Fossil Ridge Farm

Countdown - 1 Day

2009-09-17T22:01:00.004-06:00

We got our CO - Certificate of Occupancy today. We're really moving tomorrow!! They cleaned the place up very nice, but still have a few more weeks of little odds and ends to get done.

Lockers Coming Along - Almost Done

2009-09-17T21:57:00.002-06:00

No varnish on yet, but they are looking nice.

Exterior Doors

2009-09-16T21:38:00.001-06:00

Grand entrance.

Front porch side door to the mud room.

Back door to kitchen.

Back door to master bedroom.

Final Days - Countdown 2 Days

2009-09-16T09:58:00.004-06:00

Moving in 2 days! He got the refrigerator cabinet finished.

Carpet

2009-09-15T15:08:00.004-06:00

Stairs going up to the kid's rooms.

Master bedroom. Same carpet in all the rooms on the main floor.

Great room. These pictures aren't great, but there is a pattern in the carpet.

Amber could move into her room today if she wanted.

So could Tyler and Cory.

Stair Railing

2009-09-14T15:06:00.000-06:00

At least the kids can't fall to the bottom floor any more!

Mud Room Lockers

2009-09-12T15:03:00.000-06:00

Fireplace Update

2009-09-11T14:55:00.000-06:00

Can't wait to curl up in front of the fireplace with a good book. I think we need a faux Polar Bear rug in front of it.

A/C

2009-09-10T14:50:00.000-06:00

Little AC unit for the upstairs rooms.

This one is for the main floor.

Gourmet Kitchen

2009-09-05T06:28:00.002-06:00

I wish I could hug it.

Lighting

2009-09-04T06:34:00.000-06:00

Entry way.

Kitchen nook.

Dining.

Wall sconce in the master bedroom. The tile stuff is still in the way so they have it covered, but that should be gone this weekend because the last piece to tile is the fireplace which will be done on Saturday.

More Built-Ins

2009-09-02T06:19:00.000-06:00

Upstairs book shelf.

Mud Bath Plumbing & Necessary Stuff

2009-09-02T05:58:00.002-06:00

Mud bath.

We'll have 2 of these. One upstairs for the kids room and bonus room and one on the main floor.

Return air for upstairs. This will supposedly help with air flow through the house so that we can take advantage of the cool basement air.

More Plumbing Fixtures

2009-09-02T05:53:00.000-06:00

Kitchen
Butlers pantry.

Master shower.

Rain head in master shower.

Plumbing Fixtures

2009-09-01T05:46:00.000-06:00

Powder bath fixture:
Master bath have the same fixtures.

Amber and the boys have the same fixtures in their rooms.

Amber's shower.

Final Grading - Front

2009-08-29T05:59:00.004-06:00

Final grading looks nice - lots of landscaping to do! Not to mention the mud this winter.

Final Grading - North Views

2009-08-29T05:54:00.003-06:00

Grading to the north and west.

Final Grading - Northeast Views

2009-08-29T05:46:00.002-06:00

Back views of the final grading work. They didn't have to cut/fill too much. Lots of landscaping to do (and we thought we were done with the house planning/building...)

Kitchen Pendants

2009-08-27T20:01:00.002-06:00

They hung the pendant lights today also. Looking good, but I'm really concerned about getting done by September 18th. We have to be out of our rental by then, so really pushing on Wayne now.

Built-Ins Almost Complete

2009-08-27T19:56:00.002-06:00

Built-ins around the fireplace are complete. Now all we have left is the staining and putting the doors on the cabinets and the tile around the fireplace. Wow!

Railing

2009-08-27T11:08:00.003-06:00

Not sure when this happened, but I noticed this morning that they finished the stair railing in the garage.

Matt is working on staining the railing upstairs. I hope he finishes the upstairs this week. He still needs to do the varnish coats. He's the one I'm really concerned about.

Built-Ins and Fireplace

2009-08-27T10:25:00.002-06:00

Built-ins are looking awesome. I love them. Fireplace should be complete this week. Not sure when Dan will come back to put finishing touches on the tile, like fireplace and caulking.

I can't wait to sit in front of the fireplace with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate with it snowing outside.

Another Daily Misc Update

2009-08-24T22:57:00.002-06:00

Dan finished up the grout work for the kitchen backsplash.

The grout for the entry way is also complete.

They are finally moving our big dirt pile and covering the leach field as well as some cut/fill work for final grading. The finish grading will be done on Wednesday.

The exterior doors are completed.

Daily Update, August 20

2009-08-20T23:22:00.005-06:00

Refrigerator and wine/beer cooler came today, but since the cabinet hasn't been fixed yet, they're sitting in the garage in their boxes. I'm dying to see them, but will resist the temptation to open the boxes until they're ready to put in place. Only a few more weeks now. But very likely the week after labor day.

Gary has started on the fireplace. He's got quite a lot of figuring to do and I guess these are his notes and practice runs with scrap wood.

More lighting fixtures. And I can't resist posting pictures of Amber's room. Miles is already tired of the pink and wondering when we can paint it.

Hall fixture lights.

Tyler's room.

Cory's room

Master fan.

Master shower. The tile is grouted and it looks awesome.

Linen shelves in the master bathroom.

Tile entry. He just set this today so the tile is dirty and hasn't been grouted. It's amazing how much better the tile looks after the grout is in.

Garage Door

2009-08-19T09:04:00.003-06:00

Garage doors were replaced (warranty replacement) and the garage door openers were installed. They are all operational and our code even works for the closest door.

Kitchen Tile - Grout

2009-08-19T08:45:00.001-06:00

Kitchen tile looking better every day.

Railing Installed

2009-08-19T08:34:00.003-06:00

The railing is in for the stairs up to the kid's rooms. It turned out really well. I have to admit, I was bummed about putting the newell post in the middle of the curve, but it turned out ok.

Ceiling Fans

2009-08-19T08:27:00.004-06:00

Cory's room has a fan, but Tyler's does not. So I told Tyler that his fans were in the bonus room. When we walked into the house after work on Tuesday, Cory ran in saying, "My fan is in! My fan is in!" So Tyler ran over to the bonus rooms and yelled, "My fans are in too!" Then Cory said, "This is my favorite day!" The excitement in their voices was contagious. I wonder what it will be like when we actually move in and start unpacking their toys that I told them they could have when we finally move into the new house.

The fans in the study, master bedroom and back deck haven't been installed yet, but looked like that will get done today. More fan pictures this week, I'm sure.

Even More Lights

2009-08-19T08:22:00.003-06:00

Most of the light fixtures are in place. Looks like they'll be done this week.

Mistake

2009-08-19T07:55:00.004-06:00

The kitchen cabinet for the refrigerator was built too short. In fact, one panel was the right side while the other one was short. The carpenter trimmed the long one down to match and mounted it. It made it so the refrigerator would have stuck out over 4".

The cabinet guy tried to cut some corners and had some panels made locally that not only didn't match in color, but in grain or in luster. In addition, it not only didn't match, but the idea was to lay the new piece on top, which would make the side flush with the fluting on the sides, which didn't match any of the other cabinets.

Since he was trying to cut corners, we lost a week or so on ordering the cabinet from the original manufacturer. But at least we know it will match.

Before putting the first coat on the floor, the carpenter removed the old cabinet for the refrigerator.

Wood Floor - Finish Coat #1

2009-08-16T13:47:00.003-06:00

They'll be putting 3 coats of varnish on the floor. They just finished the first coat.

Formal dining through the window.

Driveway Complete

2009-08-15T13:53:00.000-06:00

They also finished the color/stamp edge to the driveway. It's not what I asked for, but after they rinsed this top layer off, it's ok. It will match the stone walkway up to the front door.

Newell Posts

2009-08-12T23:47:00.004-06:00

Hard to get pictures of the railing upstairs, but Gary got most of the newell posts installed today.

Lighting Fixtures

2009-08-11T13:47:00.004-06:00

Balcony wall.

Amber's bath.

Tyler's bath.

Cory and Tyler's shower area. Funky light at an angle - we may change this one out, but it's not too bad.

Hi Dad.

Tyler's room.

Hallway down to study.

Outside garage lights.

Dream Kitchen - Range Backsplash

2009-08-11T13:42:00.004-06:00

The picture frame tile backsplash looks awesome. I am very pleased with how this turned out.

Stair Railing Base

2009-08-11T13:38:00.003-06:00

Gary finished all the base trim for the stair railing. Next will be the wood newell posts and then Matt can stain them in place. They will then put the hand rail up. The spindles won't go in until after the carpet is installed. The workers talked about the stocking days when they do all the touch up stuff.

Hi Dad.

Viking Hood Installed

2009-08-09T20:43:00.003-06:00

They installed the hood for the range on Friday. I think they wanted to get it out of the way, mostly, but it looks very nice. I don't think the appliances are coming for awhile. The refrigerator and wine cooler are coming on August 20th. Not sure when the rest are, but they're finishing and putting a first coat on the wood floor this coming Friday, August 14th. Fingers crossed for labor day weekend. Miles thinks we will, I am doubtful.

Growing Concrete

2009-08-09T20:35:00.003-06:00

Friday they poured concrete for the driveway. We kept water on it most of the weekend so it dried more slowly. We curved the end to match the curve in the circle drive in front of the house. We're also adding stamped edges and they'll come back and do that this week.

Current Exterior Views - August

2009-08-06T21:11:00.002-06:00

Front view - garage doors still need to be painted. Waiting for the front door stain so that we can match the color.
Some current views of the exterior with the septic and leachfield all covered and graded.

Driveway Forms

2009-08-06T21:05:00.003-06:00

They put the forms up today so they can pour concrete for the driveway tomorrow. The arc matches our roundabout arc which we are not planning to pave. Road base, a gravel material that drains better than our clay soil, will be used for the drive and circle.

The outer portion will be a stamped border.

Rail Bender

2009-08-06T21:00:00.002-06:00

Interesting process to bend the wood railing around the bump out on the balcony. The trim carpenter bolted these heavy duty brackets to the floor and vice gripped layers of wood glued together to make them bend at the exact curvature of the floor. I can't quite picture what the rail will look like, but it will rest on top of the wrought iron spindles.

Master Closet & Shower

2009-08-06T19:48:00.005-06:00

The master closet built-ins are complete and it looks really nice. The pictures don't do it justice, but I absolutely love the bench!

Master shower floor tile is coming together. Shouldn't take him too much longer to complete our bathroom also.

Kids' Bathroom Tile, part II

2009-08-06T19:43:00.002-06:00

Tyler's cabinet and sink.

Boy's shower.

Cory's sink and cabinet.

Amber's sink and cabinet.

Amber's shower.

Septic and Leachfield

2009-08-05T12:35:00.003-06:00

More big diggers covering up the leachfield.

Bummed that it took so much of our pasture.

Kids' Bathroom Tile

2009-08-05T12:28:00.004-06:00

Tile is coming together in the kids rooms. Here is the backspash in Tyler's bathroom.

Here is the boy's shared shower/tub.

Cory's backsplash.

Amber's backsplash.

Amber's shower.

Staining the Woodwork

2009-08-04T12:24:00.000-06:00

Master closet built-ins coming together.

Final stain and lacquer finishing on the trim. Kitchen nook is looking nice!

The painter finished the closet bypass doors. I love the character of the knotty Alder. Very fun.

Granite!

2009-07-30T10:05:00.000-06:00

All the granit is in now - it looks very cool. It seems like things have really slowed down, but I think I must just be getting anxious because I look through July and a lot has changed this month.

This is the powder room. It was my second choice on the remnant pieces, but it looks nice still. I guess you can't really go wrong with natural stone.

I really like the way the master bathroom turned out.

Tile Starting to Shape Up

2009-07-29T10:02:00.000-06:00

Ok, so maybe it's the tile guy who's the bottleneck. He said he'd be done in 2 weeks though. We'll see.

Trim Coming Along (part II)

2009-07-27T09:57:00.000-06:00

Trim Coming Along

2009-07-24T09:49:00.000-06:00

Coming along on the trim. Slow going. I think the trim carpenter will be our bottleneck. Only 5 more weeks!! (finger's crossed)

Trim Going Up

2009-07-23T21:23:00.004-06:00

Trim with one stain coat and no varnish yet. The doors will be removed and then stained in the garage and put back on.

Can't mistake who's room this is!

No running water yet, Miles.

Cory's closet and door to the bathroom.

Kitchen nook trim up - so cool!

More Cabinet Shots

2009-07-22T21:35:00.000-06:00

Staining Work in Garage

2009-07-20T21:13:00.001-06:00

The painter is doing most of his work in the garage before they put the trim up. Saves time in taping. He'll put the varnish on after the trim has been placed.

These are the panels for our master closet built-ins.

Light Cans

2009-07-17T09:51:00.003-06:00

We put lots of cans in the house so that we have a lot of cheap light. The only options for color were white and black. We went with white. Hope I don't regret it.

Starting to Tile

2009-07-17T09:47:00.002-06:00

Starting with the master bath. There were some interesting cuts on these tiles, but very happy with the work he's doing.

Cabinets are In!

2009-07-16T21:10:00.002-06:00

These are Tyler's Alder cabinets. The tile guy put this orange sub-floor in for under the tile.

Amber's Alder cabinets, same orange floor, really goes nice with the pink walls!

Cherry cabinets in the Powder bath.

Cherry in the Kitchen - yum!!!

Here's our island. Sink and dishwasher go in the middle.

Southeast wall in the kitch, stove, hood and microwave on the left.

From this view you can see the pantry, spot for fridge, butler's pantry through the door and cabinets with extra pantry on the right. Both the butler's pantry and the one bank of cabinets have a glass door.

Our Viking Hood:

More of the southwest wall.

Butler's pantry with wine rack.

Mud room with Alder cabs.

Wow, coming along. I can't wait!

Holy Leachfield Batman

2009-07-15T12:58:00.002-06:00

Lots of sand and digging and dirt and pumps and pipes and... But, necessary and almost finished!

Septic

2009-07-13T21:23:00.004-06:00

Lots of things going on inside, cabinets, doors, trim, staining, painting, etc. But the most visible change is the septic. The trucks rolled in on Thursday and they are almost complete with the septic system. The leach field is much bigger than we thought.

Kids Closets, Craft Closet and Pantry

2009-07-09T09:42:00.000-06:00

Cory's closet.
Tyler's closet.

Amber's closet.

Craft closet in mud room.

Pantry - there are some shelves that are pretty high, not sure we'll use them, but we've got the space now! :-)

Type 2 Hickory

2009-07-05T21:50:00.004-06:00

They finished laying the wood floor on Friday. I am really excited about the way it turned out. We decided to do Hickory instead of Mahogany because it is lighter and more varied in color. We are not going to stain it, but only put a polyurethane coat on it. They will sand and varnish towards the end of the process, but they needed the floor in so they could set cabinets, I suppose. Not sure what's next. I know the painter will be staining trim and I think the tile people will start next week too.

I need to meet with the trim carpenter on Monday and Miles is meeting with the excavator for the septic on Wednesday.

Accent Color

2009-07-05T21:39:00.003-06:00

The painter started adding our accent colors to certain areas. This one's hard to see with the cabinets in the way, but the art nich above the fireplace is a little darker. I really like how it turned out. I was worried it would be too dark, but it's not. It's just right!

Here's the same accent color in the art niche on Cory's wall.

Everyone that comes in comments about Amber's room. I love it. And it's bright. I think it will calm down when we get the beadboard up and painted the lighter shade. I think it's absolutely gorgeous, though. :-)

Bonus room - we get great comments about this color too. Perfect gold color that's a little different than the rest of the house.

Cabinet Delivery

2009-07-02T21:47:00.003-06:00

Cabinets were delivered and stored in the garage. The two large cabinets are in the great room.

Trim & Doors

2009-07-02T21:45:00.001-06:00

The doors and trim were delivered and stored in the garage. The painter will be staining them to match the Alder cabinets.

Color!

2009-07-01T22:41:00.005-06:00

It's amazing how much color adds to the house and makes it start feeling like a real home. The color we picked for the whole house is Whole Wheat. It's a nice color and we saw a few of Jamie's houses that she decorated where she used the color throughout the house and we really liked it. I was also surprised at how green it can look in certain light. But, paint colors are amazing at how they change based on the light. The stairway looks like it's a completely different color, but it is getting reflection off of Amber's pink room, so it changes the color yet again.

It took me a little to get used to the color, but we are going to like it a lot. Once we get the cabinets, floors, carpet, tile, etc. in, it will take on new shades again, I'm sure. It's a nice neutral color that isn't white.

We selected "Mannered Gold" for the bonus room and I absolutely love it. It turned out really nice and is a good neutral, but fun color for this room. I think it will bring out some gold in the carpet we selected as well. We'll have fun with the day beds in the dormers also in this room. Yay!!

Countertops & Other

2009-07-01T22:25:00.005-06:00

I met with the granite fabricator to find a remnant that we can use in the Powder bath and the Master bath. I found a great one that we think is big enough for both bathrooms. We had to buy 2 full slabs for the kitchen and butler's pantry. I'm hoping we have enough left over so that we can use it for the bench in the master shower. If not, we'll likely go with some kind of Corian product for that. I'm hoping we can use as much of the granite as possible. We bought it, I'd hate for him to get to resell the remnant for $19/sq.ft.

Other news from today:

They delivered the cabinets and are storing them in the garage. We opened a few boxes to take a peak at the Alder and the Cherry - they look great and we can't wait to see them installed!
They delivered the Hickory flooring today too. We got 3", 4", 5" random mix to vary the widths. It's going to look so good!
They also delivered all of the Alder trim today. The painter will stain the trim to match the cabinets.
We met with the indoor railing person and finally decided on a solution for the railing. We're going to do wrought iron with Alder newell posts.
We finalized the tile and carpet and stayed close to budget.
They finished connecting the water line and installing the water meter last week, so today they also finished grading the road and adding road base.

Things are coming together fast now, we just can't imagine why all this finish work will take 2 months to finish. Seems like they're close. They will have the Hickory floors laid by Friday (no varnish or finish yet). Then I guess they'll set cabinets, then varnish the floor - we're doing a natural finish on the wood.

Greenbelt

2009-07-01T22:19:00.005-06:00

The boys wanted their rooms to be 'Greenbelt'. That was just too bright, so we went with Artichoke. They like it, but keep asking me if it's Greenbelt. Do I tell them? Regardless, they love it and I love it, so it's a win-win. (See Amber's room down the hall?!)

Pink!

2009-07-01T22:16:00.003-06:00

Amber's room is pink. It glows from the rest of the house. I absolutely love it! The ceiling will be a few shades lighter and then we will put a bead board on the bottom 36" with the lighter color to match the ceiling, bathroom and closet. This is going to be so fun!

Gutters & Downspouts

2009-06-27T22:38:00.000-06:00

Pre-Texture

2009-06-25T22:10:00.000-06:00

The texturing is coming next and then painting!

Columns and Railing

2009-06-23T22:00:00.000-06:00

They graded the front yard to cover up the hole in front of the front steps. Wow, I'm excited about the way this is turning out. They will be getting to front porch railing sometime next week. The supplier sent the wrong material, so they have to wait until it comes in. Looking great though!

Close up of column in front.

Back deck columns now have stone on them.

Back deck also has a railing - this is an aluminum railing system. Lots cheaper than wrought iron and looks great. I'm very happy with the way it turned out and even got compliments from the supplier who is putting in our indoor railing system.

Checking out the new deck. We've already enjoyed a few beers here.

Mudding & Taping

2009-06-19T22:39:00.003-06:00

They've been at the house all week just taping and mudding and sanding and taping and mudding...

I met with Wayne on Thursday afternoon to show him where the wood floor would go so that they could measure and give us a quote. We'll be getting a quote for type 2 Hickory in 3, 4, and 5 inch planks. We would like to do a mix, so we'll see what that ends up looking like price wise.

They also got the columns framed for the front porch and back deck so that the stone can be completed on Saturday. I hope they take all their scaffolding and stuff with them too. I'd like to get the fence back up so the horses can graze in the pasture.

I think they're also getting ready to complete the water line and Qwest needs to dig up the front again to lay cable because seems as though they forgot as the trench was open when they did Comcast and electric. Bummer.

Drywall Up!

2009-06-15T22:11:00.003-06:00

Wow, drywall is all up throughout the house. They've started taping and mudding and I'm not sure how long that process will take. Wayne's been out of town, but he's been reachable via cell phone. Both Miles and I called him on a few issues, but they both were resolved today.

It's looking good. I'm sure we'll have to make some decisions on the wood floor and granite countertops very soon. As I said before, I think we'll be going with a natural Hickory - we like the hardness of the wood with dogs and young kids.

Back Deck Stairs

2009-06-14T14:33:00.002-06:00

They finished the deck stairs. Railing should come early next week.

Drywall Coming Together

2009-06-11T10:38:00.001-06:00

They were supposed to deliver drywall on Tuesday afternoon, but because of weather related delays, it didn't come until Thursday morning. They originally thought they would be done hanging by Friday, but with the 1.5 day delay, I'm thinking probably Monday at the earliest. However, they made huge progress on Thursday so they may make their schedule after all. I guess they could work Saturday, but I'm not sure if they will.

Back Deck

2009-06-10T10:33:00.000-06:00

More pictures forthcoming on the back deck completion showing stairs and then maybe railing early next week. The stairs are done, but the railing was ordered early this week, so they need to fabricate it. We went with an aluminum, no maintenance railing that looks really nice. A LOT cheaper than wrought iron, which is what I was thinking for the front porch anyway.

They are going to have to do something tricky because the rail doesn't bend for our curved front stairs, but there isn't much distance, so 2 straight sections will look fine. The price difference was ~$4,200 vs. ~$1,100. I would rather use the ~$3k for something inside!! :-)

Interior Fun Stuff

2009-06-10T10:15:00.000-06:00

After insulating the house, they cleaned it up very nicely. All of the sawdust, extra cables and other construction debris was swept up and taken out. I was very impressed!

Miles and I spent 4 hours with the carpet, tile, wood floor, granite, etc. person last Friday, then I met Jamie and the flooring designer again on Wednesday for another 2 hours. I am very happy with the tile and flooring decisions we've made. I'm very excited about the tile for the fireplace and the way we tied it into a decorative insert piece above the range - very cool.

We also pretty much settled on the granite for the kitchen, but need to see if the fabricator has a remnant piece for the powder bath and the master bathroom. We may go with something simpler for the master bath. Then we'll need to decide about what we want to do for the backsplash - tile or a piece of the granite. I sort of prefer tile, but I want to see what kind of remnant piece or other we decide for the master bath.

I think we've also settled on Hickory for the floors. I was hoping/wanting to go with something darker like Mahogany, but I was talked out of it because a dark floor will show all the dirt and animal hair that we will have living out on the farm. I like the variation in Hickory, though, and am starting to like the lighter color. We've got a lot of dark colors in the kitchen, so it will be better probably.

We also decided not to do a wood hallway upstairs, we'll carpet that. We were also contemplating a tile entryway, but because of the way the floor and stairs and rooms came together, we couldn't get a good spot for that. We decided to keep it all wood and I think we'll be happy with that. We'll define the dining room floor with a big area rug. Cost us less money as well, so Miles is happy. Sounds like we might be at or under budget, so that's good!

Insulation

2009-06-09T10:04:00.001-06:00

Another one of those important things that you never see once the house is done, but they finished insulating the whole house in 1.5 days - wow! We also had them insulate Cory's room to cut down on noise from the great room. I think it will be our time out room so that they can't hear us and we can't hear them! :-)

Front Porch Steps

2009-06-09T09:58:00.000-06:00

They poured the concrete steps up to the front door/porch. Looking good. They are now trying to wire the two lights that will be on the stone pillars at the bottom of the stairs. I don't think the electricians are too happy about that.

Electrical Panels

2009-06-05T09:45:00.000-06:00

All the electrical wiring is complete and everything comes down to 2 panels in the basement.

Basement Stuff

2009-05-29T22:00:00.002-06:00

Our irrigation water came this week and our neighbors are pouring water on their field. Good thing our french drain and sump pumps are working. We're pumping a lot of water out from under the house.

See this for a picture of what it looks like underneath: http://fossilridgefarm.blogspot.com/2009/01/moving-lots-of-dirt.html

Pretty elaborate fire sprinkler system. Hope we never use it.

Stucco Final Color and Trim

2009-05-29T21:53:00.003-06:00

They're finishing up the trim and stucco and also adding stone. It's looking really great!

Kitchen Island Framing

2009-05-29T21:48:00.003-06:00

The framers came back this week and are finishing up a few things. One is the kitchen island bar. They had to move it 6 inches because of the clearance on the north door, but I think it will be good. The worry about too much space between the sink and the stove was all for naught.

Electrical Wiring

2009-05-28T11:09:00.004-06:00

Not as exciting, but just as important, they are making some progress on the electrical as well.

Stucco - Trim Application

2009-05-28T11:00:00.000-06:00

Adding the trim coat.

Stucco - 1st Coat

2009-05-28T10:45:00.006-06:00

They are working on stucco this week. The first coat does not contain any color and just looks like concrete. Next they put the trim, put the color coat on the trim and then the color coat on the rest of the house. They should hopefully complete the stucco this week. Then they can take the scaffolding down and it will look like a real house - on the outside anyway.

Road Base

2009-05-28T10:26:00.005-06:00

It's been a crazy week with work so I've had a hard time finding time to get new pictures posted, so I'm going to try to catch up.

Here are pictures of the road base they put in to help keep the mud down.

Various Updates

2009-05-16T23:11:00.003-06:00

They started painting the fascia. I like the color!

We also went to the Lighting Center on Friday to go through light fixture selections. We have most of them picked, but will be meeting Jamie K there in another week to review and make any changes. I'm very excited about our selections and can't wait to see things coming together.

We are working on staking the front circle drive because they will be laying road base sometime next week. Every time it rains, we've got a mud quagmire and no one can get in. Doesn't look like any moisture this week, so hopefully they'll get it done. Not sure why I haven't heard about the water tap into the water district line. I have a long list of things to talk to Wayne about and that is one of them. Every time I walk into the house, I see another place for an outlet or a light!!

Fireplace In!

2009-05-16T23:08:00.003-06:00

Sitting on the ledge over the fireplace.

The fireplace and vent is in. They will be framing a small bump out in the wall to accomodate the vent and to break up the big wall a little bit.

Arches

2009-05-16T22:59:00.004-06:00

The framers are getting closer to finishing their work. They still have probably a week or so, but they just have a lot of little things now. They put most of the arches in last week, including the ones on the front porch since the stucco guys are coming on Monday to start scaffolding for the stucco and stone.

Art niche in hallway to study. We added this when we realized the linen closet on the other side was too deep.

North wall arch to the dining room.

Arch opening the bedroom/study hallway.

Dining room arches.

Arch to butler's pantry from the kitchen.

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T12:46:00.004-06:00

Miles took a great shot of the house under the big silver cottonwood trees in the front property back yard.

Natural Gas Manifold

2009-05-07T19:14:00.003-06:00

Natural gas is being plumbed through the house also. We have a dual fuel range in the kitchen, a stub for the barbecue on the back deck, a furnace in the basement and a furnace upstairs in Tyler's attic.

Cory's Room Update

2009-05-07T19:07:00.005-06:00

Also after a lot of back and forth and debate, we finally decided to frame in Cory's room and made some changes to his outside wall and his bathroom and closet. In order to break up the big wall view from the great room, we decided to add a built-in book case and an art niche. These changes shrunk his room 15 inches along the north wall. In order to get some space back, we made the bathroom a little smaller and made the closet one with regular bypass doors instead of a small walk-in.

Unfortunately, the cabinet had already been made for his bathroom, so we'll need to put that in the basement and ordered a new one for the bathroom. Kind of a bummer, but I think the changes in the room are worth it.

Fireplace

2009-05-07T19:00:00.004-06:00

After a lot of discussion about placement of the tv, tile, pillars and mantel, we finally settled on a design and they started framing it. I'm very excited because it's coming together exactly as I had hoped.

Electrical Walk Through

2009-05-05T10:29:00.004-06:00

I spent 2 hours with Wayne, Jamie K., the lighting person and the electrician walking through the house talking about lights and outlets. While Jamie was there, I also had her weigh in on the fireplace wall, Cory's wall, and the arches in the great room and the dining room.

We made some changes on Cory's wall to make the wall look better and not be one huge flat plane. The electrician had some great ideas and we took about a foot out of his room along the hallway wall and added a foot by making the bathroom and closet smaller. The hallway will have a big bookcase and art niche to break up the big plane.

We decided not to design the fireplace wall around our current tv. The dimensions weren't working and to get the tile and bookcases around the fireplace, we lost the space for the tv. Our current tv is 66" wide and 24" (or more) deep and would require venting in the back. It got too cumbersome to try to plan the wall around that tv and I didn't want to give up the look and the intent of making the fireplace the centerpiece of the room. It would also require us to make some changes to the bookcases that would need additional framing. The electrician also mentioned that buying a new tv would actually save us $$ on electric as well.

We decided to not put fans in the great room because with the dual furnaces, we have a lot of air movement and circulation and the fans would not be visible from the bottom floor. Cleaning and replacing light bulbs would also be problematic. Instead we'll be putting some can lights close to the edges and floor outlets for lamps.

The bonus room doesn't lend itself to fans very well either, but we think we need them, so we'll be using flush mount fans mounted closer to the dormers so that they don't impede traffic through the room. The tv we have now will need to go up there on the far wall. We'll be putting 8 cans plus the 2 lights in the fans.

The kitchen will have lots of cans, plus a chandelier in the kitchen nook and 4 pendants over the bar. Both Jamie K and the lighting consultant said we should put an odd number, so 3 or 5, but I really thought 3 wouldn't be enough and 5 would be too much. So they allowed me to designate 4.

Since the master bedroom has a huge vaulted ceiling, the can lights wouldn't work for the bedside lighting. We chose 2 wall sconces and off centered the bed to allow a seating area on the northwest wall. The big armoire will go in the nook and my big dresser will go along the same wall next to the door.

Other decisions made today:

Nixed the fake chimney's
Added 4 circuits and 8 outlets for the garage, no 220
Added 2 ceiling fans on the back deck

Rough Plumbing Update

2009-05-04T09:57:00.005-06:00

They are starting on the water line. Slow progress because the weather has not cooperated this spring. The dirt (mud) is very wet and sticky. It rained again last night, so it will be slow going again today.

The plumbing is cool. They have a red hose for hot water and blue for cold. They are roughing in the showers and the tubs.

Master shower with my bench!! Yea, can't wait to shave legs or have a beer in this shower. :-)

The kids tubs are in. They think that's pretty cool and wonder when it's going to get clean.

Progress Meeting

2009-05-02T10:08:00.002-06:00

We met with Wayne on Friday to go over a few things.

Fireplace design. I roughed out a sketch of what we want the fireplace wall to look like. I'm very excited about it.
The second furnace for upstairs is going to be located in Tyler's attic. I'm not so sure about it, but Wayne assures us that it will not be a noise nuisance and that it is quite common in other parts of the country.
Started on fascia and soffett work.
Finalized the decision to frame Cory's room in.
Need to discuss all the arches with Jamie K. (interior designer) and Troy again. We're now not sure that we want to arch everything.
Made decisions on door to garage and then garage door to exterior. We're going with fiberglass for the mud room/garage door and steel for the garage/exterior.
Doing our electrical walk through on Tuesday with the electrician, the light designer and Jamie K.

Wow, now some of the fun things are starting to happen. I think I'm going to start getting anxious. We have hardwood floor decisions, lighting, tile, etc. coming up. I ordered samples from Armstrong floors for Mahogany, Brazilian Cherry, Hickory, Maple, Walnut and Birch (my preference is in this order). Our trim work will be in Alder. The built-ins will mostly be Alder, but may do Cherry in the great room. The kitchen and master cabinets are Cherry. Cabinets in the mud room and kids bathrooms is Alder. I hope we don't regret that decision since it is a relatively soft wood. Oh well.

Staircase to the bonus room:

Dried In

2009-05-01T09:50:00.001-06:00

Lots and lots of progress this week. We are all dried in. Meaning, we have tar paper on the roof (it's waterproof) and all the windows are in (with the exception of one).

Notice the big window missing in the back. This one was stored and shipped upside down, so the frame bent. The glass company came out to fix it on site and broke the glass as they were trying to fix it. Soooo, they had to order a new window. I'm not sure how long it will take to get in.

This is Miles' sanctuary spot. He has some grand landscaping plans for this little nook.

Week is Shaping Up

2009-04-28T22:40:00.002-06:00

I met Wayne at the house today to go over the construction draw. It started to dry out this afternoon and looks like a pretty good week now. They will be starting the water line tomorrow - yeah! Hopefully they can get that in and a road base in before the next wave of wet weather so that we don't get so much mud.

We should also be 'dried in' by the end of the week and windows starting to be placed.

We Interrupt This Program

2009-04-27T09:37:00.004-06:00

I ran into Wayne dropping the kids off this AM and they cancelled all work. Due to snow and sticky, wet conditions, no work will be going on today.

We really need to get the water line in so that we can get the road base in and get out of this wet, sticky mess. This week isn't looking good weather wise, though...

Back Porch Roof Trusses and Big Beam

2009-04-26T14:40:00.003-06:00

They have completed the support beam for the back porch roof and set the trusses.