Insulation... finally!

So they are finally insulating. The guys look like spacemen because they are wearing these spacesuit contraptions and big ventilators since we are getting spray foam insulation. That stuff looks crazy....yellow puffy stuff all over the ceiling.

Stone work almost done outside....the fireplace out there is looking good. I have settled on a slab of limestone that is a bit thinner as we are going to do a bulkier stone on the lower half of the fireplace. I am excited to see the finished product.

Lloyd mentioned to me the other day that the dormers are a bit taller than on the plan. After I had a mini heart attack, I got out my reference book (lloyd calls it my bible) to check out the dormer construction and proportion. Well, it is going to be just fine. The trim guys looked at my pictures and made up a sample dormer and it looks great --- the roofing needs to be extended a bit in the front and the sides, but then it will be just right. Phew. When Lloyd saw the look on my face before they were trimmed he offered to tear all of the dormers off the house and rebuild them. I really really didn't want to do that and take a few steps back, but on the other hand, if they didn't look right.... at least he offered and seemed more than willing to have the framers totally re-do them. In the end, I think the framers did them correctly, vs. the architects specifications, so it all really worked out!

It was a beautiful weekend and Alex had a play date out there with a future neighbor. Since it was so nice, all of the neighbors were lurking around. Several of them mentioned they like the color of our house -- -well, that yellow color is the way the hardi boards start out -- in other words, the primary color right now is "primer." When I told them that isn't the color the house is going to be, several of them argued that we should keep it this color! Maintenance wise, that would be nice!

The color is supposed to be this taupey color --- see it on this sample board above the stone...

I got samples today from the cabinet guy --- they look great! I'm going to visit and pet my stone tomorrow.... the granite lady told me that they have some lady that wants them to give her my granite and give us another piece. I would be livid!

Up next... drywall....

Future gold mine? Let's hope so!

Alex and I were out poking around today and noticed the ground has lots of flecks of gold. We figure we are about to strike it rich big time! We brought some of the flecks home and created our own panning station ---- It was bright and shiny and looks very promising. I am wondering just how many dump truck loads we might be able to get. China Pandas, Kruggerands, watch out, we might be able to start our own private gold coins operation with all of the shimmer we've got going out there. Could it be the toxic sludge glowing?? Perhaps, but we are preferring to dream big. Our wealth of knowledge about the subject (cubscouts field trip to Reed Gold Mine several months ago) tells us that real gold can usually be found near veins of quartz. Check. We've got lots of quartz out there. It also says that real gold is shiny in the sunlight, or in the shade. I'm practically blinded by it, even in the shade, so it must be real. Last test, real gold will flatten with a hammer, pyrite (fools gold) will break. Well, it broke, but I think I didn't whack it the right way.... :-)

Beyond that dream, we are on the hook to decide quickly about mantels. In general the house will have reclaimed beam mantels, but the outside fireplace will have a stone mantel. We've gone to look at lots of hunks of stone and there is a huge variety out there. Of course yesterday I went to look at some and discovered that the one I picked out of the bunch was the most expensive type. Great. Apparently, the thinner slabs (the top one) are taken out of the earth and cut into "slices." The one I picked is taken out just like it is shown, making it "rare." Here is the one I picked at first (in the middle):

But then I went around to the other side and saw another stone I really liked as well. And, it looked so very familiar too....just like home. Why? Because it is Bloomington, Indiana limestone! I really like it too, and the great thing about it is it can be cut to any size we want, vs. the other slab. For that one, the one I picked it 9' long. We need more like 5' --- we'd have to pay for the entire slab. So, now we need to decide which type to choose ---the limestone is the picture below. We'd do a thick hunk like the bottom one, with a chiseled edge (like this one has). I really love how the limestone looks, and it is much less expensive. I had no idea. I'm now disappointed that I didn't know that before getting all of our walls capped.

The only question I have, is it too light for our stone? The outdoor fireplace is going to be stone like the rest of the house. The mantel will be held up by stone brackets / corbels.

Here is a reminder picture of our stone, close up.

Is the limestone too light for our stone, or would it work? I also have several big geodes from Indiana (delivery from Warren) that I am going to ask the masons to include in the fireplace somehow. Think that would bring part of my roots into this house!

Last consideration for the week.... Our walnut floors are getting created now... 4, 5 and 6" width. I would really like to try to use Waterlox on them, which is a Tung Oil based finish. I really like how Tung oil brings out the grain of the wood. I am not sure yet how this will be received by the flooring guys? Anybody have any experience with this?

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?