Isn't it Beautiful?

This is the back of the house.  All windows are in and so is the glass sliding door. The glass door is in the dining room and will be the entry to the back yard deck. The three downstairs windows are in the kitchen.  The one on the farthest right will be over my built-in desk.  The upstairs windows are ( on the right) guest bedroom and (left) guest bath.  Yesterday Ted and Company removed the siding on the left of the house (when you look at it from this vantage) , Tyveked it, and installed the first floor windows.  Ted says that by Wednesday of next week, all the Tyvek will be on and all the windows installed.  They will then move onto trimming.

The trees in the back yard are scheduled for removal this coming week although yesterday the Arborist let me know that one of his trucks is in for repairs.  He hopes to have it ready, but the job may be postponed.  This really needs to be done soon because we want to get the outside of the house all cleaned up by the end of the month.

The kitchen and the bathroom vanities are officially on order.  I have finalized the kitchen hardware, and IKEA wins.  As soon as Dave Devendorf, the kitchen designer, gives me the count, I will order them.

 
We have a large scaled rendering of the kitchen now. We will take it to Ashfield Stone ( next week I hope) and maybe pick the slabs for the counter tops.

The plumber starts on Monday.  We will meet with the electrician next week as well.

Look Ma, No Clapboard

Here is the rear of the house after it has been stripped of its siding.  Looking pretty naked.  Today, they will put on the Tyvek and put in the windows.

Now that we have decided that no shutters are in our future, the house is going to need some other kind of definition.  When Dave and I went riding in the neighborhood the other day, I noticed some interesting decorations.

Neither of these houses have shutters.  They have added ornamentation to dress up the exterior.  Both I think are very effective.

I got the idea when Ted was explaining how he would cover the stair tower.  Ted said the windows will be larger than they are now.  He pointed out that there are six panels in the tower and explained that he would "frame them" and then place clapboard inside the frames.

I showed Ted the pictures above and asked him if we could do something like this inside each of the frames.  He said, as usual, it was "no big deal." He will use a special flat panel board rather than clapboard in each frame.  He can then make a cutout in a pattern I'd like and apply it to the panel.  I think some long diamonds would be nice, OR
There's the Jewish Star look:

Or perhaps, the triangle with decoration:

Anyway, something.  Then, I have to decide how to color the design.  Do I stick to the two yellows and keep it very subtle or do I try another color for the applique?

Here are some colors recommended by Benjamin Moore:

Blue Nose

Slate Blue

Black Forest Green

Liberty Park

Cypress Green

Which of these do you like with

Hawthorne Yellow Clapboard

Calming Cream Trim

Push Pull

 

 

I just don't know what I should do....

Exterior Colors

Hawthorne Yellow HC-4, Clapboard

Calming Cream OC-105, Trim

Black Forest Green PM-12, Window Trim/Shutters

Inside Outside

Framing is just about done.  We had very little on the first floor since its mostly an open space.  Early in the week, Nathan installed the last structural beam, which runs from the basement up through the first floor.
The second floor is complete; we had some difficulty finalizing the guest room, laundry and bath.  When Ted laid out the guest room, we all agreed that that it was too small. We decided to combine the bath and laundry, which would allow us to enlarge the guest room.  It also makes the bathroom ensuite.  It will be nice for company, and when no one is there (most of the time) I will have easy access to the washer and dryer.  Sounds simple, but once we were done with the framing, it was still bothering me.  The door to the guest room didn't have a wall against which to open.  That's a design no no. So, Monday when Ted was coming back from Nantucket, I went over to the house alone and called the house doctor, Martha. In our little minds, we moved walls this way and that, adopting and then discarding ideas. Nothing was working. So, the Divine Ms. M told me to hang up and she would come up with an idea in 5 minutes.  It took 10.  Martha suggested that we move the closet to the hallway between the bath and the bedroom, thus creating a wall for the door. Technically, the closet will still be in the bedroom since to bath door is beyond the closet.  See?

And voila, we had a plan.
Ted re-framed the rooms in about an hour, (to me it looks like a bunch of sticks) and we were off to the next thing.

The next thing was the third floor which Ted referred to as a cluster ****.  It will be a marvelous room to behold. Lots of nooks and crannies, lots of room for a bedroom area, a TV slouching couch area, an office for Dave, and a library ( lots of bookshelf room).  Here are some pictures of the almost complete framing.  Its hard to tell. 

Pretty cool window

Ted says next week, they will begin to replace the clapboard and install the windows.  He resized all the window frames and moved the location of some of them, so the new ones are ready to be "popped" in.  Since the clapboard has been painted Hawthorne Yellow already, the change to the house will be dramatic.  Ted said that they will work one side at a time:  pulling down the clapboard, tyveking the walls, putting up the new clapboard and trim and installing the windows. It will take about a month. Wowwie.

I also finalized the plumbing fixtures, which will be officially ours on Saturday, Massachusetts tax free day.  It took some work, but we now have sinks, faucets, toilets, shower doors--the whole shabang.  The kitchen appliances and washer and dryer are also on official order. There's no turning back now.

Next week, LIGHTING.

My First Wall

This Could be the Last TIme, I Don't Know

New configuration for guest bath and laundry room.

The laundry room will have its own utility sink, using the same plumbing stack as the vanity in the guest bath.  The guest bath can now have a longer tub (about 5.5 feet) and room for my 6 foot tall wooden cabinet for a linen closet.




















And now, for something completely different.  An intimate view of the drama of window building:
Click on this link.

Nathan Makes a Window

Now You See It, Now You Don't

You may not be able to tell from the photos, but 34 Forbes is moving along at a wicked pace.  This week, Ted and Co.  finished laying the plywood on all three floors of the house, built the strapping on the first and second floors ( that's the stuff on the ceiling to which you attach the walls), put in the fire walls, and started on the windows.

First Floor Strapped

Second Floor Strapped

The first window to be built was the little square in the 1/2 bath by the front door.  Now you see the opening for the old window:

Now you don't:

Kinda neat, huh?

We had to get on the phone with Architect Nonpareil.  Problem: Ted laid out the front all closet and the half bath.  I took one look at the half bath and declared, "this is bathroom for midgets " .  I don't think of myself as much beyond that size, and I just couldn't see myself sidling by a teeny 14" pedestal sink to the throne.  Really, Martha , 30" by 72"????

Martha told us to feel free to mess with the size of the bath; she said her measurements had been pretty crude and if we thought we had extra room the lengthen the room, to be her guest.  Well Ted and I measured the front hall.  It's just six feet wide.  While we could have taken 6 inches from the hall, that still didn't solve the problem.  Then I had an ah ha! There is a space that serves no purpose at the back of the closet.  So, I thought, " let's just make the entryway to the bath wider.  Anyone can then navigate around the sink".

Note all the extra room by the door. Ted said I was a genius.  I missed my opportunity to throw his favorite expression back at him.  "This is not my first rodeo."

Now, I can use a sink that allows one to actually wash the hands without pouring the water all over the floor.

American Standard 19" pedestal

Before the boys retired for the week, the inestimable Nathan began framing the living and dining room windows.  Currently there are three.  Next week, there will be four. Lots and lots of light.

Ted said he wanted to lay off an hour early since the crew had worked a nine hour day the day before.  A great deal of snorting went on at this comment.  (He really wanted to go ride his bike).

After that, Ted intended to rest from his labors.  I imagine him like so:

A good week of work by all.