Cabinets and sheetrock and millwork, oh my!

We're complete slackers when it comes to updating this blog. Lots has happened in the intervening months since the last post.  We got our surface materials bid (floors, counters, etc.) only to find it was much higher than our allowance.  After some redesigns, we got that under control, and floors are in the process of being installed.  Cabinets have been mostly installed, with only a few glitches on the cabinet maker's part (one which still needs ironing out...).  The interior is painted with a base coat of what will be the ceiling color, "nice white", and the exterior is almost entirely finished except for stone trim and, a minor matter, the entry staircase.  The entry stair has been something of a challenge, as we apparently built Rapunzel's tower.  But we'll get something eventually.  Maybe a ladder.  We're hoping once we have the stairs and the stone in place, the existing exterior colors will all tie in nicely together.  As it is, you can't miss our house in a crowd :-)

Next up, more floors and bathroom surfaces, then painting somewhere in there, appliances, and... moving in?  Supposedly completion is scheduled for the beginning of September. We'll see if we make it in by Kael's second birthday (Sept. 25th).  Given that he now knows how to climb out of his crib, the sooner we can get him into a baby-proof room (i.e., not our office and library), the better.

After framing

We've often been told that progress seems to slow down once framing is complete, but in some ways it seems like things have speeded up, because now work is progressing in parallel. In the few weeks since framing more or less finished, we've gotten most of the rough plumbing (including a couple of bathtubs), most of the windows, the HVAC ducts (including the heat pump), and the beginnings of the light fixtures and electrical wiring. We also have our electrical hookup, so we don't have to pay for generator gasoline anymore. They managed to get the power poles in without taking down any trees, and the pole on our property actually blends quite well with the trees around it.

Here are a few recent pictures of progress on the interior:

It's really starting to come together.

Framing is done

Apologies for the long delay in posting; life has been hectic. There hasn't been a whole lot to report: framing has continued apace, and it's been delightful to see the house coming together. You can see a bunch of progress photos in our Picasa album. Framing is more or less finished, and the roof is on, so the house has started to dry out, and become much more pleasant to be in. We went with a slightly less attractive roofing material than we'd hoped, but it turns out to be nearly impossible to see the roof from anyplace we're likely to be, so it's not much of a problem.

In commemoration of the completion of framing, I shot a quick video tour so you can see how it fits together:

The one thing I don't think I really captured in the video is the spaciousness of the house, the way you can stand in the dining room and see all the way up to the peak of the roof above the loft. Spaciousness was a top priority when we were designing the house, and I think it's really paid off.