Bookshelf

My dad has been building a bookshelf for my cookbooks (and whatever else we decide to put here- right now I'm thinking it's a great place for baskets for each kid to keep his homework in).  He brought it over today and he and Kyle installed it.  After it gets painted (white like the railing will be), he'll add two adjustable shelves.

It's great having such a talented dad.  :)

Even More Siding, Vent hood and other Inside Work...

Kyle worked all day yesterday and got a lot of work done.  Our mechanical room didn't get drywall for some reason, so we bought some wall panelling and he cut that and installed it.  We'll need one more panel to finish it off.  Then that room will be ready for the water heater and softener.  (If you have a water softener that you love, let me know because I've never had one before and have no idea what to look for.)

This is just to show the wall board, but that mess of stuff is for the fire sprinklers.

The most exciting thing Kyle did yesterday was work on the vent hood for over our cooktop.  We looked at our options, which were limited since we have an island cooktop.  The vent hood would be one of the first things you saw when you came through the front door, so we didn't want it to draw a of attention.  We debated a downdraft vent, but they don't very good reviews.  Some of the fancier vent hoods that might have looked good were prohibitively expensive.  We finally decided to buy an oversized, overpowered (for the size of our cooktop) insert, which we'd install as high toward the ceiling as we could, and Kyle would build a surround to put it in.

The frame.

We used the same trim that heads the doors.

Test fitting the unit.

Finally, he installed it, and trimmed around the top with the same hardwood sheeting that he used for wrapping the cooling chimney beams.  Now all that's left is to fill nail holes, sand, and paint.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and even more pleased that we didn't have to go buy more trim to finish it off. 

 The siding guys were here  and finished up the south side of the house.

Including the gray that we deliberated over so much.  I kind of wish we had gone even darker than we did (we picked the darker of the two options we were looking at) but we were worried that it would be too close to the roof shingle color.  As it is, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.  Also, the above picture was taken this morning, but the below picture was yesterday- wasn't it a beautiful day?

Kyle also got more of the solar tubes put together- he finished the ones in our closet and bathroom, but was short material for the one in the hall bathroom, so it will have to wait for the extension piece to finish up.  He also got the wiring done for the motor on the window in the cooling chimney.  This was tricky because it didn't come with parts that he could just hook up to the wiring he put in for it.  It was kind of ridiculous, the wire was barely long enough to install the switch (do they not think about how high the windows are that people are buying electric openers for?).  I got to help pull a piece of metal through a small hole we made in the drywall in the bathroom, so Kyle could tape the wire to it and pull it back up.  That was fun- peeking through a tiny hole trying to grab a piece of metal with pliers.

More Siding, and inside work coming along.

The siding guys were back today.  They finished the back porch, and around the kitchen and dining area windows.  

This is the base for one of the porch lights. 

Last night Kyle spent several hours trimming around the new window.  It was decided that it was easier to trim around it than it would be to fix the drywall.  

He's also covering the 2x4's with plywood, then he'll fill the holes, caulk the cracks and paint it with the rest of the trim.  

This is the solar tube in our closet.  We have one in our bathroom and one in the hall bathroom as well.  He just has to finish installing the tubing and then attaching the bottom piece to finish it off.

I noticed that at some point (maybe the first day they were here) the siding guys put the ceiling of the porch up.  I can't wait to see the green siding with the rock on the front porch.

The last of the finish carpentry (I think)

The headers above the doors on the main floor were installed today.  Don't they look great?

Front door.

This window in the cooling chimney was installed awhile back but I can't remember if I took a picture of it.  The drywall people will have to come back and fix the drywall now.  It was supposed to be two windows, but we weren't able to get two windows with motors attached so we had to improvise.  There will be a switch to open the window and a fan to pull the hot air out of our house in the summer.

More Finish Carpentry

I'm kind of wishing we had done two of these special baluster panels per section, but I think it will look better when it's all painted.

Handrail going down an the wiring for the stair lighting sensor.

Big newel posts.  :)

Handrail on lower section

This is just to show a little bit of what the trim looks like.  I like how wide the baseboards are.  The headers for above the doors aren't ready yet.  In the basement we're just doing plain trim all the way around but upstairs there's something a little fancier.  I can't wait!

I didn't know there was going to be a big post at the landing in the stairway, but I like it. You can see the stairs all finished too.  The stairs, if you remember this far back, were kind of a joke for us because they were one of the last things the framers put in.

This is the little storage closet we ended up with in our closet because the hvac didn't take up very much space.  I am not in love with the pieces of wood put in to make the "adjustable shelving" here.  I think we'll take it out and find something else a little less clunky looking.

Trim around the storage cubby.  Hopefully someday we'll be able to add doors here to keep my year's supply of TP, soap and shampoo out of sight (although it's behind the door, so it's kind of hidden already.

Closeup for Kyle's benefit, of the wiring for his light sensor.

View of the railing from the front door.

This is where we throw the kids over if they're being naughty.  Eventually there will be a half wall bookcase here for my recipe books and whatever else.

Finish Carpentry

Master Closet.

 Cubbies in the master closet.  The other closets are all done or nearly done, but it was too dark to get good pictures of them.

Kyle has been painting the garage- just with one layer of primer, nearly done.

Interior doors and trim work.  Most of the trim is simple, but upstairs we should have some that are a little fancier- we noticed that the finish carpenters put the basic stuff up there too, so hopefully we get it fixed.

Basement hallway-all the doors in place are making it seem so much more real.

 The lower section of stairs has the new treads and risers.