Van Dyke Project

Long Time Gone

2012-01-23T16:44:00.021-05:00

ummm...where did this past year go?

I can't believe it has been that long since I last posted on here. Having a kid sorta took over our lives a bit, I guess. We are just now getting caught up with ourselves again. Greg has been staying busy and fitting in little projects here and there- mostly while the kiddo has been napping. Can't get much done while she is awake these days.

I wanted to put up some photos of his grill shed Greg built this past summer. He was really excited about doing this- especially excited about his new ceramic egg grill too. We found some cool old industrial lights at this local garage sale and used up lots of our leftover house materials. Even some old slate made it on the countertop.

Had our first grilled turkey this Christmas too. Nice work, G!

White Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T09:30:00.004-05:00

The first flakes actually started falling on Christmas night. It hasn't snowed in Raleigh on Christmas in more than 60 years! We got about 8 inches- so beautiful!

Going to be 65 degrees here on Saturday. What a great way to bring in the new year!

Another Year Over...

2010-12-08T21:54:00.008-05:00

Once again, I have let way too much time pass since my last post. Having a new baby has definitely changed things up a bit over here on Van Dyke! Greg always has a few projects going on though, they just seem to take a little longer to complete these days.

We had this great idea to build our dining room table out of salvaged wood from old bowling alley lanes. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who wanted to do this and had a hard time getting a hold of anything affordable. So Greg decided to try and mimic one on his own by gluing up a bunch of maple.

Nice work, G. Just in time for the holidays.

Our laundry room is finally finished too. Greg built cabinets, a folding table and came up with a cool drying rack for the wall. I seem to be spending a lot of time in this room lately, with a baby and all. Makes washing all the dirty clothes and diapers so much better.

In other exciting news, all 3 of our happy chickens are laying eggs now. They love running free in the backyard (we have grass now) and we really have enjoyed sitting on the screened porch watching them.

And finally, we got the top put on the rain barrel. Here's a picture of it all finished and full of water. We even decorated it with Christmas lights.

We probably won't be doing much more around here until after the holidays, so this will most likely be my last post of 2010. It's been a very productive and exciting year for us and I really look forward to all that 2011 has to bring.

Wishing you all a very merry christmas and a Happy New Year!

Let it Rain

2010-10-05T09:40:00.019-04:00

One thing we learned during this record breaking hot summer was that we used a lot of water for landscaping. Although we chose many drought resistant plants, our water usage was still pretty high. So, in an effort to conserve water and save money, we decided to put in gutters and collect our rain water.

Greg decided he would build our rain barrel. We bought a 305 gallon plastic water tank from Agri-Supply. Using some rough-sawn treated lumber from his dad's sawmill, he built a wooden surround and conical top. He then used some steel strapping to cinch the cylinder of boards securely together. The tank is equipped with an overflow pipe that is connected to the underground drain pipe, and has a garden hose connection with a valve at the bottom of the tank. Greg's brother Keith, an engineer in Raleigh, designed and sized all the tank plumbing. Keith also computed all the angles necessary to build the cylindrical tank and the conical top. Our friend and metal-worker, Christian Nonino, and crew plumbed the gutter downspout to the tank. All that remains to be done is making a metal "topper" for the tank.

The other day, someone drove by our house on a bicycle and shouted out that the water barrel reminded them of "Petticoat Junction". We had no idea what he meant, but after googling it and watching the intro to the 1960's TV show, we sorta get it. Pretty funny actually.

sum-sum summertime

2010-08-23T16:05:00.013-04:00

I am embarrassed by how long it has been since I posted on this blog. This has really been a busy, busy past few months...but the doors are all in, the chicks are lovin' the new fancy coop, Greg's been touring all over the US since CCL's new record was released AND we are expecting a baby in a few days. whew. I had good reason to be so slack.

Here are a few photos I did take this summer around the house. We planted a front yard garden and the watermelons have gone crazy. Luckily, the chickens LOVE them too.

The nursery...

The finished doors...

The lovely ladies...

Penelope

Lulu loves to get on the hammock with G

Still no eggs, but we expect them any day now.

So, there really isn't a whole lot of house stuff left to do around here now. Sure, we need some furniture- and Greg is really looking forward to building that this fall. I found this bedroom set I really love, so Greg is going to try to replicate it for us. We are also going to try to plant grass and landscape out back. Our poor backyard is such a dustbowl. This has been one hot North Carolina summer and I am looking forward to it coming to an end.

And a final shot of the guys playing locally the day the record was released...

The doors!

2010-05-09T22:05:00.007-04:00

Although we've been living in our house since last August, we've been doing so without any interior doors. I admit it, it was weird at first, but I've actually gotten used to using curtains as a temporary solution. Our house guests might not feel the same though, so I am excited to say that we will actually have real wood doors in place by the end of this week!

Greg built all 11 from poplar. They are based on the classic 5 panel style of the early 1900's. He primed them and is in the process of fitting and installing the hardware.

The french doors in the music room are also in. Who knew doors could make such a difference???

The Coop!

2010-04-14T02:28:00.010-04:00

All this beautiful spring weather inspired us to finally build our backyard chicken coop. We had lots of leftover materials to work with after building the house, so it was nice to find good use for it. I think Greg had fun building it too- not quite as stressful as building our house. Hope our city chicks like it as much as we do. Almost finished...

just getting started

already thinking about clean up

where we will collect eggs

Spring is here!

2010-03-24T17:26:00.006-04:00

75 degrees and sunny today! I really hope we have seen the end of this dreary, cold and never-ending winter.

These are tulips that Greg brought back from Holland last year. I planted them way back in November and they just popped up. I hope they last long enough for G to see when he gets home next week.

Our peach tree is blooming too- thanks Kyra and Chandler!

Random stuff

2010-03-03T00:51:00.013-05:00

Walk-in closets are finished! We have been living out of boxes since August and since closets were low on our priority list it took until now to finish them up. I think Greg was getting pretty tired of my stuff lying everywhere. So, time to get organized. It's going to actually be fun with all this room. Here's my fancy closet...

With our house contest prize money, we went ahead and ordered blinds for the entire house. We ended up getting the bottom-up/ top-down cellular shades and LOVE them. They let in just enough light too and don't cover up the trim. I'm sure the neighbors will miss watching Greg play the Wii though.

Here are a couple shots of our built-in desk off of the kitchen. We are now on the hunt for the perfect desk chair. Greg's also making some kind of cabinet on casters to hide the printer and cords.

G also built a very Scandinavian-looking cabinet to house all the TV stuff.

As soon as it gets warmer, door building begins. G's making 11 doors and we just got our hardware in. So pretty...

After my last blog post, something pretty cool happened. Someone in Raleigh stumbled across our blog and contacted us about having Greg build a breakfast nook similar to the one he had just done for us. Here is a picture of it all finished. I think they were happy with it and we met some really nice people along the way.

Building Built-ins

2010-01-27T09:45:00.013-05:00

Here are some photos of the breakfast nook area that Greg worked on this week. He was on a mission to finish before leaving town this weekend and did it all. Nice work G!

This is leftover soapstone we had from our kitchen countertop. We're making a built-in desk area off of the kitchen and using some of this for the desk top. Soapstone was not as easy to work with as we thought it would be (and so very messy to cut) but we are definitely happy with the finished product.

I haven't been very hands on these days, but am getting pretty good at shopping for the things we need. Right now I'm working on finally getting something up in our windows- and there are a lot of them. At least I know the neighbors will be happy.

Life After the Holidays

2010-01-13T23:09:00.007-05:00

Well, the holiday festivities have come to a close. So much fun seeing our friends and families, eating lots of good food and taking some much needed time off, but now it's back to work.

Our house has become a construction zone once again. Greg started on the built-ins this past week. He's building a window bench in our dining room, a kitchen nook and a desk area off of the kitchen. Here are some photos of his work in progress...

We picked out some fabric today and are having a bench cushion made.

Believe it or not, we haven't had to turn on the heat yet this year. Greg has kept that fire burning non-stop.

We found out right before Christmas that we won the contest I had entered at Repair Home!! Thanks for voting for us! We are looking forward to spending our prize money on future projects- and there are many, many more.

House contest finalists!

2009-12-06T03:41:00.019-05:00

I just found out that our house was chosen as a finalist in a contest I entered back in October at Repair-Home! I can't believe we made the the final round.

So, now I'm here shamelessly asking for your help! Click the button below to vote for our house project (the middle one) in this final round that ends December 15th!

VOTE

Thanks! So exciting and couldn't have happened at a better time for us!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-02T23:22:00.019-05:00

Greg has been working soooo hard and finished out the back porch, built our butcher block kitchen island and got the woodstove installed and running all before my family arrived from PA for Thanksgiving.

We had a house full of people and dogs- and it was so nice to actually have plenty of room. Next year though, we promise to have doors up (at least in the bathrooms, ok?).

Here are some pics of what we have been working on since my last post.

the back porch

my brother and Greg loving the 70 degree weather

pretty door Greg made with a flap just for Ferlin

leftover roof slate we used on the porch wall

it took all of us to install this crazy chandelier

Greg made the butcher block top out of maple. It turned out really pretty and I don't want to actually cut anything on it now. Sorry Greg.

We scored these bar seats from the 42nd Street Oyster Bar years ago right before they were headed to the dumpster- they cleaned up pretty good.

pretty!

I am sad to say we lost our husky dog the weekend before Thanksgiving. That old girl was a trooper through all the construction and moving- we are so happy she got to enjoy the new house these past few months. We will miss you sweet Ferlin, the house is so empty without you.

Porches!!!

2009-10-10T02:53:00.012-04:00

Work, a European tour and a sickly dog have kept us busy, busy, busy since moving in. I haven't updated this blog in a while, but we really have been making progress on the house. The pressure is off though since we actually live here now. whew.
Greg tore out the front porch rails (they were built and put in to meet code only) and came up with a fancy new design. Love it- and the house numbers too.

Clark and Greg put in the back screen porch this week. Lots to do though still. We are planning on using the leftover slate from the roof and putting it on the lower walls out back. Going to attempt to acid stain the cement floor which should be very interesting.

All this and more to be completed before my family comes down for Thanksgiving! No pressure G.

MOVED IN!!!!

2009-08-29T19:15:00.003-04:00

Well, we are all moved in!

HOORAY!

Greg was able to come home for a week from his CCL european adventure and help move us in, but we couldn't have done it without Jay Brown. He not only painted most of the inside of the house, but he helped move us out of the old place and into the rental and then back into the new place. I am absolutely certain that he is sick and tired of seeing our old piano and my treadmill by now. Thanks Jay Brown! We love you!

Our fridge was a housewarming gift from Greg's folks. We love it. Ferlin loves it. Thanks Clark and Carolyn.

Ok Greg, get back from tour already so we can enjoy this beautiful house that you built!

Finishing Touches

2009-07-25T18:45:00.008-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been chaotic over here as we prepared for the final inspections. Dad came up again to help complete the short list required for occupancy. While searching through the pile of leftover framing lumber for a 2 x 4, we found, and then exploited this little guy--a baby posssum.

Dad helped glue and clamp the douglas fir front door that I made.

This is the finished product--hung, with 2 of 3 coats of poly applied.

This is the fir back door we bought to match the front.

This is a photo of the kitchen cabinets with most of the drawer and door hardware attached. We cut the cobra soapstone to fit around the old sink, then sanded it and applied mineral oil to the top which turned it a rich dark black color.

Me setting a few nail heads deeper before the wood floor people showed up.

Short handrail sections were added to meet code requirements.

A close up of the handrail and newel post cap I made (doug fir as well)

The rooster came today.

A short video of the floor finishing crew in action.

Oh yeah, and we passed our final building inspection yesterday!

-Greg

more July photos

2009-07-10T00:04:00.009-04:00

Greg has some shows up in Canada and I am holding down the fort, kind of. I've had a few meltdowns along the way.

The plumbers have come and gone- with only a couple walls torn up, one cracked pipe and our tile ripped out of the floor. The good news, we did eventually get water flowing, toilets and sinks in place and our old clawfoot tub in it's new home. Our tile was fixed too.

Greg's dad, Clark, also came up and helped us get the walkway completed and put the tongue and groove flooring in on the front porch. We are so thankful. He did so much and I hated seeing him leave today.

Happy 4th of July y'all

2009-07-03T21:50:00.008-04:00

Time to relax, cook-out with friends and watch some fireworks at the fairground...eventually.

We are still working over here on the house and hope to finish up the front walkway in time to catch some 4th festivities. We are using up the rest of the old brick Greg's dad salvaged from a demolished home in Charlotte. We also passed our electrical inspection yesterday and now have running water! Tiling is finally finished too.

Getting so much closer everyday.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

2009-06-19T16:46:00.018-04:00

I haven't updated in a while because things over here have been pretty hectic lately. The pressure is on and we are definitely feeling it. We are also feeling this hot, hot, hot North Carolina heat- almost 100 degrees yesterday. Greg's working non-stop 12 hour days trying to finish by the end of July. Everyday we cross something off our long list of things to do...I think it's getting shorter.

Thanks to some great help along the way, we are making some progress. Finishing the walls with subway tile in the guest bath is all that's left of tiling. Jay Brown is cutting some mighty fine lines while painting the inside. Fans and lights are going in right now thanks to Dave Wilson. Greg is building our kitchen cabinets and just finished the columns on the front porch. Greg's dad also came up and helped us finish the porch ceilings.

Here are some random photos taken over the past few weeks.

The front porch columns are finished- what a difference.

Jay Brown painting away.

Dave Wilson hooking up the lights and fans.

Back porch fans.

Guest bath and where the clawfoot goes.

G building our kitchen cabinets. We ordered our soapstone countertops yesterday which Greg is going to cut to fit.

Some video footage of the guys hauling the very heavy tub upstairs.

struggling a bit

Clark and Greg relaxing after putting up the porch ceiling.

Ferlin keeping cool in the pool.

We are tiling machines

2009-05-19T22:29:00.010-04:00

Today, Greg & I started tiling our master bath using 1 inch hexagon tiles. We first did a dry run and cut all the tile to fit. Then we popped out white tiles and replaced them with some black ones to make a flower pattern. It was a fun time. Good thing Greg is good at math and with a ruler (and a good thing we had some cold ones waiting for us in the fridge). Tomorrow we grout and move on to the guest bath.

In case anyone is looking, we bought our tile from Luxe Tile- they have a great selection, are affordable and super nice.

5 steps closer...

2009-05-12T16:00:00.004-04:00

I work at night, so Greg and I usually see each other for a few minutes in the early morning before I hit the hay. When I went to sleep this morning, these stairs did not exist. Greg and John worked all day long building the front porch steps out of some giant and very old treated pine boards that Greg's dad found for us. These boards were originally made for highway guard rails. What a lovely way to wake up.

Another busy week

2009-05-08T16:59:00.008-04:00

Well, we started this project a little over a year ago. Anytime I ever feel slightly overwhelmed or as if we aren't making much progress, all I have to do is look back to old photos on our blog and I immediately feel world's better. I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

Greg still says it feels like Christmas every morning. He wakes up super early, grabs coffee and walks nextdoor to work on the house. We have a pretty sweet living arrangement right now. Despite the baby ants, the semi-broken AC and the creepy, plastic, moldy tile shower, the house we are staying in is really not so bad, and we live right nextdoor. Many of you had the pleasure of experiencing life in our old house though, so you know we can live pretty much anywhere.

The new house is really,really coming along. The trim that Greg built is almost finished, tiling has begun, Greg is designing the kitchen cabinets and we have someone (and that someone happens to be THE rooster for all you David Sedaris fans out there) coming out to sand and finish our hardwoods in a few weeks.

Here are some photos of this past week here on Van Dyke. Jay is still painting the never-ending but beautiful trim work that Greg and John continue to build. G and his dad, Clark, are putting in the ceiling on the back porch. Greg, Clark and I tiled the laundry room floor in 3 hours last night. I finished grouting it all today and am pretty happy with the results of our first tiling project. We have 2 bathrooms left to tackle using the tiny mosaic hexagon kind, so wish us luck.

building a scaffold for Jay

The construction of the wingwalls of the front porch steps has also started. Here is a quick video of our mason Dan placing the VERY heavy granite on the walls. This granite was salvaged from the same orphanage our slate roof came from.

Our front porch

2009-04-24T23:48:00.006-04:00

Greg and his dad worked on the front porch ceiling the past few days. It is absolutely beautiful. The yellow pine is way too pretty to even paint. Can't wait to do some porch sitting when we are all through.

In other news, the mosquitoes have arrived . Time to move this party to the back screened-in porch.

Interior trim and other important stuff

2009-04-19T23:23:00.009-04:00

We are in the final stretch now. Lots of painting and detail work. Greg is home for a while now, so lots of action over here on Van Dyke.

Jay Brown, the best painter (and friend) ever, schooling G.

G put together the head pieces for the doorways upstairs. Unfortunately, I still have to paint them.

hmmm...better than Jim Rome?

door jambs ready to put in

our shower Evan and Krista on the front porch!

Paint, paint and more paint

2009-03-15T08:56:00.007-04:00

We've been staying busy while Greg is out of town. Ian and Shepard are almost finished painting the outside, Jay Brown is making his way throughout the inside with his brush and my family came down for an entire week to help out with it all. Lots and lots of prep work involved- TONS of puttying, caulking, priming and sanding involved. I had absolutely no idea.

hmmm...Norway is looking pretty good right about now.

I thought the guys needed to make a sign.

Jay Brownz action shot

My mom and I working on the shop.

Kate is a painting machine.

So much to do, so little time before Norway

2009-02-18T00:21:00.016-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic around here. With Greg getting ready to go on tour again for 6 weeks, we are trying to get as much done as possible. It seems like there is always something going on over here these days. The exterior painting has finally started after finally choosing colors. Jay Brown has primed everything inside and it's all ready for me, my mom and my sister to paint in a couple weeks. The hardwood floors are completely in too and look AMAZING- even unsanded. Greg built all the window trim and just started making the trim for the doorways. Our shower is almost tiled and I am slowly working on tiling the bathrooms.
whew.

George and Jude stopped in on their way from NJ to Charlotte. They were here for 2 days and were SO helpful with the hardwoods and getting us started with tiling. We were really sad to see them go.

Greg's pretty window trim.

John and Greg work on casing the doors.

Greg even managed to squeeze in some Chatham County Line practicing on the porch. Clark and Carolyn were here all week helping out and had a private show.

Brick by Brick

2009-01-28T17:14:00.016-05:00

My parents came into town this past weekend and brought us all the flooring fresh from the kiln. Once that was unloaded, my dad got busy laying the old brick for our hearth. Most of these bricks are handmade, over 150 years old and came from the old Sherill house in my hometown of Cornelius, NC. Some also came from an old store that was torn down in Derita, NC. Lorraine's sister, Kate, brought us the old star bricks which were found in a salvage yard in NJ. Our mantle is made from 2 granite window sills that were in the Thompson orphanage (the same building our slate roof came from).
We are so thankful for Dad's beautiful work and can't wait to sit around the woodstove next winter and enjoy it.

Even Ferlin got to leave her mark.

Today is a great day

2009-01-20T22:42:00.014-05:00

To celebrate President Obama's Inauguration, we played some pong and had fun in the snow- which lasted 12 hours and left about 6 inches! I was pretty much glued to the tv today, but tore myself away to paint a little. We are soooo close to finishing all the priming inside.

New Year, New Home

2009-01-18T22:27:00.021-05:00

Cheers and Happy New Years to all! It has been frigid cold outside, but that hasn't stopped us from moving forward. Greg and our neighbor John finished siding the house (with the help of John's son Branson). The heat was turned on inside and the drywall is finished. The poplar that we cut last year has been kiln dried and milled for our interior trim. Greg's dad Clark delivered it to us in his dump truck this week and it is beautiful. We have started priming the interior too.

We celebrated Greg's 40th birthday last Saturday. It was our first real get together at the new house and we had 20 people over for dinner. It felt so much like a real house- despite all the sheet rock dust and the port-a-john.

don't worry boys, the ping-pong table is well protected

More December news...

2008-12-17T00:41:00.004-05:00

Insulation is in and the dry wall has started! Greg and his dad also put in Ferlin's door too (note the matching trim) and she is loving both it and her freedom already.
Greg and our neighbor John are siding the house now too.
Won't be long before we start painting inside and out.

Up on the Roof Top...

2008-12-10T15:46:00.008-05:00

Production halted for a bit, but once Greg was back from his mini-tour with CCL overseas, he worked on finishing the slate roof and putting in the stove pipe. We also had our friend Christian Nonino install the standing seam metal roof over the front and back porch. Tomorrow, Greg and his dad start the exterior siding. We also start on the inside of the house this week. Insulation begins tomorrow and then then the dry wall. It's coming along...

Working on the house on this beautiful BLUE North Carolina day!

2008-11-06T18:00:00.006-05:00

We started putting the slate up this week. Although I was not actually up there on the roof, I can at least say that my hands have touched every piece of slate going on it. Clark and I washed close to a thousand pieces this week and we are still not done. Greg, his dad and brother Joe got the whole thing started and it is looking pretty amazing.

Greg and our neighbor Fran worked into the night to finish the front dormer.

Lunch time on the porch on this beautiful 80 degree day.

Jay Brown and Shepard Lane doing some painting.

Putting in the wood stove pipe.

I caught Greg moonwalking across when he finished.

Shingles

2008-10-23T19:53:00.014-04:00

Today, Greg and his dad finished putting up the cedar shingles on the front dormer. Surprisingly, we are really loving the natural look of it all and think it might end up staying this way. We drove around downtown today looking at house colors hoping to get some good ideas. Unfortunately, we are still very undecided and uninspired, but leaning more towards red than anything else.

October stuff

2008-10-11T18:30:00.023-04:00

Getting ready to get real busy the next few weeks. Greg's back and jumped right back into it the day after he was home. He laid the sub-floor for the front porch and we are already loving it out there. We're trying to get the outside finished while the weather is so perfect here.

Don't forget, the state fair is next week! yay!

Next up: electrical stuff, the slate roof, shingles & exterior painting. We really need to figure out our colors fast.

John Teer lending a much needed hand today. I couldn't get up there. Thanks John!

Rain, rain go away

2008-09-16T14:12:00.023-04:00

I've been pretty bad about updating this site, but it is raining AGAIN here today, so I figured this would be the perfect day to catch up. A lot has been going on around here this past month. Greg's parents really helped out by bringing us more wood from the sawmill. A friend of ours also hooked us up with some awesome old redwood beams for our screened-in porch (thanks Will). The porch is going to be amazing and I foresee us spending most of our time out there.
Greg hung most of the knee braces this week and just finished building the frames for all 18 windows today. We are hoping to have the windows installed once it stops raining. Dan, our mason, finished building the columns for the front porch just in time for our framer to start the front porch later this week.
Chatham County Line is back on the road for a couple weeks, but once Greg is back he's planning on putting the slate on the roof. October in North Carolina is the perfect time for roofing, so good timing on our part.
Will post more pics soon...

Summertime and the livin' is

2008-08-17T00:43:00.012-04:00

The stairs are finally in! I am completely terrified of heights, so it was wonderful to finally see the upstairs. The slab for our back screened-in porch was also poured and looks great- can't wait to try out the acid stain on it. Greg was up flooring the attic today and this week we start shopping for fixtures. Roofing starts this week too, which is a good thing since rain is supposely headed our way.

We've been framed

2008-07-23T23:18:00.011-04:00

Framing began this week and it is all starting to feel real now. Billy Marshall and his crew have been working hard in this crazy July heat. Greg, Ferlin & I went out to admire their amazing work last night, laid down on the floor and we all actually fell asleep in the future livingroom. It already feels like home.

Moving Right Along......

2008-07-17T22:46:00.013-04:00

Our foundation passed inspection today! Greg is out of town on tour with the guys right now, so that was good news to hear. We anticipate things to move pretty quick these next couple weeks. Here are are few pictures though from the past couple weeks- some of the stucco that G & I did, our french drains that Clark & Greg worked on, the beginning of our framing and one of Chatham County Line on the 4th and out west. More to come...

No beach for us- just tons of red dirt

2008-06-27T22:33:00.023-04:00

With everything going on over here, Greg & I sadly missed out on the annual Readling Ocean Isle beach trip this week. Dan is doing an amazing job and making great progress on the foundation. Greg finished building the corbels with the cedar from Stewarts, which we painted and are ready to go. It has been HOT here too- the beach would have been really, really nice.

The Foundation Begins

2008-06-14T10:55:00.015-04:00

We hired the wonderful Luther Hartsfield Jr. and crew to dig and pour our footings. We ended up with 13 piers and over 150 linear feet of footing. Once the footing passed inspection, it took 12.5 yards of concrete to fill all the holes. We are now ready for our mason, Dan Henson, to work his magic with the concrete blocks. -G

Fields of Cedar Trees and Poison Ivy

2008-06-12T16:57:00.043-04:00

Greg & I went back down to Charlotte for some more materials. This time we spent one day on Stewart & Lisa's farm cutting down cedar trees and the next day at the sawmill. We came back with a dump truck full of wood and also some pretty nasty poison ivy. Greg is making 19 structural knee braces for the roof overhang out of the cedar and our front door out of some pecan wood that came from the Davidson College campus. We had a ton of help this weekend. Thanks to Clark, Bryan and our friend George for all their hard work. Also, thanks to Stewart & Lisa for the pretty trees and the yummy waffles. Here are some videos and pictures from the weekend.

Goodbye Little House

2008-05-28T09:22:00.023-04:00

The demolition went surprisingly fast. We reminisced as each room tumbled toward the growing pile of rubble. It's hard to not feel a little sadness-so many great memories- but there's also a whole lot of excitement too. Good things on the horizon...

Careful with that axe...

2008-05-26T20:34:00.016-04:00

Only a couple days left until d-day. Greg, Jay & Dean are making sure our old house goes out with a bang. The last picture is actually a video I took of Dean- so make sure you hit play.

and here we go...

2008-05-22T23:32:00.011-04:00

Greg's back from Europe and we finally got things started. G and our great friend Jay Brown worked all day long removing the asbestos. We are completely moved in next door, but Ferlin is still really, really confused (so are we though). Demolition day is set for this Tuesday.

The Blueprints

2008-03-30T12:52:00.026-04:00

The final plans for the house are back. Our architect, Michael Booth, was able to work with us and we are really happy with what we came up with. The house will be 2244 sq. feet when completed. That's crazy huge to us- we can't even imagine.
Here are a couple pics from the set of plans.

Big Poplar Tree

2008-03-27T00:27:00.017-04:00

Me, my cousin Rodney, my Dad and his friend Press cut the largest tree ever cut on this mill. It was a 42 inch diameter poplar tree from Rodney's yard. This tree was sawed into 1500 board feet and stacked in a day and a half. -G

The roof, the roof...

2008-03-02T12:00:00.010-05:00

Greg worked hard sorting through 100+ year old slate, picking out the best for our future roof. This is the slate that Clark and his brother Jimmy salvaged from the roof of the old Thompson orphanage and church in Charlotte years ago.

The rest of us just sat around supervising and eating lunch.

pre-production

2008-02-21T13:28:00.014-05:00

Greg was able to get to the sawmill this past week and start sawing lumber for the new house. It was a lot of work, and his family really helped out a lot- especially Clark and Rodney. The old pine trees came from Stewart's property (thanks!) and have turned out to be prettier than we ever hoped for. We are planning on using this lumber for the floors. Check out the video below (make sure you have the sound turned up).