Fin!!

I don't know if this, or any other room in the house, will ever really be "finished" but I'm ready to call this project a wrap (mostly)!

We still need window coverings, another side/end table, a couple more stools and probably some other bits and bobs but none of those details are keeping us from enjoying the space in its current state.

A little bit more than a year after we broke ground, we're so happy to finally be loving the space!!

Our next big project will be to restore the yard from a mud pit into a landscaped garden that we can enjoy with the dogs. But first, a glass of whiskey :). Cheers!! 

We're So Close!

It's almost time for a drumroll! After a recent repainting of the walls and ceiling, the room is so very close to being DONE!

We still have to install the fireplace, construct some built-in shelving and then furnish our newly acquired square footage :). 

I don't seem to have a recent picture of the outside but this is what it looks like, minus all of the construction garbage :). 

Progress

Progress has been pretty slow around here as we were all waiting for the windows to be delivered. They finally showed up on Thursday and the guys managed to get them all in!

They still need to be framed out and all that jazz but it's awesome to see things moving again.

If all goes as planned, construction will be done next Wednesday! Painting will be done the following week and then we'll take care of punch list items and officially call it a wrap!! 

Daylight Savings

Thanks to daylight savings, getting decent photos of the project has become significantly more difficult. This is what it looks like when the guys leave for the day.

Fortunately, it's brighter in the morning so before I head off to work before 7am, I can get some shots of the progress!

Hiding under all that cardboard is a beautifully tiled floor that is all done but protected until we're ready to unveil it :).

Shingle Bells, Shingle Bells

Shingle bells, shingle bells, shingle all the way...

Wait a minute! It's not Christmas, it's Halloween!!

HAPPY HALLOWEENIE!!!

The Great Debate

No decision has been debated more than how to finish our ceiling. We've gone back and forth and back again. We've polled our neighbors and invited in friends for opinions. We've scoured every image on the internet matching the search criteria "exposed ceiling porch" and still... we remain undecided.

We have several options to consider.

1. Clear coat the entire thing leaving the wood pretty much, as-is

2. Stain the entire ceiling a color that would match our interior hard woods

3. Paint the entire ceiling white to match the walls and windows

4. Do a mix of stain and paint - paint the ceiling white and stain the trusses

Our contractor prefers option 1. I think Jake and I are mostly agreed on option 4 now but option 3 is probably my favorite. The other votes we've solicited are definitely mixed!! We only have another week before the painting will start so we're going to need to make a final call soon. 

Coming Together

All kinds of exciting things are happening in the back yard!

The roof is now completely done. It ties into our existing roof perfectly. I don't have a great picture of that to share - it looks like a roof, trust me :).

Wiring for the ceiling fan and sconces has gone in and so has the insulation. You can also see where the fireplace will go in against the far wall.

The garbage shed structure is in place now too! The top of this structure will be covered in a patinaed metal and we'll be able to use it as counter for the bbq.

It will eventually have doors on it.

As you can see, things are really coming together over here!

Dry Heads

We can now happily enjoy the porch in the rain without getting wet heads! The roof is nearly complete. It just needs to have the insulation put in and then the asphalt shingles installed.

Today, the first pieces of the outside deck went in too! It's so fun seeing everything come off the blue prints and into reality!

Raise the Roof

The roof-holder-upper-beam-thingys [technical term] are in place!

The roof should be on before the end of the week! 

Cocktail Time!

We have a floor, we have walls, we sorta have a roof if you count the tent! I think it's time to enjoy the first cocktail on the new porch!

 

Tap Dancing

We're all tap dancing on the new floor tonight! It's really fun to come home from work each night to see all of the progress that has been made.

Up Up and Away

The hilarious excavator that worked on our project predicted it. He said that he'd do all the dirty work for weeks to get the foundation in place and we wouldn't be excited but then the framers would come in, work for one day and get all kinds of credit and glory. Yeah, pretty much. 

Let me start by reminding you what things looked like when I left for work this morning...

And now look at it!! Up up and awaaaayyyyyyy!!!

Water Water Everywhere

It's pouring rain this weekend and our porch pit is turning into a muddy swimming pool!! What a mess.

Fortunately our contractor had the foresight to cover all of the freshly delivered lumber with tarps before they left for the weekend.

Hay Day

The excavators finished up today! They filled in all the areas around the foundation with dirt and covered the whole yard in hay. It looks a little silly but it's preventing everything from getting muddy.

The number of dirty dog prints on the carpet has significantly declined since the introduction of the hay so I'm all for it!

Lumber was supposed to have been delivered today with framing starting this week. Unfortunately we've had a delay since the lumber truck had a crane that our power lines would have interfered with. They'll try again tomorrow with a truck more appropriate for our city block.

Since the framers don't work on Friday, it will be Monday before much real progress is made :(. 

Weekend Warriors

The concrete guys worked over the weekend to get the forms removed so that the excavators can start working straight away on Monday! .

The pit will be gone and only the top of the foundation will peek above the ground. So I suppose by Tuesday everything will look pretty much the way it did when we started :)!!

Set in Stone

The concrete went into the forms today and the foundation of our new porch is set in stone! Well, it will be once it dries.

 

 

 

I really want to stamp all of the dogs paws into one of these big pools of cement! Jake said it probably wasn't a good idea though. He's probably right. I can just see them stampeding through the forms and ruining the entire thing!

 

 



 

We also had a field inspection by the city today. All is well. They reviewed and signed-off on the work performed by our structural engineer.

 

There are pages and pages of these crazy calculations. It's like Goodwill Hunting or something.

 

 

 

Oh and our light fixtures came today! I like them but they are bigger than I was imagining. We had originally planned to put one on each column but I think we'll reduce that to every-other-column instead. We'll see.



Fandemonium

Our contractor's office manager has been helping us get all of our finishings selected and ordered. I've been pretty good about sticking with the decisions we've communicated to her with the exception of our ceiling fan!

I'm sure I'm driving her nuts with my "order this", "cancel that", "I like this", "wait, no I don't like it after all", "I think I want this", "okay, order it, I think."

After all the back and forth, I promised her that I had made my final decision today! We're sticking with this fan... whether we like it or not!!