It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

The past two weeks have been a rollercoaster, house-wise. Our old house has been on the market since the end of March, and we'd accepted an offer near the end of April. After too many amendments and inspections to count, the buyers backed out at the last minute. I don't want to get into a lot of details, but suffice it to say that the house has some issues that we didn't even know about and are going to be rather expensive to repair. And no, insurance won't cover it.

So what we thought was going to be a super-easy house selling task has now turned into an expensive nightmare. The money we have tied up in that house was going to fund the addition on this house, and now we're faced not only with no addition, but also with fixing a house that we're no longer living in. We are still in the information-gathering process and trying to figure out exactly what to do, but suffice it to say we are not exactly where we hoped we would be at this time.

That about covers the worst of times. We're trying not to dwell on it, but simply to find the best solution and move forward with it. So instead, we'll focus on the best of times, which is actually pretty good! Last weekend my parents were here and we worked on the second bathroom, and the framers we hired to build out the hubby's workshop actually got most of the work done. So, progress!

Let's check on the bathroom first, since we actually did that part:

First, my dad installed insulation on all the exterior walls in the bathroom - it's in the northwest corner of the house, so it definitely needed insulation. He's a pro at this, and the hubby and I learned how it's done.

Next, they ran the electrical. We installed a light over the vanity and a light/heater/fan unit in the ceiling. With my dad's expert help, they got it done in record time (i.e. ~4 hours instead of the two days it took the hubby and myself in the other bathroom), and the hubby only had to spend a few minutes crawling around in the hot attic!

Finally, we put up the drywall. The commode will go in this corner. The bathroom is now ready to be taped and floated, then textured, primed, and painted. Yaaay!

But enough of the exciting bathroom work - on to the workshop!

The framers we hire got started at about 8 a.m. on Saturday and worked till dark. Here they've got up the basic frame all the way around.

Next, they installed the windows. We wanted to have lots of windows for ventilation and light.

Here's what it looked like on the outside after the windows were installed.

And from the other side. I'm standing where our patio will be.

The same view after they covered everything in planking. We'll prime and paint this, probably a nice dark sage color. Notice that half the wall is stone and half is brick - we're planning to do some creative landscaping to hide the stone.

And looking at it from the other side. Looks nice, doesn't it! When we get around to building the barn, it will most likely have the same exterior finish, so the two buildings will match.

View from the inside. I'm standing where there will be a double French door installed - the idea is that the hubby will be able to wheel his big power tools through the doors out under the carport if he has a big project to work on. He can also open these doors, the windows, and the back door (not yet installed) and get a great breeze through his shop.

There's still some finish work that needs to be done (most notably doors, but also window trim, caulking/sealing, and hanging plywood and/or pegboard on the interior walls), but the man is VERY excited to have such a large workshop all to himself! Good thing I haven't asked for a sewing room of similar size... ;)