Craftsmanship, Part 2

I think it’s a good thing when I need a second post to talk about the craftsmanship going on at our job site.  We have been up to our eyeballs in drywall and drywallers the past two weeks, and I got to thinking, these people are craftsmen, too.  They have a trade, or a craft if you will, have perfected what they do, and, by the way, are pretty darn good at it.  Then, I got to thinking. . .really all of the people who have been working on our home, in all of the trades, are craftsmen.  Here is the definition of “craftsman”:

 “A person who makes beautiful objects by hand; a person who is very skilled at doing something”

So, yes.  The tradespeople that have been working on our home are all craftsmen.  From the concrete people, the plumbers, the electricians, the carpenters, the insulators, the drywallers, the HVAC people; all of them.  I would even go so far as to say, yes, the crazy guy who operated the backhoe was a craftsman; he was very skilled at maneuvering that thing around!  I would also say that if you think you could build a house on your own, yes, you probably could.  However, you are most likely not a “craftsman” in every aspect of home building (and at the end of the day may not end up with a beautiful object!).  I think I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, being onsite for this project has given me a new appreciation for the craftsmen who have worked on our home, and the craft they are very skilled at performing by hand.

And, now some pictures!

Insulation in the sunroom. I don’t think I posted any pictures of the insulation – it’s pretty interesting!

The drywall as it is today. ONE guy hung ALL the drywall in the entire addition – even the ceiling in the sun room. Now THAT guy is a craftsman! Another crew (of 4 people) is working on the taping and mudding.

We have two big fans going constantly.

Tools of the trade in the staging area (also know as the master bedroom)

My artistic shot – notice the sun streaming through the windows, highlighting the drywall scaffolding.

It took a little while to get used to the walls and ceilings being drywalled – everything felt a little closed in at first, after living with the open walls and “cathedral” ceilings for so long.

More writing on the wall; I want to write “it off” underneath!

Completed craftsmanship

And, Avery is still happy!

Craftsmanship

In today’s world of prefab this and plastic that, it’s good to know that there are still some craftsmen out there who build from scratch.  And it’s even better to know that these craftsmen are working on our home.  Take for example the cedar beams and supports being used to construct our entry.  When the main beams arrived, they were just 4 x 12 long chunks of cedar.  Here are some pictures of the chunks being turned into entry beams:

The cedar beams were cut onsite so that they would fit up against the house.

The ends of the beams had detail added onsite, and then they were stained.

Here’s the entire beam, ready to go into place.

Here’s one of the beams in position.

And here it shows the other beam is perfectly aligned.

Other examples of the onsite craftsmanship are the dentil detail and the brackets.  Here are some pictures of the works-in-progress:

Pre-dentil trim; pieces of the puzzle

Notes!

Close up of dentil detail

Dentil trim in place.

Santa’s workshop for brackets

Works in progress

Brackets stacked up and ready to go!

And, I love our stain color – “Brown Paint Chip”!

And, we can’t forget about the craftsmanship that is going into all of the trim around the windows, on the fascia, under the soffits. . .lots of hand work going on there.  The trim starts out as a coil of aluminum and after measuring at least twice, cutting, bending, and I have no idea what else – poof! – we have trim.

What it starts out as

Perfect angles every time

More trim

It’s hard to show the details, but all of the trim is bent around somehow to stand out perfectly for the siding.

There is some waste. . .

I must point out how everyone likes to write on our house.  I guess it’s the best place to figure things out and to write down measurements.  We’ll always have them with us!  And, if some day someone decides to re-side our home (better not!), they will get to see the handwriting of the craftsman who built it.

As they say, “The writing is on the wall!”

Nice triangle

Our columns

Measurements

Just in case you forget where things go. . .

And, there is proof we have changed our minds a few times. . .

A couple inches makes a difference

Must have been a bad idea!

I want to end with a funny story about our cat, Avery.  At times she is just as stressed out at we are, with all the pounding, people going in and out, early morning noise; she likes life calm and predictable.  Well, my dad told us a story of one night when we were gone, he let Avery outside and then a little while later she was back in the living room!  We thought, Okay.  Sure.  Whatever.  Well, low and behold, the next night we let her out and pretty soon she was back in.  Hum.  Seems she has found a way, and we’re not quite sure where, to get back into the addition, and then pop through the temporary plastic wall!  We think she is coming in through the old crawl space, into the new crawl space and then up the stairs and pops in.  So she is enjoying being able to come and go as she pleases!  We just hope nothing else pops through that plastic opening some night!  Oh, and she is enjoying the chairs we set up on the porch. . .

Avery!

Dave is in the House!

It’s been a strange week.  There have been people here working every day, but it’s hard to see what’s been accomplished.  Don’t get me wrong, a lot has been done, but not much that is “picture worthy”, if you know what I mean.  We are still living in a convoluted house, though not as bad as last week.  Although the comment on Monday was, “the wok is in the garage!”.  I forgot we had stuff stored out there, too.  And, our builder came in and took the plastic off the windows in the living room. . .another “Duh” moment.  Now we can really enjoy the spectacular, CLEAR, view we have!

The lake from inside

We’ve had some rain:

Our little gully

We are saying this is our way to determine which way the water flows before we put in any drainage. Hello?  Of course the water is going to flow downhill.  Anyway, we haven’t had a chance to do anything about this yet.  On the bright side, all of the sand and dirt washing down the hill is leaving us with less lawn to mow!  And now, the real reason for this picture, if you look closely you will see the pontoon is in!  Yippeeeeee!!  We do live on a lake. . .

Remember all of my rambling on about getting everyone upset because we decided we wanted to reuse the two windows that were being taken out?  Put them in the bedroom and replace the small window that was there?  Trim that was already installed had to be taken off?  (I’m rambling again).  TOTALLY worth it!  I’d chalk that up to one of the best decisions we made.  Although the window replacement day was a very noisy one, with them needing to saw through old logs again.

“New” windows

It seems like a lot of miscellaneous things were done this week.  A couple of insulation guys were here and put some insulation in the soffits of the old part of the house, getting ready for the siding and soffits to be installed.  Which meant we had to clean most of our stuff out of the small attic we were using for storage – our only area for storage.  And, we are running out of places to put things; back to our house getting smaller before it gets bigger.  At least we could put our luggage in the front closet!

Ha! Have to keep a sense of humor.

So, when we were pulling out last night, around 8:30 to go pick up dinner (burgers from Zimmy’s!) we pulled out just in time for a construction-worker-type-guy to back a HUGE trailer in.  Turns out it’s the plumbing trailer – you need a big trailer for all of that pipe!  Then, this morning, before we knew it, we had people crawling all over the place.  We had plumbers and HVAC people (are they called HVACers?) doing their plumbing and HVACing most of the day.  It was loud and noisy most of the day, and then they left.  Now it’s strangely quiet!  But, they did leave a lot behind!  Has the title of this post says, Dave is in the house – Dave Lennox, that is!

Mr. Lennox!

We are now the proud owners of a model whatever (sorry, don’t know) Lennox furnace.  Isn’t it beautiful?!

Gorgeous!

Also, for you plumbing geeks out there, we are the proud owners of a lot of PEX!

PEX central

As I am NOT a plumbing geek, all I can say is we are going to have a tankless hot water heater – is this it?!  Seems like there will be more.

We also have PVC pipe running everywhere.

PVC city

It’s kind of fun to follow it all over.  It comes up one wall, crosses here, meets up with more pipe there, goes down another wall. . .makes you a little dizzy.

And, we have holes in our walls.  Not very happy about holes being put in our new walls (and new roof), but I guess it must be done; don’t want all that “stuff” venting back into the house!

Holes!

And. . .we can see our shower starting to take shape.

No water yet 😦

And. . .we are still trying to decide on the stone to put on the outside of the house.  Here’s what we have it narrowed down to – until we go back to the stone supplier and see something else:

?????

If you see us standing out there in the rain staring at it (entirely possible), please tell us to go in!  If you want to vote for one, please do that, too!

I’ll leave you with some pictures of the outside of the house; some siding done, some not done.

The “front” of the garage

The north side of the house – almost done

The north side of the garage (backside)

Some soffits done, some soffits not done

And, finally, the only evidence left that there was ever a log cabin here – and our lounge chairs, ready for sunset viewing.  Here’s to the weekend!

And, our outdoor fireplace!

This, That, and The Other Thing

It’s a beautiful Friday afternoon here at the lake.  It reminds me of one of the reasons we moved here in the first place, and why we are going through this renovation.

“If you’re lucky enough to have a place at the lake. . .you’re lucky enough”

How true!  We feel blessed to have a place on the lake, and even more so to be able to transform it into our forever home.

It’s been a busy week, full of ups and downs, starts, stops and do-overs.  At one point I was thinking that this isn’t fun anymore.  But, that passed, and it was on to meeting with the electrician and the builder’s interior designer to go over the lighting.  That’s was stressful, with decisions needed to be made at every turn (literally), but it was fun at the same time.  We walked through the addition as if we were living there and using it, deciding if we wanted a switch there, a can light here, and whether or not chandeliers in the bathroom are a good thing (Yes, they are!).  It will be interesting to see how much that bid comes in at – NOT.  From previous renovations we have completed I know that the electrical bid is always more than you budgeted for, no matter how much you budget.

We also got the plumbing bid back.  After some give and take, mostly give (we gave back the body sprays, free-standing faucet for the tub, fancy toilet) we are settled on bath fixtures.  We get to keep the free-standing soaker tub and rain bonnet (although a less expensive version).  We also learned how to interpret a plumber’s quote.  The pricing on the fixtures includes the installation of said fixtures.  So, don’t look at cheaper pricing online, because it doesn’t include installation. (Aha!)  Also, the quote you get from the plumber on fixtures doesn’t include things like hot water heaters, moving water softeners, etc.  That’s in a separate quote.  Furthermore. . .the plumber has nothing to do with pressure tanks needed for wells – that quote comes from the well people – of course.  After the give and take, more pricing, we think we have the plumbing bid down to just a little bit above what was budgeted.  That should be okay, because, surprisingly, the HVAC bid came in at just a little bit below what was budgeted.  It should be close to a wash overall.

We have siding going up!  Time for some more honesty; I was a little freaked out about our color choices here as well.  And a bad choice here would be a HUGE mistake.  It’s hard to pick out siding colors when all you have to look at is a 4 x 2 inch sample.  We had to hurry up and pick colors so that the siding could be ordered and installed as scheduled.  (We are learning that our builder likes to schedule things to get them on the schedule, even if you aren’t ready for them.  I guess that’s a good thing, as the project has been moving along at break-neck speed.  It just forces you to make decisions quickly, which is a good thing, too.)  Anyway, one day you say okay to colors, and the next day you have this:

Stacks of siding in the garage

And then the day after that, you have this:

Siding on the north side of the house

Thank goodness we like the colors – whew!  The renovation gods were smiling on us again.

We’ve had a few issues with windows.  Issue one had to do with me having a bad memory.  While we were away our builder called and asked if we were just going to leave the windows alone on the north side of the house.  Yes.  Nobody can see them, so we were just going to leave them alone.  Well. . .once we got back home I remembered we had talked about reusing the two windows we are replacing and putting them in one of the bedrooms, because there is a small window there now, and it’s a dark room.  Needless to say, I ticked off the builder, the guy putting the siding on, and the carpenters.  Not what I really wanted to do.  We’ll see how much that will cost us!  The other issue was an understandable mistake, but still one that we had to point out, and probably caused an extra day of work.  The first window that was replaced in the old part of the front was installed exactly where the old window was, so that it was down too low and not in line with the new windows.  6 inches might not seem like a big deal, but, unfortunately, it was.  Now that they are installed where they should be, it looks fantastic!

I think this is there “figuring” for moving the two windows

I think that takes care of This and That.  I would have to say that “the Other Thing” is the fact that we have somewhat entered a Destruction Phase again.  We knew it was coming.  As one of the carpenters put it, our house is getting smaller before it gets bigger.  They have connected the old house to the new house, which means for a while we won’t have completely functioning areas.  For example,

Here is our pantry:

“Pantry on a Cart”

It’s also a bedroom and an office

This is also our excise room.  And let me tell you, it’s not fun when the box with a jar of pickled beets falls down and the jar breaks.  Guess we will be getting new carpeting in the old part, too.

Here is the temporary wall going through the kitchen:

Plastic wall

Here is the living room:

Our TV is under that blanket!

Wonderful view. . .

The other side of the plastic

Yes, this is IN our living room

And, here is Terry’s office:

Our bedroom / Terry’s office / storage

Good thing he can work anywhere, because he’s certainly having to do that!

Repeat after me. . .”It’s only temporary”. . .

 

A True “Cabin to Craftsman” Moment

Once again, we were away for a week, a little business, a little relaxation.  While we were gone, major changes took place.  Some very exciting changes (deck, windows), some not so exciting changes (roof – sorry roofers, I don’t think shingles are exciting), and some very noisy changes (the old log wall was sawed out).

Here’s a quick look at the exciting, the not so exciting, and the noisy.  I’ll start with the not so exciting.

From the street. (Can’t wait to get rid of those tree stumps!)

Gorgeous shingles

I think our five-minute decision on the shingles worked out.  Above are a couple of pictures of the roof, all done.  The shingles look great! (Yawn).  Seriously, they do look good.  They will look wonderful with the trim color we chose, and they go a long way to melding all of the parts and pieces of the house together so that it looks like one home.  And, it’s nice to not have it raining inside.  Roof sealed up.   Done.  Check.

I’m putting the front door being installed in the not-so-exciting category, not because I don’t think the front door is exciting, but because it looks a little underwhelming.  It still needs to be stained, the hardware still needs to be put on, and the porch still needs to be finished, so, yes, it looks underwhelming.  But, here it is:

Front door

Next, the noisy.  This was a true, “Cabin to Craftsman” moment.  You may remember that the oldest, original part of our home was a log cabin.  In order to connect the old to the new, a thirtysomething-foot long section of the old cabin had to be removed, and the new rooms framed in.  I’m not sure how they did this, but I think chain saws may have been involved.   A temporary wall was constructed and a plastic barrier installed, so most of the mess stayed out of the part we are living in; not much you can do to keep the noise out.  Here is the end result:

Terry’s office from the dining room, looking at the front door.

The framing for the entry coat closet and the pantry, with Terry’s office in the background.

The flash from my camera is shining on the plastic barrier, so right behind that plastic is the kitchen.  Also, you may notice in the top picture that Terry’s office has a big, rectangular window framed on one wall.  Well. . .that wall has caused a lot of consternation.  We were trying to find a leaded glass window(s) to put there, so that Terry would have a view outside, and, it would look good from the dining room.  After thinking about it, and looking at different sources, we decided it would just be too hard to get a couple of old windows cleaned up, then framed and put into the opening.  So, we decided to just go with a new, round window, and asked our builder for pricing.  When we came back and saw the rectangular opening, we thought, crap.  Our builder did build it a specified in the plans, but what happened to our conversation about the round window??  Well, he admitted he must have been somewhere else when we discussed it, and smiled and commented that at least the opening is big enough so that it will be easy to re-frame.  Glad to know we aren’t the only ones who forget those conversations!

In an effort to continue re-using and re-purposing where possible, we had the construction crew save as many of the old logs as they could.  We plan on having them sawed into planks and put them on the ceiling in the sun room, along with the cedar from we saved from the siding.

Stack of logs from original cabin

Detail on longer logs that were saved

Along those lines, does anyone have an idea for some type of artwork that uses lumber scraps?!

We have a lot of piles like this sitting around

And, drum roll, now for the exciting!  Most of the windows are in. Yippeeeee!!  Love them!

Sun room windows

Lakeside sun room and dining room windows

In looking at the pictures, I can tell you they really don’t do the windows justice.  They are beautiful!  Maybe the deck will look more exciting:

The “bowling ally” shot

The “perspective” shot

The shot from the lake

A lot more is happening, but it’s been a really long day, and I need to call it quits for the night.  SO many decisions to make.  I really should be going over the quote for the plumbing fixtures, or researching deck lighting, or looking for lights for above the vanities in the bathrooms, or looking for vanities, or driving to look at stone samples, or driving to look at tile samples, or researching landscaping drainage, or. . . . . .

Meanwhile, While Life Was Happening. . .

So, we were away from the reno for a week.  Yep.  Life was happening.  Well, here’s the good thing about having a builder be in charge of things for you.  While we were gone, taking care of life things, our reno went from this:

Trusses with our name on them! Have to look for this one once they are installed.

Here’s Terry standing next to some of the trusses, just to give you an idea of the size.

Partial garage roof

Street side

Another pic of trusses

Lake thru sunroom “windows”

To this:

It’s looking like a home now!

Front entrance

Look at the trusses!

Sunroom

Lakeside

And. . .some day lilies growing “in the bags”

Talk about a transformation.  We now have a roof over our heads, so to speak.  And, a couple of windows.  I’d like to talk about windows for a minute.  They are a big part of what we are doing.  When your home is on a lake, they typically are.  Not only are we adding a lot of windows into the new part, we are replacing windows in the old.  I think there are 33 windows in all.  So, these windows will be a HUGE part of the look of our home.  Choosing the windows was one of the first decisions we made, and there were quite a few decisions to make regarding just the windows.  We didn’t really rush into the decisions, but we didn’t have a lot of contemplation time either; they have a long lead-time and needed to be ordered early on in the process so that they would be here when it was time to install them.  And, a lot of the subsequent decisions we made were based on decisions we made with the windows.  So, here’s my confession:  I didn’t remember when the color looked like that we had chosen for the windows.  YIKES!  When those many, huge boxes of windows showed up, I was too scared to peek inside.  (Who knew windows came in boxes?)  Well, the renovation gods were looking out for me; I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the windows!  I wish I had pictures to show you of just the windows, but they are still working on installing them, so window pics are yet to come.

We have been working on making more decisions, regarding bathroom fixtures.  That included a fun trip to the bathroom fixture supply showroom!  We got to try out a bath tub.  That was kind of weird, the both of us getting into a bath tub in the showroom, (with our clothes on, no water) but I’m glad we did.  I had a hard time getting out of the first one we tried (go ahead and laugh), but that lead us to the conclusion that we need one with higher sides.  The second one we tried out was just right – didn’t need to try out three, like Goldilocks.  We got a great idea of the size we needed, and when you’re spending that kind of money on a tub, you better make sure you fit!

As life is taking us away again for a few days, there is now a flurry of activity going on.  The frame for the deck is going up, the siding is going on, the rest of the windows are being installed, the shingles are going on the roof, and they are starting to break through the wall separating the two structures, old house and new house.  (some decisions we were super fast at making. Shingles? – 5 minute decision!)  Word is that the plumbers are scheduled to begin rough in next week – better get those bathroom fixtures figured out!  So, I’ll leave you with pictures of what we left.  Can’t wait to get back home and see what happened while life was going on this time!

Siding sitting in the garage

The main entry; porch is poured. Love the view thru to the lake!

Lakeside, with a sneaky-peak at the windows

Lakeside with part of deck framing

The view from the future deck!

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

No, I’m not dreaming about the 60’s.  Or, trying to get political.  Just writing a post about flowers, and wondering where they went.  I know it’s been awhile since the last post, but funny thing is, life happens, even when you are in the middle of a home renovation.  So, I’ve been taking care of life.  Anyway, here are some thoughts on flowers. . .

“Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.”

I come from a long line of gardeners.  My grandmother was known for her roses and my mom was always working on rose bushes and peonies and lilac bushes, trying to make them flourish in the bone-chilling cold wind coming off the still frozen bay – in June.  One of my earliest memories is staying with my grandparents for a few days in the summer, picking raspberries from their cultivated bushes and selling them to the local grocery store (where my grandmother was a butcher).  I also remember my dad tilling in a delivery of Arabian horse manure, delivered from the field across the street where the horses grazed.  I’ve hoped to pass some of this on to my children; I have a picture of my son when he was about three years old planting beans with my dad, and a picture of my daughter when she could barely walk planting annuals with my mom.  Only time will tell whether or not they carry on the gardener gene.

Why the reminiscing?  So that you can understand my anguish now that my peonies look like this:

When they used to look like this:

And this:

And my flower bed under the trees by the street now looks like this:

When it used to look like this:

And this:

And, the flower bed along the side of the house now looks like this:

When it used to look like this:

And this:

Sad, I know.

Yes, there is excitement in knowing that I will get to plan and plant new flower beds, and work out some new landscape designs – and maybe I’ll get that little bubbling fountain I’ve been dreaming about for so long.  However, it is hard to see perennials that take years to mature into beautiful plants go the way of the backhoe.

I did attempt a plant rescue.  Last fall I dug up several of my perennials that were happily growing under the trees in the front of the house.  I dug up and replanted as much as I could.  When my back was done, so was my rescue mission.  I’m sure I looked foolish tugging and pulling and hefting out my three big Annabelle hydrangea bushes – I’m glad I could give my neighbors something to laugh at.  In the end, I did win the tug of war and they were replanted at the edge of our wooded strip, with several others plants.

Once the digging for our foundation started, I wished I could have rescued more.  I thought about going out and trying to dig up my two hydrangea bushes that I saved from the last house we sold, but judging by how frozen the ground was where the foundation was going in, even using a pick axe and a blow torch wouldn’t have done much good.  (A side note here. . .when we sold the first house we had when we moved to Indiana, I left behind some beautiful rose bushes.  One was from a shoot I had gotten from my Dad, one was a “rose of the year” from Better Homes and Gardens, one was a climbing rose that flourished in the perfect spot.  I was SO proud of them, but left them behind for the new home owners to enjoy.  There was also a flower bed chock full of various mature perennials, timed to bloom all year round.  And, a beautiful flowering Redbud tree, that we pruned and babied every year.  We felt we were leaving behind some beautiful landscaping for the purchasers.  So. . .imagine my HORROR when we drove by the house one day and EVERYTHING had been PULLED OUT and replaced with UGLY GREEN BUSHES!  YES, I’M SCREAMING HERE, BECAUSE I WAS SCREAMING!  I vowed to never leave behind a flower or plant or tree again.  And THAT is one of the reasons why I am so upset that I could not save all of my flowers.)

Back to present day.  Once the ground thawed, I was scheming, trying to think of what I could do to save some more perennials.  I thought about digging them up and replanting, but I had no where left to plant anything.  I thought about buying pots to put them in, but the cheapest ones I could find were $5, and we are trying to save money wherever we can.  So, after walking around Wal-Mart, I bought 5 lawn and leaf bags; the big paper ones.  I cut them down to about a foot high, and viola!  The perfect planter!  At least I hope it turns out to be the perfect, temporary, planter.  I dug up as many as I had bags for, bought some more bags, and dug up some more.  Here’s my flower bed:

And, the crazy backhoe guy did dig up one of my hydrangea bushes, one of the two I rescued from our last house:

Things may not be pretty, but they are green and growing, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!  At least I can rest easy, knowing I did what I could to save my flowers, and pay homage to all those gardeners who have gone before me!

To end on a happy note, here are some more pictures of flowers past, and, hopefully, what will be:

The Saga of the Trusses

When you are building an addition, you learn about things you never thought you would ever care about.  Case in point, my new knowledge of the pitch of trusses.  5/12, 8/12, 10/12. . .blah, blah, blah only days ago.  That was before we learned that the trusses for the garage (which were delivered about a month ago in the first delivery) were constructed with a 5/12 pitch rather than the 8/12 pitch the architect planned for, the builder planned for, and we were expecting.  AND, the trusses for the house addition were also built incorrectly.  I’m still not clear on what they were all supposed to be, but they are basically all different.  And, when you are adding on to a house that already has three different roof pitches it makes life difficult trying to get everything to work together.  This is when it pays to have a builder who knows what he is doing, and a head carpenter who can take a pile of crap (varying overhangs, different roof lines, different pitches, different height walls, different height floors) and make it look good.  I got a headache just trying to visual everything, let alone figure out all the angles and measurements.  Of course, it’s not built yet, but I have faith that the guys we hired to fix things will do just that.

Oh.  After much discussion and pondering in the cold, wet weather today, we decided to go with the trusses as built.  We will have to make some minor adjustments to a few things, but nothing that will effect the overall design.  And, lets hope that by taking the route that is easiest on our builder, he will remember that in the future when we ask for something not so easy.

While we were pondering, the crew was working.  Today they put up some sheathing and house wrap.  And the weather was nasty.  At the end of the day, here’s what we have:

Looking up at the sun room

The view from the street

The garage

The view from the new front door – kind of yucky right now

One more chapter in the Saga of the Trusses. . .the trusses for the house addition were to be delivered today.  However, the hydraulics on the crane on the truck that was to deliver them pooped out.  Or, whatever hydraulics do when they decide they don’t want to work.  Maybe we will see them on Friday.

On a different note, we did make some big decisions on the entry.  I’m going to keep it surprise for now, but let’s just say it involved some big beams of cedar!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Cabin to Craftsman!  Take time today to enjoy the blessings in your life.  Pause to thank God for everything around you and for those you love.  Call loved ones far away, and hug those that you can.  It’s a beautiful day!

Next year we will be enjoying Easter brunch inside our dining room. . .

Have a blessed day.

The moon over the lake last night. . .magical.

Rain, Rain, Go Away. . .

. . .and don’t come back another day!  Please.  At least (and I can’t believe I’m going to say this) if the rain does have to come back I hope it’s on the weekend.  Sorry to those of you who go out and do things on the weekends.  Here’s what we look like tonight:

See the pretty reflection of the trees in the water?  It would be nice if that water was the lake and not our dining room.  Yesterday, however, was a beautiful, somewhat warm, spring day.  We set up the chairs in the dining room this time and had our 5:00 cocktails there.  Ahhhhhhhh.

Today our carpenter crew had to battle the weather.  The first round of storms hit around lunch time.  I must say they scurried pretty fast to get things covered up and to get their power tools put away.  Electric power tools and a rainstorm do not make for a good pairing.  Thank heavens it wasn’t much of a storm; didn’t last too long (just long enough to eat lunch) and there was only thunder booming in the distance.  So, they started back up again early afternoon.  Of course, mother nature had to spring another round of rain on us all (I say us all, because we were out for a walk at the time).  This time they packed it in for the day.  Just as well, it drizzled all afternoon.

But – you know the old saying, “Make hay while the sun shines” – one of my personal favorites, and that’s just what our carpenters did. I won’t lie, they had a few walls up at the end of the day yesterday, but today they definitely made hay while they could.

It’s exciting seeing things starting to take shape.  I love walking through the rooms.  We blew the budget on windows, but now that we can see where they are going, and the views we will have, it was money well spent.  We can make it up somewhere else.  And sitting in the sun room and dining room for afternoon cocktails – love it!  It’s great to put those old soccer mom (and dad) chairs to use again.

So, as I sit here hoping for rain on Saturday (just kidding), here are some pictures of what things looked like at the end of the work day:

Here’s the front entrance

Close up of the front door

The view from the entry once inside (actually from the coat closet); you can see the stairs going down to the basement, the dining room to the left, the sun room to the right in the front, and the master bedroom on the far right.

Looking into the master bedroom and into the master bath and closet, from the sun room

From the master bedroom through to the sun room

Water on the floor in the sun room; water in the lake

The view down the “stairs” into the pool in the lower level

Terry, sweeping water. Yes, sweeping water.

The view from the street

Let me leave you with this beautiful sunrise from yesterday morning.  One of the many reasons we are doing this.  And, yes, it’s still fun!