The 'screw it' stage

First off, I need to start this post by saying that both Lor and I are burned pretty crispy. The long days and weekends tied up working on the house are beginning to take their toll. We are just tired.

Now that that's out of the way: the house looks great! The interior painting is done, and Michael made a BIG PUSH to get the heater up to the ceiling in the first floor. In fact, all he has left is to cap the heater, then start working on the chimney. He was here until 10:30 PM on Friday night, but the effort paid off, as the OSB guys could start the finished flooring this Monday. That is looking very good, and they expect to have it done by end of day, today. I am really glad we went with the wide pine and cut nails.

Lor and I worked on the trim all weekend. It needs two coats of urethane, which is back breaking work. However, its a lot easier to do before going up on the walls. Right now, we have most all the trim with one coat, but a second coat would be ideal. We are working on that all evenings this week.

Also over the weekend, we seeded and mulched along our driveway, and the areas that have the final grade. Brent is working on our retaining wall... We were not planning on paying him to do it, but said 'screw it', and asked him to take it on. Overall, I am glad we did. He is using a lot of the large stones from the excavation work, and it really matches the house.

One other thing getting done this week: Final wiring. Hans with Viking got most of the plugs and switches done yesterday, and expected to be *mostly* Wrapped up by end of day today! God, we are close. Lor will need to check in with Calendar Brook to see where our cabinets are at, they should be delivered next week.

Cool pics

Above, I'm sitting on the heater, taking a break from painting the stairwell.

Jeb Harris, our lead carpenter, working on the box to hide the electrical meter. Bluff, the dog to the right, is Jason's lab.

The north side of the house is now completely sided. Acutally, the siding is nearly complete, and will be wrapped up today (Wednesday).

I took Tuesday off to help Loralee wrap up painting. Almost there- just need to finish the master bedroom, and two bathrooms. I spent most of the day in the vaulted stairwell, which was a real bear. Also, we had our propane tank installed (underground), and the leach field is almost done. We've been pushing Michael to get the heater done by the end of the week, so the flooring can go in next week. He should be able to do it.

You Want Color??

With a big painting push this weekend, we are in really good shape. The first floor is DONE (priming plus two coasts of finish paint), except for the mudroom and bathroom. On the second floor, everything is primed, and one of the smaller bedrooms is done. We should have it all wrapped up by Wednesday, in time for the guys to come in and start installing trim.

So, you want color?? Loralee wanted to go bold in some areas, so that's what we did. Most of the house is Navajo white, except the sitting area in front of the hearth, and our master bedroom. We chose a terracotta color for the sitting area, which compliments the cherry braces very nicely. It breaks up the first floor, and creates a very warm area for sitting, relaxing, and conversation.

For our bedroom, we went with a sagey green-- And, boy, once we got it on the walls, it's GREEN! It feels very soothing, and really adds to the organic feel of the home. I think once we have our furniture and curtains in, it won't be as overpowering as it feels right now. One other room, the guest bedroom, will also have some color- Lor chose a dusty rose. Once coat is on, and it looks good. We'll see how the final coat comes out.

Michael worked through the weekend, and the heater looks great. The first shelf of the woodbox is done, and the main firebox is framed in. He is pushing to get off the first floor by the end of the week so OSB can lay the finished floor there.

Also, on friday, our well pump was installed and the water connected up in the basement. As soon as it's wired up, we'll have water!

Below are some great photos over the past couple of days. Can you believe the loons? Those were taken at my parents camp on Lake Parker in West Glover. The image of willoughby gap was taken off our front porch.

Painting, painting painting...

So, with the taper running behind last week, we had to cancel our 'painting party'. We weren't able to actually start painting until Tuesday. This is good and bad. We've been so burned out that Loralee and I just took Sunday and did... nothing! It was great, a quiet day at home with no responsibilities, no where to go, and no projects to work on.

This week, however, we are making up for lost time. Lor started doing the interior wall priming on Tuesday, and got nearly all the 1st floor done, with the exception of cutting in. I've worked on that the last two nights, and as of yesterday evening the 1st floor was fully primed. The second floor, with all the vaulted space, will be a lot harder to do. We need to have the house primed and two coats on by next Wednesday. It's going to be a very rough weekend.

The cost of our driveway just went up, as the town made us put a culvert across the road. This is the kind of unforseen stuff that just drives me nuts. Oh well, the money is spent and the work is done. Brent is working on the Septic, now. Actually, there was a very near accident last night, as he was setting the tank with Hopkins & Sons. The truck has a crane, and the bottom half of the tank went in with no problems. However, as the top half was being lifted off, the load shifted and the truck tipped, almost rolling! Luckily, nobody was hurt, but the top tank did get chipped. Not bad, Hopkins will just give us a slight discount and we'll be all set with it.

So, onward. We'll be painting all weekend, and I am taking next Tuesday off from work to wrap up. Once that is done, the OSB boys will have the siding complete so they can start on the interior trim work. Our mason should be working through this weekend to get the brick-work wrapped up as well. He has another good week and a half to go.

Purple Loostrife

Years ago, back in the early 90's, I attended college in the Boston area. I remember as I headed south from the Northeast Kingom through New Hampshire and on into Massachussettes noting many of the beautiful wetlands that I-93 traversed. Once in Mass, the native cat-tails were replaced in mid-summer by a form of vegetaion with beautiful purple flowers. "how amazing", I used to think, "too bad our Vermont welands don't have such an attactive flower".... At the time, I did not realized that the purple flower as Loosetrife, and invasive species from Eurasia.

Loostrife is one of those very successful species that out-competes the native plants such as lilly pads and cat-tails. As it expands, the loostrife tends to completely take over a wetland, choking out these other plants, and actually cutting down on available wetland for waterfowl and other animal life. I have come to hate Looestrife.

Over my years of trips back and forth to Boston, I watched as Purple Loostrife became more and more prevelant along our roadside. By the mid-90's, you could see it outside of Concord, NH. By the turn of the century, it had reached Vermont's borders. Now, we can find it in small clumps here and there throughout the Kingdom's wetlands. If left unchecked, it will eventually consume these beautiful but fragile areas. (note, the photo above was taken outside my office in Littleton, NH-- Just over the river from the Northeast Kingdom).

For more information on Purple Loostrife, and how to manage the weed, check out this website:
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/lysa1.htm

August is definitely here

It's hard to imagine, just a week or so ago we were having trouble sleeping at night due to the heat and humidity. The weather all this week has been perfect- low humidity, 70's during the day, and cooling right off at night. This coming weekend, it may be 'unseasonably cold'.... August is definitly here!

Loralee and I are starting to burn out, burning both ends of the candle at the same time. We've felt a but under the weather this week, but we are getting through it.

The tapers are nearly done, although they are about a day behind. The first layer did not dry as well as they had hoped, and that put them behind. It should still all be good to go for painting this weekend. Meanwhile, we have been keeping up with the siding, painting it as it goes up. This has made the job a lot easier to manage.

Since we'll be painting the interior next week, we've also been struggling with what colors to paint. One thought is to just do the whole thing in Navajo White, and deal with colors later. However, we want do have some color, and use it as a strong accent for some of the rooms. So far, we have decided to do the master bedroom in a sort of sage green, and do the sitting alcove in front of the Masonry Heater in a sort of rust color. We have a big question mark for the rest of the house though... I just don't have the vision for it, we can't tell anything from those little paint chip samples. We need colors that will compliment the natural woods- the yellow of the pine and red of the cherry. My concern is using colors that will 'wash out' those tones. That leaves us with a pretty limited pallette- Earth tones and greens. Blues are nice, but too cool for the house in general. Ah well, we'll continue to work on this; We have a few days left to decide. One thing, if anyone is interested, check out some of the other OSB houses in the Gallery on www.oldschoolbuilders.com to see what other's have done with interior colors. two houses, the 'Vermont Cape' and 'Modern Cape' both did some amazing things with different shades of green. They're worth a look!

The masonry heater is really coming along- We love the look of the used brick. Oh, one more thing: Note in the image at the top of the page the main entrance. We are really happy with the roofline over the doorway, that turned out really nice. I am pretty disappointed that the electric company made us put the meter right next to the doorway. We are going to box it in so it's not as obvius.

Perfect Weather & Weekend update

Talk about perfect weather! The heat wave finally broke over the weekend, and Saturday was one of those 'perfect' Vermont summer days. It was in the 80's, but with very low humidity (for a change.) And, to top it off, it got so cold on Saturday night that our furnace actually kicked on! what we call around here 'good sleeping weather'

So, what did we do this weekend? Well, paint, mostly. Loralee focused on getting the south wall of the house (The only one sided) painted. I worked on the white trim, but also urethaned interior windows. The main floor windows are done, but we are working on the 2nd floor. Mom came up and helped us on Saturday, which was great-- She taped the windows so I could just follow up with urethane.

Sunday, we headed to Burlington. We planned to hit a tile store over there, but it turns out it was closed! What a bummer... Anyway, I visited Earl, while Lor saw Andrew and Megan. It was nice to have a break, which may be the last one until Labor Day. We have a ton of painting to do.

Brent never showed up last week- That puts him a week behind. Not a big deal, and it may actually work out better. In about 2 weeks, the OSB guys will be completely done outside, so Brent could do everything-- Septic, final grading, etc.

What got done last week? The heater core is complete. Also, the sheetrock is all hung, and the taper starts this week.

Painting Party

... Well, it's going to be more like a 'priming party.' The sheetrock was all hung this week, and the taper starts on Monday. It should only take him a couple days to get the taping and mudding done. That will leave Loralee and I ONE WEEK to do the interior painting! So, we are having a Painting Party! From Loralee's email:
_____________________________________________________________

Hi Everyone!
Well, yesterday saw the completion of all our sheetrocked walls! It is hard to believe how different the house looks with them up, and it is becoming even more real that we'll be moving in just a couple months. The taper is coming in next week, and in trying to keep up with our builders' schedule, we're trying to get the walls painted as quickly as possible.
So, just in case you didn't have anything better to do next Sunday (the 13th), we were wondering if you'd care to join us for a painting party! We thought we could get started around 12:30 or 1:00 (or whenever works for you) and then pull out the grill for dinner around 5:00 PM.

Let me know if you can make it--there's no pressure, though--I know how busy all of you are!
I hope all is well. Looking forward to seeing you soon, if not next week, then at our Open House this fall! Please RSVP me at: loraleedawnATyahoo.com
Loralee