Daily Life at Quiet Thyme Farm

Some Recent Developments

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 22:26:00 +0000

Just a few little updates I thought I'd share.

We installed the cabinet doors above the oven / microwave ... they were already made. The center cabinet was in our old house. The plan was for the adjacent lower cabinets to have doors, but not sure when those will be done. So I bought some fabric and made curtains. Hmmm... I kinda like the curtains. What do you think?

Found this neat antique towel holder on Etsy. It's perfect!

The tile back splash wasn't done during construction. I finally scheduled the guy that did our interior trim to do the back splash. Two days before he got here, I still didn't know how I wanted it to look. So I laid it out on the table.

Here is the finished job. It's subtle, but ties in the yellows, blacks and blues very nicely.

We brought in one of the old beams and set it on the mantle. Not sure if we will put a finish on it, but it looks great!

And our new couch!

The other exciting news ... the designer I worked with at The Kitchen Place came out today to see the kitchen and take pictures. She brought the editor of the magazine House Trends. They want to do a story on our house in either the summer or fall issue!!!!!! How exciting is that!!

Open House

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 02:22:00 +0000

I apologize for leaving everyone hanging. We moved in on Nov 7th thru that weekend. Terry and Carol came for the long weekend and helped us get moved in and unpacked. We are pretty settled. There are still several boxes in the garage, but we've got the necessities moved in.

My parents were so anxious to see the finished house (they were here the beginning of August when the exterior stone was being done and the inside was just rough framed). So they drove up from Florida and were here Wed thru Sun of Thanksgiving. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner in my new kitchen and the layout made it easy to have others help or be in the kitchen.

We hope to have an open house soon, but in the meantime, here is a tour of the (almost) finished product! Thank you for following along on this adventure!

First the kitchen and dining area...

Sunrise and usually some deer walking across the pasture

eat-in dining room

I plan to paint all my chairs black ... so I practiced on one. Slider goes to the small deck.

Preston built the blue cabinets. There will be doors on the bottom and above the microwave.

the wall along the cook top will be tiled. It didn't get done during construction ... my fault.

We plan to build a small table / bar in front of the island to sit at.

Sink area and my kitchen window!!! The pantry is at the back corner.

this is the pantry. We have the coffee pot set up to the right of the sink and there are cabinets on 3 sides. We made the wood tops from one of the old beams. There will be open shelves above the 2 higher cabinets.

The island from the cook's side

Here is the island top we built out of one of the old beams... just like the ones in the pantry.

Now to the Mudroom ...

This is the door to the garage. Preston built the cabinets. We'll build a bench between the green cabinets and hooks above.

the other green cabinet and dog bed.

The laundry room ...

Here is the old wash tub. Preston built these cabinets too ... the one to the right that you can barely see is the other dog bed. There will be doors on the red cabinet.

The other side of the laundry room.

Still in the mudroom looking toward the entry. Coat closet behind the bi-fold doors. The glass door is a pocket door. We made it glass so the puppies can see out if they have to be closed into the mudroom at night or when they are muddy.

Entry

Living Room ... we have a couch coming still. And need to select one of the old beams to put up for the mantel. Preston built the cabinets. The face frames are from the old floor joists. They will also have doors and counter tops.

Living room ... the door goes to the deck. (Still a huge pile of packing paper.)

French doors go to the entry. Solid door goes to the basement. The trim isn't as yellow as it looks in the picture ... it's more mustard / brown ... Sherwin Williams Stonebriar

Look from the living room into the kitchen.

Just another picture of the pretty floors!

French doors to the entry.

Powder room off the entry

Stairs ... and my pretty house warming gift!

Looking from the powder room into the master bedroom

Master bedroom

Wow, the moonlight this week makes this room bright at night. I am going to have to buy window coverings.

Master shower ... I love it!!!

Master bath.

Looking out to the entry from the master bedroom and the antique butler stand ... a house warming gift from my mom and dad all the way from Florida!

looking down to the entry from upstairs

upstairs bath

To see the outside pictures again ... see my October post

Hurricane Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:02:00 +0000

Our house's first snow is from Hurricane Sandy. That's quite a Christening. I'm anxiously waiting to hear from my college friend Kathy on Long Island who has been a faithful follower of my blog. I pray you, Rich and the kids are safe!

Everyone is here this week scrambling to complete all the loose ends so we can take possession this weekend. The first task will be to put the final coat of finish on the floors and the stairs. After that, we'll have to stay off the floors for 48 hours and then no furniture for another 5 days. We will move everything into the bedrooms and just hold off on the dining room & living room. Not sure exactly how the logistics of sleeping, cooking and showering will work over those few days, but we made it this far. It is supposed to warm back up into the 50's and 60's so it will be more tolerable than today's wind chill of 15 - 20 degrees.

The "Home" Stretch

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:04:00 +0000

This is the last week of real work before clean up and punch out next week. Preston and our neighbor put down grass seed and sod today. Here's hoping for some rain Fri/Sat and maybe some hurricane remnants next week. The trim carpenter was here all day finishing up odds and ends.

Here is a video clip of our neighbor Paul blowing straw with grass seed in it. (hit the play button)

His wife, Michele driving the truck

Paul and Preston laying sod

Paul blew straw/seed on the hillside

a little sod to keep mud from splashing the edge of the house

the "back yard"

We'll put a walk way of some sort in the spring, but some sod here for now.

Can you see Valur looking out over the hillside? He loves that view.

We had to "raise the ground" so the porch was a max 30" off the ground (code) eliminating the requirement for a railing. The builder did it the hard way ... build the porch, push the dirt, then fill under the porch with stone. Actually it wasn't hard for the builder at all ... just for these guys.

bi-fold doors -- closet in mudroom

hardware on cabinets... so the doors above the hood open, but it's not a usable cabinet... just the hood vent. Should I put knobs on the doors? Not sure if it would distract from the pretty hood or look like something is missing? Looking at the picture, I am now thinking knobs. What do you think?

more hardware ... still waiting for the dishwasher to be installed

More hardware ... my favorite knobs ... see the image below

transom windows installed above doorways from living room to kitchen

exterior door hardware installed

pocket door from mudroom to entry ... glass so doggies can see thru if they are "locked" in the mudroom. Installer didn't have the right size rollers to hang the door today.

masterbath shower door ... this was the door out of our old shower.

ironing board cabinet in master closet... this bump out is where the main HVAC lines run from floor to floor

opened

and the board swivels ... all for a bargain hunter price of $111 on Amazon!!!

I started installing the ceramic knobs we had in the old house.

garage has been painted

pull down stairs to the "party room" above ... just kidding ... but it could be.

A Long Hot Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:02:00 +0000

Six months and 3 days since my last long, hot, full-pressure indoor shower. Finally on Saturday, I was able to shower in the upstairs shower. It was heaven. It was all I could do to turn the water off and be done. Preston is still showering outside, but we are having an Indian Summer kind of a week. And he has had the luxury of traveling several times during construction, so he's had hotel showers.

I'm not sure if he's going to move into the house with me. He's really grown accustomed to living a couple dozen steps from his shop. He's hooked on getting up in the morning with his coffee and hanging out in the shop for a bit before going to work. We'll see!

Our trim carpenter left our job to go work on another one for another builder. He's in high demand right now, so he goes to whichever builder is screaming the loudest, does enough work to calm him down and then to the next builder who is screaming, and so it goes. He may be back tomorrow. About 90% of the remaining work belongs to him.

The carpet was put in last Friday night. They were here until almost 10pm. It looks great! The plumber has installed most of the finish plumbing fixtures. Good news ... the toilet is no longer in the hallway. He has to finish this week because he's going on vacation next week.

The painter was back this week painting the garage, but there is still a lot of touch up painting to do inside. I imagine that will continue this week.

They did the final grade on Monday. Our neighbor, Paul, does commercial grass seed / sod. He came over tonight and discussed the options with Preston on how to control erosion and what to plant given it's almost the end of October. He's going to put down some sod and "erosion blankets"... which we hadn't budgeted for. I was doing so well!! Still under budget up to now! But if we don't do it, the winter will wash away all the top soil and it will cost more in the spring if we have to buy dirt, too. So he's going to start on that this week.

I put some more shelving up in closets this weekend. Continued to assemble this stupid vanity cabinet from China...yes, there is one that Preston didn't make, ugh. I couldn't help myself, I had to clean the house a little bit. I swept the stairs and taped the cardboard down. We planed the boards for the island and pantry counter tops tonight. A little jointing and then they can be glued up.

Preston putting cover plates on the TV / network cable outlets he installed.

The new carpet in Colton's room.

Master bath vanity, toilet and lights from the old house

Master Shower; I would have done a brushed nickel color shower head, but the sink already had oil rubbed bronze fixtures and the shower door frame from the old house is ORB. Hopefully it will look ok.

Master shower ... you can see the bench and shelf.

More carpet ... master bedroom

1/2 bath

Planing boards

Let the Final Inspections Begin

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:23:00 +0000

today...

Garage doors got their 'bling' today

I love these lights! They are actually outdoor lights. They have seeded glass and I put the old looking Edison bulbs in them.

So they did the electrical inspection ... we failed.

I have to give some background. When they did rough electrical (pre-cabinets), there were outlets and switches all across the walls on either side of the window above. You now have to have a switch for your dishwasher (!?), there was a switch for the garbage disposal, one for the lights above the sink and one for the above cabinet lighting. And I think he had three outlets.

Well, with the small amount of wall space left after cabinets and trim (see picture above), something had to go or I'd have electrical lining the wall top to bottom. So the dishwasher and disposal switches are under the sink. There are 2 switches in one gang box for the lights. One GFI on the left. Then under the right wall cabinet, you can just see a white strip of outlets. They are also on a GFI circuit. Sounds fine ... except ...

...the strip is MORE than 24" from the sink. Code in Greene County requires a GFI outlet WITHIN 24" of the sink.. yes, WITHIN, as in CLOSE TO the source of water.

So the reason we failed is because I can't quite put one hand under the running water and my other hand inside the outlet and electrocute myself. Really? Don't you think if you are that stupid, then Natural Selection should take care of you?

So we're going to make the county happy and put the outlet above the switches. Government ... that's where some Natural Selection needs to run its course.

Range top installed

Here's the vent. Notice the buttons on the right side near the back. I can't quite reach those without catching my shirt on fire ...hmmmm. Who designed that?

Shower fixtures installed in upstairs shower ... one more step closer to being able to shower in the house!!

That's not where I have it on the plans!!

Really?? 1000 sq ft of garage and that's the only place you could think of to put two scrap boards with screws in them?

Lights, Camera and LOTS of Action

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Installing the soapstone counter tops and sink. This is what it looks like before it is oiled.

close up

Sink area done!

There's just a little dip in the edge of the sink to simulate a worn over the years look.

granite in the laundry room. works with the cabinet paint color beautifully!

Back to the kitchen ... soapstone after it was oiled

This is the area next to the cook top

Front Door painted Sherwin Williams Ubane Bronze SW7048

Interior side of door to garage painted same as trim SW7693 Stonebriar

Doors have been hung. We replaced the gold hinges with black.

All of the light fixtures were installed this week. Here is a tour of them ... there are 3 of these in the mudroom, entry, stairway

Over the entry door

Sorry ... digress to the master shower. The walls were installed today. The material is from Marble Arch. We had this in our last shower and it is a joy to clean ... well, if cleaning a shower can ever be a joy.

This is my 'bling' in the masterbath. BTW ... not all the bulbs are in ... just enough to make the inspector happy. This is a 3-light chandelier. I thought with the gray and white of the shower and floor, it just gives you that little unexpected surprise when you walk in the bathroom.

Here is the floor with the white grout.

Master vanity that was in the old house. I bought the dresser at an antique shop and Preston put the sink & plumbing in it. He rebuilt the drawer so they are all still functioning. Waiting to put the mirror on with the wall mounted faucet.

Upstairs vanity which was also in our old house - I designed it, Preston built and I painted.

Hand rail and another sconce.

Front door painted ... you can see the hanging lantern

1/2 bath vanity ... another one we bought and converted to a sink.

Cabinets installed next to fireplace. Still working on the doors and counter tops.

A punched tin hanging lamp over the island.

Wooden / iron chandelier over the dining table. This and all of the tin fixtures were made by Irvin Tin Lighting in Pennsylvania.

Oven / microwave installed

granite top in pantry with small undermount sink. We will have RO filtered water here and for the frig ice maker. So the coffee pot will sit here.

And the prettiest counter of all! OSB on the island ... so they stop putting junk in the top drawers until we can make the ones from the beam ... start that this weekend.

Preston resting... it was about 9pm and the trim carpenters had just left. He was helping them think thru the range hood blower insert. The cabinet hood came with a small starter hole. It (the hood) is already lined with heavy gauge steel which had to be removed, cut, reinstalled.

Annie modeling the other cabinets ... boy there's a lot of dust in the air!! Time for a late dinner and bed! We'll do it all again tomorrow.

Warmest Year-to-Date on Record ...

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:54:00 +0000

...followed by the coldest October yet
Monday morning ... 29 degrees
Tuesday morning ... 29 degrees
Wednesday am ... 49 degrees ... balmy!
Thursday am ... 27 degrees

Tues and Thurs, the pipes started to freeze in the shower and I didn't think the water was going to run, but it broke through slowly and finally came out full pressure. Nothing envigorates a day like showering in 27 degree temps! The end is fast approaching. This may have been my last morning of showering in sub-freezing temps. Here's to hoping!

This week, painters are painting trim and walls.

this is the pocket door between the mudroom & entry to keep the dogs in the mudroom if they are wet or muddy. Somehow when we picked this door out at Pease Warehouse, we selected a 32" door when we wanted a 36" door. So Preston is adding a 2" strip of oak on either side. We'll stain and poly to blend in.

We got the oven / microwave out of the barn and ran the self cleaning to have it worthy of the new house. We needed to bake some brownies to verify the baking function worked ok too.

under these blankets and tarps is a coffin of the wood slabs from the beam that was cut. Preston put a dehumidifier in with it and it has been running since this weekend. The dehumidifier puts off enough heat to raise the temp above 100 degrees creating a home-made kiln. It should be enough to lower the moisture content in the wood before we make the counter tops.

Painting the baseboard trim for the cabinets

Masterbath floor ... Daltile Octagon and Dots ... no grout yet in this picture

Working on the stair newel post ,risers and ballusters

Preston brought the propane tank over to the house.

A close up of the house lights ... $18 on sale at Lowes

Outlets for Christmas lights ... Preston's request. There are 3 of them around the house.

Did I show you the final deck picture ? Can't remember

...and the side deck

Location of the propane tank relative to the house.

"Get in Your Box"

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:22:00 +0000

That is the command we give to the puppies to go where ever their bed is. They were initially crate trained, so they had a "box" to go into. While we've lived in our temporary quarters, they've had free reign of the area to sleep where they want. In the new house, it will be back to a more routine sleeping arrangement ... unless I cave. So we practiced tonight and they went in their boxes with eager enthusiasm.

Valur's box is in the mudroom. It will have a frame extending from the cabinet with a cushion in it.

Annie's bed is in the laundry room. It will also have a cushion.

Exciting today ... they installed the garage door openers. They trim is about done. They started setting the stair treads.

stair treads are also reclaimed lumber from old barns

The tops came for the alder cabinets. There is another section of cabinet that will sit on each of them.

Alder cabinet in the kitchen.

the tops were made by the cabinet company. They are veneered plywood with an alder edge.

This is the one on the other side of the sink. It will also have a top (it's sitting there to the right)

Here are some pictures of the trim.

the transom openings will have windows. this is looking from the living room into the kitchen.

living room windows and door to the back deck.

dining area windows and slider to the little side deck.

kitchen sink window

This is the pantry... cabinets on 3 walls. Two of them are 40" wall cabinets (sitting on the floor), so only 13" deep ... won't have to dig into the back of a cavernous cabinet. The other cabinet is a regular base cabinet and will have a small sink.

Even Google is Watching

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:43:00 +0000

Have you ever Google Mapped your house and looked at the satellite view? We did that recently and found that they have an updated picture of our property the day the forms were being set. I looked back at the calendar and it looks like it was May 11th. We thought that was pretty neat.

1073 Long Rd ~ May 11, 2012

Trim continues to progress. Doors are hung. Most of the cabinets installed. The deck is done. Porch posts are almost done. Front steps are done. The electrician has installed the exterior lights. Closets are painted so I am cleared to install the wire shelving we took out of the old house.

Preston helped me put the finish on the stair treads this weekend and will bring them out for the installer tonight. Preston finished up the cabinets for the living room and brought those out to the house. The face frames are made from the oak floor joists from the old house. The wood grain is unlike any oak I've ever seen. Just beautiful! He will make the doors from this as well.

oak floor joists after planed

We had one of the massive 12"x12" beams cut into 2" slabs by the flooring guys. We are going to make them into counter tops for the kitchen island and pantry cabinets. We cut the 17' slabs into manageable lengths last night and will make a make-shift dehumidifying tent for them to sit in for about 10 days before we start making them.

used to be a 12"x12" beam

will soon be a gorgeous counter top

I finally completed the purchase of the cabinet knobs/pulls, exterior door knobs and light fixtures. I put it off until now thinking it would just take a couple weeks to receive the orders, but I'm surprised how many things I ordered are back ordered. Frustrating, but hopefully they will be here before the house is supposed to be done!

The guy from The Stone Studio came this week and made the template for the soapstone counters that go on the stove and sink walls. He is guessing he'll be back to install them late next week.

What doesn't get wood or soapstone will be done in granite. I found a place that has remnant pieces fabricated and installed for about $40 sf ... a great deal compared to $65 $70 I found every where else.

The schedule slipped another week. The interior trim carpenter got a late start ... but he is doing a great job. We are now looking at Nov 2nd as the completion date.

Sneak Peek

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 01:34:00 +0000

All kinds of fun stuff has been happening lately ... here's a peek ....

Colton and Valur playing on top of the mountain of dirt.

Colton and I brought all the doors out to the house and set them in the jambs. This is about 1/2 of them.

Deck stairs were built yesterday, railings on ... back deck almost done

Trim started today in the garage... seemed weird to do all this fuss on the garage windows and doors.

Laundry room cabinets Preston built. The red one will have the galvanized tub basin converted to a sink. The middle one will hold laundry baskets. The right one is Annie's bed. It will have a cushion inside.

French doors between the entry and living room. I built the jambs myself! Preston stained and poly'ed the doors.

1/2 bath trimmed with door installed and vanity ... it was one we had in the old house. I bought the dresser and Preston converted it to a sink vanity. The trim will be painted. It looks funny because it's short pieces of wood that have been finger jointed into boards.

Front door trimmed

Kitchen cabinets. Preston built these. The center one if for the oven/microwave. The adjacent ones will have doors on the bottom and shelves on the top.

Here is more of the kitchen... the frig and stove are on this wall. The black cabinet is the island.

View of the French doors from the living room. The other door goes to the basement.

close up of the window trim

More cabinets Preston made. These will go in the mudroom. The are just like the blue ones in the kitchen. One of the bases will be Valur's bed.

Here's a peek at the floor we put in the laundry, mudroom and 2nd floor bath. It's luxury vinyl tile which is a hard, PVC-like material. It's very easy to clean ... a great place for mudroom & dogs!

Our bedroom door and bathroom door.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:40:00 +0000

Sunday and Monday morning, we woke to frost on the ground and 32 degrees. Yes, we are still showering in our outdoor bath house. It really has been a pleasant part of the summer. There's about a 12-15" view above the shower walls. Depending on the time of day you shower, you might see the moon and stars or the sun rising or the sun setting. A couple early mornings I heard an owl hooting.

But 32 degrees is just too cold to find the joys in an outdoor shower. At least on the weekend, I can wait for it to warm up. But even when it's 60 degrees, if it's windy, that wind whips right up and over the shower wall and no amount of warm water keeps you warm. So Sunday, I decided it was time to winterize the bath house. I got some plastic and my "wack-a-mole" stapler (a hammer stapler) and we wrapped the top opening with plastic.

Admittedly, Monday morning ... 32 degrees ... I still wasn't brave enough to try it out, so my late-day Sunday shower and a sponge bath in the inside laundry tub Monday morning had to do. This morning was a LOT warmer ... 46! So I decided to try a space heater. That worked really well. It was just enough to heat the little space up for the few minutes I was out there.

Meanwhile, Preston did email the builder and ask him if he could get the plumber to finish the upstairs shower. The enclosure and rough plumbing is installed and the water has been run to the house. So we just need the water softener, faucet/shower head and a shower curtain and we're all set. We are still looking at at least 5 weeks before we can move in. So this would be nice to have it hooked up early.

Preston traveled last week, was home for the weekend and gone again this week. So he scrambled Saturday to finish the cabinets he built and take them to the house for the installer. Colton and I took the doors out to the house. Sunday, Preston and I built the jambs for the 3 new doors we had to buy. Last night, Colton and I started to set the doors in the jambs. We'll finish that tonight.

The decks have been under construction last week and this week. Here are some of the progress pictures.

Wood Floor Sweat Equity

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:22:00 +0000

One of my most desired features of our new home was to have reclaimed lumber floors. About 4-5 years ago, Colton and I went to our local home show and we met a father / son, owners of Tuscarora Wood, who took down old barns and milled the wood into flooring. I kept them in mind and Preston & I saw them again this winter at the show. They have gotten so busy, they no longer take down the barns and just buy from those who do. They sell mostly wholesale to companies out west. Compared to buying hardwood floors from a local flooring store, I thought their prices were very reasonable and not much more. There just isn't anything that compares to the richness and natural beauty.

If you remember, we also pulled out some of the old oak floors from our old house. They were a full 1" thick, but the tongue and grooves were in rough shape, so they were able to take the wood to their mill and mill all four sides with new T&G. This was white oak and some ash, so we put that in the entry. The rest we purchased from them was red oak which is in the living room and kitchen.

When they provided the quote for about 1100 square feet, they broke out the line item for material, installation, sanding & finishing. Since we had sanded and finished the floors in our old house, this seemed like something we could do ourselves and save the $4100.

To save another $300 in pre-delivery charge (net $200 after fuel), Preston drove up to Covington about an hour away and picked up the pallet of wood. We offered to bring the wood into the house ... 3 or 4 boards at a time and have it stacked for them. 2-1/2 hours later we had it all in there. When I save money by doing something myself, I like to calculate the "hourly rate" for the labor. Not counting the drive time, just stacking the wood came out to $40/hour. Not too bad.

After they installed the floors, Rod mentioned that they would plug all the round holes (where pegs used to be when they were beams) with slices of old pegs and epoxy them in. He also offered to epoxy the other "imperfections" ... I thought that would be a good use of money vs. time, so we had him do that. What I underestimated was how "generous" they would be with the epoxy. All of the epoxy would then need to be sanded down smooth with the surface of the floor. If you've never sanded epoxy, let me tell you that a walk-behind drum sander with 60-grit paper will just ride over the surface of an epoxy "lump."

So we rented the drum sander, a disk sander (also a walk-behind) and an edge sander ... which is a single disk sander, but must be handled on your knees (or bent over). We started sanding Thursday night ... 4 hours later (8 between the 2 of us), it still looked like an epoxy war zone. We hit the high spots, but there was still so much to be done.

I took Friday off and started at 8am. After a few minutes with a little hand sander, I thought the only thing that was going to get this was the edge sander. This thing is super heavy and if you don't have a tight grip on it, it will take you for a ride. But it was the only thing that would cut thru the epoxy in any reasonable amount of time. So I spent the entire day wrestling with this monster across 1100 sq feet.

Preston came home mid-day and helped a bit more in the afternoon. By 8pm, I could barely move and we still weren't done... close, but not quite. So we went to bed and got up early to sand a couple more hours. We loaded the sanders up and returned them to the rental company. I came home and had just a little touch up to do with our sander. Then it was time to vacuum and clean the floors. That took another 5 hours or so. It's one of those really important steps that you don't want to rush thru. I started by sweeping the dust off the walls, then vacuuming with the grain and then against it. Then mop the floor with paint thinner to get up the last little bit.

Finally about 5pm on Saturday, I was ready to start the finish. We used Waterlox which is a tung oil-based resin. I love this stuff. It soaks into the floors, but provides a waterproof surface at the same time. Unlike polyeurethane, it doesn't just sit on top like a candy coating. And if you have a spot that gets damaged, you can just sand it and brush on more in that one spot. Plus it just looks rich and "old."

Since we bought it in 2005 for the old house, the price at gone from about $55 / gallon to double that. I learned later that the Ohio EPA had passed VOC regulations and required the product to meet low VOC standards to be sold in the state. So, that doubled the estimate on the floor finishing!

I put a coat on Saturday, another Sunday around noon and got up at 4am on Monday and put on another coat before going to work. It then needed to sit for 48 hours before we could cover with rosin paper for foot traffic.

So let's see if our 60 hours of labor was worth it ...

Sander rental .... $280
Waterlox .... $860
Finishing supplies ... $40
Breakeven labor costs $50/hour ... not too bad!

But it still confirms why I went to college ... back to work Monday to REST!

So here are pictures ...

sanding with the drum sander

so imagine you've been sanding for hours and your dog comes into the house on the bare wood floors looking like this ...

finished sanding

start the finishing ... pretty easy ... just roll it on

even low VOC requires a mask

first coat looks pretty blotchy

2 coats done

a little glossy but that will tone down in the first couple months as it cures

3 coats done

that wire sticking up will be an electrical outlet.

this is the entry ... white oak from our old house.

After the 2 days of drying, there were 2 moths that had landed on the Waterlox when it was wet. What a mess the dust on those little creatures can make! Their wing dust dried into the varnish, so I had to sand it down a bit to get it out. Will finish with a final coat when the house is complete / before moving in.

Great Things Happening!

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 01:13:00 +0000

Well, the weather is cooling off ... showering in the dark in 45 degrees temps .... brrrrrrr. Didn't care so much about a towel warmer in the new house, but having one in our outside shower house would be great!

But it's all for a beautiful end. Check out all that's been going on...

Painting has started ... and that deserves a post all it's own.

BEHIND ALL OF THOSE PACKAGES ARE MY KITCHEN CABINETS!!!! THE TRIM WAS ALSO DELIVERED ... YOU CAN SEE SOME OF IT IN THE FOREGROUND.

A SNEAK PEAK AT ONE OF THE CABINETS. INSTALLATION NEXT WEEK!!!

POSTS ARE ALMOST DONE. GUTTERS & DOWN SPOUTS INSTALLED. LAST BIT OF ROOF TRIM FINISHED. SIDING DONE.

DOWNSPOUTS WERE PLACED BEHIND THE POSTS

PREP FOR BACK STEPS. CONCRETE WAS POURED TODAY. DECK WILL BE BUILT WHERE YOU SEE THE 2X10S.

SATURDAY, PRESTON AND I UNLOADED 1000 SF OF RECLAIMED OAK FLOORING... AFTER I VACUUMED THE FLOORS IN PREPARATION FOR THE INSTALLATION. STACK #1 IN THE KITCHEN.

STACK #2 IN THE LIVING ROOM

"ELECTRICIAN DAN" CAME ON LABOR DAY AND INSTALLED THE SWITCHES, OUTLETS AND PUT LIGHT BULBS IN MOST OF THE CAN LIGHTS.

THERE ARE SO MANY CAN LIGHTS (~40) AND 2-WAY & 3-WAY LIGHTS AND A SEPARATE SWITCH FOR THE FAN & LIGHT FOR EACH CEILING FAN (NOT SURE WHY).

I COUNTED ABOUT 40+ SWITCHES ON THE 1ST FLOOR ALONE. I DON'T THINK I'LL EVER FIGURE OUT WHICH ONE GOES WITH WHICH!

WE HAD A WELL PIT ... 5 CU.FT CONCRETE-LINED UNDERGROUND STORAGE FOR THE PRESSURE TANK AND SUCH. IT WAS NOT ONLY AN EYE SORE BUT A PAIN IN THE WINTER TO KEEP FROM FREEZING. FORTUNATELY CODE REQUIRED IT TO BE "CONDEMNED" AND FILLED IT WITH DIRT. THE PRESSURE TANK WILL NOW BE IN THE BASEMENT.

COLTON HELPED ME AT THE TILE SHOP DESIGN THE BACK SPLASH BEHIND THE RANGE. HE HAS A VERY GOOD EYE FOR DESIGN. WHEN HE SAID HE DIDN'T LIKE THE MODERN DISPLAY, BUT PREFERRED THE TRADITIONAL STYLE BETTER, I WAS SO EXCITED TO KNOW MY TASTE HAS RUBBED OFF ON HIM. HERE ARE ALL THE PIECES ... YES, SITTING ON THE PICNIC TABLE ... STILL.

FINALLY WE HAD SOME RAIN THAT MADE IT WET ENOUGH TO BURN THE SCRAP WOOD THAT WE'VE COLLECTED FROM THE CONSTRUCTION SITE.

THEY POURED A 25' APRON IN FRONT OF THE GARAGE TODAY.

ANNIE HAD TO BE THE FIRST TO WALK ON IT

IF YOU REMEMBER, WE PULLED OUT SOME OF THE OLD WHITE OAK FLOORS FROM OUR OLD HOUSE. TUSCARORA WOOD RE-MILLED THE WOOD FOR US ... WE HAD ENOUGH FOR THE ENTRY... HERE IT IS.

HERE IS THE RED OAK WE BOUGHT FROM THEM INSTALLED IN THE LIVING ROOM. WE SIGNED UP TO DO THE SANDING AND FINISHING TO SAVE SOME MONEY. WE'LL GET STARTED ON THAT THURSDAY AFTER WORK.

HERE IT IS IN THE KITCHEN ... ASHAME SO MUCH HAS TO BE COVERED UP BY CABINETS!!

NOT A GREAT PICTURE, BUT THIS IS THE PATIO (AS VIEWED FROM THE DINING ROOM WINDOW ABOVE). THE CONCRETE GUY WANTED EXPERIENCE (I.E. A REFERENCE) DOING STAMPED CONCRETE. IT'S STILL DRYING AND NEEDS MORE DONE TO IT, SO I'LL TAKE ANOTHER PICTURE IN A FEW DAYS.

THEY ALSO DID SOME GRADING ... THIS IS THE HILL SIDE IN FRONT OF THE PATIO. THE WHITE PIPE IS WHERE THE SEPTIC TANK IS.

THEY ALSO POURED THE PAD FOR THE A/C UNIT. THERE WILL BE A SMALL DECK BETWEEN THE HOUSE AND THIS PAD. ALSO DID SOME GRADING ON THIS SIDE OF THE HOUSE.

ANOTHER PICTURE OF THE WHITE OAK FROM THE OLD HOUSE NOW IN THE NEW HOUSE.

Things Are Taking Shape

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:50:00 +0000

Fireplace and Wood Box - Terry and Preston made the Frame. The same masons who did the outside. Their work is amazing. We will put one of the old beams on the mantel.

Here it is with the door on. It will have a wood cover. The neat thing about the wood box is you can load it from the back which is in the garage!!! No more tracking thru the house to bring in wood!!! Yeah!

Bead board ceiling and porch trim - it will be painted white.

Terry left us last Friday to return to Michigan. As such, the place is in a shambles! We miss you Terry!

We are pouring a 25' concrete apron in front of the garage. Prepped the last two days. Pouring on Monday.

Digging the water line from the well and filling in the old well pit

Wires laid in the master bath for the heated tile floor

WARNING: This Post is Boring

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:29:00 +0000

So the last couple weeks have been mostly about installing the insulation and hanging and finishing drywall. So these pictures really aren't that exciting. It's difficult to capture anything substantial via pictures, but what a difference in the house. No longer is it one big space, but the rooms have taken on their very specific shape. The puppies can no longer walk "thru" the walls.

The drywall crew hung all the drywall in just 2 days. The mud crew came on Saturday so we watched for a while. If you've never seen drywallers walk around on their stilts, I'm sorry I didn't capture some video. They moved so fast, up and down stairs, in and out of closets, ducking thru doorways... all on stilts while slapping drywall mud & tape as they flew by ... all while Mexican rap music blasted in the background.

from kitchen looking into living room; there will be transom windows above the doorways


looking at the kitchen window and door to the pantry; see the old beam we put up!!

living room ... looking at the fireplace

Front Entry

Colton's room

Guest Room


Stairwell

See ... not very exciting ... but I promise I have exciting stuff to show you tomorrow.

Behind the Scenes

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:32:00 +0000

Lest you think we just sit at the picnic table watching everyone else work ... here's what's going on behind the scenes.

pouring over hundreds of paint samples and pictures looking for that perfect shade of blue or green

Preston is building some of the cabinets for the kitchen, mudroom, laundry room and living room.

this is the "cap" for the top of the wall oven cabinet he already built and the base cabinet for the wash tub in the laundry room. The tub came from my grandfather.

staining unfinished doors. we had some but needed a few more.

power washing one of the beams that came out of the old house. It has been put up in the kitchen.

lots of other beams and floor joists that we hope to find a use for.

Rather than rent a big dumpster, Terry is collecting the construction trash and stock piling it behind the old barn. We will sort thru and burn

This beam was hand-written with "June 1, 1849 Gone to Troy" ... how cool is that!?! Troy, OH is about 45 miles by today's roads.

Preston spraying the beam for the house with tung oil.

Doors after a spray coat of polyurethane

Spraying the doors with poly

Staring endlessly at samples of cabinet doors, tile, counter top, paint. Somehow it will all come together.

Roof Is On!

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:55:00 +0000

There hasn't been too much going on this week besides the roof. The roofing crew was superb! I would highly recommend them. Skyline Roofing out of Greenfield, OH (937) 481-3258. They did a beautiful job and had a great work ethic. They arrived about 6am each day ... still dark. They put on lighted hats, like a miner wears, and turned on the lights on their lift and got right to work.

There are some pieces missing to complete the ridge vent which is a little critical to keeping water out. We were hoping they would come up with that today as we are expecting rain tonight and it would be nice to test the roof before proceeding with the insulation and drywall...but it didn't happen.

Yesterday, the framers were on-site. They built the deck for the front porch and fixed some of the trim. Did I mention we told the contractor last week we didn't ever want to see the lead trim guy working on our house again? Probably a little late on that decision, but necessary none-the-less.

I was sure the space between the caps and the trim was different on each pilaster. The head framer (who subs out the trim guy) was insisting it was an optical allusion. So over the weekend, Preston lifted me up on a pallet with the tractor forks and I measured all of them. Four of them were 6" apart and five were 5" apart. So he was a little grumpy yesterday when we encouraged him to measure them himself. They are now all at 5".

The window trim on the dormer has been another thorn ... the trim has been crooked after two attempts. Good news ... they fixed it yesterday. Bad news, they worked from inside the house so as to not step on the metal roof, and broke the window track and the window doesn't stay up. Fortunately, the contractor was able to fix it.

We made a visit Saturday to the mill that is going to cut our wood floor and stair treads from old reclaimed barn lumber. We took with us about 140 sq ft of flooring we took out of the old house. It is a full inch thick, so they are going to re-mill it down to 3/4" to match the other and at the same time, cut a new tongue and groove on it. We're going to have that installed in the entry, so we can say, 'this floor came out of the old house.'

On Sunday, Preston helped a guy bring over his saw mill and they cut the two pine trees that were in front of the old house into boards. He also had brought home a huge hickory tree that his boss had taken down and milled that, too. All together, they ended up with over 1000 board feet of wood. I had him cut a few slabs of the pine about 2" thick. Once it's dry, we'll glue up the boards and make it into the 8' bench for the mud room.

Shopped for carpet and tile today. I picked a few things and they are going to ship samples to me so I can show Preston. I also received an email that the kitchen cabinets will ship August 27th... woohoo!

view from the bridge

Remember this picture!!!

Porch framed. Posts will be wrapped in white trim to match pilasters.

Finally! The Icing on the Cake!

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 01:10:00 +0000

Well, the trim STILL isn't done, but we've moved on to paint, stone, siding and roofing anyway. We had a wonderful visit with my Mom and Dad for about 5 days. It looked like a regular camp ground here with their RV, Terry's camper and our camper.

Mom and I went to the tile shop to look at some tile for the back splash on the stove wall. She was a big help in coordinating colors. We also celebrated her 70th birthday which is later this month. Happy Birthday, Mom!

The painters started last week and confirmed what we already knew... the trim guy's work was sub-par. Disappointing. But they will do what they can to cover up his mistakes.

We watched the stone masons start the stone work last Thursday when I was home with my parents. They are from Guatemala and do AMAZING work... very pleased!! The chimney is stunning.

The roofers and siding crews started today. The siding guys need to side the dormer and the gable side of the house adjacent to the garage before the roofers do the roof ... that way they won't have to walk on the finished metal. So today, they started the siding. The roofers put the felt paper over the ice guard and continued to metal most of the back side of the garage and started on the front.

I met yesterday morning with the interior trim carpenter finalizing the door & window trim design and the stair parts.

Here are some pictures that I just took today.

First bit of siding..ooooo, how pretty!

stone around front of house and pillars for the porch

Oh ya... the sliding glass doors finally showed up last Thursday when we were home. So pretty!

Metal on the garage roof

side of garage

the garage doors no longer close because the trim guy put a piece of trim that was supposed to help them close better ...NOT. To be fixed later.

pretty chimney!

When You Do This For a Living

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Imagine if you were a builder and you hired a builder to build your house. You'd be more in tune to what was going on and probably a lot more critical, micro-managing, etc. Well, I am a project manager by trade and a huge part of being a builder is being a project manager ... identifying the activities, put the activities in the order in which they must happen, resourcing the activities ... who is going to do them, estimating how long each activity should take and developing the overall schedule... and then managing to that!

The key to success for a project manager is anticipating what will need to be done and making sure everything is in place at the time it is needed to keep to the schedule. People doing the work are "living in the now." Project managers have one eye on "the now" and one eye on the future...preparing for what's to come.

Our schedule has now slipped a total of 3 weeks due to the trim guy. He was given 15 working days for his piece of the project. We are now in week 6 of his effort. I talked to the builder last week (and the week before and ...) asking him how we can "crash" the schedule ... perform tasks in parallel that would otherwise be done in sequence. Ideally you want to paint the trim before you put up the siding or the stone or even the roof. But you re-paint trim on existing houses all the time and just mask what you don't want to paint. The trim guy could just finish the eves and gables so they could move on with the roof and go back and do windows and doors. Yes, it would require moving scaffolding twice, but that's what you give up. You could have the stone mason installing stone where the trim is already done. A couple days later, you could have the siding start. There are all kinds of ways to be creative and make up some time. But it's not happening. And the trim guy is still plodding along.

And very soon to be an issue (ie. today or tomorrow), is the fact that for some reason they haven't built the front porch which has 3 posts that need trimmed and the two sliding glass doors haven't arrived yet. The first ones were damaged in transit and had to be re-made. Those also need to be trimmed. Not having material on-site when you need it is one of the biggest reasons schedules slip. I've seen this happening a lot with the builder. I told them the end of May they needed to be ordering the roofing metal because I happened to be there looking at samples and the supplier told me it was taking more than their typical 2-3 weeks due to a tornado that came thru the manufacturer's town. It was the end of June before they ordered and I think that is also affecting their ability to crash the schedule. And remember ... no roof, no insulation... interior work comes to a screeching halt.

And so it goes...

We are doing what they call "flash & batt" insulation. They spray 1" of closed cell foam and then put in regular batting insulation. We are up on a hill where the wind used to blow thru our house all winter. We felt by filling all the cavities with foam would be a big help in keeping us warm. That, and having windows that don't require plastic over them. So they sprayed the foam on Friday... our request was "all outside walls." So the wall between the garage and house was not sprayed... and it's the wall that faces the west. So is that an exterior wall? We think so. So that's on this week's meeting agenda.

On a more exciting note, my Mom and Dad are on their way here from Florida for a visit. They should arrive Wednesday afternoon. I'm excited to show them the house.

Some pictures from this week ...

Butterfly in the dining area window.

a Daddy Long Legs got spray foamed, but was still crawling around. He liked his new disguise.

trim guy's trailer ... be glad when that is gone

missing sliding glass doors

Glad I'm Not Doing This Alone

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Last week was a rough week. Preston was on his first business trip since this project started and Terry left Wednesday for vacation with Carol and her family. So I was left to handle all the little stresses. We are also at a frustrating stage where many tasks have to come together.

Friday, we got a lot of rain and that little puddle in the dining area I showed you in my last post was WAY bigger and my fear became reality ... the water ran down into the heat duct and into the furnace. There was a puddle of water at the base of the furnace when I got home. HVAC Steve pulled the doors off and dried things out with a towel and left it open to air dry. Hopefully there is no permanent damage.

The builders had been pushing us to proceed with the insulation so they can keep the interior schedule going. We have been adamant that there is to be no insulation until the roof is on. So after this flood and apparently a few other minor leaks, the builder told me yesterday that we were right... the house isn't ready for insulation yet and they realize they should wait for the roof to be installed. At least they were big enough to admit it, but it's scary none-the-less that we are paying them to be the professionals.

garage doors installed

Saturday, the garage door guy came and installed the garage doors. They are beautiful! There will black handles installed later. The trim guy worked about a half day on Sunday and made a little more progress. Monday, I worked from home so I could meet with the whole house vacuum guy to decide where the inlets for the hose would go. I'm excited about having a w/h vacuum. I've never had one, but everyone who has says they'll never be without one.

pouring step from garage into the mudroom

finished step

I was surprised and excited when I heard a big truck coming across the front pasture just after lunch. It was a cement truck!! We weren't expecting that, so I ran out and watched as they poured the second step into the garage and then poured the posts for the decks. It's the first time I was home for a cement pour.

pouring the posts for back deck

The builder thinks the trim will be done by Thursday or enough so that the painter can start caulking and paint early next week. The stone trim that goes around the base of the house is scheduled to start next Monday and the roof will go on starting August 3rd. I hear they can't get an ETA on the roofing material, so a little concerned there. It was supposed to take 2-3 weeks and it's been 4.

I was certain the cement truck was going to roll on its side down the hill

They also need to put felt paper over the exising IB-3 underlayment. I alluded to a roofing issue a while back (the day the windows were installed). Our architect apparently hadn't designed many (any?) homes with a metal roof, so he did some reseach on what underlayment should be used. He specified an "ice guard" underlayment. The builder told us later they questioned the use of that material and made some calls to the underlayment company who said as long as the metal manufacturer says it's ok, it is fine (although there website says it's not intended for use under metal roofs). They called the roofing dealer who called the metal manufacturer and they said it "should" be fine. We knew about none of this and still wouldn't if I hadn't accidentally stumbled onto some information that said you shouldn't use ice guard under metal roof because it doesn't breath, so it will trap moisture and cause the metal to rust.

Since then, the builder has been trying to get something in writing from the metal manufacturer saying the metal warranty (45 years) won't be voided if we use the ice guard underlayment. It has been several weeks and he doesn't have anything yet. Regular felt paper is approved and so they seem to think it would be ok to put the felt paper over the ice guard rather than tear the ice guard off. I still think there could be a moisture issue and warranty risk, but nobody else thinks it will be a problem. So it looks like this is the direction we are going in. I just feel like manufacturers hand out these unbelievable warranties (there is a 50! year warranty on the composite trim material ... really? more than metal?) and then when you file a claim, they just have to say it wasn't installed properly and you don't have a leg to stand on. I just wish the builder had brought this to our attention when he was questioning it, so that we could have had some input to the decision.

Meanwhile, the mud wasps apparently got their own occupancy permit and have moved into the basement (because there are no doors installed yet and there are big holes full of mud and water out back.)

So, Preston and I are running away this weekend to a bed & breakfast in southeast Indiana. It is actually in the same town as the soapstone dealer, so it's a good excuse to make a weekend of it. We might go up to Metamora, IN which is apparently a quaint little touristy town.

Exterior Trim Critical Path

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 12:56:00 +0000

The exterior trim is now holding up the rest of the construction project inside and out. The rough mechanicals are finished, so the next step is insulation. We don't have the roof yet and we still have water coming in one of the valleys in the dining area. Until the roof is on, no insulation. The builder wants the trim up and painted and the stone on the chimney before the metal can go on the roof. This has suddenly added 2 weeks to the schedule, realistically about 4, pessimistically 6. That would make it Thanksgiving... trying to be thankful knowing I'll be showering outside the end of November in Ohio.

So all we can do is keep pressure on the builder to keep pressure on the trim guy. He worked thru the day yesterday with on and off rain down pours all day and got more done in a day than I've seen him accomplish yet. It does look good!

The doors are still sitting in the garage. The two glass sliding doors were damaged in transit so they are on re-order with no ETA. The garage doors should be here late next week. Kitchen cabinets were ordered yesterday... yeah!! I get a brief break in product decisions.

Here are some updated pictures.

trim around gable and porch. post started on left corner

this is our bedroom in this front corner

garage trimmed out; corner post. stone will go from the ground up to the bottom of the post/trim

single garage door

double garage door & corner post

start of deck framing

wood box framed in left of fireplace

leak in the dining room; the ducting is just trash ... looks like it goes into the wall, but really doesn't

Mechanicals

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:57:00 +0000

Not much to update lately of any excitement. The only person to really work over the 4th of July week was Steve, the HVAC guy. But when Monday came, we had a full house! HVAC, plumber, electrician, exterior trim guy. The place was rocking!

Monday, the electrician nailed up all the electrical boxes. We walked thru the house Monday night and made notes on what we wanted moved or changed. It has been the most stressful piece of this project to date. And if one night wasn't enough, we did it again Tuesday night.

When, in the process of deciding where exactly the floor outlet should go in the living room, your husband asks "Well, where is my chair going?" ...because every man has a chair they call home. It is their sanctuary within the house that the woman takes pride (i.e. control) in decorating. So when I tell him that his chair will not be in the living room and he asks where it will be and I say in your Man Cave in the basement... well, let's just say the rest of the electrical discussion was a little stactic-y.

I guess 2nd only to the electrical decision was the stress of where to put the A/C compressor. The builder / HVAC guy wanted to put it right outside our master bathroom / bedroom window. Seriously? Remember the picture I posted of my kitchen window and the others adjacent to it? Having designed the house for nice views on all sides, we didn't want to see this blob adorning the house. Nor did we want to hear it right outside a window. Since it's going to be zoned, there may be a time when the A/C is running upstairs, but I have my north facing kitchen window open. So after much consternation, we settled on putting it next to the small deck and putting shrubs around the deck and hope it will blend in.

So we survived this phase and I walked thru the house with Dan, the electrician, one morning and made quick work of all the changes ... this of course against our builder's wishes. They don't like it when we talk to the subs because it will only impede the schedule. Ok. I'm sure they could have gotten the electrical changes communicated much quicker, but I'll be ok with the schedule slip (??).

Other excitement ...all of the windows are now installed, the chimney framing was completed, the fireplace arrived and was installed, the doors arrived today (without the 2 sliders which were apparently damaged in transit and have to be re-made ... ouch!). The upstairs shower was installed. There is wire, PEX tubing and HVAC duct work running everywhere. We have about 40 can lights installed. The master shower was framed. They measured for the kitchen cabinets. I finalize the order in the morning! Woohoo! I'll try to get the drawings from her and post them here.

Cody, from Tuscarora Wood in Covington, OH, measured for the wood floors. They sell reclaimed lumber milled into tongue & groove flooring. We have some of the flooring that we took out of our house that we'd like to use. He took a look at it and since it is a full inch thick, he can re-mill it to 3/4" with a new tongue & groove and it will blend in with the other nicely. They will also provide treads for the stairs. The wood will be in the entry, the living room and the kitchen / dining area. It is going to be stunning! We may also have him cut down some of the beams we took out of the house. We plan to put some on the ceiling and one for the fireplace mantel.

OH... the driveway was cut in ... not sure if it's going to be big enough ... you can be the judge. The trim is going amazingly slow...slower than slow. When they do show up ...once a week, they might get 2 windows done... in 8 hours. I see that soon becoming the critical path to the exterior finish. We shopped for stone yesterday and brought 2 samples home. The sales rep gave us an address for each sample so we could see it in full scale. We did pick the fireplace stone and the pieces and parts that make up the hearth and mantel support. Preston has been busy making cabinets for the kitchen, mudroom and laundry room.

Well, I guess a lot has been done ... just not very picture worthy. But here are some anyway...

house and the BIG driveway! Ulterior motive .. less grass to mow.

front door, no porch yet, but windows are framed ... will be painted white.

exterior doors arrived today.

Laundry room - we are using PEX tubing instead of copper...cheaper, quicker to install and no one wants to steal it ;)

Wood burning fireplace. Wood box will be framed to the left and then built-ins on either side. Remember when the foundation oops almost eliminated the right built-in?

The framing of our shower. The exhaust fan is sitting on what will be the bench.

2nd floor shower

This is the view from Colton's bedroom looking over the garage. This space sort of presented itself. Although we aren't putting a door there now or finishing the walls in the storage area above the garage, it could become a very cool hang out space in the future.

View from Colton's room into the family room. They are going to put OSB on the backside of the wall, insulate and then put up drywall.

Spider web of HVAC duct work above the 2nd floor.

Framing Almost Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 00:41:00 +0000

The framers worked Saturday and put the last of the windows in ... except the one that was missing and one in the garage. They took all of the bracing out so you can finally walk around it room-to-room unobstructed. They built the chimney and framed in the fireplace today in anticipation of it being delivered tomorrow. Here are a few pictures ...

The double frieze board, fascia, corner trim and window trim. It will all be painted white

Laundry room. (window for the garage)

Mudroom looking into the garage.


Entry into the master bedroom


Window view from master bedroom

Colton's room (missing window, but great view of sunsets). Walk in closet to the right.

2nd upstairs bedroom. Another great view.

Living room window. You can see part of the fireplace framing on the right.

Dining area (eat in kitchen). There will be sliding glass doors at the left out to a small deck.

Kitchen ... doorway goes to pantry. Stove is to the left and sink is under the window.


This will be my view from my island where I'll prep dinner... minus the ladder that is currently going across the window.

Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Icelandic Shepherdess) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 11:12:00 +0000

old back porch thru which my kitchen window looked

So this is a picture of the back porch to our old house. It was the door we used 95% of the time. It had the freezers, the trash cans, muddy boots, the cat's beds and the floor door to the cellar... and the a/c units just outside. My kitchen window looked into this area. The glass seals of the big glass panels were broken, making the view impaired by the cloudy glass... not to mention all the distracting sights that stood between me and the outside.

I was driving up the driveway yesterday focusing on the roof as I stewed over another potential problem... more on that later... when I was about to go around the bend and came to a screeching halt, turned off the radio (?) and rolled down the window. The windows along the kitchen wall had been installed. They were stunning even with Tyvek siding. My eyes actually started to well with tears.

kitchen window at left, then pantry window & bedroom windows

You see, when I first starting designing our house last fall, the very first thing that went on the paper was the kitchen window. I knew exactly what it would look like and the direction it would face. I literally drew the kitchen and the rest of the house around this window. I love to cook, I love to be in my kitchen, and I love to look out the window and see birds at a bird feeder, flowers in a garden or deer walking by.

So when I came up the driveway last night and saw the kitchen window and the rest of them along that wall, it was then that I realized that my dream of a new kitchen and a new house was really going to come to fruition. It was even more beautiful than I had imagined and the view from inside was even more breath-taking ... even though there are no bird feeders or flowers yet.

Colton modeling the kitchen window with enthusiasm! I know... there is a telephone pole I didn't consider. Good place to plant a tree.

I love windows. I think they are magical and we definitely went over the top with the quantity and size of windows in our design. But they are really going to accent the house from the outside and show off the beautiful views from the inside.