Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Whoa! Lots to catch up on!

Friends! I'm sorry it's been so long. Over two months, to be exact. The holidays took over our lives and this year was especially crazy with Steve being at the house almost every night and weekend. And, the busiest three weeks of the year at work for me are in December. Oh, and between the four of us, we had pink-eye, a double ear infection, a tooth infection and a terrible cold. Let's just say the only Christmas decorations that went up in our house this year was our Christmas tree. But, at least there was that.

Since November, some of the more time-consuming projects were completed. I'm going to try to touch on each of them, but if you want more information, leave a message here and I'll expand on those things in future posts.

Let's start with the fireplace. The framers set it up according to the measurements we got from the fireplace manufacturer, after we picked the insert, the type of stone, mantel height, hearth height, and many other measurements. Who knew fireplaces could be so complicated?!? We purchased the fireplace insert and stone from Condor. Really nice people, super-helpful and on time. We've loved working with them!



Here you can see the framing and one of the reclaimed barn beams installed for the mantel.
Closeup of the barn beam ... and above it, is some darker reclaimed wood that is going to be installed above the mantel up to the ceiling.
The insert and stone are in! Painting has started as well.

The drywall is also complete (which you probably figured out from the photo above). They were in the house for about a week, and all I can say is WHAT. A. MESS. Holy dust ball. But, they were great, did a wonderful job and when they were done, it really felt like a house. It's amazing what walls will do!

Drywall equipment in the kitchen
Apparently, to be a drywaller you can't have a fear of heights. Yikes.
Steve literally spent days taping off the beams so that they wouldn't get drywall or dust on them. That guy. :)
Drywall in the dining/foyer area
Drywall in the loft
Ah! Finished! Those beams look more awesome with each passing day.
Outside, things were also moving along. The siding and gutters went up with only a few minor setbacks. You might be able to see on the front and back of the house that we did board and batten on the peaks. And the metal roofing above the front porch is also now on. It's a dark steel grey and looks awesome.

south side of the house
Rear, west-facing side of the house
From the barn, looking at the whole front of the house
Ha! Had to add this last photo. We had a couple of beavers on the north end of the property doing some significant work on a number of birch trees. Trapper Al came out and helped us take care of the problem.

That's a quick summary of November and December. I'm already working on January, so that post will be up in the next week or so. Thanks again for reading! - Gretchen