Decisions Decisions

There seem to be endless decisions that have to be made when doing a project like ours and I'm afraid that I inherited my Mom's ability to agonize over the tiniest design choices.

I took a quick inventory of the major elements we need to select and the status of each of them. We still have a lot of work to do!

Lighting - we picked sconces that we liked but learned that they were discontinued so it's back to the drawing board there!

Ceiling Fan - we ordered a fan but then I panicked, decided it wasn't right and cancelled the order! We're back on the fan hunt now.

French Doors - we think we know the design (multi-pane) and color (black) but we're going to make a road trip to Kent to see them in person before we finalize.

Shutters - similar to the doors, we know the material (vinyl) and color (black) but need to pick up a brochure and see some samples before we select the final design.

Tile & Grout - wooo hooo!! This one is complete! Florida Tile Formations in color Flint. We decided to go with the large squares (18" x 18").

Ceiling Stain - the ceiling of the porch will have exposed beams and and boards so we need to figure out what color we want to stain them. The quality of the wood used can't be painted so I'm a little nervous about how the stain will look against the other finished areas. We'll just play this one by ear.

Decking - we will have a small deck outside of the porch for the bbq. We chose a composite decking material recommended by our contractor. We think the gray color will match best with the siding of the house so that's what we're going with.

We're planning on doing some shopping this weekend. Hopefully we can get at least a couple more decisions finalized since time is running out! 

Rampant Confusion

The dogs are all a little confused by the ramp that has replaced the stairs.

The littles have been soaring off the side and diving into the dirt rather than walking down it completely. Beatrice has figured out how to get up the ramp but Opie will probably have to be carried up and down for the remainder of the project.

The bigs are also flying off the side and then leaping half way up it rather than just starting from the bottom. We're hopeful that they'll all get the hang of it soon but for now, they are all confused about how to get from the yard to their food bowls.

Chaos Ensues

The chaos of the excavation stage has official descended on the back yard.

There is a giant trailer parked in our front lawn to haul away the dirt, tree stump and whatever else they find when they excavate for the new foundation - hopefully no Indian burial grounds or pet cemeteries! 

Part of the fence had to be removed to get the excavator in. Our contractor, who is thankfully a dog lover, built us a ramp so that the dogs can still get in and out of what is left of the yard. 

Quigley is skeptical of this new creature that he has to share the yard with.

Needless to say, it's a mess and will be for the next 4 to 6 weeks. It will all be worth it though! 

The digging is scheduled to run through the rest of the week. The team should be pouring concrete as early as Monday. 

Back Breaking before the Ground Breaking

We are leaving the bulk of the Taj Maporch work to the professionals but did a bit of demolition ourselves to save a few bucks.

We originally had a small patio attached to the back stairs. It was nice and well constructed but not very functional for us. Just like the tree, the patio had to go in order to make room for the new foundation.

Jake and I, with the help of the dogs, removed all of the stones this past weekend. We had to be bent over digging and hauling for the bulk of the afternoon so we finished the project with sore backs and dirty fingernails. All of the pavers are stacked and ready to be removed by a neighbor who will recycle them in another yard.

The before and after pictures don't feel like they represent the volume of sweat and smashed fingernails we contributed to the project! It pretty much looks the same :). We're one step closer though!

Sorry Neighbors!

Apart from the noise and chaos that has now descended on our back yard, our dear neighbors also have to put up with this treat on the sidewalk for the next month +.

I've encouraged them to take advantage of a nice outdoor wee if the urge strikes but I'm not sure that will make up for the eye sore.

Sorry neighbors! If we could send you all to Hawaii for the duration of this process, we would! 

Bye Bye Mountain Ash

To make room for Taj Maporch, we had to have our giant Mountain Ash tree removed from the back of our house.

Mountain Ash has a really pretty red berry. While they look especially vibrant and pretty in the late summer, they also make a HUGE mess. The dogs like to eat them and then puke them up in the house. The crows like to descend on them at 5AM and then gobble them up while bouncing around our roof. The gutters like to get clogged with them too. So, while it was sad to see such a lovely tree taken down to a stump, I don't think we'll be missing it much.

Fortunately for us, our neighbor down the street is a great arborist and wasn't at all mad that we were removing one of the neighborhoods biggest and oldest trees. Once he chopped it down, he could see that the inside was black and rotting. It probably wouldn't have survived another big wind storm.

Since we really did feel badly about removing something that many of our neighbors enjoyed, I decided that I would attempt to make Mountain Ash jam as a peace offering. I found a recipe from the UK and spent a whole afternoon slaving over the stove.

Despite freezing the berries, drowning them in lemon juice and showering them in sugar, the final result can only be described as TOTALLY DISGUSTING! It's a nice shade of orange but the taste is so bitter that it's inedible. Oh well. It's the thought that counts.

Taj Maporch

Apart from hanging a few photos and putting together an IKEA shelf, we really haven't dipped our toe into the home improvement waters since we moved in June of 2012.

That's all changing with a project we recently started that we're now affectionately calling, Taj Maporch.

When we moved in, we were missing a backyard space that was comfortable and functional for us, our dogs and our guests. Back in April, we began tossing around ideas for how to transform the space into something that would get more use. We originally thought about a simple cedar deck but after a number of wouldn't-it be-cool-if's, it quickly became a full blown home addition.

We've since hired an architect, a structural engineer and a contractor who have all helped us plan and permit a covered porch with all of the bells and whistles we could hope for. It's going to be a long and messy road ahead of us but we're thrilled to have finally broken ground.

I'll be doing A LOT of posts on this topic in the coming weeks and sharing loads of photos so that Jake and I can remember all of the fun we're having (said with just an ounce of sarcasm - no really, most of it is fun!!).

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