WATER+WORKS

Progress is being made on our house even though I have been bad about documenting it… I promise. Roughly 97.82% of the glass has been set. The electrical work is nearly done. The new roof has been installed. The alarm system is being wired. The front yard has been leveled. The painters have even begun priming the house… enter rainstorms. And I will make some time to show you all of this very soon.

This is the (very large) door that Matthew created for our kitchen. Eventually there will be a small courtyard space off of the kitchen. So we’re imagining throwing the big door open and heading outside on those gorgeous days of the year when the weather is just right for outdoor dining (all 6 of them).

Peri doesn’t understand that it’s a door - she keeps walking straight through it. Hopefully she’ll break the habit once the glass goes in!

Attention all future guests: this is your bathroom. Well, it WILL be your bathroom. We intend to finish it out with, you know, tile and walls and other good stuff. But you get the idea, right? It has a jetted tub and a separate standing shower, so you might have to fight me for it. This is a completely different layout than the original plan. Matthew wasn’t thrilled with the design so he wrestled with it, and wrestled with it - and voila! The bathroom feels like such a big room without adding any more square footage (ok… a little space was added, but it was for a good cause).

This is our den window. I’m a fan of it. The left section is the door to the backyard - so we don’t have to stop watching that Friends rerun to let the dog(s) outside. The “glass guy” came to measure the panes last week, so we should be installing glass throughout most of the house soon. In other news, plumbing is ready for inspection. HVAC is starting to be installed this week. And after the air vents are installed we can finally put on the new roof… and it’s time for the new roof. With all this rain and a holey roof, the house is constantly soaked, and it just feels wrong!

Matthew decided he wanted to change the roofline on the left side of the house, so a bit more demo was required. I know, I know… I said the demolition was done. And I believed it, too. But I think this will be good. I’m not quite sure what he’s going to do with the roofline, but I saw some sketches and his ideas are cool. So we’ll just trust him. This time.

The framing is done! I realize that two by fours on a green wall don’t make for very amazing photos, but there have been requests… (so here you go, Dad).

Now that the walls are up, we’re ready for plumbing, electrical, and HVAC to be installed. We want the house to be a bit more enclosed before we start doing the heavy installations – which means windows and doors are coming soon! The doors are ready and the “glass guy” is coming to measure the windows this week. Oh man, just WAIT until you see the kitchen door that Matthew built!

To quote my boss from earlier this week, “There’s no rest for the weary…” I know we all feel overworked and worn out sometimes, but I don’t know where Matthew finds his energy. The man has been spending ALL of his extra time at our house trying to get things moving. And after a really successful weekend, his efforts really show in all the progress he’s making. But I know he’s ready for the days when driving to that house will be the end of the work day rather than the beginning. Just a little longer!

The last day of framing was today. And apparently that big pile of lumber didn’t last very long! I haven’t been by to see the finished work, but hopefully I’ll get over there to take some photos soon. Matthew has been spending his evenings working on the custom steel window frames. If you ask me (you did, didn’t you?) they are going to look so cool. The front door window panel will have a direct view to the back door window panel - and they are matching. (There will be two back doors, but the one I’m talking about now is in the dining room.) The second picture below helps you start to imagine the way it will be. He’s also started to work on the custom windows in the office. That should be a pretty collection of glass too!

We’ve been spending a lot of time looking at appliances and cabinets lately. It’s time for us to make some decisions, because Matthew needs those dimensions before he starts running the electrical and plumbing. Matthew and I had “different opinions” about which fridge to choose… but he won the argument by telling me that the fridge he wanted was just like the one from Will & Grace. I’m hoping that means I’ll win the next one! I’m thinking I’ll push for red cabinets…

if slow and steady wins the race, then we are the lance armstrongs of the renovation world. after some delays (what? unexpected surprises in a construction project? how rich!) we were ready for the ‘big pour’.

the concrete arrived right on time at seven thirty on a monday morning and all of it was in the building by ten thirty. most of it had to be carried through in wheelbarrows and five gallon buckets, but many hands made light work.

then the long wait while the concrete set up enough for the guys to walk on it with the power trowel (the inverted airboat looking device in the last two pictures). the finishers didn’t leave until five thirty that evening, but when they did, we were left with a smooth (and soon to be heated) floor. now, bring in the studs, it’s time to do some framing….

The framers put the walls up on the east side of house quickly. It took them 2 days to turn the barren newly floored room into the floorplan we’ve been staring at for months. And then we got to walk around in our office, guest bedroom, and laundry room for the first time. Our dog, Peri, was there too… but she kept running *through* the walls, so I’m not sure she grasped the concept of the separate rooms.

Seeing the walls really put things in perspective for me (spatially, not emotionally). The ceiling seems much taller now that there are walls, the guest bedroom seems much smaller now that it’s built (sorry out-of-towners), and the long skinny office with the wall of windows seems even cooler than it did on paper. All in all, it was amazing to see the house start to take shape. I try to temper my excitement because I know we still have a long way to go, but some days it’s just too hard! I can’t wait!!

Part 2 of the framing story will show the walls on the west side of the house, but I’m going to hold off on that post for a while since those walls don’t exist yet. After the new floor is installed, it has to set up for several days before the framers can start building walls on that side of the house. Luckily, it shouldn’t be too long because the floors are being poured THIS WEEK!!!