Painters onsite

Last week was very quiet (agonizingly so). However on Friday, the painters made it to the house and start prepping the house. While we were waiting for the painting crew to arrive, I tried a bunch of color samples on the walls and quickly determined I needed to revisit my color choices. Sigh. The main problem was the yellow in the main public space. This and the dining room colors needed to be toned down.

On Friday, we also got a phone call from the cabinet makers son-in-law with a few questions on the cabinets. He reported that they are basically on track to be completed at the end of this week. I'm really hoping this is the case. It will be a huge load off my mind to have the cabinets installed.

Sneak Preview of Cabinetry

The good news is that we've finally seen proof that our cabinets are real. The bad news is that they are still about a week and a half from completion. Mom and Dad drove up to Wisconsin yesterday and tracked our cabinet maker down to the field where he was baling hay with this team of three horses. They said it was pretty amazing. Spread around several woodworking shops were our cabinets. They had about 12 cabinets fully constructed and the wood for many more cut out. We are very disappointed that the cabinetry is not complete, but very excited to actually see some cabinets actually made. Here are a few pictures.


Base cabinet to the right of the range


Microwave Cabinet


Top of dining room corner cabinet


Cabinet for boys bath


Lots of doors

Hardscape Complete

The last of the hardscape (the concrete patio and dog run in the back) was completed today. This means that as soon as the exterior is painted, we can move on to landscaping. Here are a few pictures

Path down to stairs in beach wall




Patio


Dog run


Our iron-a-way was also installed. We aren't hot on the style of the door, but it is in our closet and will do. It should be ultra convenient.





Finally, all the beams were completed. Here is the beam in the Master Bedroom from which our ceiling fan will hang.

Floating cabinets?

Do you see our cabinets floating floating down the street in this picture?



I hope not, but we can't be sure. LaValle, WI, where our cabinets are being made, is flooded. We don't believe that the cabinet makers shop is flooded, but I'm worried none the less.

The entire Midwest seems to be a mess. This is the triangle outside our front door (NOT the lake in the back). We spent 2 1/2 hours in the basement today due to a tornado warning that hit right as we were pulling into the drive.



However, things are moving along. Both sets of stairs and railings were completed today and they were beginning to work on the beams in the Great Room.

Stairs are going up

Both sets of stairs in the house are slowly being built. I'm really quite surprised at how long it is taking them to build them on site, but they look great. Any day now, the railing across the catwalk will be on and we won't have to make the treacherous walk to the upstairs hall with ours eyes focused forward.



The stairs will be stained, including the skirt boards.



The retaining wall along the south side of the house was also built last week. Once they relocate the gutter drain, it will look really nice. They should be able to pour the concrete pads in the back of the house now and then we can finalize the landscaping and they can start painting the exterior.

Oh Beautiful Closets!

The finish carpenters arrived on Friday, and as of Tuesday evening, they had lots of stuff done. On Friday, they trimmed out one door and a window so that we could verify that the trim was as we wanted. They thought that the plinth blocks on the door casing looked funny as I had specified them, and I agreed. Here is a picture of how they looked.



They encouraged us to get a deeper board so that the plinth block would not be the same width or depth as the door casing. With the new plinth block, here is what the profile looks like.



The other surprise was that although I had specified no sills on the windows as a cost savings measure, they had milled the material for the sills. In retrospect, I'm so glad they did, they look great and are perfect for the house.



Here is what the complete package looks like together with the door casing, plinth blocks and base boards.



All the closets where also complete. I know that may not seem exciting, but after the tiny closets we have lived for the last 10 years, I think they are amazing! Here my wall in the Master Closet





and Tom's wall



I would assume that today they will be starting on the stairs. Here are the newel posts for the stairs.



Lastly, the caps had been placed on the top of the beach retaining wall, increasing it's heighth by several inches. I'm really happy with the color and shape of the finished product.