Day 79

Windows and doors and so much more.

So many little things have happened in the last week, it is hard to remember all of them. It is not like previous posts, when I have told you about one big thing that happened. It is not like when the foundation was poured, and I could update you about that. This one is going to be a bit choppy. I’ll attempt to make it flow more smoothly by using some headings.

Windows and Doors
The windows all arrived on site late last week, and were stacked up in the garage. The framers are the ones that put in those items, so they had to come back to get this done. There was a delay in the delivery of the windows, partly due to the snow we had last week, partly due to mishandling of the order by the supplier. Three of the windows had to be re-ordered because they were ordered originally as the wrong size. The windows in question are for the breakfast area. We are putting a bench underneath those windows to use with our table, so that leaves two feet less space for a window. Therefore, that spot will only hold a 6′ window, rather than a 7′ window. They went ahead and put in the 6′ windows from other spots in the house into those slots in the breakfast area. That way, that section at least looked complete. They have since moved on to finish all but a few of the windows. We are still waiting for the other 6′ ones to arrive. They even installed the large one over our tub. It looks nice. I’m not sure I’m crazy about the pattern of the glass, but it is nice to have all of that light coming in the bathroom. I love natural light.

The exterior doors are beautiful! They are made of fir, and their grain is so tight and beautifully uniform. They will take stain nicely. We went with fir, because they are not too yellow or too red when they take stain. Pine tends to turn either yellowish or reddish when you stain it. That is ok for some places, but we didn’t want that for the doors. The front door is a large, double door. It is 8′ tall, so it looks majestic. Each side of this double door has 6 glass panes. On the side entry (friend entry), we used another 8′ door, but with 4 glass panes. We used those same doors on the back porch as well. All of them are installed but the double, front door, and they look marvelous!

The kitchen window was too low. As I’ve told you before, it would have been below the counter height. Not sure what they were thinking when they framed it so low, but I had to get them to move it. Maybe it was drawn that way on our plans. They moved it up about 13″. That was enough to give us just about 5 or 6″ of back splash in between the counter top and the window sill. It looks pretty awesome now that it is at the height it needs to be.

Cypress Posts
The cypress posts for the front and back porch were delivered Friday. They are in their raw form as you see them in these photos, but they will be stained a beautiful, dark shade once installed. We are going to have 4 on the front porch, 2 on the back porch and are using some inside.

Stainable Trim
The group of small trim boards you see on the front porch are to cover the seams underneath the front porch where the bead board is. In trim carpentry, you always use another board, strategically, to cover the seams where two boards meet. That’s why you have crown moulding, base moulding and any other kind of moulding. It is generally to hide where two things meet.

Fireplace
When they originally framed our house, the fireplace opening went all of the way to the ground. I guess they thought we were going to do one of those modern fireplaces, but we like a hearth. It is nice to be able to sit directly in front of the fire, as well as on the sides. We will build a hearth up about 20″, or whatever the standard is. Therefore, they had to raise the hole fir the fireplace at least that much. Above that, we are not doing a cubby for a tv, but rather keeping it flat with some pine tongue and groove stained boards. This will look sharp and will allow a tv to be hung up there. I’m not sure that we will do that, because it might be too high up for our liking, but we will have the capability at least.

Lighting
We have $3,500 for a lighting allowance, and when you hear that, you probably think, “That is a lot of money! If you can’t stay within that parameter, you just spend too much!” I thought the same at first, but when I started counting up all of the little lights we need, inside the house and out, I saw that we will probably use all of that allowance. We will be using can lights, also called recessed lights, in many places in our house. Most of the time, 4″ can lights are used. We will be using 6″ can lights. From the photos below, you can see that they are very nice looking and will provide a significant amount of light. These usually cost about $40 a piece (and we need over 40 throughout the house…do the math on that alone) normally, but our builder, knowing that we will have a lot of them, negotiated them down to $25 each. That is huge! Very glad we have a builder that will look out for us like that. I don’t think many builders would do that.

One of the things I’m probably most excited about is the cornice lights and the lights on the front and back porches. Cornice are can lights that are recessed into the eaves of the house. In fact, I had enough cornice lights that I chose not to have but 1 flood light. It will be on the back, so that I can see out toward the woods and the back yard. That way, when the kids are out playing late on a summer night, I can flip that light on and call them home.

Washer and Dryer Hookups
The dryer vent is in the wrong place. It needs to move over about 3 or 4 feet, but that is not a really big deal. That is a minor move. The water hookups for the washer are on the wrong side as well, but that is too much of an ordeal to move. We would have to angle a 4″ pipe and drill that size through a few studs. Pretty major ordeal.

Garage and Storage Trim
The garage and the little storage room off of the garage got some attention recently. They both had the doorways trimmed out. I guess that is the last thing necessary before they start to brick it in. Both doors received the accouterments, but we ran into an issue with the storage room. It is only 8 or so feet deep. Supposedly, you need at least 10′ to put an automatic garage door. I really wanted an automatic door there, for so many reasons. Our building is researching some options to see what is available out there. I hope we can come up with a great solution!

Take a look at the photos below and let me know if you have questions or comments.

Until Next time…