The wrap-up, in earnest

Things are entering the final push all over the house.  Painters, tilers, carpenters - all are at work in multiple locations.  Reviewing progress at end of the day, I liked a lot of what I saw.  This was a good antidote to the heaviness of yesterday, when I learned that we wouldn't be closing this week as previously scheduled.

Shown:
1) The cool Kesseböhmer blind corner device.
2) Finishing the hardwood flooring on the main floor.
3) Painting the upper level rooms.
4) Kitchen backsplash tile.
5) Main floor bathroom tile.

Landscaping begins

Grading has been nominally completed, and yesterday I had several dozen stones moved from a client's backyard in Uptown to the new house.  Today, I started moving the stones to their new home.  Some of them are now in place as small retaining wall off the southeast corner of the house.

Doppelgänger

A 7-year old version of what we're building.  Sort of.  Many of the elements in this fantasy design survived, albeit in a more conservative form.  I still like this design a lot.

Standing seam roofing

The prefinished steel roofing is over half done now.  It's a light gray standing seam application that will last many times longer than asphalt shingles, and the runoff will not contain loose granules or petroleum-related material leaching.  Future photovoltaic panels will easily mount to the ribs.

Floors

Flooring is making good progress.

4-¼" Preverco yellow birch.

Mosa porcelain tile in the entry.

Light

The kitchen countertop was set yesterday.  One of the qualities in the house we're most looking forward to is the amount of light.  Light both in terms of sunlight and the pale, clear-finished maple, birch and pine wood surfaces.

The countertop is HanStone Quartz, "Aurora Snow".

Exciting images and progress...

Lots happening on the job site, thankfully.  Doors are going in, tile is progressing, hardwood floors are being nailed down, and the metal roof is being installed.  Tomorrow will see final grading and countertop installations.

This image shows the slats alongside the stairwell.  They are continuous from the basement through the top level, providing the code-mandated barrier while allowing peek-a-boo glimpses through it.

Frustration

This blog is intended to offer glimpses of the design and construction process for this new house venture.  It's fun to show exciting images and progress, but it's important for me to also present the "dark side" when it becomes the dominant item of the day.  Right now, the frustration du jour is on helplessly waiting for things to happen that were promised but haven't happened yet.  I won't list them all, but big and small they are many.  With the upcoming closing date with our mortgage banker and our need to move out of this rental apartment, I'm anxious about having things get done so these major milestones can happen with some assurance.

Porch, continued

Today, I finished putting up the salvaged cedar slats on the porch wall (about an hour after I took this photo).  When the weather warms up later this week, I'll stain the wall and ceiling.  The board-and-batten wall beyond will be painted dark blue.

I Am Curious (Yellow)

As the project's completion is on the horizon (a fog-shrouded horizon, but it's out there we're sure), questions remain which will be answered this weekend:
- Which ceiling fans should we go with?
- Which closet system to commit to, and in which closets?
- Where do the new trees get planted?
- What is the last paint color (or two) that we can agree on?
and:
- Should we go with a yellow basement floor?

Porch

The main reason for building this house to have a screened porch.  A screened porch with a house attached behind it - that's all I want, really.  I started staining the cedar band around the perimeter today and will continue tomorrow.  The porch "ceiling" is the salvaged, planed fence slats from the original house's backyard fence.

The warm stained cedar will closely match the fir front door finish and will mediate between the deep blue board-and-batten walls and the white lap siding walls.  The black-stained PSL columns will get another coat and there will be additional framing infill to create the screen frame supports (ScreenEze) and screened door.

Predicting reality through BIM

Many months ago, as I modeled the house in BIM (computer software: "Building Information Modeling"), I did some semi-photorealistic renderings to help communicate the design to JoAnn. Now that the built conditions are approaching completion, it's interesting to compare some of the initial images to what things look like at the house.  Here are two examples:

Above: View from the dining area to the living room and the entry/desk beyond.

Below: Overview of the kitchen.

Flooring

Upstairs, the 4-¼" yellow birch hardwood is going down.  It's a more random blend than we'll have on the main floor; a callback to the tradition of using a lesser species or grade on upper levels than on the main level.

Cabinets and fireplace

Interior cabinetry has arrived and the kitchen base cabinets have been installed.  Also, the gas fireplace is in place and ready for the surrounding cement board and stone.

We had to make a last-minute design change when we found that the fireplace required 10" more headroom to provide a safe separation to combustibles.  Where the fireplace was to be 6" above the floor and with a lower mantel, it's now down at floor level and the mantel has been raised up.  Who knows?  Maybe it will look better this way.

Fun tile selections

Another milestone: This afternoon, JoAnn and I completed our tile selections.  Our task was to select the tiles for the 3 shower niches.  Because this is a good opportunity to do something fun and not be so budget-conscious, we picked some good stuff.  For titillation purposes, I won't show pictures yet but what we got includes a) purple glazed ceramic tile, b) 1"x2" glass tiles with a linear "drops on pond" pattern on the back, and c) a linear mosaic tile with dark teal glass, beige and grey ceramic, and marble tile strips, all surrounded by a beige marble bullnose frame.

My preference for a brushed copper tile was rejected, but I'll assume that in the end it's all best that we went the way we did.  Minor compromises at times make for a healthy marriage, after all.

The Exterior is Coming Together!

Lots of stuff is happening inside, but the outside of the house is starting to look good.  The siding is about half done, and the reclaimed cedar fence slats (from the backyard fence) now form the front porch ceiling!  I'll stain these, and the cedar accent band around the low house form, within the next few weeks.

This is the northwest corner.  The fiber cement board-and-batten siding will be painted a dark blue, with white trim.