Stone arch

I think it's about time we got some actual work out of these two, now that the decision is made for the mantle (well part of it anyway-next is the color of the stain or natural-but that's another day) and the forms made for the concrete samples (oh-another color decision there). You'd think the two of them were back in school, between the field trip, building boxes & mixing their mud samples......

The frame for the arch has been designed & built. It fit perfect, so they took it down, covered it with tar paper & metal lathe-just like the front of the house-so the mortar would have something to adhere to. The next step was to paint the wall & the frame with contact cement (and man did it stink!) then stick it up there. It probably wasn't going to go anywhere but they nailed it to the wall just to be sure!

Field Trip!

Next comes "The Mantle" .....First we needed to decided what we wanted the mantle made out of, wood, concrete, tile, stone, etc., etc.. after much discussion, we decided on wood. Now we had to decide what kind, since every wood has a distinctive grain structure: barn board, rough sawn, hand hewn, thick, thin, smooth,etc.,etc.. One more question & I'll scream!
Black Walnut and that's my final answer!
Tom found a man who was retired, worked out of his home selling planed boards and had black walnut of varying lengths, but he was an hour away.
Looks like Tom & Mandy are taking a field trip!
The guy was retired from Stickley, had a nice little setup in his workshop. After they chose the board-12ft length- it needed to go thru the planner quite a few times, you can see in the pic in the top R there's still a few passes to be made before the wood grain comes thru, by the bottom L-what a difference.

Then they ripped one side along a straight edge, that edge then goes thru a jointer planer which produces a flat surface along the boards edge length, flip the board over & repeat the process. Just look at the things I'm learning!
Mandy was nice enough to take pics of the process with her cell phone so we didn't miss a thing!

They brought home 7'6' ft length board of the original board & cut it down to 7' to fit the fireplace

That's going to be one beautiful mantle,
I guess all those decisions were worth it!

Concrete samples

Tom & Mandy are making their own forms to pour concrete into. These small samples will provide them the opportunity to experiment with colors, textures & to test release agents to figure out how to get the concrete form out of the mold without it affecting the color staining. All that is fine & dandy-but don't let them fool you, the real reason is so I have something tangible to look at before they make the decision to build the mold for the concrete hearth! It's going to be a really big chunk of concrete in the family room! Once it's there, it's permanent! We really want Martha to be happy with it!

Fireplace framing

Tom & Mandy started framing in the fireplace, notice the hearth will mimic the arch in the stone work and there will be 2 seats, one on either side under the windows. The pic in the bottom R corner is a shot from the loft.

L click to enlarge the collage

Looks like we started something.......

Our neighbors, Steve & Tina, two doors down started a large addition to their home this spring. In the upper L pic, you can see the roof coming off, upper R you can see the large addition that's already started. In the lower 2 you can see the 2nd story going up. If you notice the dates, that roof & 2nd story was done in 2 days! Where were these guys when we were building our house???? So I asked Steve at that time to do me a really big favor.......... "Please don't finish your house before us!"

Here's a view from across the river...............the beforer & after. Looks like Tina might be having a few windows to wash, I guess we're sharing the "window washing secret" with another neighbor!

Then Callie & Derek, 3 houses up river from us, bought the property next door to them & tore the house down this spring. They're living in their small house while the "big house" is being built. I had to take this shot from across the river so I could get the whole house in the picture!
The small brown structure to the left is their current house. It's supposed to be completely framed in by Thanksgiving, but since there's a second story, I'm thinking that's not going to happen. I bet his framer knows our framer.....

Then there's Sue & Emilio, they're down the river a bit, apparently the only smart ones.... they had their house brought in by crane, set down on the foundation, the crane will bring in the second story & voila! Instant House! (these shots are also from across the river to get the best shot)

But just so you don't forget who this story is really all about.....a shot from across the river of our house.

Eva's 3!

Hard to believe she's three years old, the house is still not done & I'm still babysitting!
We weren't home for her actual birthday, so Eva & I made brownies at her request for her cake and of course we both had to lick the spoons (yes, that's chocolate on my face too!).

Then Uncle Tom & Mandy quit working long enough
for us to sing Happy Birthday, have brownies & open presents.
Then it was back to work for them!

Nov. 2006.............. Nov. 2007................. Nov. 2008

Beginning the Fireplace

Tom & Mandy began the lay out for the fireplace by drawing a big yellow chalk line on the wall. They had no actual plans other than the sketch Mandy did. So they were starting from scratch.If you look closely at the bottom L corner you can see the sketch taped to the fireplace.

So what she drew on the wall was not a big yellow sun because it's Dec & we don't see much of one.....but the arch for the stone work.

Then Mandy drew on the floor with her yellow chalk....good thing Eva's napping, otherwise she might think she can draw on my floors too! They then started selecting stones to lay out on the mock "arch" for fit & placement.

We're off to a good start!

Another project "almost" done!

It may be November, but we're finally getting the remainder of the front yard done. The last pile of landscape gravel & topsoil has been removed (along with a healthy crop of weeds), then ground was leveled off. We'll be ready to plant grass in the spring & then finish the landscape lighting. Yippee!!! Another project "almost" done! We're getting there.......

Family Room Disaster area

You'll notice a lack of posts from the month of October-we were in Florida, now that we're back it's time to start tackling the family room. This is a pic of the area that is supposed to be the family room some day, looking down from the loft. That view thru the window is actually the deck, not blinds. But....in order to start on the family room, the garage has to be finished so we can move most of this junk out and make room for the scaffolding.
So, if this needs to go into the garage (along with everything else that's still out there), kinda makes you wonder if there isn't a plan for the garage this winter that does not include me parking my car in it.........

The drywall slasher strikes again!

Well it's time to continue working on the laundry room, the upper cabinets went in two months ago (to the date!). We're putting in the sink base cabinet & another small cabinet (leftovers from the pantry auction cabinets), nice light maple, looks beautiful with the morning sun!
But wait!!!! DejaVu!!!
We're missing the drain pipe for the slop sink! Hmmm-we know it was there...
Where or where can it be???
Perhaps hidden behind the drywall.....
just like the light fixture in the 1/2 bath....
or maybe like the water hook-up for the dishwasher......
or maybe the duct work for the A/C in the ceiling in the kitchen or the thermostat wire in the laundry room that was missing.....
Unfortunately, unlike the kitchen, I have no photos of that section of the laundry room before the drywall went up.
Well Tom & Mandy narrow it down, we know it's here...the question is...which side of the stud...Mandy thinks left, Tom thinks right...let the drywall slashing begin!
Mandy is the Winner-luckily we went with her choice first!
By the way-this just in-just in case your interested we're still missing a thermostat wire for the foyer. We have at this time, 3 differing opinions on where it could be. Hopefully I'll find a picture for that too.
So the cabinets go in, counter top goes on & slop sink was installed today. Yippee!!!
We're getting there...
Just a quick note for those of you building next year-(since you obviously haven't read a thing I've written in the last year or think "It can't possibly happen to me..")TerryLynn & Mike, Mandy & Brian, Jill & Jeremy-
Take photos of wiring & plumbing before you drywall!

1 comments:

Grama Colleen said...

Not a good angle on Mandy.....But isn't she a good worker......I never would have had that vision in my head when she was little....I loved ALL the updates thanks a bunch...Now I can't wait to see the Manor again..BY the way you are heading this way in a couple weeks. We need to make a date !!!

5:46 AM