porch – Primm & Property

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Emily

Day 597

Greetings!

We’ve done some mulching.

Bu has done a lot of napping.

And testing of benches.

I think I have a bench addiction.

We prepped and planted a garden. Josh did the prepping and I did the planting.

In addition to these seeds, I also planted a variety of tomatoes, peppers, and some speckled lima beans (my favorite!).

Things are progressing nicely as we’ve had a lot of rain. So far, the solar-powered electric fence is working well and keeping out critters.

Check out my beets!

This is the garden after two weeks!

If it were up to Josh, the entire garden would have been corn. We settled on 3 out of 12 rows being corn.

I’d also like to report that some of the shutters have been hung. Due to the weather, this process of hanging the shutters is going on three weeks long now and not even half of them are hung. And the painters won’t be back to finish the columns until after the shutters are hung and the screened porch is complete.

I can’t talk about it.

The screening of the porch has progressed more steadily. All screens are in and now we just need a few final trim pieces to finish it up. Please take note of the large horse fly that is *inside* the screened porch…

This photo was taken on a peaceful morning walk the day before my first brush with death since living in the wilderness.

The following morning, I was walking along our road, by the creek, when I noticed a turkey on the creek bank about 20 feet away. I was thinking to myself what a lovely moment in nature this was just as the turkey spotted me and then started squawking and flying right at me.

I began shouting in the deepest and most menacing voice I could muster and put my arms out wide as I backed up the way I had come. The turkey stopped flying when she was about 5 feet from my face but kept charging, flapping her wings, and carrying on until she had forced me 50 feet up the road.

She then retreated to the brush on the other side of the road opposite the creek, circling a spot about 10 feet from where she first spotted me. Evidently I had come between her and her babies though I didn’t know it.

I think I’ll be adding a whistle and some pepper spray to my keychain.

Home sweet home.

And, finally, our Starlink satellite arrived today! There is hope for better internet service.

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Emily · 3 Comments

Day 581

I may be retired by the time the shutters are hung.

We’ve been focusing on other things in the meantime. We’ve had some visitors now that we’re vaccinated. My friend Jessica and her little girl, Sophia, came to visit and Sophia was very interested in “meow”.

We have a new coat rack. Please alert the media.

I added some feet to the laundry room cabinetry. I know your mind is blown.

I painted and put new hardware on this pair of dressers in one of the bedrooms. These were in my sister’s nursery nearly 30 years ago and then went to college with me. I’ve painted them three times now.

“Meow” is upset that the dressers are not going in his room.

I hosted some of my pals for a girl’s weekend.

We did some crafts and threatened to start an Etsy shop.

Josh and I discussed the vegetable garden and selected a location in the yard.

There has been SOME progress on the exterior of the house. They’ve been working on painting the porches.

I am LOVING the painted porch floors – light gray – a historical look.

Don’t mind the patchwork columns – the painter decided he didn’t like what the paint was doing so he was testing a new primer. He then proceeded to scrape ALL OF THE PAINT off of the front porch columns. They are now white again and I can’t talk about it.

Painting is going much better inside. I painted the bench I posted last time. I’ve also ordered the fabric sitting in the window to make roman shades. This is keeping me from losing my mind amidst the porch paint drama.

I recently inherited all of these blue willow treasures, which were my great grandmother’s. I have collected blue willow for years and am thrilled to have these pieces.

Joshua tilled the garden yesterday and we are gearing up to plant this evening.

Hopefully we’ll have some exciting things growing soon!

Yours shutterlessly,

Emily

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Emily

Day 447

Happy New Year!

The house continues to look more like a house each day, though we are *still* waiting on the county to hook us up with some electricity(!) Until we have power and are able to connect the HVAC and condition the house, we can’t proceed with grout, paint, staining floors, etc.

In the meantime, we are moving forward with everything else we can.

The balustrades are looking lovely.

The hall bath is looking classic and precious. The chair rail tile really makes my day.

The guest bath tile is complete, except for the grout.

Downstairs, the Dining room and Library fireplace surrounds are starting to look fabulous. Can’t wait until they put up the mantel surrounds!

But what really brings me joy is the entry checkerboard floor. I have wanted one of these my entire life.

I am also extremely excited about my closet. I had the trim guys build in a dresser for a more furniture-like look and I was a little nervous about them understanding my design intent, but they did a really nice job. Can’t wait to see the unfinished wood painted!

Meanwhile, outside, they have been working on the porches. The screened porch columns are in place but not yet trimmed out.

They also placed the massive classical columns on the front porch and side entry.

I am in love.

Though they still need to finish the trim at the top and paint them to match the house, they make a huge difference in the overall look.

Thanks to our neighbor for this photo of the snow we got last week!

I got to see it Friday when I arrived for my site meeting. Can you see the columns in the distance?

Now we need the shutters, which will really complete the exterior look.

The end is in sight! I’ve already started purging and prepping…

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Emily · 4 Comments

Day 437

I may need to camp out on site to keep up with all of the progress these days!

The hall railing is up. I’m glad I didn’t value engineer the baluster choice. I love these.

We have a shower curb. Try to contain yourself.

We now have gutters and downspouts. These were not a custom color-match but we got pretty close!

Working out the details for the porch columns – Josh is super excited to see these go in.

The penny round floor looks super cute in the hall bath! We had a major snafu with this as they originally sent the wrong color. I wanted “antique almond” (beige) and they sent “milk”, which was a blueish white. Not close. This is why we check everything at every stage. Of course, then the correct color was discontinued and there wasn’t enough material to cover the floor. So I had to hunt down another vendor who had a similar color and expedite it. This is the story of my life.

We have laundry basket cubbies just in time for the countertop template this morning. I am strangely excited about these.

The guest bath is shaping up with wall tile!

Glad to be heading into the new year with the end in sight!

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Emily

Day 434

We are moving at quite a clip!

Master tile is underway.

Our shower valves have blankies so they don’t get too cold.

Master vanity is in. The tower and fronts will go on after the countertop is installed.

Butler’s pantry cabinets installed by yours truly and my A-team (Dad, Josh, Julia, and Nate). I’m already plotting to paint these cabinets, the walls, and the trim a deep, moody color.

And laundry cabinets. The trim guys will build laundry basket cubbies in the middle so I can have a big folding surface along this wall.

The farm sink will be Bu’s spa. He’s excited…not.

I am just smitten with the brick floor in the mudroom, the tall baseboards, the dutch doors, and the transoms.

But, the true love of my life is the kitchen.

I’m dead.

I can’t even.

Ok, back to the progress report.

Stairs!

Newel posts and balusters. Our base newel post is massive and I love it.

The top of it is almost as big as my head!

Outside, the porch ceilings were going in and the gutters and downspouts were being installed as I was leaving this morning.

Lots of things happening!

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Emily · 2 Comments

Day 399

As we approach a very large number of days that this project has been underway, we are *this* close to starting drywall.

I feel like a broken record, saying for the last 8+ weeks that we are close to starting drywall, but we are actually almost there.

The insulation is nearly complete and drywall has been delivered, with drywall guys on standby.

Though the interior has been progressing slower than I would prefer, the exterior has made some big strides.

We’ve also had some visitors who came by to check out the property…

Lorelei was not terribly impressed with the raw interior, but enjoyed walking the grounds. She decided the yard was good for playing and that she will come back for many more visits.

Since Lorelei’s visit, the dirt pile has disappeared and the yard is completely graded.

Try to envision the hedged courtyard with a fire pit and herb garden that will be here in the future. Likely Phase 271.

Look how smooth and lovely the side yard is!

Also of note, the classical columns for the front porch arrived! They weigh a casual couple of tons each.

Funny/not funny story: The column company tried to deliver these to our builder’s office, which is in an office building in a busy part of town. They called and said, “We’re here!” and our builder, who was at our property, said “So am I! and I don’t see you…” And that’s when they realized the billing and shipping addresses had gotten mixed up.

I’m glad I wasn’t there for that.

The driveway is complete! It is now a breeze to pull up and park by the front door, which I intend to use frequently.

Lastly, the exterior painting is almost done. They will have to come back to paint the porches and garage doors, but the yellow is history!

We have a site meeting in a few hours. Wish us luck and hope that drywall is starting…

Posted on October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 by Emily

Day 371

We have passed the one year mark of owning the property. Closing day seems like 100 years ago and last week at the same time. This feeling is only compounded by the roller coaster 2020 has been.

I know you’ve been on the edge of your seats since the last post, waiting for me to try parking my car in the garage. Last weekend was the big test, and though it was much easier to maneuver in my car than in my dad’s enormous truck, I did send some feedback to our landscape architect/site planner (my husband) that it would be really helpful to widen the driveway about 3 feet.

I have not yet received confirmation on this change order…

We have a roof!

The exterior is looking more and more buttoned-up each day. The painters are slated to start this weekend (yay!). The last big impact item will be finishing out the porches with the columns and ceilings. We are waiting on the front porch classical columns to arrive in the next few weeks. Though these toothpick temporary supports are necessary at the moment, they are sort of killing the vibe.

Without the appropriately scaled supports in place on the front porch, I think it looks like house has an overbite. Don’t worry, we’ll be putting in 16″ diameter columns to correct this.

I had a lovely open-air visit/picnic with friends that I hadn’t seen in person since March(!). This is my friend Jessica and her 14 month-old daughter Sophia. Sophia has literally doubled in age since I last saw her.

Sophia was a little skeptical at first, but she quickly made herself useful inspecting the plumbing. She also had a grand old time walking through walls and limboing under electrical wiring.

After the interior inspection, we had some lunch. Sophia was committed to getting the full porch experience, insisting on sitting in her mom’s chair and watching the neighbor’s horses.

We decided to walk off lunch and take a grounds tour. The roof is looking good from the treeline!

We have some new gravel to make the circle drive continuous. However, there are still several piles of material in the way keeping the “circle” aspect from being useful. I’ve watched many trucks attempt backing down the one section of the driveway and it’s never pretty. We have many bent pieces of rebar driveway markers to prove it.

Looks like the grounds crew’s efforts are paying off! This verdant patch here is all new growth, sewn by yours truly.

Yesterday, after my site meeting with our builder, I decided to put up some paint samples of the colors I’m considering for the porch ceilings.

Approximately, .02947 seconds after I took this picture, I was chasing after my samples across the porch. A storm was about to hit, thunder was cracking in the distance, and sudden wind gusts were sure to make my paint selection efforts futile. (Though frustrating at this point in time, sitting (safely) on a porch as a storm approaches is maybe one of my favorite things in life.)

Since the house is not painted yet and this yellow color of the raw Hardie siding will most certainly influence how these colors read, I should know better than to be doing this at this point in time. But, as I have mentioned before, I am my own worst client and I refuse to listen to myself.

Bearing in mind that the siding and trim will be very close to the color of the windows and that I am going for the “haint blue” ceiling effect to keep the evil spirits away, which color do you vote for? Left, top, or right?

Posted on October 10, 2020 by Emily · 2 Comments

Day 357

Greetings! Happy Fall.

It’s been nearly 3 weeks since my last post. The reason for this is partly because we’ve had a lot of other things going on, but it is largely due to the fact that not much has been happening at the house.

The plumber saga dragged on for several weeks (injuries, surgeries, no shows…excuses, excuses) which has set us back nearly a month in getting our rough inspections complete so we can move on to insulation and drywall. They did finally show up this week and are almost finished (hallelujah!).

Tubs are set and water lines have been run…

Though I was not shy in expressing my displeasure about the pace of the interior progress, I have been delighted by the exterior progress.

We have porch floors!

And siding is almost complete. I have submitted the exterior finish schedule to the builder in preparation for the painters to start in a few weeks – bye bye, yellow!

I am so excited about the screened porch, I can hardly stand it.

I am in love with my door and window trim. I could stare at it all day. And I plan to, once the screened porch is finished.

We’ve also had some good progress on the grading. The Chia Pet dirt mound has had quite a haircut…

…and has been transferred to the front of the house to smooth out the slope around the driveway.

We arrived last Saturday for a meeting with our builder and upon inspecting this, Josh insisted we make an emergency trip to the CO-OP to pick up more seed and erosion control mats for this section.

Lawn crew reporting for duty.

My dad came to help the next day. This is like an acre of dirt.

Grass is starting to come in on the hill by the garage we worked on a few weeks back.

Just for fun, one day when my dad and Josh were off chopping down trees on the other side of the property, I decided to test out parking in the garage with my dad’s giant truck. Kath was a good sport and rode the 37 feet from where the truck was parked in the driveway to the garage, and then she got out to help direct me so I didn’t crash into anything. It took a 27 point turn for me to get into the first bay. So, I’m thinking a) we need to widen the driveway and b) I will be parking in the second bay if I get a vehicle larger than my small SUV.

Next time, I intend to try this exercise with my current vehicle. Stay tuned for the results. Oh, and for house updates.

Posted on June 19, 2020 by Emily

Day 244

Last night after work, Josh and I went over to check out the progress at the house. I had been there just over 24 hours before but it was amazing to see how much had changed!

I spy a some second floor walls!

It was at about this point that I almost jumped out of the moving vehicle to run up to the house.

They finished both sets of interior stairs! Here’s Josh, casually walking in the front door.

Hi, honey!

We walked upstairs and my daredevil decided to sit on the edge.

The closest I got was about 10 feet away.

This explains a lot about us.

Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, the guest room at the front of the house is shaping up to have the best view. Who wants to come and visit?!

…in 2021…

Next we had to go up the back steps and check out the office.

I will be able to look out these windows from my desk and see what the neighbor horses are up to.

Hopefully when I got by tomorrow, they will have finished framing the second floor.

And I hope they add a few more temporary supports on the back porch. I think they are asking an awful lot of these few 2x4s…

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Emily

Day 243

I can barely concentrate on anything else at the moment because I’m so excited about the framing!!!

But, first things first: Check out our driveway that has been graded up so there’s no longer a pond in the middle of it. They also put in a massive pipe specified by my dear husband who does not mess around when it comes to proper drainage.

I had been parking at the very beginning of the driveway due to it being impassible in my short SUV. Next time, I will drive on up and park in front of the house…

… right by the front porch!

They are starting to put in the floor system for the second floor. The room above the front porch is the guest room. Kath (my mom) will be so delighted to see this as she is eager to stay in her suite.

They put in the stairs to the future headquarters of my design firm. The way things are going with COVID-19, it sounds like I will be subletting some of my office space to my husband.

Ok, back to the tour.

My kitchen!

Which will eventually look like this!

But probably not for 6 months…sigh.

This is the living room, which overlooks the front porch and yard. They had somehow missed one of these windows in the first round of framing, but they quickly got it added in after I brought it to their attention.

I’m sure I’m their favorite already.

Though I planned for all rooms to have lots of light and pretty views, I am particularly smitten with the view from the dining room.

I am also a big nerd about sight lines and axes. This is the view looking the opposite direction of the previous photo. Once all of these lovely temporary supports are removed, there will be a sight line down through the hall and out the windows of the library on the back of the house from the dining room table.

The L-shaped screened porch that wraps the back and side of the house will have an uninterrupted view of the tree line. Though right now, these temporary supports are really killing the mood.

Here’s another angle showing the screened porch and those library windows I’ll be able to see through from the dining room. I foresee spending a lot of time on this porch. So does our cat, Bu.

And this is the beast from her widest angle.

This house has been in my head and in my heart for so long that is really surreal to see it come to life.

Screen Shot 2020-06-16 at 9.35.43 PM

Still quite a bit left before she looks like my rendering, but well on her way!