bonus

In our original plan for the house, the garage had a giant deck on top of it. It was huge. This was not a small proposed deck. It was mega-big, gianormous even. When I say it was large...well, you get the idea.

We decided that it was way too big, and rather impractical, so our architect made a suggestion. Make a "bonus room." So here you have it (if you can make it out within all of this lumber):





The current plan for the bonus room is a playroom for the kids. They have a lot of stuff, and I envision this great space with a place for everything- separated into categories so that it is functional, comfortable, fun and organized. My hope for this room is that it will not become the abyss of lost toys our basement once was.

we have windows

and a juccuzzi tub!



Don't worry we'll also have curtains.

inside the 2nd floor

Temporary stairs allowed us to go upstairs into the second floor. It's a weird sensation being up so high on our property. We're very happy with how everything is laying out. When I go to choose pictures, however, most of them look like this:



See, I'm not even sure what that is.

At any rate, here's the view from J's room down the hallway toward the girls' rooms:



and here's the master bedroom:



I know it looks like a barn, but it's going to have a normal ceiling

inside

It's very cool to be able to actually "go into" the house now. We can't get to the second floor without a ladder (stairs are being built this week). But starting down below, here's the basement:





On to the first floor:

Here's the dining area. The hole will be a sliding glass door leading out to a deck.



To the left is the den, to the right is where the stairs going up and down will be.

2nd floor

Things are really moving along.

it's not easy being green

We're stalkers. There's this house that we really like in the next town over. It's really good looking, and didn't even know we existed before this past weekend. We'd drive by all the time, try to get up our nerve to make a move, but end up just driving around the block a few more times. We took clandestine pictures at which we would stare each day. Finally, on Saturday, we mustered the courage to ring the doorbell. You'll be happy to know we're going to prom!!! Quite the catch, don't you think?

No, really, there was this great house that we'd go look at often, mainly because we were having a difficult time deciding on an exterior color. This house seemed to be just what we wanted. See, we're going with green and know it's kind of risky because the wrong green would just be awful--too lime-y, too olive-y, too sea foam-y. This place seemed just perfect, so we'd go at different times of the day and see how it looked. When we got our samples we did drive-by comparisons:



We decided that our "medium" green color was the best match and Tom convinced me to ring the doorbell and ask about the color. The owner was really nice and happily found the paperwork. It was a different brand of paint, but ours is called "sage green light" and theirs is "sage brush." Apparently "sage" is the key element. Theirs is also three years old so there would have been some fading.


We thanked her and feel much more confident about our decision. Sage green light it is.

missing sumping

We brought the kids to the house this weekend and we were actually able to walk in the front door and take a tour of what will be our first floor. It was strange walking through the wooden skeleton of what is going to be our home. Tom explained what all the rooms were (living room, kitchen, family room, powder room, den). It was really cool. The kids were really excited, and J kept repeating the name of what ever room we stood in. (Wibbing woom, kiiitchen, famwee woom, power woom, den).

Suddenly, he got very serious, pointed up and chanted, "Missing sumping! Missing sumping!"

"What's missing?" we asked.

"Roof! Roof missing. Find it!!!!" He exclaimed.

Sure enough, with nothing but blue sky above us, we were, in fact, missing sumping.

My apologies if this is nothing more than a symphony of lumber, but here are a few pictures.









Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find my roof.

structure

Demolition was one month ago, and here's where we stand.

Front:


Back:


North side/Garage:

beam me up

height!

We have a few walls (with windows!). This is way exciting. Despite the demo, the excavation, the cramped hands from signing papers for the bank, the foundation, the decisions about what will happen eventually, the apartment livin'...walls make it all seem real somehow.

but when yao ming drops over for drinks, he'll still have to duck

That wood delivery the other day made me think that the next time I saw the house, I'd see part of the frame, a wall- some height. Ready for the dramatic reveal? Move that truck!!!!!!







Apparently this is called a "knee wall"--'cept I think it's more of an "ankle wall." Basically, it is adding some height to the foundation walls so that the basement ceiling can be seven feet high.

well...

Here's the trench leading to the pit for the dry well.




Here's what will be the basement bathroom, mechanical and laundry areas.



And in the distance beyond my neighbor's lovely new landscaping, is the wood that will soon serve as the frame.