A splash of color

We finally painted the exterior! It is a gray color with just a touch of green. It looks slightly greener with a blue sky...the clouds make the gray stand out. White trim and columns (after careful deliberation ;-) offset the gray/green and a red door is a nice splash of color (which, unfortunately, you can't see in this photo) practicing the ancient art of feng shui.

Decks- finally!

We were actually going to wait to put on the decks until we painted, but the framers have time now and realistically, it is only a little more work for the painter to throw some plastic over them to avoid over spray, we so thought- go ahead- let's keep moving! There are a total of five decks (or four due to the fact that the back two are connected) on this house which will provide fantastic outdoor living space! It will be nice to finally stand out there and see the view!

Sheetrock

The master bath- shower to the left, bath to the right-


Bedroom- this picture was taken at about 8:30 this morning...gorgeous light, but there will be no sleeping late in this room!

Loft, overlooking living area

Master bedroom ceiling and windows...

Sheetrock looks good; a very light texture was put on yesterday and we are ready to begin trim out!

Trim and Proper

Here is the big picture of the exterior. We decided to trim out the front columns and the porch columns. All the trim on the house is KDAT (Kiln dried after treatment- essentially treated lumber that is dry so you can paint it) so the porches and everything will all remain exposed and either be painted or left with the more rustic look.

More exterior work

Does it ever end? Luckily, we are at a point where the exterior can be finished while we work on the interior.

The framers finally hung the door for the interior entrance- we had to wait for drywall to do this (we'll get you some pictures of the interior with walls in just a second). The stairwell was wrapped in hardi plank and trimmed out just like the remainder of the exterior.
Here are some photos of the ground floor trimmed out as well. We trimmed the garage out in plywood as it will be enclosed, but because all the power beams we used were yellow wood and exposed, we had to wrap them in hardi like the majority of the exterior. Our framer finished the trim with a nice cedar 1x2 to cover the edges- doesn't it look great?!

Interior work begins

Plumbing is complete. HVAC is 99% complete and electric is almost there. After we complete the rough in for everything, we will need the framers to come back and fur out some walls and ceilings to hide a few pipes/ducts/wires/etc. After that, we're on to insulation and drywall!

The fireplace is installed and the vent pipe run. The recess for the TV is now built in as well.

Above are just a few more shots of the interior- to the left is a bedroom, complete with sliding glass door out to a front porch and to the right is the third floor loft area, overlooking the living room.

Exterior finish- finished?

We have waited through what seemed like a life-time of rain but the exterior siding and the roof are finally complete- or almost. We're missing a plank here or there but that is only because of issues we have had with waiting for brackets (last minute addition by the engineer) and doors (this is only the third time we have sent them back...but we're not bitter, honest!).

Now that the exterior is 99% complete, we're ready to move inside!

P.S. At long last we provide a pic of the west elevation (back of the house). You can't complain when your house looks this good- even from the back.