Windows!

And we have windows in time for Christmas!

Cover up!

It's getting to be a usual thing, loading up the boys and driving out to check on the house. Even today when it was drizzling and could have been a nice time to snuggle up and stay dry (but really, who can do that with two little boys?!). Ah, but our house is covered up with the beginnings of a roof.

The biggest change visually is seeing the porches with their roofs. We're using MiraTec for the columns. Right now a collection of 2x4s is holding up the covers!

This picture shows the upstairs ceiling. For folks who may be considering building Glen View Cottage--a really interesting feature you could add is a vaulted ceiling above the upstairs landing. We're not doing this--but the rafters form almost a star at the top. You would need to consult an architect or your contractor/framer before going this route--but it's an idea! We're sticking with the 9 ft ceilings and attic.

The back porch area.

Up close with the front.

Ashley cleared the pines in the back a little bit more. It's looking good! Now we have another large brush pile. Reminds me of our earlier stages with this property.

Next week the framer will put the felt paper on the roof, install the windows and doors, and complete the porch flooring (we're using decking boards that we'll stain). After Christmas our metal roof will be installed. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing that process, as it will all be made on site. 

Up top...

Yesterday I had to make a quick trip out to the house to decide where to put the closet in the upstairs bedroom. We moved the storage closet that was on the exterior wall to the center of the upstairs so it would be accessible from the landing and not my son's bedroom. Despite the temperature hovering in the 20s, the framers were hard at work.

We now have stairs!

 

Here's the room where we changed the layout. I decided the closet would go to the left of the window (there was going to be a small wall there to support the beam above the window--now the wall will have the purpose of framing in the closet). 

Lots and lots of 2x4s! I'm standing in the bedroom, looking out at the storage closet on the left and further through the doorway to the landing. The landing will be the boys' play area upstairs.

Looking into the other bedroom. All of the rafters are site-built. Because of this, there appears to be very little wasted space!

View from below--kitchen on the ground level; landing on the upper level. I love the detail of the peaked roof and bump out for the upstairs landing. I imagine this space to be an airy place for the boys to play. We'll see how it turns out!

View from the back. If you recall from my previous post, we were trying to decide what to do about the back porch. The roof ultimately made our decision--we'll have a deck and a screened-in porch. It's going to be perfect (and as our contractor pointed out to me--the rear elevation will look nice since we're not trying to cover the middle porch). 

View from the other side--upstairs is the bedroom where we had the closet issue. You can also see where the chimney will go (the ladder-looking structure). We chose to brick in the chimney, even though we will be using a wood-burning stove in place of a traditional fireplace.

Other than the changes we made to the plans, the framing has been pretty straight-forward and should be done soon.

And we have an upstairs!

It was one thing to see the brick foundation mark the outer perimeters and another to be able to stand on the first floor. But to actually see the roof line? Wow!

This picture is taken from the back left corner (kitchen is along the wall shown on the right).

View of the back. I mentioned in a previous post that our back screened-in porch is going to be big. Well, the porch area is going large--but we're probably going to have to abandon our idea to screen in the porch addition (the middle of the picture here). This was a change we made to the plan, extending the screened-in porch to the master suite. The problem is the roof..the pitch is too low to cover the porch (the screened-in porch on the plan has its own peaked roof, matching that of the master suite). We're meeting with our contractor Monday to brainstorm--but we're OK if we have to have an uncovered porch in the middle--it will be a great place for the grill! And the screened-in porch on the plan is plenty big enough for a table and chairs.

ZIP wall sheathing is going up. This really gives the house a more finished look. ZIP eliminates the need for felting or plastic wrap- read more here.

As we predicted, the house is TALL. In hindsight we might have moved it back so it wasn't sitting right on the crest of the hill; however, once the siding goes on and the porches anchor it down, it should look great. But right now, it's a jolly green giant!

This is the left side of the house--kitchen window is where the make-shift steps are. I climbed up the ladder to the second floor this afternoon--what a view our boys will have from their rooms. The upstairs is definitely shaping up. We made a change to the storage closet and that alteration appears to be a good decision.

Another barn arrives

The third barn made its journey to our property yesterday. Because of it's size (and various components), it had to be dismantled first. The base went on one truck...

and the roof went on another. Check out the extra load on this truck...the CAT skid steer caught a ride, too.

Ashley took these pictures because I wasn't along for this adventure. Apparently, the barn collapsed at one point but they managed to get it put back together. It's still pretty rickety and will need a good bit of work to make it usable.

This will give you a perspective of how the backyard is shaping up...

This picture was taken against what will become our back porch. Ashley decided the barns needed to be closer to the house, rather than far away, which will make them more practical and likely to be used. The other two barns are already being used--one to store the pieces of a barn and the other is being used by the framers to store some of their materials.

Moving on up

On Friday the majority of the downstairs was roughly framed in, minus a few walls. By Monday afternoon, the framers were moving on up to the second floor. I'm going to try to take a picture from this angle each time I blog to give a perspective of what is accomplished. As a reminder, you're facing the right front corner of the house (guest bedroom to far left; master suite to the far right; living room in the center).

You can't see it from this photo--but the guys had a small fire going to keep them warm. I guess that's a good use of scrap wood, especially on days when water freezes in the dog's water bowl.

In case you're wondering about the barn project--here's the one that I included in the video. It's now being used to store pieces of one of the other barns (that had to be dismantled to make the move). Ashley and his dad will be moving the final barn either this weekend or the next.

Something to stand on (and more)

My father-in-law has told me that the fastest part of building a house is the framing. It seems to be true! Just two weeks ago I blogged about the land being ready to go, with the house corners staked...and now we have a house (or a floor with a few walls). Here's the view driving up the hill.

It was cold in South Carolina today...temps hovered in the 40s for most of the day. I guess when it's cold (or blazing hot), framers are motivated by the weather to be fast. Thankful for that! Here's a view of the front--you're looking at the living room in the middle and our master bedroom on the right.

When we walked around on the actual floor, the house didn't feel as big as it seems when I'm standing on the ground. I can already tell that the common area of the house will be a perfect size. From this view, I'm standing the guest bedroom, looking into the living room (kitchen will be to the left, dining room to the back).

View of our master bath from behind.

View of the back. The back screened-in porch is going to be nice (2/3 the width of the house--this is something we altered from the original plan). We're definitely excited about that--I'm already looking forward to eating supper (and other meals) out there.

The porch floors will be added later. For now, a view of the cinder blocks that form the supports.

The Glen View Cottage plan specifies 2x6 exterior wall construction. We briefly considered going with the average 2x4 but quickly decided to stick with the plan after learning it only cost a little bit more for the larger lumber. We'll be able to increase our insulation value and the window sills will be deeper--maybe a place to set plants?

This week's big decisions have been window and door types. We're basically sticking with the plan specs as far as looks go. Just to make sure I liked what we had chosen, I drove around a neighborhood in Lexington that has a few homes that look similar to ours. I can't say it enough how important it is to see what you want!

Inspiration Field Trip

Like most folks who are building (or are planning to build) a home, we have an idea file that consists mostly of pages we've torn from magazines showing the look we're aiming for with our house. Although I have a binder with plastic sleeves to contain this file, right now we have things piled all over the place (and a folder of bookmarks on the computer). And because we can never have too many ideas, we took a mini field trip last Sunday to the Lexington County Museum to look at houses that are similar to what we're hoping to build. The LCM is a collection of buildings and houses right in the heart of downtown Lexington. It's a really beautiful place.

Idea #1- Need to find/buy/build a joggling bench for our front porch. Read more about the Joggling Bench/Board here: http://www.oldcharlestonjogglingboard.com/history.htm

Idea #2: We've gone back and forth with our exterior color selection but I think we're 99% sure now that we're going with white HardiePlank and black shutters with a silver metal roof. Now that we've decided this, we've seen TONS of old houses just like that.

Idea #3: Just getting an idea about what outbuildings can look like. The LCM has tons of buildings around their property, including an oven stand, chicken house, potato house and smoke house.

Idea #4: Love this barn roof. We need a different barn to have this roof but it's great!

Idea #5: A pigeon house. No, we're not going to build a house for pigeons but I really like this structure!

Idea #6: Blue porch ceilings. We always knew we wanted blue ceilings on our porches so here's a picture. Another reason we chose Perry as our contractor is he asked during one of our initial meetings if we were going to paint our porch ceilings blue. That immediately told me he understood what type of house we were building.

Idea #7: This is basically what our house will look like, color-wise. I love how white with black makes a house feel established--and it's just classic!

In other news, the lumber should be delivered tomorrow and the framing will begin (barring any torrential downpours).

Short Week But a Lot of Foundation!

Yesterday morning (Tuesday) I stopped by the land to see what progress had been made on the foundation work. This was the first time that I've seen a crew working on site (other than the times we've been out there working). It looked like someone was building a house. Oh wait...that's us! We're building a house!

It was about 9:30 a.m. and the guys had already made a lot of progress. One of the coolest things for me to see was the string marking the height of the foundation (and where our porch will be).

The guys worked in teams to get the brick stacked around the site.

This afternoon (Wednesday, around 3:45 p.m.) we drove out to see how much had been done in a day. Here are the bricks...Ashley is a little concerned that they're pinker than he wanted. I think they're fine. And like I said, there's no going back on this decision!

We have foundation walls!!

Here is the view from the front of the house. Another thing we're a little worried about is how high the house may seem from down the hill. Ashley is already thinking about how he will backfill dirt and landscape to make sure you aren't overwhelmed by a brick foundation when you drive up.

This is the view from the back of the house-- master bath on the left.

This is a short week because of Thanksgiving--but we're really pleased how far the house has come. We have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season!