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!
A whole lot of nothing has happened construction-wise since my last post. We are still waiting on the following, which at this rate may or may not be done by the end of the year:
shutters to be hung
cupola to be painted and installed
porches to be adjusted and screened
porches to finish being painted
exterior paint touch up
floors to be touched up
interior paint to be touched up
window film to be removed and screens put in
a bunch of other miscellaneous items. Our punch list is two pages long
Since these items are out of my control, I have focused instead on furnishings and décor.
We took a trip to Kentucky a few weeks ago to pick up items from my grandmother’s house. The good news is all of this furniture is very sturdy. The bad news is it is heavy. The guys are smiling in this photo but they had a real time moving these pieces.
But, everything and everyone made it safely to our house.
These twin beds were my mom’s and aunt’s growing up. I adore them.
Also, fun fact, this piece of furniture on the left is called a “chest on chest”. I thought my mom was “pulling my leg” when she told me that, but lo and behold, it actually says that on the tag on the back of the piece of furniture.
I’m waiting on the drapery hardware to arrive to install the buffalo check panels, but this is shaping up to be one of my favorite rooms.
We also picked up this church pew in Kentucky, which had been a fixture on my granny and papa’s carport my entire life (I’m sure even longer than that). I gave it a fresh coat of paint and it will go on the screened porch with the dining table (that I do not have yet).
In outdoor news, Josh purchased this monstrosity to collect rain. It too, will soon be painted black.
Out front, we started on the landscaping. Still much to do, but it does feel less like a job site and more like a home each time we plant something.
And my irises that I transplanted last fall from our old house are in full bloom by the driveway.
We got tired of waiting on the painters and exterior trim guys so we went ahead and put out our random assortment of porch furniture on the front porch so we can use it as the weather gets nicer. I got some new cushions for the sofa and chair that were from Josh’s bachelor life and painted the rocking chairs that were also on granny and papa’s carport for years. All of this will go to the screened porch once it’s complete, but we have been enjoying it in the meantime.
I installed my custom kitchen window treatments the second the were ready. I am in love with them. I found this fabric several years ago and knew I had to have it somewhere in the house where I could enjoy it everyday. They were a splurge, but I couldn’t be more thrilled.
Bu assisted with the shade installation.
There is still touch up to be done in the butler’s pantry and the wine fridge needs to be put back (it currently looks lovely in the middle of the mudroom), but I have put on the cabinet hardware and we are using it as a bar.
Bu got a little touch up – his first bath in his new sink.
There was some verbal protesting, but everyone made it out unscathed.
He’s always happy to be fresh and clean, but does not enjoy the process. I have similar feelings about working out.
Bu says please no more baths this year.
We’ve also had quite a bit of rain. We lost power and cell coverage for a while the other day. Wouldn’t recommend it.
As a result of all of this rain, Josh spends a lot of time spreading grass seed and putting down erosion control matting.
It’s about time to be thinking about our garden and all I want to do is plant things. All Bu wants to do is follow me out onto the porch.
Alas, due to MORE rain, my projects for today will have to be indoors. So I will be painting this bench, with Bu’s supervision.
We arrived yesterday to find 47 painters hard at work.
The moving truck shows up in less than two weeks. Carpet goes in on Tuesday. We may need 47 more painters to be done on time.
It’s a good thing there’s a mask covering my face in this photo.
When I walked in earlier this week, the electrician told me he was “putting the jewelry on my house”. I’m going to miss him.
I’m so happy the dining room chandelier is in! I put this fixture in at our soon-to-be “old” house when I did the initial renovation. I still love it so it had to make the move with us. Thankfully, I had saved the extra wire and chain as the ceilings are 2 feet higher in the new house and I didn’t want the fixture hanging 8 feet off the floor. (They have it tucked up at the moment so people don’t run into it.)
Continuing on the subject of house jewelry, most of the door hardware is in. Egg knobs for the win!
Originally, I was going to do rectangular roses (backplates) but I am slightly neurotic about alignments and if they weren’t perfectly straight, it would drive me nuts.
At least I know this about myself.
And speaking of alignments, I went through and finalized where I want all of the cabinet hardware installed so I can make notes for the cabinet guys.
Somehow, I managed to hold up the hardware and my tape measure and make some sort of alien symbol with my fingers all while taking a picture.
I specified in my cabinet drawings for the space between wall ovens to be 48 inches above the floor. This gives a superb alignment for the center of the appliance pulls.
Details matter.
The transoms make me so happy.
The plumbers are *almost* done (we desperately need them to finish so we can call in for the final inspection!).
The kitchen plumbing is complete. Air switch for the disposal on the left (no fumbling around for the wall switch and turning on all of the lights in the process). A faucet I won years ago and have been hanging onto in the hopes that I would use it in my forever house someday (dreams do come true!). And, on the right, though I’m not one for lots of gadgets, a glass rinser, which was a gift from a vendor event (thanks, Delta!).
I am super excited about this for cleaning wine glasses and water bottles.
Still waiting on the rest of the shower trims in the master bath.
Hall bath fixtures are in!
Finally some wall color! The painter asked me three times if this was the correct color for this room. I assured him that it was and that I’m not afraid of rich walls.
This makes me so happy to see some color!
We are really going to be in business once the carpet is in this week.
Exactly nothing happened at the house last week thanks to six days of below freezing temperatures, snow, sleet, and ice. The ice was no joke. We’re talking inches of it on the roads.
We ventured out yesterday as things started to melt to check on the house. It looked lovely in the snow!
Two of the three HVAC units were installed since we were there last.
This is definitely the least attractive wall of the house with all of the utilities, but we will paint the boxes on the wall after inspection and put in some shrubs to hide the units.
Apparently we have an artist in one of the crews…
We remember to take pictures of us together approximately twice a year. This is our first one of 2021.
The floors were finished the week before last but this was our first time seeing them!
This makes me feel like moving in could become a reality!
I’m in love.
We had our first casualty…little birdy must have gotten trapped in the house. Josh escorted him to his final resting place.
A peek of the foyer floors!
And perhaps most exciting of all, we have garage door openers.
Let’s hope we make up some lost time this week and can call in for a final inspection!
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…
Just kidding, we have a long way to go until it’s time for furniture.
We had a big inspection last week for the rough plumbing, HVAC, and framing. The inspector was cranky and came up with a list of things (several of which the builder and I have never heard of before) that need to be fixed before he’ll pass us. Still working on getting that completed.
In the meantime, we are bursting at the seams with insulation.
Progress continues on the exterior:
I am loving the paint color!
The black doors and shutters will add some much needed definition.
Less exciting but extremely necessary, they are putting in the septic system. I am not sure what all this entails and I don’t think I want to know. All I know is that the ugly orange fencing is gone and the open yard feels a million times better.
So much more open from the porch!
This will soon be a lovely, grassy field.
The cellar door is in! Getting close to being able to secure the house.
Perhaps most exciting of all in the last week, I selected our soapstone slabs for the kitchen and butler’s pantry. I am absolutely obsessed with them.
If you need me, I’ll be staring at pictures of my slabs.
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?
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.
I stopped by for a quick site visit this week and this was happening in the backyard.
It amazes me that they can do this all in one day.
Mostly because of what they charge for this.
Nonetheless, I am THRILLED that we have a well, and therefore, a water supply. We are waiting on the official report, but our builder told us that they were somewhere around 140 feet down and getting 15 gallons per minute.
Continuing the exciting infrastructure tour, Walt, our builder, is seen here pointing to where the propane tank will be buried behind the garage.
And, lastly, here is the electrical thinger. It will have a cover and we can plant some shrubs strategically to block it from view as you come up the driveway.
We’ve been watching Yellowstone, Longmire, and now Justified lately so I am really feeling my 10 gallon hat shadow in these photos.
In other news, we have exterior doors! Front door…
French doors from the living room to the screen porch. I have a thing for French doors so these make me especially happy.
Kitchen door to the screen porch.
I’m also obsessed with transoms. There will be many throughout the house.
OK, back to the exterior: John graded the hill by the garage and it looks approximately 1 million times better.
They also put in the gravel driveway up to the garage, which means, were there not a bunch of supplies and bathtubs in the garage, I could park in the garage!!!
I will be doing this the first chance I get.
Having the hill graded meant it was time to seed and straw. This was our project yesterday morning. Here is Barry (my dad) loading up the erosion control matting at the local Farmers Co-op. I predict we will be back here many times over the next few decades.
My Dad and Josh did a fine job getting all of the matting and straw in place.
My job was to spread the seed. The workers did not know what to make of this. One day, I show up in business casual attire and am telling people what to do. The next day, I am wearing yoga pants and a fedora, spreading grass seed.
I like to keep them guessing.
The masons are almost done with the first chimney.
And they have started on the second.
We REALLY need them to finish the chimneys so the roofers can finish the flashing and put on the roof.
My other order of business yesterday was to paint some samples for the exterior.
I LOVE this color. It’s Benjamin Moore “Limestone”.
The exterior is coming along. I can’t wait to see the whole thing painted!
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!
Primm & Property 