bunaHaus

2010-04-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

Here are our new floors, cabinets and shelves in the pantry/laundry room. So exciting!

2010-04-05T04:09:00.000-07:00

The flooring in the great room is finished! Now onto the other rooms. Progress is moving slowly now that we're toward the end but it's coming along. We should be ready to move in by the time we head to Utah, go to Maddie's graduation, visit friends and relatives, pick up our furniture from our storage unit (that's been there over 4 years now) and head home. It will be so nice to get out of this little cramped RV. This is one home we are going to enjoy!

2010-02-25T04:31:00.000-08:00

Our good friend, Don Moreland came all the way from Plano to do our tile work for us. He was here 3 days and worked his little buns off in the cold weather.

Notice the hardware on the cabinets and how they match the range so well. Lee is doing a fantastic job building our beautiful cabinets. I will have over 30 drawers because all of the bottom cabinets are drawers.

We are getting excited about finishing and moving in.

2010-01-30T07:18:00.001-08:00

I
haven't posted anything in a long time because it has been really difficult to see the progress being made. But now it's evident how much has been done.

Richard came and helped for 2 weeks and that was such a boon to the completion of the house. We loved having him here and were sad when he left.

Lee says he can't wait until he can say, "Move that RV!", thus revealing the entire house to the street and those passing, who probably thought we'd never get it finished. We probably have another 2 months before we will be able to go to Utah, get our furniture and belongings, bring them back and start living like humans again. We are excited for that to happen.

Our heartfelt thanks to those who have given their time to come to Buna and help on our home. We will be forever grateful--Charlie Iwasko, my cousin, who has driven from Pt. Neches EVERY SINGLE WEEK on Wednesday to help, James Walsh, who has driven from Katy (a 5 hour drive to and from) many times and of course our missionaries who come every single week at least once.

As soon as we get the inside all cleaned out, I will post pictures from the inside.

To all of our friends and family, we love you and thanks for your constant words of encouragement.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

2009-10-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

Lee put the trim on the big windows today with the help of Elders Paxman and Fisher. It is light gray and the house will be painted a lighter gray with the back and front door red.

It was a beautiful day today--cool with lots of sunshine! He said they didn't even break a sweat.

2009-10-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Here is our finished deck! The ground will be built up around it. It is so beautiful and big! Charlie, my cousin came back today to help. He was determined to see it finished. We appreciate him so much! He and Lee have worked so hard in the heat to get it done.

2009-10-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Today was another hot day with 102 heat index. But Lee and Charlie worked hard and this is their results. The deck is close to being finished! Hopefully tomorrow it will be done and I will post more pics then.

2009-10-07T15:55:00.001-07:00

Lee started our back deck today with the help of my dear cousin, Charlie. It was so hot today--102 heat index (yes, I know, it's October--but we ARE in SE Texas). They got so much done. There will be stairs all the way around when it's finished. The front will be the same. It's shaping up!

2009-09-26T12:38:00.001-07:00

So here we are with more pictures.

The roof has taken forever because it was laborious for Lee to work on with "old" knees. If any of you have ever done roofing you understand. My cousin, Charlie and the missionaries have helped so much and we will be forever grateful for that.

The big windows are beautiful and the house has caused quite a stir here in my little hometown of Buna, Texas because it is so different than anything for many miles around. Most people like it but I think a lot of people are awaiting judgment until it is finish.

Interesting story on the fireplace. Lee found it at a junk yard. It is an antique "heatilator" type. He bought it, brought it home, cleaned it up, installed it and is going to install a blower that will blow the heat into the room. He thinks it will heat our entire house. (You know, Texas doesn't get a lot of cold weather--Yes!!!!) We love the look of it.

2009-08-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that the little newspaper, The Buna Beacon came out and talked to us about the house and we were on the front page. Ethan was here at the time so he was with us. It seems everyone in town was concerned about the "bunaHAUS" writing on the fireplace so they published the article so everyone would understand what it meant. Wish I could somehow get the article on the blog but I don't have a scanner.

2009-08-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

It's that point in time when building a house feels like it's at a standstill or is moving very slowly but we are making progress! The weather about 2 weeks ago was soooo hot and Lee was on the roof working. He kind of got burnt out so he took a few days off. He's back full-force now. 2 of the windows were broken while being installed so we had to buy replacements at $212 each. That was the pits! He's putting in insulation when it's so hot he can't be on the roof then works on the roof when the weather's more favorable.

2009-07-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

My computer broke and I just bought a new one so I can publish to our blog now. I DON'T like being without a computer!

We have windows! The roof is ready for the final roofing! We are really coming along on it. It's looking more like a house everyday. Ethan has been SUCH a big help. He works tirelessly with his Papa. We are so proud of him Cruz and Ella have tried to help too so I have to give them some credit.

2009-07-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

We have had an angel appear at our home in Buna--Rodney McKimmey. He is a friend who came with a crew of 2 and our son Richard from Vegas to put in the electrical--free of charge. He sent the 2 men in a truck with all of the supplies and flew him and Richard here. They have worked for 3 days and have done a jam up job putting in the electrical--top notch all the way. Thank you, Rodney! Thank you, Richard for all that you did on the house while you were here too. Richard painted "bunaHaus" on the chimney so everyone from the road could see it. I'm posting a pic of it. Funny son!

2009-06-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post pics of Ethan, the great helper. Here he is putting up the hurricane ties. Isn't he handsome?

Ethan, the great helper

2009-06-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

Ethan finally made it here last Friday and Lee put him to work putting up hurricane ties for the roof. He can't believe this Texas heat. It's been in the mid and high 90's with no rain in sight for the next 5 days.

They're still working on the rafters. I think the task has been more daunting than Lee thought it would be. He had 4 burly missionaries come over yesterday and put up 10.

Rafters, rafters, rafters!

2009-06-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know what happened to my post for today so I'll add another one.
We've had help the last two days--our good friend, James Walsh and my favoritest cousin (I tell all of them that), Charlie. Most of the rafters are up and they're preparing for the roof-decking which Lee is thinking about having someone else do. (I think he deserves a break, don't you?)

Our grandson, Ethan is coming tomorrow and we are so excited. He and Lee will have a lot of "male-bonding" time while working on the house

2009-05-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

2009-05-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

All walls are up except one! The gentleman in the photo (besides Lee to the left) just stopped off the road one day and offered to help any way he could. He offered any of his tools or anything else we might need. He put his money where his mouth was today and helped for several hours, brought his ladders, saw and nail gun. Thank you, Frank Garcia (he doesn't speak espanol--go figure).

2009-05-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

All of the walls except 2 are up. Yippeeee! It's been really hot but cooler weather is on its way for a few days.

2009-05-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Walsh family came to help today--a 5 hour drive (to and from) but they came and worked their little buns off. James, Jamie, Vicki, Jared and Ryan Walsh--such good friends.

We now have 2 closed in walls in one of the guest bedrooms (we call it James and Sharon's bedroom). It's lookin' up!

2009-05-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's coming along! My cousin, Charlie Iwasko came and helped Lee again today. We had a beautiful day--a little warm--but beautiful. As long as I feed them (it's the least I can do), I wonder if people will keep coming to help? :)

2009-05-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

We have walls! Elders Horn and Chappell help Lee every Monday so they came again today and helped put up our first walls.

We got almost 2" of rain yesterday. Our lot hadn't dried out from the last rain! But we're expecting beautiful (and hot) weather for the next 5 days.

2009-04-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had an absolutely beautiful day today--light wind, sunshine, not too hot. He got the decking on! So tomorrow he starts the walls! Yipee!

2009-04-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

We got 2" of rain last night so notice Lee is wading around the bays in his rubber boots. Oh the perils of building a house but then I should be grateful because this will be the LAST house we build! Hallelujah!

2009-04-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

We got a new addition to the site today--Lee's new straw hat! He was so excited so I had to get a pic of it. The only problem was that the wind was blowing and every time he turned around, it blew off. So who knows if it's going to stay and besides with it on, he looks more like "Farmer Brown" than "Carpenter Joe". :)

2009-04-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

We have a floor! My cousin, Charlie Iwasko came and helped Lee all day long today. It would've taken Lee 3 days to do what they did today. We thank everyone who has helped!

As you can see, we won't have to worry about our house flooding. We got 10 inches of rain in 2 days the other day so it happens a lot here. That's why everything is so green year round. The weather has been beautiful and will be for the next 7 days so progress will be made!

Buna sunsets

2009-04-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is a sample of the sunsets we have from our home! Que bueno!

bunaHaus

2009-04-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, here goes! I've never done this before so it's a new experience for me.

We are building a home in the little country town I grew up in--Buna, Texas. And when I say "we are building", I mean just that. Well, I'm not doing so much but Lee is building it. I help when there's something not so heavyweight to do.

This is a rendering of it, done by no other than our son, Richard. I'm so proud of him! It was at his behest that I consented to do a modern home. Everybody down here thinks it's weird! Go figure!