CREPE MURDER

Note to self:

If you are ever here sitting at the computer typing on this blog and Nick is home AND you hear the sound of a chainsaw, never ever, ever, ever, ever just sit there and keep on typing.

You see the results. Alex came to tell me, "You do NOT want to see what Dad is doing." I ignored him. When I went to look, it was too late. Ryan and Nicholas went to the door and looked and started heckling him, which was not terribly appreciated. Ryan started crying because he "killed" the tree. Nicholas berated him with, "Now our yard looks terrible, nobody will EVER buy this house!" Well, lucky for me, I didn't have to join the insults because the kids pretty much had it covered. They are still out there grumbling about how the place is ruined, but I don't hear the chainsaw, so the damage is done.... at least for now.

Cold Stone, no wait, I mean Stone Cold.... and that is a problem....

It has been so darn cold here that the stone has been slow. Any of our warm days have the masons out working. Saturday, Sunday, they were there, but these chilly days, well, not so much. Finally, today it was 65 degrees (yes, I know the rest of the country was experiencing a blizzard) so they were there cranking out the stone. Lloyd wanted it all done by today....I'll bet they are still there trying to get it done. It is really getting him frustrated because as long as there is very messy stone work to be completed, he has to leave roofing sections incomplete so the stone guys don't damage the shingles and metal roofing. Since the roof is not completely sealed, we can't insulate and drywall. So the inside is really at a standstill until the stone is done and then the roofing is done. I will be very excited to see the more activity inside the house soon! Here is where we are on the outside.

The siding is still the primer color, but it looks nice to see something other than Tyvek!

The retaining walls have been capped with flagstone. They just got a bunch of palettes of flagstone in and they pulled it aside for us because they thought it was such a thick and especially beautiful batch. It is very pure and light looking, almost like limestone....of course I'm partial to limestone being from Indiana. But, in this application, we got a bit worried when we saw the palettes, they are SO white, some have beautiful purply swirls and are very sparkly, but the majority is just pure white. Looking at the neighboring palettes, the stone is very rough looking and much more thin than our pallets, so it wouldn't combine well either. It started growing on us and I think it will be beautiful. They also started building our little columns for the retaining wall. We'll put a gate there which will ideally mimic the arch of the window above. Lloyd sent it off to Walpole Woodworkers for a quote. Their gates are very pretty, but more than we have in mind for an afterthought kind of project.

Also off to production are our barn doors for in the kitchen area. What is very cool is to give Lloyd a drawing and have it come back the next day from the company making it and it is exactly what we have in mind!

There will be 2 of these doors.

Also this week, I've been working on our door hardware. The plan is for a 5 panel "farm door" and for these awesome knobs. Only one problem, they are expensive. I think we'll get the great ones for the main floor and then maybe something not so pricey upstairs. We'll see how we're going to make it work.

I'll have to post a picture of them soon. They are so pretty!

Stone column decisions....

I've been trying to figure out how to detail this retaining wall. I got out my pencil and paper and here is what I am thinking..... The top picture is the idea for the retaining wall, and the bottom is my "concept" for the front yard / gaslight entrance. I just e-mailed it to the builder to see what he thinks. Hopefully it isn't too complicated and he gets what I'm talking about!

Lucky for me, he doesn't laugh at my pictures (at least not to my face), so that is good!
The opening to this retaining wall is currently 9'3". I am trying to figure out how big this opening should be? They could build the stone pillars in the opening if I want to reduce it, or they could wrap around the current wall if I want to preserve that opening. We'll put in a "double wide" gate, and I want it to be big enough to be highly functional, but small enough that it isn't incredible heavy.... but what is that magic size? I am thinking the arch of the gate should mimic the arched window above.

My builder just called to ask about the detailing of the front porch. I am sure he thought I was completely crazy when I asked him to let me double check the detailing the architect provided against my book, "Traditional Construction Patterns". I was very pleased to see that my architect did detail the porch the correct, or "do" way vs. the dreaded "don't" style! Will it really make a difference, we'll see...but I'll be pleased to know my porch is a "do" and not a "don't" if any architecturally correct people are out there critiquing the place! Do you think the guys would be offended if I left my copy of the book out there? :-)
I let my architect borrow it once and I guess he thought it was a gift to him since he never bothered to give it back --- it is THAT good!

Electrician can't get back out until Wednesday because my special little 4" lights (thanks to the lighting people) are not in stock until then. Luckily, that buys me a bit of time to have Lloyd get back to me about the stone columns with lights and if it is a go, then the electrician can "git er dun" when he returns.

More cold, SNOW and plugging along.

We have passed the electrical inspection, and I had the lighting people come out after the electrician was done. They refused to come out before, but that is one of the dumbest plans ever. Now, they came out and told me all of the things that I did wrong, so now we get to have the electrician come back. Part of me is feeling lazy, and like just ignoring some of their recommendations, but that could definitely be regrettable.

Here is one of the areas I think we need to add electrical. On this retaining wall, we will put posts and I think post lights would finish the look nicely. The question is, should we make the posts stone, or should we make them wooden with the lights on top? I am talking about the opening at this courtyard retaining wall - admittedly, a bit hard to see.


Here are the fire wood boxes we are putting on the porch. The hearth will span from one fire box to the other. We have decided to do a stone mantel on this porch, which I think will look nice.


Here is a close-up of the stone -- I am really pleased with it. I just wish we had warm enough weather right now that they could finish it. Today I went out to take pics, expecting nobody and the stone guy was there working, trying to get some work done while it isn't too cold. What timing we have!

This week they have to finish the roofing, waterproof the porches, and then the bits of electrical still need to happen. I am anxious to see the insulation go in, but we are expecting more bad weather this week, which might make the roofing and stone work very difficult.... darn!

Our neighbors are in the process of moving in... I'm jealous, though as I look around my house which looks like an episode of hoarders, I know we have a long way to go! These sinks, lights, and other miscellaneous items need to get over to the new house. I'm not sure if I am just anxious to get the house done, or just to get these boxes out of here.... I can't wait, it is driving me crazy!

Cold days!

I got a new camera lens and can take a few wider angle pics. This will help on the interior pictures. Yay!

It has been SOOO cold here. The stone guys are working and they have tarps hanging off the house with space heaters under them because it is too cold. It creates a toasty little space under the tarp to allow them to continue working. But, at the end of last week it was not only cold, but windy too so the tarps wouldn't stay on. This meant no stone work for the last few days and it is supposed to snow tomorrow... kids are thrilled, me not so much.

The stone has been stressful because it is a big component of this house. They put it on and we hated it and they agreed that it wasn't right. They ripped it off, relaid it and we liked how it looked but the mortar just seemed to stay dark. We thought that was wrong too. On day 5 or 6 we were going out to meet with the builder and we were discussing the stone mortar and I was starting to panic AGAIN and it was miraculously light overnight! We knew it would lighten some, but it just wasn't getting a bit lighter and then overnight, like magic it was perfect. I got out of the car and told the stone guy I had been getting really worried about it and he told me he was too! He had gone back and checked his formulas and ingredients, and was also relieved to see it that day. It is amazing how the lighter mortar makes the stones look lighter too. It looked so dreary before and now it looks pretty. Thank goodness! The stone goes around the entire base of the house and then the center section will be stone. Here is a picture of the rear porch stone so you can see it....



The electrical is pretty much complete, the audio is wired, the central vac is in, the rough plumbing is done. They are working on the exterior trim.

Here are several more exterior pictures... rear porch and walkout basement...




The circular porch and fireplace...


Basement walkout wall... the stone mortar is "dry" here, I like how it matches the windows...


Front exterior.... you can see on the garage windows on the right they are starting to trim.



Interior pictures...
Master bath windows... I love these and the trees.


Front hallway,,,, I still haven't had these headers raised...


Wine room...The space is neat and we'll wrap the steel beams with wood like rustic beams, but the reality is we don't want to spend lots of money here because we are not "serious" wine drinkers. But, we are wondering if we shouldn't build the basic infrastructure correctly for a "wine room" including the compressor and then we could add as much or as little fancy racking later?


View of the keeping room from the 2nd floor. The window seats are not in at the windows flanking the fireplace yet...


Breakfast area...the barrel vault mimic the window arch which is neat.


The stairs... they are covered, but the little glimpse of walnut looks cool!




I think next up is insulation, though I am guessing there are final bits of electrical and plumbing that need to be wrapped up this week before that starts. Our neighbors move in next week. They started in May. They will be looking at a muddy mess for a while I think. I am excited to see drywall start hopefully by the end of the month?

Stone going on, some siding and lots of infrastructure

In the past week or so, there have been a crazy amount of workers out at the house....I think trying to get things completed before Christmas because then they will get paid.

The framing all looked so pretty inside, and then yikes, what a mess! There are holes everywhere for electrical, pipes running all over the place, ductwork snaking throughout and it no longer looks so pretty! I guess it has to go somewhere, but geesh, did it have to go THERE! This is a learning experience in that I was so darned picky in the plans and tried hard to eliminate wasted spaces and random little nooks. Those giant furnaces and water heaters and other air returns, etc need those little nooks! Since there are none, little bits of closets have been eaten away and my little storage attic is mucked up and the one that is going to really be annoying, but he hasn't seen it yet is Nick's workshop --- there is "stuff" everywhere! His giant workshop that he was getting is rapidly filling with mechanicals. I walked in and freaked out --- I did very nicely ask them to try to avoid spreading it out anymore in there --- anything else that gets added should not be placed in the middle of the remaining wall space he gets. I wish I had been down there being annoying and picky before it was all set up because maybe a larger continuous chunk might have been saved.

The real stairs have gone in and that is very nice.... the ladders were getting old. The walnut treads are covered, but I can still see that they are so pretty! There is no handrail yet, but at least the stairs feel nice now!

They are framing (nearly done) the rounded part of the screened porch. It looks very cool!



The fireplaces are all in place, and they are putting stone on the chimneys. The stone has been a big source of worry! They put it up and it was awful awful. I analyzed it and worried about it and finally called Lloyd and asked him to get the stone company owner out there to meet with me to discuss it. He was there within 2 hours and he agreed it didn't look right. They tore it all off! What a project, luckily not much was on! Now, they have put more on and it looks much better. I would still really like to see the top coating of lighter mortar going on as it should lighten the whole thing up quite a bit. But, because they are doing this strange mix of mortar with more lime (or some lightening dye), they can't do it in sections as it might not all come out the same! So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this "white washing" effect is going to work out well.

As you can see, in the top gable some of the siding is going on.... what a lovely unfinished color, don't you think --- YUCK! I'm going to get up there with my paint :-)

Lloyd called and asked if all exterior lights are picked out. Since they are and I could tell him the backplate dimensions, they will be able to make nice trim boards to set the lights on and the siding will go around them, instead of setting the lights directly on the siding. The same will happen on the stone --- they can make sure the stone piece will be flat enough to cover that same dimension. I sure hope that the heights and sizes I gave them are correct or it will be terrible!

Nick has been working with an audio guy to figure that stuff out--- It all gets wired the week after Christmas. I will like having several speakers around vs. the computer blasting music all the time!

It has been cold and nasty here for the last 2 weeks. Today is 59 degrees, so it is a complete mud pit! I remember when the foundation was first poured, we had the kids take off their shoes to walk on it --- that is laughable because it is beyond disaster now!

We are four months into this project.... I have no clue how many more to go! I don't think we are half way yet. I think this is about the 1/3 mark, but really I have no idea. Our neighbors are moving in January 15th --- they started in May, so I think their build was roughly 8 months. Having a basement will increase our build time though. We'll see....hard to not start looking for the finish line! Our garage and bedroom are filled to the brim with sinks and light fixtures which I have ordered on my own. I cannot wait to get this stuff out of here!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

electrical and plumbing beginning

This week the plumbers and electricians are starting. Of course that meant walking through with each group for hours.... and it was 20 degrees... so very cold! It will be nice to get some insulation in this joint, but that is weeks away!

I had to give the electrical guy the disclaimer that he is dealing with a crazy person here.... he seemed fine with all of my craziness, so that is very good news. Of course who knows what I told them, it was so darn cold I can't remember!

They also put the cupola on top... it needs the weathervane still, but I suppose that will go on at the very end. I feel sorry for the electrician, because he is tasked with figuring out how the heck to get a light in there --- and a way to change the bulb....yikes!

Here are a few pics from the week....





garage details and cupola:


Barrel vault in the breakfast room:


The porch passed inspection, so the concrete should be poured on the porches any day now. After the concrete is poured, then the round porch can be framed. I've almost forgotten about that area, but it will be great to see.

The cabinet guy came and we marked out all of the cabinets on the floor. That was frustrating because he took all of the field measurements from our meeting and then went back to "finalize," but he applied the field measurements to an old design. That entailed hours of reconciliation for me, and I hope he gets it right on the next pass!

I have been working on the lighting plan and am finding that it is very hard to size lights --- especially exterior ones. I cut out pieces of cardboard to represent the sizes and that was totally useless. I finally went to the lighting store and brought one home with me (of the larger size). It seemed huge in isolation, but the electrician, Lloyd and I all think it is the right size. We'll see....

Other happenings, the guys fixed the header at the breakfast room (raised it, and it looks great), they made a bench in the master shower and are finalizing the basement framing (that was the warmest place in the house today)!

Coming up.... siding, stone, roofing and Nick will be working on the audio in the next few weeks.