New Year, New Home

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...

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...

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!

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

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

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

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...