Top It Off

Week 28:This week was not a highly productive one due to the holidays, but there were some new additions. We received the kitchen and master bath countertops from Blue Pearl. Joe is continuing with the interior trim around the windows and baseboards. John has installed most of the exterior lights. DigRightIn is here doing the final grading in between the days it has rained. The counter tops look great and it was fun watching them cut the holes for the sinks and range. This next week, we hope to see the interior painted and the trim being completed.


Trim around the supports.








The trim around the master bedroom window.








Trim around the windows.








The final grading of the south side.








Here the big tree and raised lawn are removed and evened out next to the garage.







Here is a close up of the yard next to the garage.








Aerial view of the grading.








Aerial view of the grading in back.








Aerial view of the grading with the one lone tree.








Here are the lights over the front door. Anne does not like the look of these, so we will replace them down the road.







Here is the light by the back door.








The flood light over the driveway.

















Here is the master bath vanity counter top awaiting installation.








Here it is installed in the bathroom.








Close up of the sink.








Here is the shower threshold.








Here the installer is gluing the two pieces together.








Here they are cutting out the hole for the range. Very loud and very dusty.







Here they are putting on the final touches of silicon and cleaning up.







Close up of the kitchen sink.








Here is a little nook next to the refrigerator.








The final touch.








Here is the island with the top on.

Holiday Stress and Disappointment

Week 27:Well it was another week of progress. It seems to be slowing down, but we know that the end is near. The holidays are playing havoc with the scheduling and Mike is not sure if we will be ready to move in before Christmas. We were hoping that we would be able to spend the first days in the house before Christmas. The world will not end if this does not happen. I trust Mike will not rush things just to get it done. The floors will take roughly 4-5 days to sand and stain. While this is happening, no other interior work can be done so that puts a damper on the schedule. The doors will also be coming the third week of December. Between the floors and painting, the schedule is tight. This week we saw the near end result of the siding. We had mostly dry weather, so the guys concentrated on getting the siding and trim up. We only have a small area that is yet to be done since we are awaiting more supplies and they should be delivered the first week of December. Joe then started the interior trim work. He has finished the master suite and will be working his way downstairs. The special order tile for the girls bathroom arrived and Ralph was back to finish up the girls bathroom shower. He is almost done with the master shower as well. We received the new lights for the foyer and John will be installing those this next week so Ralph can then tile the foyer. The bathroom vanity for the girls bathroom was also installed this week. Joe also started the ceiling over the balcony, but ran out of supplies there as well, so we should see some more boards soon. Mike is out of town this week and he worked hard to get everyone scheduled this week. We have the landscapers starting Monday on the final grading, but we are still waiting for the fence company to come remove their fence. We will have John working on the electrical, Joe continuing on the trim and Ralph tiling. There may be more but I will have to wait and see. The painters are starting the week after Thanksgiving and we will have the final measurements for the shower doors as well. We are getting a good push to the finish line.

Trim work around the windows. It will mimic the style on the exterior trim around the windows.







Another angle of the window trim.








Baseboard trim.








Tiling in the girls shower.








The girls new vanity.








Here is one of the sinks for the girls bathroom. Just dry fitting to see where to center it.







Here is Ralph installing the subway tiles in the girls shower.








Here is a close up of the decorative tile in the girls bathroom.








Siding on the west side gable. The round vent was also installed.








Here is Joe working on the back of the house. The only issue we had was that the spray foam insulation squeezed through several spots and he had to cut the house wrap and then remove the dried insulation to make the wall flush.





Here is one of the cuts he had to make to remove the insulation. He then taped it back up and installed the siding.







Almost done in the back of the house.








Final touches to the back.








The back is finished.








Here Joe is working on the front of the house. It was a very chilly and windy day.








Here is the completed front of the house.








Another shot of the front siding. Looks like a nearly completed house.







Here you can see some of what is left to do on the siding.








Here is one of our covered exterior outlets. It is right next to the front door and will be perfect for hooking up the snowman for Christmas.






Here is the start of the balcony ceiling. He is about three quarters done.







The electrical has been run to the garage, but still needs to be hooked up to the outlets and lights.







This is the water stack. It was a little too low and Mike was afraid the landscapers wouldn't see it so he had it raised a bit.

Mistakes in our favor?

Week 26: Three more days and it will have been 6 months of construction. It has been a long process, but we are starting to see everything come together. This week we had more progress, more RAIN and even a brief snowstorm. The rain has been our biggest nemesis since we have started this undertaking. It is starting to put us a bit behind. We had hoped to have all the siding completed by now, but mother nature has her say. In the meantime, Joe has been installing the cabinets and vanities, and he even installed the double oven. John is out and connecting the power to the garage and getting the plugs installed for the kitchen appliances. We have our exterior railing installed as well. It was not what I wanted and what I had sent sketches of, but we like it and we came to an agreement on an adjusted price. The rest of the hardwood floors were installed and this is where we had a bit of a mistake. Not sure where the communication breakdown was, but the plans called for carpeting in the guest bedroom. Mainly to keep some of the price down and to have a warm floor in there, but they installed the hardwood in there. Mike said it was his mistake and would have them rip it out, but in the long run we would have put in hardwood so it made sense to leave it. No use in any extra expense and taking the chance that they could not salvage it. The stairs going to the second level were framed and drywalled and Paul was here to start the baluster install. He has created the frames with the balusters and they are ready for final install. The railings and top caps were also installed. Mike also said that Paul made the top caps at the thickness that the architect had sketched. This was another mistake in that we had decided to go with a thinner version to save on costs. Another mistake to our advantage since there was no additional cost for that as well. We are glad because it sure looks a whole lot better at the current thickness. The interior trim is delivered and awaiting install. Joe will work on that on the rainy days. He is busy on the siding and they were able to complete the wall on the north side of the house. They were starting to work on the southwest side and finish up the upper gable. We also met with Ken from Blue Pearl, (http://www.bluepearlstone.com/) to have the countertops measured. We then went over on Saturday to pick out the remnant for the master bath vanity and shower apron. It is nice and surprising that we have a store here is La Grange that is close to the house. Saturday morning we met with Creative Mirror and Glass (http://www.creativemirror.com/) to measure for the shower doors in the master bath and guest bathrooms. This upcoming week is busy and Mike is trying to get everything planned out for the upcoming holiday week. We should see more siding installed and the girls vanity should be delivered Monday. Ralph the tile installer will be back to finish up the girls bathroom. John is installing the exterior lights before the weather gets too bad. The fence will be coming down on Thursday and hopefully the final grading will start shortly thereafter. The stairs should be finished and who knows what else.

Here is the final look of the cabinets. They are open ended at the top. This is where the refrigerator will be. There is a pantry storage to the right and a cabinet to the left with the coffee maker.






This is the island which will have the microwave, the recycling can, and a nice bookshelf for our cookbooks.







The double convection oven. This is really a luxury for us. Will definitely come in handy next Thanksgiving.










Another shot of the kitchen.








Another shot of the oven.








Kitchen and mudroom. The refrigerator is in the back.








Here is the beginning install of our vanity.









The final install of the vanity.







This is the exterior railing. Not exactly what I wanted. I was trying to mimic the design of the interior railings. Oh well, still looks good and is functional.






Here they finished up the upper part of the new addition.








The north side in progress.








Here is the finished side and looks great.








as I said above, here is the snowstorm that hit while they were working on the siding.







Here is Joe on Saturday morning working on the west end gable.








The start of the upper south side of the new addition. This has been the hardest due to the rain and mud.







Hardwood installation.








The guest room and library.








Half way there.








The final look in the family room.








Continuing the guest bedroom.








The final library.








The final product going to the stairs. You can also see the framing of the stairs for the drywall.







Here is the framing of the stairs and wall leading to the second floor.







Here is the drywall to fill the stairway hole.








Here is the frame drywalled.








Here is the stairs with drywall and the small blocks to give the framed look of the balusters.







Here are the top caps and framing for the railings.








Here are the round balusters for the stairs.








Here is Paul working on the railings. We also have all the trim and baseboard boards in the middle of the picture and the exterior trim boards on the right. The trim boards are hard to find, so we had to get some unpainted ones and Joe painted them on one of the rainy days.




Here is the thicker top cap and rounded railings.








Here is another view of the cap and railing.








Here Paul is gluing and using wood biscuits to create the stair frames. the frames will have the round balusters in them and sit on blocks to give a frame look.






Here is the completed frames with the round balusters in them. The large is for the main stairs and the smaller one is in the kitchen over the stairs to the basement.






Here is John's nephew digging the trench for the conduit to the garage.







John was running the electrical to the garage and had the fuse box open. Got a shot of the professional installation. Very clean and organized.