Building Our Dream Home: 2010

Chipping Branches and Painted Exteriors

12:26 PM |

Wow! Here it is Dec. 20...I have half my Christmas cookies decorated. Gonna get right back to it as soon as I finish this post.

I have a whole new respect for the quilting blogs I read. I understand now why they sometimes post that they are taking a break and will return at .......... It sometimes takes me hours to put this together. I guess if you don’t have pictures to add, it doesn’t take as long. Oh well, I love adding the pictures.

Wow, things are moving right along! We’re going to cover “chipping,” painted exteriors, stained porches, and the ROOF.

Do you remember that we had a tree growing out of the corner of our bedroom? Well, they cut it down and dug out the roots and it joined the pile of branches in the back of the lot. Larry decided he wanted to “chip” all those branches and use the mulch. So, he borrowed a truck and rented a chipper. If I had known.....

Larry stood at the back of the chipper (a formidable piece of machinery) and waited for me to drag branches over to him (I laid them at his feet. How sweet am I?)

We were going great and suddenly...the chipper started smoking and no mulch was coming out! There are very few things that stump Larry, but he finally had to make a call. They told him how to open “something” (I don’t know what it was called) up and see if there were branches caught in there. Sure enough, there were branches wrapped around the mechanism. So, here’s Larry pulling out the offending branches....

My DH (Darling Husband) got the “beast” cleared out and my break was over. Here he is feeding the branches into it again.

My job was to disentangle the branches and drag them over to Larry. Because of all the dust, I had to wear a mask. I’m glad we were at the back of the lot. You can see the fence that runs along everyone’s back property line and separates our property from the ranch behind us.

Plastic over the windows in preparation for exterior painting....

The last third of the dining room window was finally delivered...

The garage in its new green paint...

The back of the house is painted...

I was waiting for Larry and he took this picture. When I went to the downloaded pictures to put on the blog, I found he had titled this one, “My lovely wife on porch.” Isn’t that sweet? I mean, there’s nothing lovely about me in this picture...love really is blind, isn’t it? I am blessed.

Our fire box was installed. We are having a ventless-gas-logs fireplace. It’s going to be so great to be able to adjust the fireplace as the day warms up. With the log-burning fireplace, as the day warmed up we had to abandon the living room because there was no way to “turn” the logs down.

December 13 the concrete porches were stained.

The front porch was scored to look like wood planks...

Another view of the front porch...

The back porch was not scored, just stained...

The back porch stained, the exterior painted...

The master bedroom exterior painted...

The stone has been delivered...

The roof has been prepared and ready for the shingles...

The stained porches have been sealed...

Another view...

All the exterior walls are insulated and ready for sheetrock. This is the insulation in the kitchen...

Dec 15 Larry called. He’s at the house and said they were roofing it. Yeah!!!!!

Roof over the front porch...

Roof going up over the quilting room... er, excuse me...2nd guest room....

The roof is on, the exterior is painted, the trim is painted...

Close-up of roof colors...

That’s it for now. Larry went back out to the house to finish putting the decking in the attic. He’s using it for “flooring” for storage. I hope we don’t have to put much up there, although I still have lots of boxes in the garage to go through. After Christmas, I intend to hit them with a passion...

Hopefully the next pictures will be of stone on the house! I hope we like it...

Larry and Joye

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Update

11:29 AM |

Good morning family, friends and neighbors! I hope this finds you all well and unstressed, with holiday shopping behind you or almost completed. Now, for an update...

The posts have been installed on the porches...however, they are not cedar. From the beginning of planning this house, all we ever talked about was cedar posts on the porches. However, the builder said these posts were stronger. So, they will supposedly paint them the color of cedar...

This is the back porch...

The front porch has four posts. I still don't understand why the back porch has only one and right in the middle! I know it's there for support, and they only needed one, but I think it looks weird. I think there should have been at least two posts on the back porch.

The red lines on the ground map out the spot where Larry will build his workshop. Directly behind it will be the propane tank. Larry talked to the propane guy who said it would not be difficult for him to service it there. We didn't want it where they originally decided it would go, because we didn't want it to be seen from the street.

This is me writing Scripture above the front door. Larry and I have been writing Scripture verses all over the inside of the house.

We didn't have our chairs and coffee, but we wanted a picture with Larry's mom. Martha came to visit and had some great tips for us. She helped us make some decisions on lights and suggested a good layout for furniture in the living room. We're looking forward to getting in the house and having her down for a longer visit. Most important...she liked our house plan.

In September, we spent about 5 hours looking at flooring for the house and tile for the master bathroom shower. Here are some of our considerations....

This is a sample of tile we're considering for the MB shower...

We're also thinking about using these as contrast in the MB shower...

We're considering this for bath and utility floors...

This is another possible tile floor choice...

and another choice...

After hours of looking at every choice, we finally decided on this flooring for the rest of the house.

Tomorrow I will try to post the newest pictures. The exterior is painted and the fire box is in. The next step is the roof and sheet rock. After that, the stone will go on. We are told the house should be finished by the middle of February. I hope and pray it will be; we are so looking forward to moving in. I am looking forward to setting up my quilting room!

More tomorrow,

Joye

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Siding is on!

7:25 AM |

Hello Family and Friends!

There is so much going on that I forget to update the blog. Brandon set an alarm on my computer's calendar to pop up every day to remind me to “go through boxes.” He was very diplomatic about it. He sweetly said to me, “Mom, I don’t see very many boxes gone from the garage. I really would like to not have to move all of them.” I was very contrite and reminded him of a bad condition I’ve had as far back as I can remember --- out of sight, out of mind! That’s when he set the alarm to pop up every day to remind me. So, I decided I should set a reminder for updating the blog.

Siding finished in the gable above garage...

Master bath windows are in...

Windows in master bedroom...

Windows in back of house...

We’re still waiting on the large dining room window. They were sent the wrong one, and the

correct one hasn’t come in yet.

Waiting for the stone - front bedroom window...

I’m thinking I would like a porch swing hanging in this space, with the back of it to the house next door. We’d need another swing or a bench to face the street...maybe on the other side of the front door.

Ceiling beam in master bedroom...

This beam will be wrapped in pine and stained to match the floors and will go with

the house’s “hill country” look.

Master shower window...

We were thinking we would get an opaque window in the shower and were quite

surprised at a clear window. The builder said it was because the window is up high

and we would still have privacy. I don’t know about that (am I being paranoid?)

and I’m thinking of making vinyl curtains. There is a rod which “swings out” on

either side of the window and we’re thinking that’s what we will do. That way, we

can “swing” the curtains open and enjoy the view and the light. When we want

privacy, we’ll “swing” them closed.

Ceiling beam in living room...

This beam will also be wrapped in pine and stained to match the floors.

Ceiling installed on back porch...

Ceiling installed on front porch...

After the lights are installed, the ceilings of both porches will be painted.

Eventually, we’d like a porch swing on the front porch and maybe on the back one also.

The back porch will have a fan, because we will be spending more time on it than the front porch.

We have had comments from people and friends who have looked at the house, and they all loved it. They especially liked the layout of the master bedroom and bath. As soon as the interior is more defined, we’ll ask Brandon to come take pictures so we can take you on a “virtual” tour. We’ll definitely ask him to do that when all is finished. We’re so excited!!!!!!!

Larry has new pictures on his camera and I will post them Saturday, hopefully. We are leaving

early in the morning to go to Austin and decide on a gas fireplace. After that we are picking up Martha/Gran’mommie and bringing her down for a visit. I can hardly wait for her input as she has such wisdom. Maybe she can help us decide on dining room light fixtures and tile etc.....

See ya!

Larry and Joye

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Siding is on

7:52 AM |

Hello Family & Friends,

Things are moving right along, and it seems like it's going fast, now. We made a final decision on our choice of exterior paint colors, and we decided on a light green with light beige trim. Decisions, decisions!

Siding was started on the garage side...,

Tyvek on the front porch...

Window on the left is front bedroom; window on the right is living room; small window on the right of LR window is the kitchen window.

Outside view of three small windows above the sinks of the master bath...

A view through the trees at the back of the house...

Back of the master bedroom...small window on left is where the 7 foot by 4 foot shower is located.

Another view of the back of the house...

Hopefully by next year we will have a deck off the back porch. Larry also has a sketch of a path from the porch out to a patio this side of these two trees. He also wants to put a fire pit out there.

looking from garage through to the master bedroom...