Alpine Escape - Getting There!!

Hello summer!! What a few months it has been!! We are still working hard to get this Smoky Mountain Home finished, and now the process of building a barndo here at home has began! Building 2 homes at the same was never in the plan, but we are up for the challenge! Yes, it is a challenge, and nothing about this Smoky Mountain Home #bettingeralpineescape has been easy!

You can follow the process of our barndo here at home on my design blog by clicking the link below! Look for #bettingerretreat blogs!

Style Me Sweet Blog

Anyway, back to the Alpine Escape!! What is new!?

My latest Alpine Escape blog left off with the exterior metal being redone, and all the things that weren't built to code fixed! They had delivered insulation and were ready to move forward! That was about the middle of May..we are now into June..

Before I go more detail.. I'd like to be clear that I'm not sharing all of the things that don't go as planned or are misplaced to complain about them!!.. or to have anyone feel bad for us that things haven't been perfect.... Yes, you'll read the frustration that I felt at the time.. yes, I would say words I wouldn't normally say.. and then after taking time to think and calm down.. we figure it out..

I'm sharing it all because these are the real life situations that MANY people encounter while building their dream visions.. whether it be similar to our dream or any other dream out there... All visions, goals, new careers, to be successful take so much determination, lessons learned, failures, hard work, and a ton of patience!!

So when things get tough.. remember how bad you want to make it work and never give up!! When you get knocked down, get up and try again, believe that it will happen!

Yes, we have been blessed with so much in our lifetime, however, it has all came with all of the above to get where we are today!! We have so much to be thankful for everyday!!

The vacations and memories that our family will have from this experiece is uncomparable to anything that hasn't went as I planned!! We can't wait to hear stories from many other families that vacation through us!!

Ok, now onto the Alpine Escape update!!

I had enough bad news in the last blog so I saved a little more for this one.. the 1.5 acres in front of our Alpine Escape home has been for sale all along.. we were really hoping to get it to gain lake access! Well over a year on the market and us where we were in December buying another piece of land just isn't happening! 😥

Yes, the property then sold to a lady that lives nearby. They already have the driveway in, house framed, and are working on the inside.. It is looking like a beautiful house, and the only neighbor we see.. it just had to be right in front of ours 😥..She has been nice to us.. and thankful her home is going fast so that we avoid major construction noise by the time ours is ready! Well I wouldn't be surprised if hers ends up done before ours! 😬

However she was not so friendly to the people who were working on OUR house plugging their microwave and tools into her power pole without permision!! This was the crew we no longer have working for us 😰🫣.. I do not blame her for being upset at all! We apologized as we had no clue that was happening! See what I mean by very memorable experience but not exactly how we thought memorable might be! 😅 Learning experiences for the kiddos for sure!

and so here's the partial view stealer:

This photo was taken on very foggy rainy day so you don't see the mountains here... you still can in person, as I've said before no pics compare to in person.

and that electric pole.. 😭

I'm pretty sure they lined it up with our window while installing!! .. 😔 Our neighbor didn't want the pole right here either.. she wanted it across the road, same as us. We are working this.. but it's likely there to stay.

It has taken some time to get used to a house in front of us after the months of it being so private. However, it is still very peaceful here, her house sits lower than ours so a line of bushes along the property will help keep the privacy but not block any views.

So right after the last blog ...14 months after starting we have a driveway!! and final grade is complete!!

We are so happy to finally have a driveway and not have to park in the road!

I am really struggling with the fact the front of the house looks so rough with temporary post and no door for so long!! My favorite space still waiting to be finished.. I can't wait to see the difference with the door and finished porch!!

... and by the end of May we have insulation!! Our cousins were in the area and stopped by to check out the progress for us!!

Oh no! so.. the loft outlets were supposed to be on the outside edges.. they are in the center right behind the headboards of the beds 😫..

AND the heat/air unit is right above the king bed in the main bedroom ... we ask for it to be above the bedroom window, OR ON ANY OTHER WALL EXCEPT MY ACCENT WALL (HEADBOARD OF BED WALL) ..

The shower is supposed to be a rain head from the ceiling.. it is coming out of the wall 😩 Not a huge deal, it just seems like my plans and email of details are a waste of my time!

We send messages with our concerns.. they will see about moving the electrical outlets, and the HVAC guy says the unit wouldn't fit above the window so he opted to put it on this wall. He will go out Thursday (3 days later) and move the unit to the wall on the left. He has been a really nice guy to work with!

I let Spencer know the HVAC is being moved and then... he calls... Well the tongue and groove is 90% done! So that means the loft outlets are not getting moved .. and HVAC guy will have to remove boards to move the unit.. 😩😫😖😣... are you SURPRISED!? I'm not... not at all because THAT is how this entire project has went! No work gets done until you plan to move something ... then bam it's magically done!

SoOo.. we don't even hear back from the HVAC guy.. whether he ever showed up or not.. that is unknown.. along with all the other unknowns while we are here at home..

I really wish I had a place close by I could go live for the summer until this is finished! I'm about to pack my tent and go! The lake is an easy walking distance for water ..🤔

In the meantime, here at home I'm trying to focus on our personal touches that are going into the house!

David and my dad began the bathroom vanity build! We are way over original contract cost for this house at this point.. whenever this happens I can always find ways to save on the final design!! I'm a scrapyard, repurpose, redo, save it kinda girl!

Mountain Cabin.. Adding a little rustic vibe.... we have a pile of Amish rough cut scraps from our barndo build here at home.. the perfect wood for building a Smoky Mountain Cabin Vanity!! 🤩

Don't mind the 1960s trailer in the background. This is on property my parents purchased.. it is great for electric and porch use until our home is built ..but that is all!.🤢. it'll be torn down soon!

It wasn't long and they had it together!

I'm going for simple here.. you'll see it come together soon! ☺️

The next day.. It was my turn to sand away!

Wow! That made a huge difference! Lovin' it! I think it's going to look exactly as I hoped!!

Stain..a couple coats of poly and it is #bettingeralpineescape ready!

If you remember way back last summer, we were in a hurry and purchased the kitchen and bathroom sinks.. 🤣 We've been storing them, moving them with us as we moved..

Yes, we have quite a few items we are trying to store in our rental at home for this house.. we are ready to get it to the Alpine Escape!

It's June 8th, Lynlee's 3rd birthday!! We have the trailer loaded, a cake baked to go, and Tennessee bound for the weekend!! I mean, I dunno if there's any other way I'd want to spend a birthday other than in the Smokies!

We really don't know what else has been done or what is being done..there isn't a lot of communication..and we are just tired of the mishaps. I'm just hoping it is getting finished! We'll see when we get there! 😬

A few sneak peaks of what is in the trailer..

1. The Spiral Staircase 😍

Pictures below.. Outdoor Lights, Bedroom Ceiling Fan, Kitchen & Bathroom Faucets....

Not pictured but was delivered..., Kitchen and Bathroom Sinks, Bathroom Mirror, Vanity Light, living/kitchen ceiling fan, Entry door handle/lock, TVs with wall mounts.. and more!

We've also ordered all appliances and scheduled the delivery date for the end of June!!

It was 1:00am before we arrived at the hotel.. Lynlee was such a trooper riding 6 hours on her birthday.. it's cake for breakfast!

After lunch we head on out to our cabin to see what surprises we are in for today! ..... the good, the bad, and the ugly... seems to be all 3 everytime! 🤪

We are trying to stay positive... and even with everything that has happened, I just love our place.. I've been patient..but my heart can hardly take waiting much longer for this to be finished!! I mean how many dates can you be told it'll be done before it is truly finally done!?

Yay, let's start with the positive!.. all of the tongue and groove is up! .. outside is prepped for concrete.. new porch post are on site! They are here clear coating the walls.. and painting the kitchen wall black as black can be! 🫣

Prepped for concrete:

We are once again disappointed... disappointed that tongue and groove is up but no door on the front.. 😔 ..The kitchen wall.. I ask for it to be left unfinished so that I could paint it ... It was going to be Iron Ore black not semi-gloss black🤨.. the beams to support garage door are wrapped with tongue and groove boards without the edges being ripped off.. looks terrible.. and then as we are looking around.. switches have been moved.. outlets have been moved since we were last here the end of March.. 😩 No one has mentioned that these needed moved or were changed!??? Our screens to the bedroom windows are propped on the porch.. all bent up.. but really just take a look because I can't make this up!...

Now my outlet that was centered under the TV outlet in living room for the electric fireplace is gone, and there's 1 on each side of it.. where my mantle legs will come down...

My outlet on the kitchen wall for my coffee pot and Christmas tree is gone.. no outlet nearby🤯

There is switches for wall sconces in the center of my king head board.. as if the heating and air unit wasn't enough... so good luck turning on those lights ...why weren't they lined up with the outlets??

There's a switch for I dunno what to the left of bathroom entrance.. there is a slider door here.. you'll never see the switch

The bedroom switch was moved to the left (was on the right.. now I can't have a slider door on the bedroom.. making the doorway less that 30" 😤😤 and that electric panel was supposed to be further back the wall so the slider could open and we could cover it with a picture..

The bathroom outlet was moved over to the right of the vanity... right behind the faucet 🤦🏼‍♀️, the switch box was moved from the right wall to the vanity wall 😩.. good luck getting my 40" x 30" mirror in there now.. the one we just delivered 😔oh yea and the plumbing was moved over to the left side of the vanity.. the sink is on the right side... lovely..

It's like the song that never ends.. it goes on and on again..

Meaning there's more than I've listed .. closet is 6" bigger both ways so now that area is tighter than I planned.. no outlet above washer/dryer countertop like I needed.. etc...

"I get knocked down, I get up again, never gonna keep me down!!"

I don't believe I've shared an updated floorplan that I have.. Yes, it is pencil drawn to scale by me. I was told it was good to use, however at this point I wish I would of paid to have it drawn by an engineer so that everything that is wrong would have to be fixed... as not having engineered floorplans has been the way out of fixing what was not where we talked about ...

The Floorplan Builders are using:

I thought it was color coded pretty well!?

While we are waiting for Spencer to arrive we hang our sign for the cabin!! 😍 Thanks to Elroy for helping us make it perfect for our place!

Around 2:00pm we meet with Spencer to discuss what the plans are.. and our issues with the electrical/plumbing..

He hadn't seen the finished wrapping of the garage door beams either 😳.. He was like seriously they didn't rip the tongue edge off these 🫣.. So he took pics and sent those to the crew to get it fixed! We were relieved to hear that wasn't what he had ask for either! 😅

At this point I'm pushing to get the outlet back in the kichen for the coffee pot, and trying to get one outlet moved to the center for my electric fireplace.

Spencer says he is taking care of the plumbing issues and moving bathroom outlet, but the switch has to stay, so the major concerns seem to be taken care of.. We'll see next return where they end up!

We then discussed our bathroom issue since the floor was torn up and redone.. We are doing a tile shower base with white metal walls on 2 sides, 1 side glass, and 1 side open walk in.

We picked out in stock items to get keep the crews moving!

Shower Floor:

and the rest of the bathroom floor will now be tiled...

Bathroom Floor Tile:

And another good note... kitchen cabinets were ordered and will be in this week! They are a little darker than I had planned, but we didn't have the time frame to special order soo... We ordered the same as the bottom cabinets, no gold handles:

We have the loft flooring picked out:

All in all the place is looking amazing! We will still love the place and make it our own soon!

While in Tennessee this weekend a priority was hot tub shopping!!! Because we now know that concrete is being poured on Thursday, 6 days and counting!

Wow, we should of shopped sooner! Never would of guessed it would be almost 2 months to get a hot tub! In this area I assumed they kept stock! Instead of just looking to scope them out ... we purchased it!! Unfortunately, it won't be delivered until August, and we don't have a date to go by .. we just know sometime in August!

and the inside..

We are excited to finally be at this point!! Knowing that there is an end in sight and things are coming together! Buying all the fun stuff!!

Sunday we head back to our house to do a walk through ourselves, measure lots of things to order beds!! ... start building shelves, dining table/island!!... order sofa and so much more!!

The tongue and groove really made the place finally feel like it is getting finished!!

Standing center of the glass garage door looking inside:

Black wall is the kitchen area:

Living Room:

Loft Pics:

Bathroom/Laundry:

Main Bedroom:

So yes, when I stand back and look.. try to ignore the other details.. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Now it's time to head home again to finish up a few projects for our cabin.. and keep our barndo build going 😅!! Getting my final buying list together.. literately can't wait to get back here to finish this thing!!

My next #bettingeralpineescape blog will be us returning to finish off the space!!

I am currently putting together the airbnb link and my welcome book so we can start taking rentals soon!!!

Thanks for Reading!!❤️

Disclaimer: My full throttle blogs are for entertainment purposes only. These are my families stories to share for fun, and our opinions only. I am not giving professional advise or recommendations. Thank you for reading!