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!

February 3-13, 2011

My last post centered around the blizzard... this time let's talk about RAIN! It warmed up to the mid-40's on Saturday and it seriously sounded like a steady rain fall inside the house. The melting was fast and furious. What a welcome break. We had some rough sub-zero days earlier in the week so this thaw is a relief. Let there be mud!

Kitchen - the fireplace is roughed in. The insert will be arched. The stove will go between the windows on the far wall and the pantry is on the left. We have room for a lovely island.

Kitchen from the other side. The large window will be where our dining table sits.

Kitchen from the doorway to the addition.

This window turned door way leads to the hall by the master bedroom.

The arched doorway roughed in... love it! This is taken from the front foyer. To the right of the arch is the laundry/mudroom.

Roughed in fireplace in the family room.

This photo is taken from in the family room looking at the back wall of the room and through the arched doorway. You can see all the way to the front door of the old stone house.

Ceiling in the family room. We will have natural beams the go across in mid-air and white boxcar siding on the flat surface. Still searching for the perfect large-but-not-too-large chandelier...

On to upstairs - the view out Connor's window.

The upstairs "landing" that changed considerably when the roof line needed to be adjusted. We will have a wall of built in white bookcases and good light for reading by. The railing in this area is open to the front foyer below.

Another view of the upstairs landing area. The window is in Connor's room. His bath and closet are to the right.

My studio. This is over the garage and looking back through the landing.

The dormer over the front door on the new addition. This allows nice light into the upstairs landing/hallway area.

The girls and grandma head down the front stairwell.

And then there's Carey... determined to get that dang snow off the roof and willing to risk life and limb to do it! Much to his dismay there was a layer of ice under the snow. Nice blue sky!

Standing in the driveway looking at the old house I realized how pretty the fireplace will be through the dining room window.

My girlies on the front porch.


We're working hard now on what feels like a zillion decisions. Plumbing and electrical will come next along with the roof. Our windows and doors are ordered and will go in soon as well. I will post details on some of our interior design ideas soon since there will be little to take photos of. Here's hoping the weather stays nice, that things will dry out and that no one drowns in the mud ponds around the property!

January 31 - February 2, 2011

Wow. Last week was somethin' else! The weather forecasters were indeed correct when they promised us a blizzard. Here is proof... Carey leaving the house the day after. The drifts were incredible!

This is a farm down the street from ours - check out the drifts. Parts of Old Sauk Road were impassable with drifts measuring up to 10 feet high. I think the official snow fall was around 18"-20", enough to call off school and keep everyone home.

Everyone BUT Carey. He went to the old stone house at 10:30 a.m. and returned home at 6:30 p.m. He spent the entire day clearing out the inside of the house.

This shot is from across the street.

Peace and quiet... and cold snow!

Hopefully this is the last time we'll have snow in the front foyer stairwell.

An interior post-blizzard shot.


We are shoveled out now and lots of progress was made later in the week. More photos soon!

January 28-30, 2011

Continued progress through the end of last week... and our builder, Dave, was even there on Saturday! We have far too much snow in the forecast this week (up to 20") so we were thrilled to see extra work hours being put in before the storm arrives.

They worked long and hard hand framing the dormers and room over the garage (a.k.a .Molly's Studio.)

It's an amazing space and I'm so excited and happy to have it!

This is looking in from the front door of the old house. You can see through the kitchen and dining room all the way to the family room in the back of the new construction.

This is the first floor of the old stone house. Our kitchen and pantry will be to the right. To the left we will have our dining room. Down the center there will be a pass through fireplace.

Looking in from the front door of the old house, looking to the right, this is the dining room area. We are thinking about putting a window seat bench in the window and setting the dining table right up to it. Still up for debate but it could be a nice touch.

This is looking from the other side of the kitchen - through the kitchen and to the dining room, front door area. The wall in the middle is where the fireplace will be.

Master bedroom - the ceilings are high and beautiful! We will do some sort of beam treatment.

This is likely the only wall that will have exposed stone from the old house - it is the hallway down to our master bedroom. The ceiling will be barreled.

The slightly complicated roof line in the back of the house.

Connor's room will be in this area - a dormer will go where the opening is.

This is looking from Connor's room towards the garage. Next to his room will be a den area. The railing to the right will be open to the foyer down below. At the end of the picture is my long awaited studio located above the garage.

The top of the stairs coming up from the front foyer in the new house. The door to the right leads to the girls rooms in the upstairs of the old stone house.

Looking in to the old stone house you can see up to the loft area - a fun spot for the kids. It will have an open rail as well. Elle's room is to the left, Sophie's room and the bathroom are to the right.

The family room. You can get a good feel of the ceiling here. We're working through the treatments in this room as well - likely beams and clapboard. The fireplace will have reclaimed stone from the house and Cream City bricks from Milwaukee.

Our barn view out the window in the living room.

And a question for YOU... ?? :)