Thursday’s projects

Exciting things happening!  The stone arrived and the fireplace was begun. The decorative faux beams started going up in the Great Room. What a difference it makes! Lighting continues to be installed and the painting is looking great!

Here is a picture from the hallway looking towards the kitchen from last night.

The stone mason arrived with two assistants and what a major production this is!

There is a real skill in laying the stone so it is level and looks right with the seams. We are so happy with this stone because it looks like we wanted: lots of variation in size both width and height. This is real stone from a quarry in Crossville, TN. When it arrived some boxes were soaking wet from the rain and the color of the stone was very dark. Others were almost white like the photo above in the wheelbarrow. Whew.

Other things were going on too with painting. We changed the trim color in Ben’s room to a darker version. The guest bedroom was started and the theater as well.

The theater was completed last night and the carpet and rubber exercise flooring is going in on Monday. I can’t wait to see the tiger stripe carpet on the platform!

We decided to change our move date to Wednesday next week. That way we give the team another weekend and a few more days. It will make our move in much more comfortable! I think everyone was happy with that change.

 

Final Week in the project before we move in!

Here is what is a bit of what is happening this week:

Monday – final inspection of fireplace & stone arrives for fireplace veneer and stonemason begins our fireplace project! This is scheduled to be a three day project and we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it is! We still do not have a hearth stone yet, but I understand it can be added later. We also have been investigating installing an electric gate. There is a lovely brick fence around the property with a double black iron gate. It’s currently a manual operation, and we want to find out what we can do to make it more like a garage door opener!

Tuesday – electrical final with all lights installed. It will be amazing to go from 2 light bulbs per area to full wattage! We will put dimmers on as soon as we see where we need them! In the Great Room ceiling we have at least 20 recessed can lights,  a large chandelier over the seating area, a chandelier over the dining area, and two lights that skim the stone fireplace. That does not include the kitchen lighting where we have three recessed cans over the sink area, two chandeliers over the ends of the island, small cans around the perimeter of the tray ceiling, LED uplighting in the crown molding of the tray, three pendant lights over my desk and one over the vegetable sink. Whew. I am starting to get worried about our electric bill.

Wednesday – Claude Morgan of Morgan’s Cabinets comes to finish up the cabinets and put the doors and drawers in place.

Thursday – carpet installed in back half of the house, rubber flooring installed in the theater, tiger carpet installed in theater on riser platform! Final polyurethane coat goes on the wood floors.

Friday – ?

Saturday – we move!

I am definitely skipping some painting and other steps. For example, I don’t know exactly when the appliances will be put in place, or the other rooms will be painted. There are closets that need shelves and rods, speakers that will be installed in the ceilings, faucets installed in the kitchen, and a new door going in at the carport area.

Somehow, it is all going to be ok.

This afternoon I took a few pictures of the house to show you the hall bathroom progress and the theater.

I have painted the hall bathroom cabinets a lovely chocolate color, and installed the new hardware yesterday. Mike added the wide trim above and below the mirror to camouflage the do hickey holes. I am eager to see the walls painted with the dark brown wall color.

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The theater ceiling has been painted black! It is an open concept since the area above this room is going to be changed into a master bedroom and bathroom. That will require access to the plumbing to run new lines in that area, and we’d really hate to tear up any ceiling we’d install right now. So, we’ll paint it black and wait for the update. Here are a few pictures from different angles. In the second photo, you can see the area where the screen will be and the two side niches.

The support beams are still not in yet, and the vertical posts will be removed when they are installed.

Cabinets are in and Granite is underway!

Whoopee! Things are really hopping this week! Yesterday the cabinets were installed. Got the base cabinets and uppers installed. The doors and drawers will be next. Can’t wait to see them. The color is so pretty. Tomorrow the appliances are scheduled to be delivered.

Aren’t they gorgeous? We love the way the color turned out. We have a bit of tweaking to do to finish up the cabinetry, and Claude and Lori Morgan of Morgan’s Cabinets have done a fantastic job! They look awesome with the floors too, don’t they?

You can see the guys starting the granite template process. Casey and Chris worked very hard creating a custom template so the granite will fit perfectly in the space.

After the templates were created, we all headed up to Fox Tops in Mooresville. Fox Tops is the fabricator we have used several times in the past and they always do an excellent job. They also sell remnants, so if you are looking for a smaller piece at a good price, check them out! Elaine is just super to work with and very competitively priced. Call her at 704-799-7007.

It took four pieces of granite and lots of patience to figure out how lay out the pattern and avoid the big green spot on the lower left corner of the first picture.

Casey and Chris were very careful and professional in determining the layout for cutting the seams and making sure that they will flow smoothly. Because the granite we chose shows quite a bit of movement and flow in the pattern, it is especially important to make sure the pattern flows across the seams.

After we completed the templating process, Elaine and Casey gave me a tour of the fabrication plant. It was really amazing. Computers run some of the equipment and they have a water recycling system that is very environmentally friendly!   Plus, it enabled their fabrication plant to continue operating when we had a severe drought and there were water restrictions in place. Many other fabrication facilities were unable to operate. They also save a significant amount of money by recycling the water because they use so much to cool the blades during the process.

Here is the tool that cuts the large pieces of granite and the crane that moves the cut pieces to the next area. The piece with the word YUKON on itis the blade. The horizontal cutting surface has stones in it that actually sharpen the blade as it is used. Elaine is in the picture with the crane. Hi Elaine!

Suction cups are used (near Casey’s hand) to hold the cut stone and move it to the next area.

This area is where the hole for the sinks are cut and edge profiles are created. I understand that it will take 9  hours to do the large ogee edge we selected for our granite edging. Whew!

Elaine will send me some pictures of our granite going through the process and I can’t wait to see them!

Below is a picture of the water recycling system.

Holes will be drilled for the water faucet, filtered water dispenser, and soap dispensers.  Some holes are drilled at the shop and some are drilled at the site. I provided the sinks and faucets for them to review and we discussed placement.

Casey is the shop manager and will actually be doing most of the cutting and also the installation on Friday!

Thanks Elaine, Casey and Chris for all your hard work! We are going to have an amazing kitchen thanks to you and Fox Tops!

Before and Current Picture of Great Room

35 days until we move.

Before we started construction, we had multiple rooms. We had a living room, dining room, kitchen and family room.

Now, we have one large space that will contain the same rooms. We will not have a formal dining room, just a single large table overlooking the backyard window.

Drywall is up in the Great Room & Theater!

What an amazing feeling to walk in and see the drywall up on the ceiling and in the new tray ceiling of the kitchen! I had to walk outside and cry! You know how it is to have a dream of what something could be like, but not sure if it really will live up to your expectations? What a relief to see it actually happen.

Here is the theater! The support beams are still to go in and the brownish red metal poles will be removed then. We also are having the heating ductwork relocated behind the wall.

A video really helps you get the feel for the space. Hope you don’t get dizzy!

Ceiling Work

I find the ceiling in our new house completely amazing. The way that the baffles are going in to direct the hot air up and out of our home, wiring the lights and speakers for the sound system, and supporting it with steel beams…just awe inspiring!

Here are a few pictures showing the various stages.

The tan baffles lead hot air up and to the ridge vent on the top of hte roof.

Insulation covers these. It’s already much more comfortable in this part of the home! We were able to use loads of the old insulation, so we felt good about recycling. We did have to purchase a limited quantity of new insulation too.

The Great Room is finally a GREAT big room!

Last night Jeff and I stopped by and saw that the roof was supported and that all the temporary supports had been removed. It was so exciting to see the space at last!

The electrical had begun in the kitchen and there were a few questions we had about it. Tomorrow we’ll be discussing the decorative beam placement in the vaulted area because the original plan interferes with the lighting.

 

More Electrical in the Renovation

The electricians are working hard to complete the electrical work. We are adding lighting in all the ceilings. Guess it just wasn’t the thing to do in 1958. Plus, the addition area needed the florescent lights removed and new lighting added.

Here is our master bedroom.  On the left side will be the headboard of our bed. We’ll be placing two reading lights in the ceiling also.

Nathan’s room was the insulation storage area. But now, it is getting some lighting!

The painting was started too. We’ll be painting all the trim and doors. Except there are some lovely stained wood doors in the hallway that are too gorgeous to paint. We can paint them later if we want, but thought we’d love to keep them if we can. In the addition area, they did not use pretty stained doors, so everything will be painted. Mike is going back and caulking every joint and filling every nail hole. They did not do that when it was built. He also is pulling up the baseboard to paint it. If you don’t, it will have paint down to the level of the carpet and you run the risk of painting your carpet. Yuck!

Mike says we are still on target for our Nov. 19th move date! Hooray!

Kitchen Beam Arrives and the Ceiling is Underway!

When I arrived at my home the other day I saw a HUGE surprise in my front yard!

This beam is 737 pounds. It is angled on one end to slide into the angle the roof makes with the walls. Nice touch, eh? You too can own a beam like this one for only $1250. Not sure if that includes delivery!

They are using only two men and some cool engineering tricks to get this up and in place. The mechanism is called a “come along” or a ratchet lever hoist.

Here’s a little video of how it works. Sorry, I don’t know what the music is in the background.

Success!  Here is the beam in place!

Home Theater is begun!

Wow, it was exciting to see it all start to come together in our home theater. Last night, Jeff and Nathan went over to inspect the progress, and returned home very excited about the home theater. This morning I stopped by to see why, and totally agree! It is going to look amazing!

We had a home theater in a previous home and are using as many of the components as possible: drapery, light fixtures, screen & speakers, and some other things I am probably forgetting at the moment. Very green!

The  new part of this plan is that it is also an exercise room. We are planning on using exercise flooring material similar to what you see at the gym on the main floor in there. I found this great rubber flooring company online that will send you samples for free, then extras cost a bit for postage.  It will look black but have tiny flecks of color like this:

We have a treadmill we want to include and a set of weights. The boys also will have a pull up bar installed in the ceiling somewhere. Last I heard, there were plans for 3 pull up bars – so they can all do pull ups at the same time!

Here are a few “before” pictures when it was still the original workshop space. This area is part of the addition that was built in 1981.

Now, in the framing phase:

You can see the elevated seating platform on the right. The two  metal posts will be removed and the heating duct work will be re-routed.

Our plan is to leave the ceiling unfinished for now, but painted black as you see in many restaurants. We will be converting the space above this area into a master bedroom & bathroom suite and want to have easy access to the plumbing and electrical at that time. So, we don’t want to drywall and then have to remove it in a few years.

The screen will be on the left side of the picture where Jeff, my patient husband, is measuring.

Our hot water heater challenge has been resolved. Mike moved it closer to the stairs, and we can now contain it in its own room!

Just to the left of the hot water heater closet is the seating platform. We will have elevated seating and the first step is also the platform for a short bar area. Mike plans on putting some small low voltage lights on the steps. Won’t that be super? I applaud Mike’s angled step idea!!! It really takes this this space into a “high end” feeling.

Here is a view of the screen area. The screen is going to be recessed in the middle.

I think we’ll have a million light switches down here! You can see we are still using our post-it note method of switch placement. I have also started drawing on the walls! Top view and front view of the platform design! Someone asked me what our process is, and here is what we generally do:

• I draw what we want.
• Jeff helps figure out the measurements and we discuss the reality of it actually working and if the design/space will function and look the way we want.
• We give the drawing to Mike and he builds it. He does make suggestions (really good ones!) and we incorporate those too!

Check back to see the progress!