Posted on by Emily

Day 324

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

We spent the bulk of the day at the property yesterday.

Josh wanted to mow the septic field to make it easier for installation of whatever is required for the septic system. I don’t really want to know the details. I just want it to work.

Meanwhile, as the guys were working on the exterior trim, I was available to answer questions.

At first, I think they were annoyed that I was there. But after a little while, they started to come and get me to ask questions and make sure they were lining up all of the trim correctly.

I think it also helped that I had brought them donuts.

I spent a lot of time drawing and detailing all of the trim and I am thrilled to see it come to life!

On the other side of the house, the masons were starting to brick the living room chimney. Hopefully they’ll be done with the two chimneys in about a week.

It had been a little while since we had a family site visit and tour so we decided to have a picnic and invite the quarantine pod:

My sister and brother-in-law both drive mini coopers, which don’t stand a chance on our easement road as it is currently quite rugged due to construction traffic and lots of recent rain. Consequently, these two parked their car up at the top of the road and hiked the quarter of a mile to our house. Here, they have just arrived from their journey, sporting full hiking apparel and their backpack beach chairs.

This just cracks me up.

Kath and Grandmother also made the pilgrimage, in sportier ensembles. They arrived by Jeep, which could manage the road just fine, and dropped them off at the garage.

Julia and Nate hadn’t been in awhile, so we gave them the extended tour. Here they are practicing being overnight guests, with Julia in the shower and Nate…taking care of business.

After the tour, we had our inaugural fine dining experience at the house. We set up folding tables and camping chairs for a picnic lunch in the dining room. This made me so happy. I can’t wait for many more meals in this room, though hopefully with slightly upgraded furniture.

After lunch, Josh continued to mow and my dad did some weedeating around the fence. I had brought some irises from our current house that needed to be divided and replanted.

I planted 20 or so by the fence, to the left of our driveway entrance. In 6 or 7 months, they should be blooming as we drive up to the house!

Posted on 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.

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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.

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

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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:

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As they say, good fences make good neighbors.

 

Posted on by Emily

Day 247

Hi, it’s me again!

More framing progress to report over the last 24 hours.

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We had a family site visit yesterday afternoon while my aunt was in town.  It was neat to give the grand tour and walk through each room.

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Our greek revival cottage is taking shape!

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The office is feeling really good and looking like a disco in the afternoon sun.

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As they add the sheathing, it frames the views and I just can’t get enough.  I’m all about the views.

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The second floor is still quite the maze of framed walls and temporary supports.

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Here’s Josh looking out the dormer window in the back bedroom.  I’ve always loved dormers so each room on the second floor has one.  I might have gone a little dormer crazy in the design, but I think they make the rooms cozy and add a lot of dimension to the exterior.

We have some rain in the forecast, but I’m thinking framing might be complete by the end of the week.  Stay tuned!

 

 

Posted on by Emily

Day 212

We had a three-generation inspection at the property this weekend.  My grandmother, mom, and sister hadn’t seen the property in months so it was fun to see their reactions to the big changes since it was just a raw piece of land.

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Look at these cuties! I can’t wait until they are coming over for dinner and a visit on the reg.

It’s a little treacherous to walk around the house with all of the rock and dirt, but Grandmother was not about to stay in the car and miss out on seeing everything for herself.

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Grandmother, patiently waiting at the front door.  I love so many things about this picture.

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My seester, Eugene, asking when dinner will be served as she stands in the future dining room.

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OK, back to inspecting…

Over the last couple of days, the forms for the basement walls have been removed and the walls have been waterproofed.

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They put in a drain so we have a basement instead of an indoor swimming pool.

Thank you.

As we were there, John (earthwork guy) was busy filling in around the basement walls with gravel and dirt to get things leveled out.

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I forgot my ladder to be able to get down into the basement and really get a feel for the size, but don’t worry, that will be happening soon.

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Grandmother and Eugene were busy watching John in the bobcat…

…Kath was busy watching her firstborn climb a precarious pile of dirt to take this photo.

There’s a lot of rain in the forecast this week, which means it probably won’t rain.  I’m hoping by our next visit that some of these block piles will have been rearranged into the foundation.

We shall see!