November 9, 2011

The saga continues. Let's start with the good news... Last week the new front porch went up and columns went in. Looking good!

The weekend held great promise. The plan was to rip off the old roof (it was a terrible roofing job topped with hail damage) and get the new one on in two days. These first photos were taken on Saturday when things were moving along as planned...

We should have known it wouldn't happen when a worker fell through the roof! He was fine and his co-workers thought it was pretty funny (NOT!) Later in the day 15 bundles of shingles fell OFF the roof, narrowly missing a friend who had stopped out to see the "progress."

This photo is on Sunday. No roofers to be found. Turns out the custom ordered galvanized drip edge was all defective - yup, DEFECTIVE! It was very windy out and the drip edge was literally ripping apart.

And the drip edge that was already installed had broken apart in places as seen here.

A closer look - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So that put everything on hold.

This is the one portion that was re-roofed with the new shingles. We chose the same color (weathered wood) but went with the Camelot 2 style for more dimension. Love it!

Another challenge came up with the round roof on our back porch. Anyone have thoughts on how to roof this?! Who knew it would be yet another source on contention.

But the worst - I mean VERY WORST - part of the roof not being in place on Sunday is that Mother Nature decided to rear her ugly side and has given us nothing but rain and now SNOW... 1 to 3 inches and more tomorrow! So, we are losing a week and the house is getting wet inside. We also had the insulators working last week and they can't finish their portion of the job until the roof goes on. Needless to say, this job has us feeling pretty defeated and, well, just plain JINXED. Hopefully a miracle or two will come though so we can finish up before the end of the year. Wish us luck!

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 14, 2011

The challenge of the week... We've got a back porch!

It will have pillars and we will have a screen that pulls shut to keep out any bugs.

Looking out from the great room.

As seen from my studio above the garage.

The fireplace between the kitchen and dining area will be cream city brick. Carey ran the venting up though the second floor where it will be visible from the hall - again, love the quirk!

The kitchen chimney venting up through the second floor and loft where it will also be bricked.

TONS of little things were accomplished this week as well. We hope to get the new roof in next week... fingers crossed!!

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 27, 2011

When Carey called and told me there were LOTS Of cars on site today I had to check it out for myself... NO LIE! What a miracle! Lots of inside details in the framing work are being put to bed.

Our beams have been patiently waiting to be set in place so when I pulled up to see them CUT I could hardly wait to see them INSIDE the house....

YEAH! Just as I had pictured, the beams were set over the door ways into the great room. In previous posts there were aches there but I really wanted to add more texture and a bit of a rustic flair. I'm beyond thrilled! (I think Carey is too :) ha!)

A shot looking from in the great room back through the small hall (the powder room is to the right) and through to the kitchen door into the old stone house. The passage way into the kitchen will be an arch in brick.

So sad this came out blurry but here is my Carey and contractor Cary holding up the fireplace mantle in the great room. Love it!

Another shot... making sure it's all good.

Carey has been so hard at work on the project and I'm pleased to boast that he is expertly skilled in the building field. He was VERY essential today, answering all the detail questions and helping to figure out how to finish things up. There are no blue print plans on a job like this. You might even say we're making it up as we go. Even though it has been extremely stressful, I think it will ultimately be VERY clear that this house is a major labor of love. XOXOs go out to my MAN for getting it done. Love you, Carey!!

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!