There's a lot going on at the house, but it seems like very slow progress. Maybe that's because we're anxious to get moved in before we leave for the Middle East the first of April!
Over the weekend, Collin & Jordan helped us do some painting in the mechanical room in the basement. They loved it, and they did a great job!


They're still working on the kitchen cabinets. We had a complication last week that will set us back a little since we had to order some replacement parts.

Laundry room cabinets are almost complete. There will be a utility sink in the base cabinet.

Carpet has been installed in the loft:

Looking down the stairs from the loft. Treads have been stained--still a lot to do.

We're using wood from a 100 year old barn on the walls beside the fireplace. Ron & Larry have been cleaning and planing the wood. You can see the first board mounted next to the fireplace:

The mason has been working on the stone wall extending from the ground floor patio to the driveway, and the stonework covering the poured wall on the side of the house and on the entry side. The bare concrete wall you see will also be covered with stone.



They are framing up the driveway and walkways to the entry porch and the screened porch, and hope to be able to pour cement later this week.
ckc

cabinets

Cheryl/Mom and I are off to Orlando in a few minutes for the annual Chick-fil-A seminar, but I wanted to get a post up before we left. We won't be posting until next Thursday.
The garage metal roof is complete, but I failed to get a photo of it. They started the wiring in the garage and they have moved the water tank into the garage. We already have a resident owl in the garage! When the workers force him to move he just moves to another quiet place in the loft of the garage. The garage doors will be installed next week so we will have an IDO to deal with --- Internally Displaced Owl...
Our crew is working on installing cabinets right now as it is freezing cold. There are some shots of the cabinets below. These photos were taken on Wednesday, so there is more progress on the installation. The countertops will be ordered today and it will take two weeks for them to come in, so hopefully we will move in three weeks. We have purchased the carpet for the loft and it will be installed hopefully the first of next week, so the crew can complete the stair ballusters and rails (it is much easier to install the carpet before this work is done). There is still a lot of small things that have to be done -- in addition to some big things like forming and pouring the concrete drive.
So, we are under a bit of pressure to finish the house, move in and get somewhat settled before leaving for the month of April to visit with the overseas families. Cheryl will be gone the whole month and I will be overseas on business and visiting family for nearly three weeks.
Kitchen. Double oven cabinet.

Kids

Fireplace is 99% compete. It has both man-made stone that were designed to match stones on the farm and some natural stones with fossils and moss on them.

Ground floor bath.

Ground floor kitchen.

Wash room.

Master bath

Lots of Color!

Tonight I'm making up for posting so few pictures this past week! The painters got a lot done today. Hope you can get a good idea of how it's looking from these.
Downstairs bedroom

Other downstairs bedroom

Family room, downstairs

Greatroom and dining room

Looking down on the greatroom from the loft

Kitchen & entryway

Loft

Master bedroom

A Little Bit of Color

Sorry that I have not posted pictures for several days, but there really hasn't been anything new to see. The painters started on Tuesday -- a day later than planned. They sprayed the primer all over the house, painted doors and trim, and finally today began to paint the first coat of color. They did a lot of cutting in around doors and windows (this is a little dark, but you can kind of see where they painted around the windows in the greatroom). . .


. . . and they started rolling the first coat in the ground floor family room. The walls below the chair rail will be a darker shade. The walls above the rail and the ceiling are the same color, but it looks lighter on the ceiling.


I was glad I went out there this afternoon, because they had started painting the ground floor bathroom the wrong color! Now that they've started rolling, maybe things will move faster, and I'll have some more colorful photos to post this weekend.

Fireplace Stonework Complete

Our neighbor worked today to finish the fireplace so that the painters can continue their work tomorrow. Ken has done a great job. He will also do the stonework on the outside of the house and will build some stone retaining walls.


Looking down from the loft:

Week-end work on fireplace

Well, you're going to get a crick in your neck, trying to look at some of these pictures! I had them turned right in the computer, but when I posted them, they turned back and I can't get them fixed. I'm tired of trying to figure it out, so I'm just leaving them the way they are in hopes that you can get a good enough idea of the progress on the fireplace. Ken has been working today (Saturday) on the mortar, and these show what it looked like late this afternoon. He plans to finish it tomorrow (Sunday) so that the painters can get to work on Monday. The photo of the garage shows the completed siding.