Countertop Tuesday

Our kitchen is almost complete with the countertop install finished up last Tuesday. By pure coincidence, we seem to have a beautiful pine tree perfectly lined up with our kitchen window.

And here's another view. Our granite selection turned out very well. Our furnace is installed and was kicking out heat when I was in the house this past Sunday. And, we have running water.

Here is a look at our woodstove that I have been bragging about. I can't wait to get a nice cozy fire glowing in it.

This Tuesday, the 11th. is carpet Tuesday. Carpeting and finish work on our decks are the last two major tasks to complete. Then it's finishing up all of the "minor" loose ends. We are still on schedule so the finish line is in sight.

Have a great week, God Bless, Dana

Putting Together The Kitchen

The space designated as the kitchen is now becoming one. Here are a couple of views. The cherry wood starts out very light but will get much darker with a red tint over the next 6 - 12 months. Our stove and microwave will fill in the gaps on this side:

The sink will be in front of the window on this side:

Most of the interior trim work is completed as you see in the window and door frame above. The wood stove has arrived. It looks like a piece of art. No pictures of it yet, I'm waiting until it is fully "dressed up" before I share it with you. We feel like the end may be in sight. Lots of details to go but our builder is keeping on top of them all.

Sandy and I took a hike at Twin Lakes on Saturday. The aspen are putting on quite a show. Twin Lakes is on the highway to Independence Pass and Aspen. There are some mountainsides there that rival any aspen display in the state I think. Here is a small sample.

That's it for now. We are starting to get anxious for the final push.

Enjoy fall !
Dana

Things are looking up (and down).

Here are a few pictures of what's been happening inside the house. Our living room ceiling still needs lights and a fan but the wood is beautiful.

Here is our bathroom tile.

This is a view of the kitchen. Our hardwood floors are finished. The floor is a bit lighter than shown in the picture. Our interior doors are installed and stained, waiting for their hardware.

And here is the rest of the kitchen. Our cabinets are being installed this week. Sandy and I brought up our stove, dishwasher and microwave this past Sunday. Thankfully Gretchen and Mike came up as well. The stove was a 4-person moving job. After the cabinets are in the installers will measure for the counter tops. Things keep moving forward in spite of hunting season distracting some of the subcontractors.

Thanks for taking a look.
Have a good week, Dana

Doors and floors

Sandy and I spent the week-end doing outside cleanup and seeding work. We rented a wood chipper on Saturday and ground up all of the slash from the lot clearing last April. NOT a fun time! We are also reseeding the disturbed areas around the house now that most of the outside work is finished.

We have garage doors. Very nice garage doors; well insulated; quiet and smooth operators. It took us awhile to figure out why the openers' lights kept turning on long after the doors were open. Motion sensitive, who knew?

Our floor tile is at the house and the sub-mat for it was in place. We should have the bathrooms tiled by the end of this week. No pictures yet but the tile is pretty. Our tongue & groove ceiling is up, just waiting for a little touch-up staining.

Sandy and I picked out our granite counter-top slabs. Here they are, soon to be cut to size:

Wishing you all a fun and safe Labor Day holiday.
Dana

Putting on Some Color

We have finished our painting marathon. Here is a picture of our helper angels who kept me from getting totally stressed out over the size of the job.

 Many thanks to Gretchen & Mike for keeping things rolling.

The exterior has lots of color as well. The log accents on the garage turned out great.

The front deck rock work looks good too.

The electrician started installing plugs, switches, and light fixtures this past week. If all goes well, some of our flooring will be down by the end of the week. The painter has been staining the tongue and groove boards to go up on our living room ceiling. Lots of progress.

Major Progress

Sandy and I had not been up to check on the home for two week-ends. Everyone has been busy. Our first word was Wow! when we walked up the driveway.

The stucco crew is making progress. They have the base coat applied to part of the house and are building scaffolding everywhere. The roof is also completed.

We have front and back decks (sort of) as well. The stringers are in and you can stand (carefully) out on our decks.

And check out that beautiful front door. The window is now the background for this blog.

Here is an inside view of our living room. We are surprised by how much bigger the rooms look with the sheet rock up.

This is the view looking from the living room towards the back door and the dining room. The pedestal in the middle is the base for our wood stove. The kitchen is to the left. The left window will be over the kitchen sink.

So, we are now rounding up our paint brushes and rollers. We are painting the interior ourselves to save some money. (Seemed like a good idea at the time??). Our builder thinks the dry wall crew will be taping and applying texture by the week-end. Lots of decisions in the next few weeks starting with all of our flooring choices this coming Saturday.

I've updated the pictures at the very bottom of the blog, take a look.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.
God Bless, Dana

Catching Up

Hi All,

Lots of things have been happening around our house and the new house. Everyone has returned home safely from Erin and John's wedding celebration. It has taken me a little time to get back into the swing of things.

Here are a couple of pictures of the log framing of our front entrance deck. We also have a similar deck for the back door.

The tongue and groove ceiling will continue on the inside for the living room. Here is a picture looking back out of the living room.

Almost all of our windows are installed and roofing was underway when we were at the house July 10th. The rough electrical wiring has been completed as well as the rough plumbing. Sandy and I have been busy picking out light fixtures and ceiling fans.

Finally, here's a picture from a recent hike near Buena Vista. Nothing to do with the house, but we hiked through  the best display of Columbine that I can ever recall seeing. We hope everyone's summer is going well and thanks to all who helped in blessing Erin and John's marriage.

The Sweet Sound of... Hammering !!

Hi all,
Sandy and I worked on our trees and bushes this past Saturday while listening to the sound of hammering on our roof. Nothing sounds better when building a new home, especially on a Saturday. Just get 'er done boys!

You all can't see the most important part of this picture, an outside water faucet. Hooking up the hose and turning on the faucet was almost a religious experience for me. OK, when you've stopped laughing let me explain. For six years Sandy and I have been planting tree seedlings and sticks that are growing into bushes. Because the area receives less than 20 inches of precep. a year, we have been hauling water to help the seedlings get started. This meant 55 gallon barrels in the back of the truck, hoses, watering cans, lots of walking, lots of work. On one memorable tree planting day, I "rolled" up 200 feet of garden hose after four inches of fresh snow had fallen. Frozen garden hose does not roll, that's a fact.

Our electric control panel has been set. There are actual electric plugs (two) in our house. Much of the rough plumbing has been done as well.

Hopefully the next big addition will be the front and back decks. These will be log post and beam. We're looking forward to seeing how that comes out. In the picture above you may be able to pick out the framing for the three high windows looking into the living room's vaulted ceiling. The deck will extend this roofline out.

That's it for now. I'll spare you from any more pictures of OSB sheathing and descriptions of what you will eventually be looking at.

Wishing safe travels for everyone heading our way, Dana and Sandy

Starting to Take Shape

Up went the walls, topped off with the roof trusses. These pictures are from Saturday, May 21st. Despite rain and sometimes snow, the contractors have accomplished a lot.

This will be our front entrance. The deck is yet to come. Two bedrooms are on the right.

This is a view looking at the bedroom windows:

And finally, the garage is taking shape as well:

Important but not visible, we have our water line into the crawl space and our electric feed has been buried and terminated at the house. Of course the electric transformer is on the opposite corner of the lot. Our contractor did a great job running the conduit trench in between all of my tree seedlings.

That's it for now. Hopefully a roof will start to appear.

Have a safe Memorial Day, Dana & Sandy

The Foundation

Things are starting to take shape less than a month after the dirt moving started.

Here is the view as you drive into Game Trail. That is Mt. Yale, one of Colorado's fourteeners.

And here is a view of our foundation. Let me just say, that is one expensive hole in the ground.
The next time I snap a picture from this angle there should be a front entrance taking shape. The materials in the foreground are the makings of the floor.

This is the garage floor.

If you look closely, the far side of the floor doesn't have the same slope down to the ground. This will be a separate workshop area when the garage is finished.

It is fun to walk around the foundation and estimate where the windows will be and then what the view will be like looking out. We have water and sewer into the crawlspace. Our contractor is hoping that we will have electricity this week, even though it is still almost 300 feet from the meter to the house.

The Big Dig

Everything looks different already. Lots of pictures now that I know how to paste pictures into this blog.

We have a driveway.

This turned out much better than my original location. Our builder really located the best entrance.

Future garage entrance

If you can see it, there is a red stake in the lower, right corner of the picture. This will be the "upper" corner of the garage. This view will be looking at garage doors someday.

There are stacks of firewood around the perimeter of the building site, all of it stacked by son-in-law Mike Hartman. Many thanks to Mike.We worked our butts off in a snowstorm to get the site cleared the day before dirt moving started.

These last two pictures are looking at what will be
the back of the house. Right now you are
looking through the house. Lots of dirt to move
In order to create a flat spot for the foundation.

The bottom picture was taken from the same
location, before the dirt started to move.

Off To a Good Start

Hello,

This is my first post on my first blog. So please bear with me.  I thought it would be fun to track our new home building journey through a blog with plenty of pictures (and hopefully of progress on the house).

Sandy and I bought this piece of land in 2004. 2.1 acres in the Game Trail subdivision approximately six miles  northwest of Buena Vista. It is in a beautiful spot and I'll try to highlight with some pictures as we go along.

Up until this winter we have just been doing site work like erosion control, tree thinning, and tree planting. Sandy will tell you, LOTS and LOTS of tree planting. But hey, you marry a forester, whatdidya expect?

We started to think seriously about the home last fall when we went on a home tour within our subdivision. Just down the street from our lot we toured a new home with a very practical floor plan. The owners raved about what a great job their builder did for them and that got the ball rolling. We'll see where it stops!

We have no plans to move from Woodland Park any time soon. This will be our retreat in the mountains for the next few years.

The driveway and foundation dirt moving started Monday, so we will have some pictures of the big mess soon.

Scroll down for pictures.

Thanks for reading, God Bless, Dana