I don't know what it is, but seeing the house pretty much enclosed this week is really exciting! It looks really cool and Nick and I are thrilled so far. I can't wait to go out tomorrow to look at it without saws and hammers and guys everywhere!
Some of the interior details are appearing, like the "kick-out" returns at corners on the first floor. That will be a pretty detail once they wrap them and trim them out. They did drop the header down to 8' in the hallway to break it up a bit. I'm not too sure about that --- think we'd prefer it dropped, but more like 9' so the crown detail appears, but it isn't so low. Here is how it looks for the moment....
In the end, we want the hallway to look like this, a dropped detail, but not 2'....
Also, the Breakfast room header is low, at 8' and that will hide the pretty window in there. I asked Lloyd to raise it, and he said no problem, but we are going to get the big window in first so that we can decide how high to raise it. I am glad we are waiting.
Our little charging station framing went in in the mudroom, that is cool and I have a feeling it will be one of our favorite things. It is about 12" wide and it will have shelves up to 8' tall. I think a trashcan at the floor will be super handy to get rid of junk before even really getting it into the house.
The great room is framed, and we can see the chalk lines on the floor representing where the ceiling coffers will go. That freaked me out because the alignment doesn't look good. They are spaced equally, but the windows / doors are not all the same size, so the coffers slightly overlap one of the windows. It looks like a mistake instead of perfect alignment. To fix it (it hasn't been framed yet and won't be until we are ready for the trim guy), we would need to make the coffers unequal. I think this is the right solution, but am not sure yet. We need to think about it a bit. I am wondering if we should just ditch the coffers and do something else in that room. Any ideas? Since the fireplace wall will be stone with a rustic beam mantel, I am thinking maybe we should put rustic beams across the ceiling.... this will be a TBD area.
Here is one with beams....would you do something like this vs. coffers?
Here is the room in question... the fireplace will be on the left.
I think if we do coffers, they need to be in the space between the door and the window, not partially over the middle window like this chalk line shows (the red lines, not the seam in the floor).
Other spaces...
Ryan's room backs up to an attic space and I can't help myself, I am scheming about making a "smurf" door for him into a little secret room. It would be really cool because 2 of the dormer windows would be in the secret room.... And then of course, Nicholas' room backs up to the little upstairs playroom, and a little tunnel would be really fun to get into that room..... I know, I know, I need to stop thinking about these crazy concepts...but when you are there looking at it, it is hard to imagine closing off these little areas!
Today I'm going to post a view from each exterior side.... the Tyvek is covering some of the windows, and some of the windows go higher than it appears because the Tyvek is not cut-out perfectly yet.
Front...
walkout side....
rear view....
garage side...
Other happenings for the week...
There is a pine tree farm near us with 100's of big pine trees. I loved our little "grove" of 3 pine trees in Cincinnati, so I have some pines in mind again when we get to landscaping. Well, every time I drive by that pine farm, I think about it and wonder if they sell any of those pine trees? So, I wrote a note to the family asking about the trees. Mr. Barger, a very nice man called me back and told me he'd be happy to sell me some of his trees. I met him over there and he took me to a different area than I expected --- the trees here were quite tall (25-30' I would guess). Anyway, I thought, uh-oh, these are awfully big, how much do you have in mind for them? He said, "$20 a tree, if you think that is fair?" So, Nick and I have picked some trees we really like and now we just need to find somebody to move them for a reasonable amount! That will be the catch we know, but the trees are great. Thanks Mr. Barger! I think he liked that my brother has a walnut farm and that Dad made a kiln out of the back of a milk truck.... it was fun to talk about some of the woods. The perfect time to plant the pines is Nov, Dec or Jan, so the timing is good if we can find a way to move them. Somebody with a tree spade is difficult to find! If by chance we do find a tree spader, we are going to take a pretty maple tree from our current back yard. It is hidden at the far back of our yard and it will not be missed in this yard, but it would be nice to have a decent sized maple over there.
I bought a sideboard at an antique store to convert into our powder room vanity --- very exciting because it was $159. This compared to the cabinet guy who estimated $1900 to make a sideboard for a vanity. It is EXACTLY the right size. We will just remove the top, put on a piece of granite or marble with an undermount sink, and leave the rear little valance detail....
I am having a hard time containing my excitement because this week we are expecting windows and doors.... whoo hoo! I am really keeping my fingers crossed that they look good because I changed the mullion pattern on the windows SO many times and I was so difficult about it. I am worried about it now.... I don't know which days the guys will work this week since it is Thanksgiving week --- I want to have low expectations so we are not disappointed when we get back from Jen's house.
Happy Thanksgiving Week!
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