Leaf Peeping

Hi all. This weekend, we went upstate with our friends Larry and RJ, who are building a house over in Sullivan county. On Saturday, we drove up to their property, which is on a beautiful hillside not far the Delaware River. Unfortunately, we neglected to take any photos while we were there.

The leaves upstate are peaking right now, and the drive was great. We took the amazing route 97, which I had never been on before (check out a picture here). We spent Saturday night at my mother's place, and on Sunday morning, Nina demanded that we go pick some pumpkins. Above is a shot from the Jenkins-Leuken farm in New Paltz. The ridge is in the background.



Sunday, we made our way over to our house. The roof has finally arrived and is in the process of being installed. It is a galvalume standing seam roof, and it should be completely on by next weekend (weather permitting). We're really happy with the way it looks.



Our siding has also arrived, and is currently in our garage. Walter put together a few stain samples for us, and we weren't really thrilled with any of them. The original intention was to stain the siding black, but we're learning that some parts of the cedar don't absorb the stain as well as others, resulting in an uneven finish. This looks fine from a distance, but up close, it's not as attractive. Over time, it would probably weather and look good, but we're still looking into our options.

We also approved the stone cladding for our foundation on Sunday. The masons should start cutting and applying the stone soon.

OK, hopefully we'll have an update next week.

Update and Kitchen Plans

Hi all. There hasn't been much progress over the last couple of weeks, due to delays in receiving materials. Last time we posted, we mentioned that we would soon have our roof and siding, but neither have arrived. This coming weekend, we'll approve the stain for our siding, and Walter and crew will begin installation the following week (assuming it arrives by then). We'll also approve the stone that will clad the foundation, and hopefully the mason will be able to start work immediately. We expect a garage door soon, too. It will be clad in clear red cedar to match the ceiling of the covered porch above.

In the meantime, the plumber and electrician are working on the interior. We've specified every plumbing fixture in the house, so the plumbing can be roughed in. We're still working on the light fixtures, but we're pretty certain of their locations, so the electrician can get started too.

We didn't want to leave our beloved readers hanging for too long, so in lieu of progress pics, we'll give you some plans. Below are images that show the plan for our Henrybuilt kitchen, which is being built in Seattle right now. For those of you that have never heard of Henrybuilt, check out their website here. We looked at dozens of cabinet makers, and none compared to the quality or aesthetic of Henrybuilt. This really will be the center of the home, and because the kitchen, living room, and dining room are open to one another, a lot of thought went into its design. When you check out their website, notice the kitchens in walnut - that's the material we've chosen. First, the plan...

The plan above shows the refrigerator and base cabinets against the north wall, and the island to the south. The primary sink, diswasher and trash will be in the north cabinets, while the range, microwave and prep sink will be in the island. On either end of the island are hidden cabinets with doors on touch latches. One will hold cookbooks and the other will hold liquor. Between those cabinets is an open space for the legs of those sitting on stools watching the chefs in action.

Above is the north wall elevation. The refrigerator and diswasher will be paneled in walnut and will be flush with the surrounding cabinets. This should help us achieve the furniture look we're going for.

Above is the island elevation. On the left is a small prep sink. In the middle is a beautiful Bluestar range, that will probably be painted black. On the right is the microwave, which will be hidden behind a door when not in use. Who goes to farm country to use a microwave anyway?

And here's what the kitchen will look like from the living/dining room. Clean and simple.

Hopefully, we'll have more progress for you next week. Thanks for tuning in.

More Windows, Weatherproofing

Hi all. This past week, all remaining windows were installed, and the roof was weatherproofed. We're hoping that our siding and roof panels arrive this week so Walter and his team can begin installation, but there are no guarantees. Not too much to explain this week, so just enjoy the photos.

more windows, beams, stairs...

hello. so above you can barely see it, but walter and his guys carved "country crib 07" into the foundation for our front stairs, which you see below. please note that each stair will be clad in bluestone, so this little note will be a time capsule piece for someone else to discover many moons down the road.

above is a shot of the poured steps. more earth will be brought in to fill beside them, so no need for a railing.

as you can see here, more windows have been installed, and hopefully all will be in while the weather stays dry. we had a bit of a misting today, but nothing that would cause the wood windows too much harm.

above are the beams that tie into our rafters (and thus help secure the roof), and also help prevent the walls from splaying outward due to the weight of the roof. These will be exposed in all the bedrooms with a cathedral ceiling above, which is why walter has protected them with this wrap.

here's a shot of the west wall in our main living space on the first floor. each bay has two awning windows in the middle for cross ventilation. that's why the frames on the middle two windows are wider than those on either side.

and above you can see how the windows will frame the fireplace. below is the view out the window to the left of the fireplace. it's really gorgeous in reality, but the picture doesn't do it too much justice. we chose a roof today, and we hope it will be installed sometime in the next couple of weeks. that's all for now folks.

Windows

Our windows were delivered yesterday, and Walter and his crew have begun installation. The four largest bays have been installed, as you can see above. They are incredible. The outside of the window frames is a clear anodized aluminum, which simply means, they look like unpainted aluminum. The insides are douglas fir, and look beautiful.



Above is a shot from the backyard.



Above is a shot from the kitchen area of the main room. Notice that each bay has a sliding door. The fir will be left unpainted, finished with some sort of polyurethane I think.



And these windows are in the den. That's all that's been installed so far - hopefully we'll have the rest in by this weekend. We should also have our front steps poured and our 2nd floor ceiling beams in by then. Soon, a steel roof and cedar siding. This thing is really becoming a house!

Look for another post Sunday or Monday.

senor hausbot

hey. check out our HOUSE! doesn't the north facade look like a sad robot?

this week the front stairs progressed, and we're still trying to find the tastiest recipe for lemonade. the stairs will look great, and they will be a very comfortable climb, but the land is so steep! we trust walter, though, and we'll all figure something out, and it will be beautiful.

and, once they climb those comfortable steps, this is what our guests will see when they enter the front door. straight ahead is a window with a view to the back yard. to the right are the stairs that will take you to the second floor (bedrooms, covered porch). to the left will be two coat closets with a bench in the middle. this is also where we'll have two floor to ceiling sliding partitions that close off the den when we need to use it as an extra bedroom. when it's not a bedroom, the sliding partitions will serve as the coat closet doors.

above is a shot of our rainy day covered porch on the second floor. instead of traditional wood collar ties here (usually bolted to the rafters, to pull the walls in, as the weight of the roof wants to push them out), we opted to use a 3/4" steel rod with staggered turnbuckles. they serve the same purpose as the wooden ones that will be used inside the house (and will be exposed in the bedrooms - see next week's post for pics of those), but are more appropriate for outside, and also just look pretty cool.

DEFINITELY stay tuned next week, as our windows, interior collar tie beams, and roof arrive this week. over the next couple of weeks, we'll see some pretty major steps. cheers.

stairs + chairs

hello.


Most of the time this week was spent trying to figure out our front stairs. Walter + his team had to unearth most of the fill that was near our front entry in order to install a concrete block foundation for the main entry stairs up to the house. This area was particularly difficult to design, because I never did a real land survey in that area. Nor do I actually know how to do a real land survey. Anyway, the area was a lot steeper than I had anticipated, so we've been going back and forth between my sketches and figuring it all out on site. Billy and I are comfortable at this point making lemonade from lemons and pretty much letting the guys wing it from here. We'll see how it turns out.



Above is the full house view from the front as it is right now.



And a BIG thank you to Walter for making us some really cool chairs for our future fire pit! He made a bunch of them for another client, and was thoughtful enough to make a few extra for us. How great is that?

Rafters

Hello all. This week we gained roof rafters, and you can start to see the barn influence. The above shot is from the backyard.



Above is a shot from across the driveway. The workers have begun to apply the Tyvek housewrap to the sheathing.



Above is the view from the driveway as it turns toward the garage. Check out the sweetness that is our covered deck!

It turns out that we'll need a separate foundation for our entry steps. That big mound of dirt is backfill that had to be removed to make way for said foundation.



It appears mighty tall when you're approaching the garage. I think this is really going to be an impressive sight when it's done.



This is up on the roof deck. It's not the best picture, but you can see that the floor is waterproofed and sloped to allow for proper drainage.



And here's the lovely Nina, standing in the master closet wall.

sheathing

hey blog fans. short post this week. most of the plywood sheathing is up. this not only protects the house from weather, but is actually structural as well, taking much of the shear loads. well, whatever's left that isn't dealt with by our many metal shear wall panels that the engineer specified. next week walter will begin framing on the roof. i think that will be a bit shocking, as i've gotten quite used to our low-profile flat box.

above is a collaged view of the main space from the kitchen toward the fireplace wall. we're installing a vent-free gas fireplace, so no chimney required. as such, it will be surrounded by glass.

above is the view from the driveway approaching the garage.

above is the garage, which is under the den and entry hall, which is under the covered roof deck. you can see that the land is still a few feet shy of reaching the front door. we're still working out the details for the front steps.

above, the view from the backyard.

our first night at the house

hello friends and family. this week the first image goes to our new friend arthur. arthur is the resident fowl at clinton vineyards, a highlight among local stanford-area attractions. this past weekend, billy and i, along with our dear friends carey and justine (actually we just met justine, but after a few rounds of lawn bocce and some kumbaya 'round the fire, i feel like we're the oldest of gal pals) set up camp in our future backyard and got to know our new home. the weather was perfect, in fact refreshingly chilly at night, which was a welcome change from the recent oppressive august heat. we visited a few vineyards, played some bocce, and roasted some marshmallows, and didn't actually sing kumbaya. but there was a fire. and the pure silence was bliss come bedtime. it was all really nice until my peaceful slumber was disrupted by a vicious man-eating wildebeest and its epic blood fest featuring a giant grizzly bear right outside my tent. or, it was a gentle deer. eating a leaf. either way, there may have been a grand total of two hours of real sleep for me. but hey, my mind goes to dark places sometimes. needless to say, i'll be very happy when this house has central ac, a shower, and light. lots of glorious, artificial light.

so, here's the house. doesn't look all that different from last week, but now there's backfill around the foundation, so the house doesn't actually look like it's three storeys tall. and the interior framing on the second floor is pretty much done. this week, walter's going to begin framing out the roof.






c'est tout.