site – Primm & Property

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.

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

Posted on May 24, 2020May 24, 2020 by Emily

Day 219

We were pleasantly surprised to see that, in just a few days, almost all of the block had been laid!

Here they are finishing up the back of the house and then the only section left is the front porch, where my dad and Josh are standing on the right.

John has been spreading out the Pride Dirt Pile so it’s harder for me to get up high enough and far enough away to get everything in one shot. I had to use the panoramic setting to capture this, which is a little bit distorted, but you get the idea.

Though I can barely contain myself in anticipation of framing, seeing this step has been extremely exciting!

That L-shaped thing on the left will be our screened in porch. I’ve never had one of these before. I predict that we will spend a great deal of time on that porch, safe from all of the mosquitos and critters that will eat you up out here.

Also, please note on the left, Barry (my dad) taking a picture of me standing on a pile of dirt taking a picture.

Now, when we are not on the screened in porch on the back of the house, we will most likely be on the front porch, which will be right here.

I have the rocking chairs ready to go for the minute the house is complete.

The horses next door are largely disinterested in the construction.

So, this is the second time in my life that I’ve gotten to be part of the building process on a personal level. The first time was when my parents built a house outside of Philadelphia when I was 4.

You might say, that’s where it all began, or at least where it became clear, that I would wind up in a career related to construction and design.

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Last year for my birthday, Josh put together some still shots from a home video circa 1992 of me supervising on the jobsite at my parents’ house. I was sporting pink sunglasses and an ensemble I can no longer pull off.

Josh did get me a new pair of pink sunglasses so I could recreate the inspection vibe when the time came for us to build our house.

Well, the moment has arrived.

Josh brought the ladder so I could climb down into the basement.

The view from below.

Here I am several decades later, sporting my pink sunglasses and assessing the situation.

On our way home, the same way that we had come just a few hours before, there was suddenly a tree all the way across the road. Josh maneuvered around it and then he and my dad tied it to Josh’s truck so he could pull it out of the road.

It’s always an adventure out in the country!

Speaking of adventures, we have been practically camping in our current house for the past week because our refrigerator decided to stop cooling. Thankfully, it has since been fixed and we had 7(!) days left on the warranty. Always the optimist, Bu was making the most of the temporary setup and had found himself a great spot for lounging and watching the squirrels in the front yard.

He is going to love the screened in porch.

Posted on May 21, 2020May 21, 2020 by Emily · 4 Comments

Day 216

We had a meeting with our contractor this morning. We needed to discuss all kinds of thrilling things like where we wanted the access to the crawl space to be, how we were going to lay out the HVAC units, electric meter, and gas tank behind the garage, and where we would like gas stub outs.

Have I lost you already?

Here’s Josh, waiting patiently for our contractor to arrive…and most likely looking up equipment he’s decided we need for the property.

I decided to take a lap.

They finished filling in around the house. It is now much safer to walk the perimeter. And, they are supposed to start laying block tomorrow – woot!

So much dirt. Our contractor told us they also ran into some “chert”, which is a new term for me.

I asked my landscape architect of a husband what that meant and he dumbed it down to layman’s terms for me:

J: “it’s rocky soil in the substrata.”

Oh, of course. I knew that.

The trees have really filled in. Just a few weeks ago we could see our neighbor’s house through the tree line.

The front yard also looks nice and neat (if you can see past all of the dirt…). Our other neighbor mowed for us this weekend. It took him 4 hours on his tractor.

This is not good news for me as it means Josh will be adding more and/or larger equipment to his list.

We may have no budget left for furniture, but he assures me the yard sure will look great.

To distract myself from the equipment budget concerns, I focused on finalizing selections.

One of the last selections to be made was the chimney brick. I knew I wanted it to look like the brick fireplace in my Grandmother’s house that came from an old jail. This one is pretty darn close!

I’m leaning toward the bottom mortar color. Or I could do a 50/50 mix of the bottom one and the right one to warm it up a little.

The sales rep described the top two as “similar in color to peanut butter”, which immediately ruled them out for me. First of all, it’s to yellow for me. But, more importantly, I just can’t get past the thought of there actually being peanut butter between the bricks as they are stacked. Not only does this gross me out, but it seems like the antithesis of mortar.

So, in summary, we will not be going with the top two options for multiple reasons.

Which do you vote for? 1) light gray or 2) light gray and light buff 50/50 mix?

Posted on March 15, 2020March 15, 2020 by Emily

Day 147

Well, we’ve owned the property nearly 5 months now and all we have to show for it is some temporary orange fencing around the septic fields.

Oh, and we also have some animal planet worthy trail camera footage.

To be fair, we have been doing a lot behind the scenes so that when things do start, they can move efficiently. I have selected and specified nearly every detail in the house down to the door hardware. We may even be ready to order the windows next week!

The things that excite you when you’re an adult…

Also exciting is the fact that the earthwork guys should be there this week to start moving dirt, especially given all that has happened here in the last couple of weeks. Since my last post, we’ve had another 47 inches of rain, a devastating tornado that came within a mile of our current house in Nashville, and coronavirus hysteria has set in.

Regarding the tornado: Many people around us have lost their homes and businesses, which certainly puts into perspective how lucky we are to be safe and to have a roof over our heads. The night of the tornado, we had just minutes to wake up and realize what was happening, grab the cat, and get into the basement as the tornado passed us. The large trees in our backyard were swaying back and forth 30 feet, but thankfully, we were spared any damage.

Though I was ready to nix the basement in the new house for budgetary reasons, now I am really glad Josh insisted we have one. The homes near us that were destroyed were almost identical to our current house. All of them had basements and everyone in those houses survived because of that. Pretty much everything above grade was flattened. I still get chills thinking about it and I know that compared to what these people are going through, being delayed in building my new home while I have a perfectly intact home is really not a big deal. So, we are prepared to be patient and to help however we can.

Next topic: coronavirus. We are self-quarantining as best we can. I will be working from home and avoiding as many meetings as possible. I have requested that Josh work from home for the foreseeable future, too. His company did a trial run Friday and as far as I’m concerned, it went extremely well. It seemed to me he got a lot done and was able to eat a proper lunch. Let’s keep it up!

Thankfully, the population density around our new property is so low that the chance of running into another human being while onsite, or within 5 miles, is next to nothing. With these statistics in mind, we ventured out earlier today to check up on things.

Earlier this week, during his meeting with the contractor and the earthwork guy, Josh determined that the tree directly in front of where the house will sit is actually a pecan tree. Now, I was pretty sure that we had decided to eliminate this tree (and plant many others in its honor) due to the fact that it would be smack dab in the middle of the parking pad and be far too close to the house for comfort. Well, evidently my landscape architect of a husband has had a change of heart and as of now we are trying our darnedest to save this tree.

He limbed up the tree with his chain saw. Here he is surveying his work.

While he was doing this and dragging the large cut limbs away, I was reviewing the trail camera footage in the comfort of the truck.

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Pardon the glare, but these people are well past the highly visible “no trespassing” signs on the trees to their right and left.

One of these folks was also observed on camera several days prior, scoping things out. It’s going to be awkward if these people are our neighbors…

Screen Shot 2020-03-15 at 3.43.15 PM Not sure who this was past our Fort Knox gate, but if he/she wants to leave his/her truck for us to use, that would be super in exchange for trespassing. Thanks.

Then there was a rogue group of turkeys fanning their tail feathers…

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So, I know I’m partial, but I think this is the cutest shot, with my husband, Josh (middle), the earthwork guy (left), and our builder (right), all walking along as dudes discussing moving dirt like it’s no big deal.

I’d like you to know that Josh is extremely proud that “earthwork guy” is now a part of my vocabulary.

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