Hot Fun in the Summertime

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

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...

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 These boards were originally made for highway guard rails.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

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

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

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

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.