of the sofa which you then approve. They also sent a folder with leather samples and materials for us to approve and, once their checklist was complete, they put the furniture into production.

The original ship date was August which was going to work out well when we expected the house done at the end of the summer. But as the date of the house completion slipped, the sofa slipped as well going from September, to October, and finally November.

Once it was shipped, we followed the progress of it as it made its way across the country. I was dreading the arrival because, if it was damaged in any way and we had to get it remediated, it could take months and months so my worry for getting this piece of furniture into the house safe and sound was off the charts.

The day finally arrived and the crew showed up slightly late for their delivery window. Snow was pelting down, adding another worry. But they exited the truck, brought the pieces in and assembled them in their final resting spot within minutes. They were undamaged and in great shape and, as usual, all of that worry was for nothing.

The kitchen is coming together with our replacement bowls from East Fork and a consistent style on the shelves. The shelves are fairly easy to keep clean with micro-fiber cloths and, although the side island is dusty in these pictures, clean counters devoid of junk and appliances really make things look nice.

As far as the house itself goes, construction-wise, there are still some pain points.

1. The backyard area behind the summer porch will likely not get done until Spring. The concrete company is currently trying to finish large jobs like foundations and floors before the snow hits and little patios like ours don’t make the cut for attention. Our builder is looking at alternatives, but it is unlikely to happen. The follow on effect of that is that we can’t add the final layer of topsoil behind the summer porch or grass seed or finish that area for months. We got close but it looks like it just isn’t going to happen which is a great disappointment.
2. One of the beads of caulk and paint along the ceiling of the great room is splitting and drying so it needs to be redone. As the house continues to dry out, I suspect we will see more of this but for now, this is the one glaring issue. It isn’t super noticeable because it is so high up but if you know where to look, it looks like shit.
3. We have some lighting fixtures to put in but they haven’t arrived from the supplier yet.
4. The rest of the networking cables need to be wired up.

As far as the important stuff goes – actually living in the house day-to-day, we have very few complaints. Our property is secluded and the house is set back far enough that the road rarely comes into notice. The house is so insulated and tightly sealed that you can’t hear anything outside of the house. After our experience in our last house with morons on loud motorcycles blasting by every few minutes and general hillbilly idiocy with deafening diesel pickup trucks, this is like heaven. Every window we look out, we see woods, or a pond, or mountain peaks sneaking a view through some trees.

We are also insulated by the choices of other people, which is always a big thing for us. We looked at a place in Elmore that we loved but it had acres and acres of land around it that we would have had no control over. It could have been sold to have houses built on it right in front of us, or worse. All around us now are shielding trees, especially in the summer. Since we own the trees, no one can cut them down and present us with an uninterrupted view of an ugly house like the one around the corner from us that is currently under construction.

Another huge quality of life change is that we are just 5 minutes from our child’s daycare and even less from his eventual elementary school so our time spent commuting is a fraction of the 180 minutes we used to have to do in PA.

Next week, I’ll have some details on the solar setup. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is following this nonsense. It’s my favorite holiday because it involves turkey and day-drinking. Also the kids will all be here under one roof which I’ll be very happy about. Cheers.