Back Porch

Mat helped me finish the back porch ceiling.  After the fan is installed I'll cover the seam with another couple of boards.  After this, I started work on the porch floor, or decking.  Brian had some Ipe decking imported for he, Sam and I to use for our houses.  Brian and Sam used hidden fasteners that hold the decking in place without anything showing on the surface but I wasn't happy with how those would turned out for me so I decided to screw through the top like regular decking.  Since this is Ipe, ( an extremely dense species from Brazil ) I can't simply screw it down.  I've had to drill pilot holes, then countersink holes, and then screws.  All that adds up to more work, longer time.  Fortunately it looks really good. 

Porch Ceilings

      We could have gone the easier route and simply had the siding installers put aluminum soffiting in the porches but our friend Sam found out about some pine, tongue & groove planks at a nearby lumber mill for sale cheaper than anywhere we could buy it so . . . we bought it.  I guess you could say it's been a labor of love to install it ourselves because we quickly found out how badly bowed most of the boards are.  It wasn't easy but we really like how it turned out.  Jan came last week to help around the house and he and I finished the front porch and half of the back.  I didn't take the time to finish the pine before installing - which I may regret, but that can be done later.

      The front porch begun.

The finished front porch.

The back porch half done.

More Of The Cabinets

           Here are those promised cabinet pictures.  See?  I keep my word.  This is the upstairs bathroom cabinet.  It will have two sinks for the girls and is about six feet long.  The master bathroom cabinet looks the same but is shorter and will hold just one sink.

             This is another view of the kitchen cabinets.  The range will fit in the center with a hood above it and the refrigerator goes into the space on the right with a cabinet above it.  To the right of that is the pantry.

Cabinets Start

          The first step in our bathroom and kitchen cabinets installation began Tuesday evening.  Nick and his wife and son didn't get to our house until 5:00 pm and they didn't leave until around 10:00.  The bathroom cabinets are pretty much finished besides counter/sink and handles.  The kitchen still needs some finish work done, counter top and then doors.  As you can see, we decided on painted cabinets.  They are a country style that we've seen in magazines and like.  The color is a light cream/off white.

I still need to take pictures of the bathroom cabinets.  They are naturally finished alder. 

Flooring Time

         After finishing all the painting, we finally decided on which flooring to use (after waiting pretty late).  We found a prefinished, hand distressed White Oak floor with a light brown stain.  The lumber is Rift & Quarter Sawn so it looks different than average oak flooring.  This looks closer to nice oak furniture, probably like your parents' antique cabinet. The difference comes from how the lumber is cut.  If you're looking at a log straight on like a circle, plainsawn lumber is cut horizontally, like cutting bread.  R&Q is cut all the way across the center like a pizza.  That may not mean much to you but it makes a big difference in how the lumber looks and reacts to moisture.  We're really happy with how ours looks and are grateful for all the help we've had in installing it ourselves, especially from Dad.

Here you see we laid out a layer of roofing felt paper that helps the flooring sit tighter to the subfloor and sound more solid.  We then snapped a chalkline across the back of the living room/kitchen and started at it.  I have more pictures of this process but they're on my Dad's camera and he's on his way, with Mom, to Washington state.  I'll try to add them later.

As for the bathrooms and garage entry area with bathroom and laundry room (aka: mudroom), we wanted tile floors but didn't want to add that cost.  So, we had some lower end vinyl flooring installed by a friend's company.  We like how it turned out and expect it to last for a while.  When we're ready to install tile, we'll be able to lay it right over the vinyl.  In this picture it looks sort of pinkish - it's not.  It's mostly cream and brown.  And that hallway wall isn't green.  I don't know why it looks like that in the picture.

Painting Finished

Ok, I'm a week late to post these but I finished painting all the walls.  The kitchen held me up a little while because we decided to put wainscoting panels on the walls.  I'm still not sure if I should have waited and put them on after the cabinets and window trim where on, but I knew installing them now would be easier.  It's difficult to see from these pictures what the colors are so I'll help you out.  The living room is a creamy beige color called Navajo White.  That's in most of the house including all the upstairs bedrooms.

We picked a green for the front room, the laundry and mud bath rooms.

Our master bedroom, the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen panels are a pale blue.  (Blue Reflections I think the name is.)  

So, this was finished up about a week ago and around last Thursday I started getting the floor ready for wood flooring.  I'll get those pictures up soon.

Siding Finished

Our exterior siding was finished today.  It's been 99% done for about 10 days now but the front door and a few other details needed completing.  It's turned out great and we really love how it looks.  In case you're wondering, the green lower part of the front isn't finished yet.  It will have a stone veneer put on it that we're ordering now.  A stipulation of the lot we bought is the house must have 30% of the front covered in either log, brick, or stone.                I hope to finish cleaning the yard of trash and debris tomorrow which will now allow Clay to come back and begin grading it and backfilling up to the foundation.  This ought to greatly improve the look of the yard surrounding the house.

I've been painting for a few weeks too but have failed to add pictures of that so far.  I keep forgetting.  I took some this weekend but I'll save them for next time.  That part is just about finished and we're making the decisions on our flooring this week.  Busy busy.
         We spent most of yesterday in Mountain Home, AR buying things for the house like toilets, water heater and bathroom fixtures.  Bonnie went to Springfield today with Rose and bought more of that stuff.  We have the light fixtures and ceiling fans now too.  The electrician is suppossed to begin the final electricl work on Wednesday which will include outlets, switches and fixture installation.  Very exciting.