December 27, 2011

Carey insists it's been a LONG time since the blog was updated and, sure enough, it has! The holidays swooped me up in their madness but I'm back now with a few updates on the old stone farm house.

These first few photos show the rest of the second new roof being installed. It is a slightly chunkier looking shingle but in the same color as the last. We are thrilled with our choice!

Here's a closer shot of the shingles from my upstairs studio above the garage.

At last we have insulation! Spray foam was the way to go in order to work with the old stone and all the funky angles. It did however prove to be difficult to work with and took quite some time to get right.

This door is the other passage way into the kitchen. It will get a layer of thin brick soon.

Insulation Upstairs

We chose to add a skylight to the TV/bookcase/lounge area in the upstairs landing. Adds lots of light! There will be bookcases along the wall below.

Hardscaping is in full swing...

Check out the pile of boulders to the right.

Part of the backyard wall. Loving the work that Olson Toon has done... art with boulders!

And then the drywall...

Lots and lots and lots of drywall.

Hunting season, Thanksgiving and Christmas all put temporary stops on the work along with MUD galore! Happy to not have tons of snow but we're wishing for some frozen ground to get things moving on the exterior work again. I promise to post more pictures soon showing the drywall and texture. We're putting the final touches on colors and finishes. The end is relatively close yet feels sooo far away! Cheers!

October 23, 2011

Thursday and Friday were very busy at the house this past week. The masons did a ton of work starting with the front and side faces of the porch, below the poured and stamped concrete top.

Walking in the front door of the old house you enter into the dining room and kitchen. The pass through fireplace was bricked in as well as the arch into the new house. A fireplace was located in the same spot when the house was first built so we were happy to honor this part of the past.

The chimney runs up through the center of the house so we get to see it in the upstairs hallway and the loft above the bedrooms. Love it!

This doorway passes through to the new section of the home into the front foyer.

A filled in window in the upstairs guest bedroom. The stone will stay exposed.

We decided to go ahead and frame in the basement. We have a "pool table" area and then there will be an arch into the living room area with a fireplace.

There will be a short hall down to a full bath and nice sized bedroom or office area.

A peek at the back porch with the roof closed in and the sun shining ~ a lovely spot for wine!

And last but not least the front porch on the addition was bricked in. Hoping to get the new roof on next week and then insulation... moving right along!

October 6, 2011

Another week is flying by!

The long punch list of miscellaneous things that need to be dealt with

and fixed is slowly being whittled away...

The bedroom chimney is complete.

The great room chimney is complete as well!


We love how it turned out.


The girls enjoyed the sawdust piles in the kitchen and dining room, pretending it was sand.
Note: I wouldn't recommend tights for saw dust play.


The master bedroom fireplace is framed in.

There will be a matching Cream City brick surround topped with a cabinet door hiding the TV.

The upstairs hallway and sitting area present some challenges in the ceiling lines.
Good luck to the drywall crew!


The front stairwell as seen from the upstairs hall.

Another angle showing the somewhat chaotic ceiling. We love the "quirk" it provides.

The loft area above the girls rooms.

Sophie, Carey and Elle climbed on up to check out the view.

As we fully embrace autumn we hope to plow through the list of "to do" while the weather holds. It's so hard to believe that winter is near... Fingers crossed that we can move in before the first arctic blast!!

September 25, 2011

WOW. It's been awhile... to say the least! After a disastrous situation and relationship with our original builder we went through many months of "re-organization" and have FINALLY started to build again.

This summer the road in front of our house was made wider and re-paved - you can see it here almost ready to be finished.

Our new builder is Chris from Revival Homes. We had spoken with him about the project years ago and he was happy to come on board and help us with our dilemma. Lots of work has been done inside including HVAC and plumbing. Our two stairways did not meet code and had to be re-done. There was a torturous amount of work to be torn out and redone. PAINFUL in so many ways!

Last week our front porch was poured and stamped. We look forward to the cement aging with time and taking on a darker patina.

The front door and garage were also poured.

This week the two chimneys are the "big news" - don't they look great!? This is the master bedroom chimney.

They are being built with reclaimed Cream City brick which we will also use on the two sided kitchen/dining room fireplace.

We love how tall and old fashioned they are turning out.

The back of the house.

Some of the internal fun. You can see the wall of the old house basement here butting up to the new one. Carey is working hard this weekend on cleaning up all the dirt!

Plumbing.

This is the upstairs landing where we will have two walls of built in bookcases and a sitting area with a tv for the girls. We decided to add a sky light which will go in soon.

So that's a short and sweet wrap up of where we are today. So many things have happened along the way proving this project to be something along the lines of "opening a can of worms." What woudl life be without excitement, right?!? We have our fingers crossed that we'll be in before Christmas and the Wisconsin winter arctic freeze. I hope to update the site the blog on a regular basis with lots of progress so stay tuned. Cheers!