Framing, Day Seven.

And the beat goes on...the beat of the hammer, that is.  The guys have been putting in long hours and have still been hard at work when I get there after my work day.  Before I even get around the last curve, I can hear the hammers singing.  Today, even though Mark's small crew dwindled to only himself, they were able to finish standing the exterior walls - so great!  Mark worked on framing windows and building the stairs this afternoon.

Here's the view from the front of the house

This is the corner where the kids' bunkroom will be.

View of the front door from the kitchen.  Kinda giant, hmmmm?

 Look at these beauties!  Such a luxury to have stairs now to get into the basement!

Going down!

A wider view...

That's a wrap for this week...next week the trusses will come and will get placed if a crane can be scheduled. 

Framing, Days Five and Six.

I made it over to the house yesterday, but wasn't home last night to post photos - so, this will be a long post with lots of snaps because so much is happening.  I love this house already and really really love the way it's taking shape.  Even though Mark's crew has been down a man for the past couple of days, they're still making great progress!

I love the way you can see a home grow out of these individual boards...it was at about this stage at the last house where Angi and I brought the guys lunch and we sat on the floor and had our first indoor/outdoor picnic where the dining room would one day be.

This view is looking at the northeast corner of the house, which will be master bed & bath.

My babies breaking in their bedroom.

These are the windows in the master bedroom-we're putting two together to make it huge....love!

This will be the fireplace with windows on either side.

Standing on the south end, looking north

Day Six photos start here...from the southwest corner.

This is the best part so far: the wraparound windows in the kitchen - I cannot WAIT until they're in!!!

This is the french door that will open to the screen porch.

Door from the mud room into the garage...the rule (ok, my rule) with new construction is you can't walk through the walls, so Mark left this open so I could walk through it :).

Day Seven will see the final exterior wall put up; then interior walls can start next week...can't wait!

Framing, Day Four.

Another beautiful day for house-building!  Today, the floor deck went down and, what was so surprising was the guys started standing up walls - so exciting! 

Tomorrow, the trusses will be ordered, so we had to make final decisions on the ceiling today.  I surprised even myself, as I've decided to go with a flat ceiling in this house.  I'd always thought I wanted a vaulted ceiling again, as I loved it in my previous house.  Angi did some modeling for me with her fancy new CAD program and it clearly showed vaulting really didn't work with this house...so, here we go with a big change! 

Room with a view...this is the north side of the kids' bedroom.

All cozy and tucked in...

Framing, Day Three.

Today was beautiful, as promised, and was full of floor joist activity at the build site.  Angi stopped by in the morning and got a few early photos, below.  When I stopped by after work, the entire house was covered with joists - it's so beautiful!  It was great fun to crawl down into the basement today, because now there is somewhat of a ceiling overhead.

Tomorrow: floor deck!!!

Framing, Day Two.

Even though Thursday's work was mostly rained out, the guys got a few hours' work in during the morning.  Looks like all of the rooms in the basement have been framed, with doors...I had a little walkthrough Thursday after work, which was so fun!

We've also been busy making those all-important decisions...fnal window size and placement, front door style (so it can be properly framed), etc.  Angi and I talked alot last week about window style...I'm a cottage-style girl at heart; however, fully gridded windows seemed not quite right for this house, even though I really loved them in my other house.  4 over 1?  6 over 1?  More Craftsman-y with just vertical grids?  Then, what do you do with the interior doors?  3-panel? 5-panel?  1-panel?  So many decisions, and everything really has to go together, style-wise.  So, here's final decision for windows: Colonial over one (different number of panes, dependent on window size) and for doors: 5 panel, flat-panel.  The front door will look something like this (I think):

The first room on the lower left will be storage; moving up will be where the stairway comes into the lower level and beyond that, bathroom.  Mechanicals will be in the upper left corner. 

This is from the main open room (only area that will be finished for now) looking at the stairs.

This is the room that will be finished.

The upper right where the windows are will be a possible space for 1-2 extra bedrooms.  For future resale value (for my kids to deal with in 43 years - ha!)

The forecast for next week is still clear and sunny, so look for lots more framing photos!

Framing Begins!

The framing started yesterday - and so much is done already!  We'll have a little rain delay for the rest of the week, but next week promises to be clear and beautiful, so no holdups. 

Lumber was delivered yesterday morning and the guys worked quite awhile on the plate, which is the base to ensure the structure is square and also secures it to the foundation.  Lots of exacting work here.  Then, they were able to get in some basement framing as well.  Next up after the basement is finished: floor joists and then floor deck.  Can't wait for this part, as we won't have to crawl through the basement window to be 'inside' any longer!

Here's the guy that likely belongs to the hoofprint we saw early on...he welcomed Mark onto the property without batting an eye.  So, it seems I have an early houseguest.

Floor Pouring.

Angi happened to stop by the property yesterday and found a happy surprise - the basement floor was being poured!  We didn't expect this until next week, so it was truly a surprise.  I'm happy she got there just at the right time to catch them in action.

And, here are a few 'twilight' pictures taken after golf...