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.

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!

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.

 

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!

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.