custom home – Page 2 – Primm & Property

Posted on August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 by Emily

Day 311

Our moat is working well and keeping delivery trucks at bay. (sigh.)

They were trying to deliver our exterior doors in this picture, but unfortunately our plywood bridge here was not going to cut it.

It is strictly a pedestrian bridge. A very small pedestrian bridge, for very small pedestrians.

I safely crossed the bridge several times; however, I will be very relieved once the electrical has been inspected and approved, and the ditch can be filled in. I am hoping this will happen tomorrow.

Somehow, these bricks showed up for the chimneys…

Inside, there has been progress on the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems (MEP). At our site meeting, I walked through with the builder and the electrician to verify placements.

The electrical foreman’s name is “Country”. Now, when our builder told us the electrician “Country” was coming, I had in my mind that this man would look something like Blake Shelton. “Country” is neither tall nor cowboy-like. No, in fact, he is a stout, hispanic man who is about my height, which, for the record, is 5′ 4 1/2″.

Because I had very detailed electrical layouts for him, which I assume made his job easier, we are now best friends.

Now taking suggestions on what my construction nickname should be.

“Country” and his crew have been busy wiring the upstairs.

(This is my husband Josh in the picture. Not “Country”.)

The HVAC guys have most of the ducting in place.

And we have some plumbing! These are drain lines for the mater bath sinks.

Kath has hot and cold supply lines in the guest bath! She’ll be tickled.

These nooks in the mancave and studio came in handy for all of the HVAC.

Just a few more pieces of plumbing to put in. (yikes!)

I give them an A+ for organization.

And they finally remembered to frame in the basement access!

I took a class in Phenomenology in graduate school and for some reason this photo reminds me of a spa we studied in Japan. It was all about a sensory experience with light, touch, and sound.

OK, time to end the interior tour.

Out front, our baby volunteer trees are starting to grow. Just another 50 years or so until they’re as tall as the others.

Hopefully the house will be done by then.

Posted on August 10, 2020August 10, 2020 by Emily · 3 Comments

Day 297

Nearly 300 days in and it’s been a big week!

At my site meeting with the builder Friday, there seemed to be dozens of people working. Some were framing, others were putting in windows, and then John was out on the bulldozer moving dirt. I’m not entirely sure that some of them weren’t paid actors to make me feel like there was major progress happening. It worked.

The first major item I discovered was the driveway. It has been graded up to the level Josh specified with a fresh layer of gravel. Compared to what it had been, it was like driving on glass.

The second major item: windows!!! They are all in and I couldn’t be happier not only to see my pretty windows, but to see the views again from inside the house.

We have also gained a dumpster. Less exciting, but it means things will be happening.

I’m obsessed with these windows in the library. I had originally planned for 5 here, but when I was reining in the budget, I cut it to 3. Though you’d be hard-pressed to convince me there is such a thing as too many windows, I think 3 feels right here.

Several items of note in this photo:

windows
the raised hearth
there is a chimney and it is the correct size

All of the framing issues upstairs have been corrected. This is the spot where it all fell apart a few weeks ago.

Many walls have been moved to achieve the specified measurements and alignments in each room. Please note here in the master bath that the vanity wall no longer obstructs the windows and that the hall and doorway into the bathroom are now centered on the windows as intended.

Now I can sleep at night.

Chimney take II. Now that the chimney has slimmed down, my shutters will be able to lay flat against the exterior wall.

The lovely library windows again. I am also in love with the small window to the left of the dormer. I put it in to tie in with the windows in the mudroom clerestory on the front of the house.

The driveway up by the garage is looking better and better as John continues to dig it out.

And you might be wondering where all of this dirt is going?

To the front yard! John is getting pretty close to the final grade up against the house.

And who is that off in the distance?

That would be Josh and my dad, continuing to work on the fence.

Yesterday morning, I gave my mom and grandmother a guided tour of the house, highlighting all of the structural updates and furniture placement thoughts. I fielded questions at the end, which led to an in depth discussion of stair parts.

I was stalling to avoid fence duty.

But, alas, I was summoned to put in something on the order of 500 screws to be sure the boards were well-secured to the posts.

Though I own many power tools and am not afraid of a little DIY, we will be hiring out the fence on the other side of the property.

Josh finished putting in the last few hundred screws today. Meanwhile, I sat in the dining room and finalized a detailing document for the builder with diagrams and notes about things like plumbing fixture placement, countertops, tile layouts, and cabinetry coordination. It’s currently 36 pages.

This was my fancy setup.

I never thought I’d be so happy to have a $5.98 folding chair from Walmart.

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Emily

Day 274

Well, as predicted, things have ground to a halt on the house. Nothing happened at the house this week that I could tell, unfortunately.

I met with the cabinet guy yesterday to go over the kitchen and master bath cabinetry. Though it will be months before any cabinetry is installed, just the thought of it makes me so happy. As an interior designer who designs a lot of kitchens, and as someone who thoroughly enjoys cooking and baking, I have put more time into perfecting this kitchen than perhaps any other space I’ve ever designed. I can’t wait to be in this space, whipping up a new recipe (likely from a Barefoot Contessa cookbook) for dinner with my family.

Probably about 6 more months until that’s a reality.

I’ll just be over here at the corner of the property, dreaming about gatherings of family and friends until then.

In the meantime, Josh and my dad have been working on securing the perimeter. Josh discovered that our neighbor along our tree line was perhaps unclear on the actual boundary of his property. We’re giving him the benefit of the doubt, but as he was clearing his entirely wooded property, he cleared almost 20 feet onto our side of the tree line. So, over the course of the past two weekends, Josh and my dad have put up metal stakes and wire along the property boundary to help make it clear.

Not the most beautiful thing, but effective. It’s hidden by the trees from our side.

Along that same side of our property, past the tree line, there is another neighboring property that has recently sold. We spotted some markers we think indicate a building envelope so we are being proactive and planning a four rail fence along that shared boundary. It will tie into our neighbor’s fence on the West side of our property, shown here:

As they say, good fences make good neighbors.

Posted on July 12, 2020July 12, 2020 by Emily

Day 267

It’s been a slow week at the house so I decided to check the trail camera footage for anything good.

Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 1.27.28 PM There are dozens of videos of this man carrying in stacks of 2x4s like this one. He must have shoulders of steel. Each time, he gracefully managed to carry over 100 pounds of lumber as he walked the plank into the house.

Though there were 100s of videos, other than Mr. Hulk here, there wasn’t much of interest.

We did catch a few moments of our site meeting with our builder last week.

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Here we are practicing social distancing.

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Discussing the front porch…

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Going over all of the exterior trim details with some very helpful hand gestures.

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Josh and I are peeking out the dining room window here because in the middle of our meeting with our builder and the HVAC subcontractor (who were standing across the room inside) one of our neighbors starting screaming/yelling her dog’s name.

Now, normally this sort of thing wouldn’t send me into a panic, but this dog is trained as an attack dog. When we first met him, our neighbor had to hand us a treat to feed the dog so he would know that we were on the “approved” human list.

Another important piece of information here is that, when I was 3, we were visiting our neighbors who had a dog named “Fudge”, who was completely harmless but about 10 times my body weight at the time. He came bounding over to say hello to me and I promptly climbed my dad like a tree.

So, I immediately started to think about how I was going to scale the roof in the event the dog was charging toward our house. Since we don’t have doors or windows yet and the car was 50 yards away, the roof seemed like the best plan.

This went on for several minutes and we still had not seen the dog. Our neighbor then switched from yelling the dog’s name to yelling what I thought was “I have a treat”.

I chuckled and then realized she was actually yelling “retreat”, which seems like an intense dog command, so I quickly resumed plotting my ascent to the roof.

Several minutes later, she stopped yelling and we still hadn’t seen the dog so we assumed he had indeed “retreated” and we went back to our fascinating conversation about heat pumps vs. dual fuel systems.

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Emily

Day 255

Looking more and more like a house each time we visit!

We headed out this morning to see the progress and were delighted to see that framing is nearing completion.

The wrap covering all of my beloved windows is really killing the vibe.

Also killing the vibe is the master bedroom windows not being centered under the roof ridge. I noticed these were off when they first started framing the second floor walls. Our builder assures us this will be fixed at the end of framing.

I’m counting the minutes.

At least the view is still nice from the inside, which will be our view as we wake up.

(The dirt piles are temporary.)

I’m so excited about all of the dormers and sloped ceilings in the bedrooms. Super Cozy.

This is the view from the back bedroom, through my closet, through Josh’s closet, and through the master bathroom in the middle, master bedroom on the left, and bonus room on the right. I realize this will not be a view once the walls are drywalled, but it helps to get a feel for the layout upstairs.

I call this to your attention because most views upstairs look like this, which is basically a maze of 2x4s.

I did get this shot of one of the critical axes upstairs from the guest room, through the main stair hall, master hall, and into the master bedroom. I’m standing in the master bedroom and my dad is in the guest room. Hi, Daddy!

They have really cleaned things up downstairs. I am standing in the kitchen, looking into the entry and the living room. Feeling good!

We headed up to the office next. Josh approves.

Barry was studying all of the details of the framing.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Emily

Day 246

I think there has been more progress in the last week than in the last 8 months combined! I can barely keep up and I’ve been out there almost every day this week to check on things.

Yesterday, I stopped by during lunch and ate my salad as I watched them finishing the roof over the garage.

They were also starting on the mudroom/laundry roof that is one of my favorite features of the house.

They were even starting to put the wrap (might have a more official name?) on the house.

The second floor was almost completely framed. I stood where the bed will be in the master and looked out the window at what will be a peaceful view to the east.

(I very intentionally situated the master bedroom so our bed could face east and the sun can gently wake us as it rises.)

(I’m a nerd.)

I also had a moment in my closet (not pictured). By today’s standards, it’s not huge, but it will bring me joy to have all of my things in one place. It also brings me joy that my husband will have a separate closet that I need not set foot in. We have very different closet maintenance strategies. I will leave it at that.

While on the topic of things that bring me joy, this nook here at the back of the office will be Josh’s mancave. I’m very happy for him that he will have a mancave. I’m also happy that it’s as far away as possible from the rest of the house so I don’t mistake sounds from Josh’s movies/video games for an actual threat to our safety.

A little off-topic, but this is on our drive up to the property and it just makes my day every time I drive by it.

Headed out again today to see if the main roof is on!