Pre-Construction

good bye spa
you were great except for that whole
harboring-dead-animals thing

This post is longer overdue.

cutting sheet rock to install piping for the new water heater -
you really don't want to know what's in a plumbing wall from the '50s

This summer we started our 'pre-construction' phase on the house. In part this was jump-started by the Texas Trade Up appliance rebate program (which ended up being this total debacle for the state in terms of organization, which was eventually all blamed on the consulting company they/we hired). I sat in front of the computer for hours while various websites crashed, all while continuously re-dialing two different phone numbers (yes, this was the strategy for a state with nearly 25 million residents) until I reached a live person. I did this twice so we could get some rebate money back on 'trading up' our water heater to a tankless unit

sayonara, you old clunker

and our a/c unit to one that wasn't 15 to 20 years old.

there was barely enough space in the attic for the ultra-efficient a/c unit,
that there are actually two guys standing on this ladder

Both are so much more efficient than our old units, are sized for the square footage of the 'new' house, and our utility usage has gone down. We also took advantage of rebates provided through the City of Austin for the a/c and the Texas Gas Service for the tankless. We are so thankful for all of the rebates. But really, I'm especially thankful for instant hot showers and the extra 16 sf in our (soon to be old) laundry room.

look! actual side-by-side machines!
and space for a person to stand in front of them!

look what fits in our car!
(child not included)

At this time we also went ahead and changed our den (back) into a bedroom, so currently we technically have a 3-1. Zoe's old room (yes, the one we labored over) was turned into storage + some friends have temporary custody of a single bed and living room chairs + the den received some flowers courtesy of Dr. Seuss = Zoe has a new room.

funky flowers where French doors once were

And so it begins....

!!