Interior work continues

 When its raining, we move inside.  Still lots to do in here, but its slowly getting there. 

Below is our hardwood flooring we selected.  We went with strand bamboo.  Not only do we like the way it looks, its also one of the hardest hardwoods to put down.  We have done scratch tests with this products and some others including Pergo XP, and this is very durable.  Hopefully it holds up to the little boy's claws as they run around. 

Speaking of boys...Chester and Boa is sometimes making the trip with us to work for the day.  Here he is inspecting the tile that goes up on the fireplace.  It is a 6x24 tile that will be in a vertical, random ashlar pattern.

The laundry room got its cabinet installed along with the floor trim.  This room is basically done pending some staining the window and installing the sill.  Cork is installed on the floor.

Master bedroom is coming together.  Closet door installed, trim installed, and need some more final touches prior to carpet.

 Master shower is tiled and grouted.  Needs cleaned some more, but its getting there.

Cabinets in the bathroom.  Went with full height and depth "kitchen" cabinets for additional space and more comfort standing there vs standard bathroom vanities. Yep, also from Ikea.

Stone floor in the shower.  Needs a lot of cleaning.  This was a bear to grout and clean, so it has been a process.  But I think it will be worth it. 

The white tile wraps around the wall and around the bathtub.  The grout lines line up across the floor to the walls.

The black floor tile- needs more cleaning obviously.  Its a fairly dark black when its clean.  Really like this tile. 

Ventured back to Galena IL. finally and picked up our table we bought in one of the stores there over New Years.  I can not recall the wood, but we really liked the natural distressed and cracking look.  This is a really heavy table.  It is made of solid 1 1/4" boards on top and solid tapered 6x6 legs.  It is a 5x5 size so we will have 2 chairs on each side. 

close up of the graining of this wood.  This will look great in the dining room.  Love mixing old with new/modern. 

Exterior work continues...started fascia and soffit

The rain cut for a few days, so I was able to get outside and get some more work done.  At this point we are about 90% done with the siding.  There is just a bit of the garage peak to go as well as some around the clerestory.  However I wanted to get some soffit up to start to enclose the truss ends to help with the wind and water from the summer storms. 

 The garage trim and soffit installed.

 Shannon got the first coat of the sealer installed on the cedar porch.  I got the soffit up around the garage and in the clerestory, along with some fascia.

 We really need to pour concrete.  you can see what the water has been doing to the grade.  Just as soon as it starts to dry out enough to work dirt, it rains again.  I have been focusing getting the siding and soffit done to get it completely water tight, as well as use it up out of the garage so we can pour the floor.  Hopefully in about a week we can get some concrete down. 

Exterior finish work Starts

Finally getting outside and working on siding.  It rains for about 3-4 days straight, 2 dry days, then rains again.  Very frustrating.  But we are working when we can, and working inside when its raining. 

I spent a nice sunny day working on the front porch.  I decided to use a tongue and groove cedar board for the soffit and cedar decking down below.  I wanted a pop of something natural, and love the look of natural cedar next to the black soffit, fascia, windows, and eventually slate tile on the wall.  It took most the day to install this with a friend, but it was fine, craftsman type work and we enjoyed it.  It makes quite a statement, and I am very happy with how it turned out.  I was very surprised with how square everything was in relation to the porch roof, columns, beams and the deck I built...no really, I was very surprised. 

 I left the cedar 4x18 beams exposed and hang out over the ends.  The columns are 4x6 treated posts, and we furred the out with treated 2x to the width of 1x12s to cover them.

 I put up cedar 1x12s to build out the look and size of the columns.  A light gets mounted on each column and shoots up and down to help enhance them and dramatize them at night.

Siding has started and continues as weather allows.  The front windows get trimmed out with 1x4 black LP Smartrim.  I like this product so far...we will see how it holds up over time. 

Have we died?

a month and a half since a last post...wow, had no idea it has been that long.  Well, we certainly have not stopped working on it.  This spring has been very wet, so we have been focusing on the inside and working on siding as we can get to it.  So lets focus on the inside...

Since the last post, drywall went up.  We had issues here.  The hangers did not like the ICF.  They did not like how the screws went into the plastic.  They worked for a few hours and then walked off the job.  Unsure of their issue, I went out there that night and tried one.  And then another,  and another.  There was a difference between screwing into the wood and the plastic, but it was minimal.  I could hardly tell, so I decided to just start hanging until I found someone else to finish it.  I called up some friends and we hung the bedrooms and ceilings in a few days.  I was able to find a guy to hang the high walls and ceiling in the living room, luckily. 

Finishers came in and worked for about a week on it.  We went with a smooth finish.  I was evilly happy (is evilly a word?...) as they were complaining about moisture problems.  We had the furnace running at about 65 in March.  The house was too tight and the humidity was about 80%.  However, the triple pane windows never condensed even with it being below freezing outside!  This was a pain for them, but a victory for me.  I told them just to set up fans....

I do not  have many pictures of the drywall, because, well, its boring and I hate drywalling, so....

 Clerestory and living room ceiling getting drywalled

 I put up all green board in the bathrooms and behind sink locations

 These are 5/8" sheets, however they could have been 1/2" since they do not have any insulation load like the flat ceilings do.

 Took a second to peak out of the clerestory window for the view. 

 Master bedroom

I climbed up and installed the Solatube in the bathroom prior to the blown insulation being installed.  This thing puts out a ton of sunlight.  Everyone is impressed with it and loves the light.  However I constantly walk by the bathroom and think someone left the light and reach in there to turn off a switch...The bathroom is an interior room mind you, so you can see how much it lights up the space.  I wish I had a before and after picture. 

So let the painting begin!  I like a lot of things about construction, but my most hated list goes:  finishing drywall as the worse, hanging drywall, and painting is a 3rd worse for me.  Lucky for me, we get to prime and paint 9000 sqft of wall!  Some of it with 2 top coats.  Let the fun begin....
After doing some additional paint research, I decided to go with Valspar Signature paint instead of Sherwin Williams or something else.  We used it in our last house (not the signature line) but had good results, so decided to do it here.  I have to say, I was very impressed with the paint.  It went on really smooth and thick, and the lighter colors easily covered in 1 coat.  The dark colors covered as well, however there were minor roller marks so we did another coat of the dark colors.  Glad we did, it made the colors that much more vibrant.  I would recommend this paint to anyone that is for sure. A lot cheaper than Sherwin Williams as well. ( We actually used all SW paint decks and color cards to choose the colors, took them to Lowes, and they matched the RBG...shhhh).

Picture time:

 Working on the great room.  Went with SW Iron Ore for the back wall color. 

 Dining Room- SW Naval blue

 Master Bedroom- SW....can't remember...

 Looking into the master bathroom

 Master bathroom

 laundry room

I am inspecting the working being done...

 Dining and entry getting painted

 North wall/kitchen

 Main bathroom- went with a 2 tone paint.  I continued the blue onto the ceiling as well.

 

Despite all of the work, there is always time to bust a move.

 

Lets jump ahead some more!  Electricians started installing fixtures:

 

 

 Looking at the clerestory painted in the same paint as the master bathroom.  I sealed the beam, and I really like how it turned out.

 The door getting painted.  Went with the Iron Ore on this wall and the green again from the bathroom.  (the blue is painters tape...)

The ceiling, the lights, the FAN.  People spend a lot of money on chandeliers or fancy lights...we went with a fancy fan.  Interestingly enough, everyone comments on the fan.  Its a 72" Tier 3 Energy Star fan.  This thing puts out some serious air movement and is super quiet.  Its a cool fan.
The ceiling is also painted the same color as the wall....

 

 

I cut a hole for the first speaker in the kitchen ceiling.  You can see the boxes I installed and how the foam sealed everything very nicely. 

 

 

Started tiling in the main bathroom.  I put down the Kerdi membrane on the subfloor.  Went down much faster than concrete board, that is for sure.

 Installed the tile.  These are Daltile Fabrique in 12x24 size, color is Blanc Linen.  Love this tile. 

 Installed the floating vanity and toilet. 

 

nearly completed restroom- still needs base board trim and the trim that goes on the paint line...then 1 room done!

 







 

Doors showed up.  Went with a 5 panel shaker style solid core molded door.  these are heavier than they look.  Love the way these doors look.