Stairs - a quick preview

So, this past weekend we assembled the stairs, hoisted them into place.  They are functional, but still need the lowest tread on the living room side of the T..  Railing will come after the paint is done. (I need the area open right now for easiest/safest ladder access.) 

We have a 2' section of railing that's already installed on the balcony edge;  just enough to know we made a good choice in materials.  We have every reason to hope that the "fresh" pine will age to color-match the pine that's been installed for a year.

Is this how warp speed feels??

So much is going on. For the last week, it feels like I get home from work, eat, sleep and paint. Fortunately, the average is still that I spend just a little more time sleeping than painting when I'm away from my 8-5 job. We were drawn to a Sico color called Whitish Clay, but it was too light until we doubled up on the tint. As we cover more walls with it, our affection for the resulting color grows. Last night we got a good start on the third gallon of it. We're also approaching the bottom of the first 5 gallon pail of primer. To have a feature wall or not is my current dilemma, and the array of available colors is making it hard for the girls to settle on what we'll be doing in their rooms. The taper is hoping to finish the upper level today, so that's buying all of us some deciding time. Again, I realize that we choose to treat the timbers like finished trim, and protecting them slows our pace at this task too.

Eight more light fixtures could go up during the lull between drywall boarding & taping.  My helper & I only got seven done, but the best part is that they are permanent!! We don't have to paint around them, so they can stay right where they are...for always! 

 

Dennis has been back in the barn workshop with his timberframing tools.  This week he's been working on building stairs from the main to upper level.  They are turning out with a very sturdy look.  Contrary to popular belief, we will NOT leave a ladder as the permanent route to the upper level.  It will be a strange change, but we'll adjust.  My bet is on the adjustment being quick!  More pictures will be coming once I'm done painting the walls near them, and they are installed.

We finally have quotes and drawings for 2 different kitchen layouts.  One is very open and reveals a lot of timber, but is weak on upper storage space.  The other errs in the opposite direction on both points.  We need to decide this week so the other minor changes can be made and place our order.  Cabinets are 4-6 weeks away.

One fun thing we've done is start a countdown. We know it's much more ambitious than realistic, but it's been one more thing helping us stay focused on what's sometimes felt like "The Never-Ending Road".

and almost another 4 months!

I had intended for blog updates to be more regular than this when I set out to chronicle the highlights.  Since the last word here, life's been full of ups and downs, trips to work, school, church and home.  Somewhere in there the house is still managing to make progress. 

After months of feeling like we're only gaining baby steps at our project, there's been a sudden and exciting shift.  Things are happening fast!  Yesterday was another great day...aw shoot, it's been a great week.  I can't bear tell it all in order, so I'm gonna skip straight to today's highlight and then fill you in on the journey.

Just starting the drywall last Saturday was wonderful.  Then came Wednesday and our appointment to bring measurements, sketches and ideas to get our cabinet order started.  Thursday we picked up the supplies for the taper and took advantage of great sale pricing on interior doors. 

Friday the taper and boarders were all here.  Today we got within about 2 hours of finishing all the drywall boarding.  After all the months of Dennis working mostly solo, having this much help--family members who are pros at this stuff--has made things seem to go fast.  I think drywall must always be a memorable step because it changes the skeleton of studding to actual closed in rooms.

Before long we'll be painting!!  I'll be making final decisions on paint colors in the next week.  We're getting a first-class job of the drywall & taping thanks to brothers of Dennis' but we have to be we willing to work around their schedules, meaning that we won't be starting paint for another 10 days at best.

Now, about all the necessary things that have brought us to this point.

It’s been a very wet spring. For the last month there’s absolutely NO way we could get the necessary trucks near enough to the house to cement it now. We’ve been very thankful that the basement was cemented in the winter! 

Getting the cement done cleared the way for heating and plumbing. We’ve heard of contractors saying that this mechanical stage is twice as much work when there’s a timberframe to work around. It’s certainly been tedious, but it had to be done.  We're thrilled at how invisible most of it is.  The only real concession we had to make at this phase is that we have an 8" heat duct running floor to ceiling in the master bedroom's walk-in closet.  In all, we console ourselves "that's a small price to pay to be able to heat upstairs bedrooms."  Until we finish the basement, most of the heating & plumbing can be viewed there, if that sort of thing interests you.

Next Dennis got the permit, did some more reading and wired up the house. His handiwork passed inspection first try with flying colors. Which isn't to say that it was quick or easy. There are over 100 boxes and 2500 ft of wire, much of it run through blind chases inside the styrofoam insulation of the exterior walls.

Another issue we console ourselves about is the front lawn. It`s a mess!  There were already shallow ruts in the fall.  Although none of our property has been damaged or threatened by floodwaters, the abundance of moisture this spring has made it challenging to schedule delivery of heavy material like drywall.  We've had wild ducks swimming on the yard, pumped water off the yard several times, and once when it was starting to dry, tried the old farming technique of tilling to speed drying.  Neither were successful, but we did get a break of almost 4 days without rain.  The local lumberyard was able to deliver our drywall hours before another good watering added to the puddles.

Summer 2012 will be for landscaping.