Well guys, the compact castle is officially livable! We tied up all the remaining essential to-do’s this past weekend, getting the water hooked up, the gray tank installed, the pump tested, and the Incinolet put in. SO and I also completed our walk-through list of final items for the builder to come address (like the crooked kitchen drawer and the non-working porch fan), checked out all the new appliances, and figured out how the mini-split heat/ac units work. We definitely have fancier technology in the new house, we are officially living in 2020. Turning on the ac/heat and changing the temp with a remote is pretty fun, and there’s a dehumidifier option too. Ok, maybe it doesn’t take much to impress me.

As with all projects, a couple things weren’t quite as straightforward as hoped. There was some particularly annoying PVC that would only allow itself to be cut very slowly by hand, and drilling the hole through the side of the house for the Incinolet was a fun one. It’s a pretty big hole. Getting things to line up perfectly is annoying. But after a few slight changes of plan/approach and a little more time than estimated, it all came together fine. And while the guys were in there working on the toilet (I can say unequivocally that three people DO NOT fit in our bathroom) I put together my fanceh new porch-sittin’ chair.

And of course, while I was putting the chair together I had to stop to take a picture of what was going on directly off the side of my porch.

So at this point we’ve got:

power – check

water – check

toilet – check

tank – check

functional appliances – check

a/c and heat – check

Finally it’s 100% live-in-able!

I haven’t quite moved in yet though, because on Thursday a house-cleaning service is coming to do a post-construction clean (somehow on Thursday I managed to schedule the farrier, the chiro/acupuncture vet, and the house cleaners, luckily all about 2 hours apart). As you can probably imagine, in the process of towing the house 4 hours across Texas, a lot of construction dust shook loose, plus we’ve now been tracking in and out a lot as we’ve gotten everything hooked up. The cleaners will come and scrub the floors, baseboards, windows, sinks, shower, counter tops, and cabinets, and in an hour they’ll finish a job that would probably take me most of a day. Money well spent. After they’re done I’ll start moving my stuff in, with the bulk of it (and myself) coming on Saturday. Luckily there isn’t really that much to move so I don’t think it’ll be too bad. The bed is the biggest thing by far.

For now I still have plenty to do. I’ve been selling furniture on Marketplace like it’s my damn job (and indeed, yesterday I made more selling my old rando furniture than at my actual job) and it’s pretty much all gone now. Except for the stuff that SO needs in order to keep living there as he does the minor renovations/repairs to get the big house ready to rent, anyway. A sofa, tv stand, end table, and coffee table. Oh, and he’ll be taking over the bed in the guest bedroom. Otherwise all the other furniture is gone, two whole rooms entirely cleaned out and partials of two more. The rest will be sold when he’s finished there and ready to move into the compact castle, since the only piece of furniture that’s actually coming with us at all is our bed, which I’m bringing with me this weekend. Everything else… gone. It’s like a massive cleansing. Feels nice.

Aside from selling anything that’s not nailed down, I’ve been starting the next stage of things for the new house too. Like the skirting and back stairs, which I accepted a quote for and am now just waiting for scheduling. I definitely want to get that all sealed up sooner rather than later. And getting the WiFi people out to set us up. And registering all the appliance warranties. And getting insurance finalized. Super fun things like that.

I haven’t really started buying much stuff for the new place yet, admittedly. Everything else has taken priority (and all my money) at this point. The sofa will probably be the next thing, followed by a coffee table, so that I have somewhere to sit that isn’t the bed or the egg chair. Minor detail. The few things that I have ordered are probably not that interesting… new towels, bathmats, a couple door mats, a toilet paper holder, hand towel ring, trash can… the boring essentials that I will need in order to fully function in the space. I figured we’d start with that and then try to wrap our heads around everything else once I’m actually there. For now I’ll just be taking over some dishes/silverware/kitchen items from our current collection (which SO likes and I do not, so we’ll see who wins that one in the end) so that I have what I need to start with in the kitchen. Hopefully SO will be done with the big house stuff within a few months and then we’ll both be moved in to the little house (along with all our stuff). There’s a lot to do at the big house though, and he’s gotta do it all in his spare time, so… we’ll see how long that really takes.

By this time next week I’ll be settled in and hopefully able to do another little mini-tour with some actual STUFF in there rather than just empty! We’re so close now…