storms - now

We live in the midwest and yesterday we had storms. Lots and lots of storms. The storm system was 1200 miles long and it produced over 24 tornadoes in Indiana, Illinois & Wisconsin alone. They said we had level 3 hurricane winds with this storm. All I know is our house got all wet inside....

But it's still standing!

Cindy

Roof trusses done - now

The framers "stick-built" most of the trusses. The only trusses we ordered finished were for the garage. The garage is to the left in this picture, with the osb leaning against it.

They lifted the trusses up there with a crane, but I missed it. Only took an hour.


trusses

Side view from drive way

From the road

Front view from the road.

Cindy

Upper Balcony and Mower - now

Another picture from the road. That's the upper balcony on the right side.

It looks like Dave is standing on the lower level, but he is really on the upper balcony.

He was up there. That's all temporary. There will be columns replacing the 2x4's and some kind of flooring besides osb. That upstairs balcony comes out of a bedroom. A spare bedroom! Not even our bedroom!

Sometimes I'm a bit indecisive about posting something on the house blog or the personal blog. I decided this is a house blog thing since the mower is for the land, not our house in town. Yesterday Dave and I went to an auction and we bid on this mower.

We got it!

How is he going to get it home?

Drive it, of course! While I drive the truck. This was hilarious folks...see him getting ready to start driving...I'm in the truck following behind, taking pics of course.

And sometimes I would just go on a different street through a neighborhood and wait for him to show up! Here he comes....

Leading the parade. I'm sure the people in the car behind were wondering what moron is driving a lawn mower through their neighborhood, and did he lose his license for drinking and driving! He's not a moron folks, he's my Shug!

Dixie gets to go bye-bye with us a lot.


He's wondering what kind of crazy family he's gotten himself into!

Driving by our local Country club through the park.
At this point he motioned for me to quit following him! So Dixie and I went on home and waited for him.

Here he comes!!

Yeeaaa! He made it home! Now, how are we going to get this to the land? Hmm, we'll worry about that next spring.

Cindy

Porches-now

I always like this view...it's the house from the road. When you are in front of the house, it feels too close to the road, but when you are on the road, you can't really see that much of the house.



This is the porch in front of the tv/library room.



This is the porch in front of my kitchen. The flooring and posts are temporary of course.

This is the view from the kitchen porch. There is a road down there, the one I took the above picture from, but you can't see it.

Another kitchen porch view.

This is the the south facing view. The right side - the tall part - will have a porch and above the porch will be a balcony. My Shug is stressing out about finishing it, because it's so high up. I've decided we are just gonna stress about something during this building process. I've decided I'm done stressing about house stuff....it's only a house after all!

Cindy

It's only a house - now

See this hole?




They are called sonotubes and these guys are filling them with cement. They will hold our patio and upper deck. They actually had to dig waaaay down because they have to start pouring in undisturbed soil.


I'm a little anxious to see how they look. But my new motto....it's only a house.

This is the septic area. I found out it gets to look like this until next spring. The soil has to settle. ..It's only a house.....it's only a house......it's only a house....

Cindy

Upstairs framed - now

This picture is very deceiving....it's the house from the road. They have the upstairs portion framed, which is to the right. It looks like there is another upstairs on the left side, but that is the kitchen, and it's on the main level. That streak in front is shade, which is why the kitchen looks taller than it is. It's an illusion. The kitchen is the same height as the family room. So, to the left is the kitchen. In front of the kitchen will be a deck. The middle section with the three windows is the family room, and the right hand side in front is a tv/reading room, and behind that is our bedroom. On the upper level is two bedrooms and a bath.

This is coming in the driveway. Walkout basement on bottom, middle window above basement is our bedroom window, then the framed part upstairs is bedroom in front, bathroom in middle, and bedroom in back.

While I was there, this truck pulled up. More lumber. My motto...it's only money, you can't take it with you. See that red thing on the back of the truck behind the lumber.

Well it's the cutest little thing....


You drive it off of the truck and you unload lumber with it.

Cindy

House tour, door - now

When I pulled in the driveway Tuesday, this is what I saw. He just walks around on the edge of the house like it's no big deal.

This is the back, or front, entrance. You pull in the drive, go up the hill, and drive around to this area. We are calling it the entrance....no front or back, just entrance. So, that middle opening is the entrance door. To the left is the garage. To the right is the kitchen. That kitchen window hasn't been completely cut out yet. It's bigger.

This is the "door situation" I spoke of in my last post. See the smaller doorway that leads out onto the deck? See to the right of it? That is the entry way to the family room from the foyer. Well, when you open the door to the deck, it will show in the opening of the foyer. Hard to explain but it just won't look right. So, we need to downsize the door to the deck or downsize the entryway to the family room. If we downsize the door to the deck, it will be hard to get furniture through the doorway. I chose to downsize the entryway to the family room. It's five feet and I really wanted it four feet to begin with. The reason...I like being able to close off the kitchen or family room, for privacy. I have french doors leading from the kitchen to the foyer (got that idea from watching that movie It's Complicated with Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, and Meryl Streep - she had the coolest house and the movie was hilarious) Anyway, if I didn't like the french doors in the kitchen, then I could move them to the family room IF both openings were four feet. So, that took care of the door problem. And I'm rambling...but my point is....it's always something...always. And I wouldn't have caught that until the door was installed and it was too late. But Dave is good when it comes to construction. He's caught a lot of stuff before it was too late to make changes. On with the tour...

Family room

See Mike up there....he just walks around up there like he's walking on the ground!

My kitchen window now that it's lowered... it looks low, but that is a few inches above counter top height. 43 inches from floor.

Another view from the driveway leading into the back yard

garage

View from the street....the right side, you see it kind of sticking out, will have an upper level. It's a southern style house. I know I'm a yankee, but I like the south!

Boys will be boys...they are climbing around upstairs...

OK I had to get up there too.

I didn't go out there yesterday and I guess they are building the upper level. I'm anxious to see it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask away?

Cindy