Exterior Work Moving Along

The front porch was completed when I was at the house yesterday and the beach retaining wall just needed to have the top caps applied.

Here is the front of the house. We just need to get the front door hung (and some landscaping) to complete the "picture".





And here is the beach wall.



All the material for the finish carpenter's was in the house. Here is our upside down front door and the french doors for the office.



And here are the doors for the rest of the house.



Now if we could just get those cabinets here...

Front Porch is Almost Done

The stone masons were working on finishing up our pillars last Saturday. I really like how it is coming together.



Yesterday we met with the GC to go over all the instructions for the finish carpenters as all the wood was being delivered. We finally got to see our front door, which was very exciting, in addition to all the interior door, the 5-lit french doors for my office, the quartersawn oak stairs, trim, etc. We went through each closet and planned out how the trim carpenters will build the storage systems. The one oversight was that the doors arrived with the wrong color of hinges, so they will all have to be replaced onsite.

Still no new news on our cabinets, which is extremely discouraging. Once the trim carpenters are done with the trim (probably next week) they will move onto another site and our house will sit waiting. It is sheer agony to be stalled at this point, but we are trying to keep our perspective.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

After two good days building the retaining wall, the rains have descended upon us and seem ready to stay for about a week. The completion of the retaining walls and firepit is delayed until the rain stops unfortunately. The only progress at the house at the end if the week is that the remainder of the wood floors were installed. The trim carpenters will start on Tuesday after the holiday weekend. Still no word from our cabinet maker. I'm very anxious.

Landscape Planning and Retaining Wall

We are working this week to get the beach retaining wall in. This will be a 3 to 4 foot retaining wall which separates the beach from lawn. Tom is building this wall with a friend. Hopefully they remember that the landscape plan also calls for a firepit, but I dare not mention it now!

Here is a snapshot of our preliminary landscape plans.



And here are a few pics of the retaining wall going up. At the end of day two, 3 of the 5 rows were in place.

Garage Doors, Shop Doors, Doggie Door and Front Porch

There was lots of good progress at the house today. The garage doors were up, the doggie door was in, the shop doors were trimmed out and the front porch was complete, except the stone column base. Our doorknobs also arrived and I love them. We are just waiting for those darn cabinets now!









Here are the shop doors with the trim to make them appear like carriage doors. The doggie door is to the right of the shop doors and is activated by the dogs collars.



Here is the doggie door from the inside. It has a translucent door which slides up into the wall.

2 of 3 Garage Doors

Our garage doors (which arrived months ago) were finally being installed today. Everyone was afraid to install them earlier for fear of damaging them, and then there were scheduling problems because they are so heavy it takes two crews for installation, but this afternoon they had two of the three doors on said the third would be installed yet today.



The carpenter was also there constructing our front bungalow columns. Once complete, he will move on to trimming the rear shop doors and finishing the deck.

More wood floors

They ran out of wood, but for they did install all they had. We are really just short flooring for the east bedroom and a corner of the computer nook. They should be in within two weeks, so it shouldn't slow us down.

The garage doors are scheduled to go on this Friday. They require two crews because they are so heavy. Once they are installed, the house will be secure and they will deliver all the trim. On Tuesday (a week from tomorrow) the trim carpenters are scheduled to start work. It would be WONDERFUL if our cabinets were there, but I'm not counting on it. We should know more tomorrow after my parents make a trek up to Wisconsin to visit with our cabinet maker. I'm praying he has started.

Dining room looking towards the office


Great room looking towards the kitchen & nook


Looking down into foyer


Great room looking towards the foyer


Upstairs hallway


West bedroom

Floors!

I was very pleasantly surprised by our hardwood floors having been installed in our great room, kitchen and master bedroom today! I knew they were next, but I was still shocked to see so much installed in such a short amount of time.

Great Room




Kitchen


Master Bedroom (not quite done)


The stone on the exterior chase was also done as well as all but one section of railing on the decks! I'm loving the progress. Now if I'd just hear back from the elusive cabinet maker....

South side of the house


Main deck


Master bedroom deck

Front Stone and Drywall completed

I was away a week on business and came back to pleasant progress. The stone on the front of the house is completed and they were working on finishing the exterior chase on the south side of the house today. It also looks like they are done with mudding and taping the drywall inside. Hopefully the floors will follow very soon. I haven't heard back from my cabinet maker yet, but I do know he received my specification package last Tuesday, so I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear an estimated completion date.