We were gone to Hawaii last week, (Don’t be hatin’) so work on the house continued without constant monitoring by you-know-who. We were happy to see most of the roof finished and all of the shingles on the back dormers finished.

The shingles will show up so much better after the house is painted.

We had another surprise awaiting us when we got home too. The porch rails were up. Initially we were happy to see them but after about a minute of looking at the result we both turned to each other and said “They’re too high”. The code for porch railings is between 42″ and 36″ and although our blue prints actually indicate that they’re 42″ we think it looks out of proportion.

Do you see it? Agree?

The house is only 1450 sq. ft. and the porch rails should be shorter for sure. It bugs me that they cover the lower part of the windows. Are we weirdos? Yes. But since this is the “Death House” we really want everything to be pleasing to the eye. Chris’ crew did the rail exactly how they’re depicted on the plans, but sometimes the plans and real life just don’t match. It will cost extra of course for him to lower them but my guess is that it will just take a couple of hours and maybe just a little cussing under his breath. 🙂 These guys are good at their jobs and they’re always nice when we ask for a little change or a slight variation. Who knows what they say about us (me) when we’re not around, but they sure have me fooled.

Stay tuned this week. Electric, HVAC & the chimney mason all converge on 67 Boardwalk. I can’t wait!

Wow, I am really running out of good titles! Soon my posts will be things like TOILETS!, GROUT!, HVAC SYSTEM! But for now I’ll tell  you about some advances in the construction project that happened this week.

Ooh La La!

The French door arrived!  This is the back porch and the entrance we’ll use 90% of the time. The door on the right will be stationary and we’ll open the one on the left. If you’re wondering why the heck this matters, I guess you don’t know Jim Burlingame very well. The man pretended to walk in the house with a bag of groceries for about 20 minutes and analyzed the most efficient way to enter, and which door should open in. He graduated from the Air Force Academy with an engineering degree so this stuff matters to him. Plus he’s just a major GOOBER and his mind is always spinning. Don’t ever ask him a question about math, science, military doctrine or rockets unless you have at LEAST 30 minutes to hear the answer.

Chris’ crew also added the underskirt to the house.

All the houses in our hood have these planks between the brick piers. There are all different styles, but we like the horizontal pattern with a little frame around it. These will be painted the same green as the dormers and will be a slightly darker shade from the body of the house.

Ooops! No Skirt!

The underskirt will only go on the front and the right side of the house since we dug the foundation in on the left and in the back. Basically the ground will be built up and the grass will hit just the bottom trim board. It’s the same in the back. We wanted the house to be as low as possible for a few reasons. I’ll leave you hangin’ for now though.

Siding and window trim!

The siding is 95% finished and all the windows are installed and trimmed up. This is the side of the house that Martha & Irl will look at so I hope they think it’s pretty. After it’s painted and the chimney is bricked, I think they’ll find it most easy on the eyes. 🙂

We’re off for a little vaca this week and you better believe I’m going to be on pins and needles while I’m gone. I’m sure the crew will be quite relieved to be able to work without an pestery old lady taking pictures and asking questions all day! When we return, the chimney will be completely bricked plus the HVAC system will be mostly completed. AND THE ROOFERS COME THIS WEEK!!!  I’m going to miss all that! I do hope Kauai will be worth it. I told Irl I’m bringing him a coconut bra. 🙂

Goodbye my sweet little casa! See you on Friday.

We wanted our house to look “cottage-y” so of course we had to have some cedar shakes on the dormers. They finished the front last Friday and we’re more than pleased with the results!

So Shakey!

They look great but don’t tell anyone that they’re FAKE! Some of the houses in our hood have real cedar shakes and they look so pretty, but the fake kind that come in strips are made from that durable Hardiboard material. Chris installed them in a random pattern and if you didn’t know it, you’d think they were real. Well, maybe not, but it’s pretty close.

We’ll also have them on the two small dormers in the back of the house but the area over the window is so small they’l hardly show up at all. Since we plan to paint the shakes a slightly darker green than the body of the house, they’ll show up nicely.

Chris’ crew also finished installing all the windows and framing them. Plus the siding is almost completely done! It’s looking so cute now!

So this is the view from the Pink House porch by the end of the week.

Ta Da!

The tech wiring guy, the floor guy and the cabinet/granite guy all came at the same time Friday morning, but between Jim, our builders Gary & GT and little ol’ me, we got everything discussed and covered. I talked to the floor guy since that was the easiest. “Um, put some pretty wood here on…the…floor?” Actually there was a bit  more to it, but I managed to convey our plan. the next big things now are the metal roof, and THEN THEY CAN PAINT THE EXTERIOR! YAY!!! I need to lie down. Until next week. 🙂