Happy March everyone! The spring weather makes house building a much happier chore than the freezing cold of winter! Lots of updates going on every day at this point and it's so much fun to watch the progress. Even more fun to be a part of the progress!
On one of these nice spring days our front porch concrete was poured. It is stamped and so pretty!
The walls of the basement/workshop are covered in white pegboard. This will help with the sound of the woodworking tools and it will be great because Tommy can use it to hang tools on!
Tommy wanted to build the mantle for the fireplace out of the trees from his parents property. I posted pictures awhile back of what the original trees looked like. He wanted to hand hew the wood to give it that distressed and old look. Tommy's dad, Tommy, and Will all worked on this project so it's extra special! After a lot of hacking and sanding and poking and prodding it looked amazing!
Here is Will doing some hand hewing! Never too early to learn! (Pretty sure his tongue is out as it has been since he was little when he worked on something...HA!)
Once the mantle was complete, Tommy and I used gel stain to get it the color that we wanted. The staining really brought out all of the distressing -it is so unique and gorgeous!
The corbels for the mantle to sit on were made the same way.
Once the stain dried it was time to hang everything upstairs! After a lot of measuring everything was ready and the corbels went in first...
Next came the big moment of placing the mantle on the wall! Luckily we had some help with this project from our friends Alex and Marc. This was monumental!
The picture doesn't do it justice as to how massive and beautiful it is.
Close up of the one of a kind piece!
These pieces of flagstone will be what is used for the hearth on the fireplace.
Interior doors have arrived! Woo hoo! I will be staining these guys this week so that they can be hung! They will all be stained except for my pantry door which will be painted orange for a nice bright pop of color.
The progression of the fireplace was so fun to watch! This is something that originally Tommy wanted to do himself but thank goodness he changed his mind. This fireplace is so massive! Having the stone on it makes it look even larger if that is possible.
The one part Tommy did want to do himself though was making the keystone pieces for above the actual fireplace. This is similar to what we did on the outdoor fireplace at our last house. Looks great!
And a week later....complete!!!! The mason did an amazing job on it. I can't wait to have a fire here next winter!!!!
Another big thing happening is that the hardwood floor is going down. We chose a hickory hardwood and I love the color with this house. It looks great with the paint colors and all of the natural light. Here it is going down in Will's room!
Hardwood floor complete in the library room!
The back porch is coming along also! I can't wait to sit out here this summer and fall! Rocko can't wait either. :) We decided to use rebar for the spindles which is what will also be used on the inside stairs and library balcony.
Tommy is testing out the new railing...HA!
The balcony off of the kids room is finished now also! The fencing was put on and now it just needs stained!
And this is the master bedroom paint color....again. After the first orange was painted, Tommy decided the color was much too "pumpkin" for him and after looking a bit I had to agree. So thank goodness one of my good friends works for Sherwin Williams so we were able to change it pretty easily. Now it is a more burnt orange color called Yam. Festive huh? All of the other orange will be changed to Yam. We like it a lot better!
The master shower looks amazing! It is huge - pictures can't show the size but it's awesome! Tommy designed the tile work but let someone else do the dirty work. :) We bought all of the tile at Menards (3 trips mind you to 2 different stores....) because that was the best price option. We have been good in this house about shopping around for the best prices!
Our accent wall in the master bedroom (behind the bed) will be the same stone as the fireplace in the living room. This was started today and it is going to look great!
So that is where we stand as of today! Everything is coming along so well and everyone we have worked with has been amazing. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel!!! The next steps this week are staining the interior doors, finishing the stair treads for the indoor staircase, painting the garage, and buy all of the lighting. Thanks everyone for being on this journey with us!!!
