Finished!! June 8, 2010

Well, we moved in and are starting to get settled.  The move was grueling and nobody ever wants to do it again.  I would like to thank The Boyle School of Irish Dance for picking such a perfect week for their recital!  My sister and I got out of one moving and one cleaning day off because of the dress rehearsal and recital!  (hee hee!)  We were awed by all the people who came and helped us moved in spite of the heat and the ridiculous amount of stuff we have.  We are very surprised that they are still our friends!

I don’t think I will be posting anything more (maybe I will do the patio and the walkway which they are working on now), but if you want to see something in particular just let me know and I will try to post it.

Here is a picture of the house that I LOVE!

I think the sunset looks gorgeous!

Here is the picture of the other lone tree (not the one was cut down), that I took while I was at the pond yesterday.

Everybody is enjoying the new house.  Much time is spent at the pond (trying to catch minnows which have infested the pond since last summer ).  We hadn’t even been here two days when our former pastor stopped by and blessed the house.  Perfect!  We are looking forward to many good times with family and friends!

Our “Green” Decision May 29, 2010

My Dad spent a lot of time researching solar panels and figured out that with all the grants out there, they almost paid for themselves.  The panels are going to heat our hot water (don’t worry we have electrical back up!).

Here is a picture of them . . .

120 gallons of water was heated to 135 degrees today, all for free!  I think this means we can take super long showers now! 

Over and Done With! May 26, 2010

Okay this is kind of delayed but they aren’t technically finished yet so I’m not posting  super old news.  All the paint is on the walls and all problems are resolved!  The peachy color was the company’s fault and it was repainted.  It is still a little on the peachy side but much better!  We picked the same color for the mudroom as the library but kept the bathroom my green.

Here are some colors that I have not posted yet . . .

After much thought my parents decided to paint their bedroom blue, and this is the on they picked.

This is the color of my brothers bedroom and the rec room (or home theater room, my brother hopes!).

Everything and Anything! May 16, 2010

There’s a lot happening and the driveway is always full of trucks, so I will try to catch up . . .

We put in wrought iron balusters instead of wood because we thought it looked less colonial and  love the look of them.

Here are the mudroom lockers which are stained now but I never got a picture. The bottoms are open with a little ledge to sit on.  It does not require much effort to put our shoes in.  We like little effort.  . .

Here are some of our favorite lights . . .

They aren’t really purple but since my brother took the picture (hee hee!) they look purple (I think so at least).  They are actually outdoor lights but we think they look really cool.

These look kind of silvery, but when we turn them on we think they will look more amber . . .

We all LOVE this one!  Another overstock.com treasure.

Funkomatic!

Here is the finished family room fireplace . . .

Another too short  beam is repurposed as the mantle.

The cabinets were put in the kitchen. The counter tops were templated and will be here soon!

Thank You Mr. Bridges! May 4, 2010

Dear Mr. Bridges,

Thank you for your beautiful, bargain “bluestone connection.”  We love the porch!

Now we just need to get rid of those redneck pillars!  Finally, we can complete the porch.

FYI, the bluestone came from a quarry which my brother had visited while he was at summer camp!

Paint, Doors, and Other Things April 25, 2010

Since my parents thought my last post was lame I took better pictures of the trim.  And if you really don’t care (like me!) just skip that part.

Here is another pic of the door, because some parts had been cut off before.

More detail for the people who are interested. . .

The plinth blocks that are at the bottom of the trim.

The top of the trim, which is over the windows as well the doors.

The agonizing process of picking paint is over, so you can see the fruits now.

My room was a little brighter than expected but when you stand in there for a little while it grows on you.

This is exactly what I wanted but just imagine it way brighter and then add a neon glow to it.  I don’t really mind it, the problem is it is also the color for the mudroom.  Don’t know what were doing about that yet.

Then one of the colors which was supposed to be beige-ish turned out peach!  Thankfully, the error was not ours and the paint company mixed it incorrectly(we picked out paint from a different company then had them match it).

Other than that we love all the colors, here are some pictures that I think are close to the real thing (the colors never seem to turn out right in the pictures, even when I turn the flash off ).

Look at the back wall in this picture, believe it or not the walls are the same color.  That is the color for the first and second floor hallways.

I think this is pretty close to the actual color, which is an upstairs room and other places which I can’t remember.

The front door was put in recently.

Here is another door that we like.

My Dad thinks the window might be too small!

The unfinished retaining wall.

Here is another view which shows where it is in respect to the house.

A Few Things April 20, 2010

Just realized it’s been THREE weeks since I posted last!  Oops!

The fireplace with its mantel.

The garage doors.  They are not very visible (only from the side) but my Dad loves that they are super insulated (something about the R factor?).

The porch was poured, it’s going to have a slate border where the indentation is.

My mom’s laundry room table which she loves!

The upstairs doors were put in and the trim was started.

They have finished priming and our moving on to painting colors.  We designed lockers for the mudroom that will practically clean the room themselves!  HA!

Drywall March 29, 2010

Drywall was started on Thursday of last week and will be finished this Thursday.

Here are a few pictures . . .

The dining room.

The Library.

My bedroom.

My parent’s bathroom which has water resistant drywall (along with all the other bathrooms).

Right now we are trying to choose paint colors.  Ugh!

Siding March 16, 2010

The siding started going up Monday.  It actually wasn’t one of the original options that I posted but something else we picked because we weren’t to crazy about the other options.  We all LOVE it!

Here is a close up . . .

Its name is “Harvest Wheat” (I know some of you are thinking now: “Wait!  I thought that was the name of one of the options?!” Well I got the name of the other one wrong ).  It looks more pink in the picture but it really is grayish.

Here is the amount that was accomplished on Friday.

Inspections and More! March 6, 2010

We passed framing, HVAC, and plumbing inspections today!  The electrical inspection is on Tuesday, then we will start insulating the house.

I have some random pics of different things . . .

Do you want to see our front door?  It’s pretty cool!

Pretty cool! 

The real one is currently in the warehouse.

Here is my brother after school and no sports to help get rid of his energy (he was being really weird and hyper!)

Don’t you love the look on his face!

After I took these past two the drill bit fell off!

Now for a different weapon . . .

He looks like an angry axeman!

Okay, you’ve probably seen enough of my brother with his lethal faces so I’ll stop now.

The next picture is not weird at all (I’m sure you’re happy!).

My favorite hallway with beams.

The library beams.

What To Do? February 25, 2010

We have this really cool chandelier that has an orange glow in our current dining room but we can’t think of a place to put it.  We opted not to have a dining room in this house and it does not really go in the eat in area.  We have had it  in every house we have ever lived in.

(My Dad wanted to change the bulb and have me take another picture!)

It is from my grandfather’s house in CA.

He had this picture painted of his house by a local artist. You can see the glow from the chandelier in middle window.

My question is: what should we do with it?

We were thinking about taking it apart (the bulb part comes off) and using it as four pendants.  Any suggestions?  Please let me know!

Here is a detail of one of the pendants

NOT Slacking February 22, 2010

I just wanted to let you all know that I am not slacking!   There is really nothing exciting going on!  Plumbing and electrical rough-in, electrical walk-through and lots of other boring stuff that is necessary but not interesting.  This is all mostly the snow’s fault.  I wasn’t able to get out of the house for a week!   Supposedly, we are going to have 18-20 inches of snow on Monday!  Don’t know if that’s true or not, hoping it’s not because I’m tired of snow!  Update: We are not supposed to get any snow, or even rain.  Big difference!

I wrote this yesterday and never posted it, but now I have a question for you . . .

What color should our siding be?  Here are the options . . .

Regular

Close Up

The pictures are not great so I’ll describe them for you.  A:  Aged Cedar is kind of reddish, B:  Harvest  Wheat the less dark color is kind of grayish, and C:  Vanilla Bean is a little darker and creamier than Harvest Wheat.

I will not tell you my thoughts until I have at least 5 suggestions, that means you have to answer (you too Mrs. M! )

Stairs, Windowseats and More! February 5, 2010

The upstairs stairs were put in and guess how many window seats we have . . . SEVEN! That way we have lots of beds for family and friends!

Here is a pic of the stairs, then you may see our multitude of window seats.

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for . . . you can see our many window seats!

The library window seat.

One of the family room window seats you can kind of see the other one on the right side.

The window seats in the master bedroom.  For kids who are afraid of the monsters under their beds!

The window seat on the way to the upstairs. I thought I took a picture of the basement window seat but I didn’t.

And here is the promised pic of the library fireplace . . .

Here is a pic of the dining room . . .

It is snowing right now!  We are supposed to get between 20 and 28 inches of snow.  Luckily, the house is sealed up!

Firplaces and Stairs January 29, 2010

The fireplaces and the basement stairs were put in.

That is the family room fireplace.  It is the same as the one we have now and it gets really hot.  I did not get a picture of the Library fireplace but will get one soon.

The basement stairs from the top floor.  The stairs to upstairs are going right on top of these.  I think it is going to look pretty cool! 

Updates! January 26, 2010

As promised, I am diligently going back to work.  Here are some pics from this morning.

I finally went upstairs today and I really like the cathedral ceiling in this part of the hallway.

Family room without the window seats but has Noah strolling through.  We love Noah!  Noah loves cheesecake!  (We thought that you would enjoy this pic Francois!)

*comments in  red (and the picture above it) were posted by my mom.

Roofing Begins January 25, 2010

Okay, I admit it I’m super behind!   The following pics were on 14th or 15th when they had just started to put the shingles on the roof.  I promise that I will try to get over there as soon as possible and take pictures and post them promptly.

All the roofing is on and almost all the windows and doors are put in now.

And It Goes Up! January 4, 2010

We were driving to Mass on Sunday and noticed that there were men working.  At 11:30 am it was 24 degrees without the windchill factor.  My Dad told my brother to get a good education so that he would not spend his life numb in the cold framing houses.  Here is what was built late yesterday afternoon . . .

Now that is progress!!!!

The porch was started but you can only see the end of it.  I will probably go over there today and get more pictures . . .

We cannot decide on the color of the hosue. . . My Mom thinks that the Tyvek look is cool but my Dad disagrees!   Leave a comment and let us know what your vote is . . .  Here is a link to a post on what the house is going to look like, it might be helpful.

A Sneak Peek . . . December 14, 2009

Here is a picture of what the house is going to look like . . .

It is a 2 story home with Craftsman elements.  Here is a link to a definition of the Craftsman style.  It is hard to imagine the muddy construction site ever looking like this!