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!

Mantel for the Stone Fireplace

What an amazing project! I am so happy that John was able to work with us on this critical piece of our renovation. He really knows his wood.

Here is the raw red oak beam we purchased from a reclaimed wood dealer in SC. Oak beams are NOT common in the area since pine was most abundant. John went down to check it out.

Close up of the end.

Then John got to work on the beam. It is about 12 feet long. Our mantel will be 7 feet wide  7.5″ high and 12″ deep.  John will also make some corbels for us.  Hi John!

Look at the wood curls!

 

Here is where the mantel will be installed! It is framed and ready for the inspections. Next, it will get a stone veneer. Seems like years ago that we picked out the stone that is being used on it.

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.

38 days until we move

I have been interviewing moving companies. What a wide range of pricing! Hopefully, this move will be less painful than the last. Of course, we all hope that don’t we?

I saw a neat article that talks about the housing trends of the future – 2015 to be exact!  The interesting thing is that we are incorporating many of the ideas that are in the article:

• A combined great room that includes kitchen, family room, and eating area
• No formal dining room
• Green concepts
• Larger laundry room

You can read the article here:  A Look Ahead

Labor Day was definitely a LABOR intensive day

Whew, we spent two days straight at the new house figuring out our lighting plan. Nothing drives us more crazy than a light switch put in upside down or in the wrong order. You know you will always go for the switch that SHOULD turn on the light, have to back up and do it again to get the right switch, if it is not done right.

So, instead of hiring an architect to design our lighting plan, we decided to do it ourselves using the handy post it method. You know, those slightly sticky yellow post it notes?

This seems to work really well and so far, our electrician has been quite pleased with it. The problem we ran into was that we ended up having to actually figure out where the furniture would be placed so we put the lights in the proper location on the wall or ceiling. Then,  we had to figure out what made the most sense for placement of the switches.

In the end, we felt really happy with the design and it was exciting to see the start of the wiring yesterday. Of course, last night we decided to change our entire home theater system concept, and will need to add one more switch. Thankfully, our builder is quite flexible when we do this kind of thing!

We also were thrilled to see the start of the tray ceiling in the kitchen!

You can really get a sense of the room this way. The left side of the tray looks a little skinny right now because of the temporary support wall.  The steel beam is scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, it will be installed, then the additional level of the tray will be built. Quite an improvement over our initial plan, thanks to MICHELLE!

 

Here are a few more pictures of canned lights going into the ceiling of the study. See, we are calling it a study now instead of gameroom!  I really like the placement over the boys’ desks which will be in front of the windows. We had them center the ceiling fan, which for some odd reason, was not centered, remove the hanging pendant in the far right corner, and add a few more cans. Guess we better find some ceiling fans for the home quickly!

Smote detectors are scheduled for this room and also the florescent lights were removed in the two offices. We’ll re-use the florescent in a closet being green.

Ok, watch for the next post to be about brick! You know how much I dislike it. Well, I am about ready to tackle that project.

Framing it up

The work continues rapidly!

Yesterday they started work on the laundry closet.

Now they have moved to the basement and are working on the movie theater area. There was a hot water heater in a rather inconvenient spot, so they moved it and build a little room around it. We didn’t really want to see it. We are using a door from upstairs. Mike, the builder, is GREEN again!

Then I saw where he has been busy working on the wall where the screen will be installed.

You can also see the area on the right where he’s been busy framing. There have been water problems down there and they must have had drywall damage or been trying to figure out the problem. I foresee a big dig going on outside before this is over!

Today was also granite research day….so many gorgeous ones to choose from! I went looking for one we saw at Ikea called Titanium. It was a beautiful predominantly black granite with white splashes and swirls with carmel colors in it too. Very dramatic.

Here is the one from Ikea…

The titanium that they had in stock was very boring. No carmel, very little white steaking and very expensive. I visited 3 different granite shops. Good news, I found some others I do really like and they are less expensive! The one below is the picture that Jeff liked best.

Great news today…the wall is gone!

87 days to go.

I dropped by to see how things were progressing and work on the yard renovation project, and was amazed at the progress!

They have removed the wall down the center and the entire ceiling for the vaulted area. You can see the temporary supports that have been added in the middle of the picture below. Also, the top of the brick fireplace shows where the ceiling formerly was.

Ben in front of the wall as it is being opened up.  You can see how high the new fireplace will go! See the light in the attic?  That post in  front goes from the floor to the top of the fireplace.

Here you can see what the fireplace looked like above the ceiling line with the two systems running up the chimney.

Before I left, Mike had gotten started on the fireplace removal using a way cool tool that looked like a mini-jack hammer. It was amazing how quickly he was able to remove the bricks. Another person was cleaning them off, then stacking them outside to use in a later project.  Another GREEN thing.

There will be more pictures tomorrow that will be simply shocking! I didn’t take any right before I left, but I did get a sneak preview of how it is going to look.