Open Sesame

Progress continues at a good pace this week, capped by the installation of the garage door openers! Since the doors were installed last month, Scott has been manually lifting the doors (I'm too wimpy) so this is a great development and convenience.

 Newly installed and ready to work!

 Three controls positioned near the man door.

The mechanics are really quiet and operate very smoothly.  

A total success!

Other doors are installed and operable, too! We've said goodbye to the temporary "bang doors" installed by the contractor and now have "real" doors in place leading to the garage and the east entry.

The new Pella Architect series entry door was installed on Thursday. 

It's (of course) unfinished and will be stained in a tone similar to the garage doors. The side light frame was accidentally painted by the exterior painting crew so that will need to be fixed.

The new garage entry is a solid pine 5-panel door to match other interior doors.

The pocket door was installed in the master bathroom water closet on Friday.

The master suite door was also installed on Friday!

If you're interested in doors, noTTafarm is the place to be!

And next week - watch for barn door installations (hint . . . not in the actual barn!)

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Wood Trim: Days 2 and 3

The wood trim work continues! The two-man crew made some good progress on Tuesday and Wednesday, and still has several days ahead. Check out their progress: 

On Tuesday, the first of the doors were installed. Scott shows off the laundry closet's double doors. (Memories!) The small door at left is a closet that was built behind the 1920 bathroom.

Scott checks out the beginnings of applied truss on the west wall of the great room. 

For whatever reason - I'm sure it's a good one - the crew gnawed away a border of drywall around each window.  Good thing we were so careful with painting close to the windows!

By Wednesday evening, the applied trusses were nearly complete, and looking as Scott had hoped.

They added a small piece of trim along the top of each wall to close the gap between drywall and wood-plank ceiling.

Applied trusses are also being installed at the highest portions of the north and south walls. All of this wood trim will keep us busy staining for a while!

Wood You Like to Know What's New?

Wood! That's what's new! The contractor's crew arrived Monday morning to being the process of adding wood trim and doors to the new addition. The bulk of their day was spent laying out a pattern on the east and west walls of the great room. 1-1/4"  x 5-1/2" pine boards will be attached to create an applied truss on each elevation.

It's sort of hard to see in this photo but each piece of the applied truss puzzle has been traced onto the newly painted wall with pencil. Too bad I worked on Sunday getting that second coat of paint up . . . they weren't very tidy with their math scribbles. (Grrr!)

The new 5-panel doors were delivered on Monday, too. These doors will match the original 1920 doors found throughout the original house. We look forward to getting them stained and in place!

The door at right is for the pantry, and has reed glass panels rather than wood. Super cool!

Stay Tuned for More Progress!

4-Day Weekend Yields (Even More) Painting

Happy Thanksgiving! 

This year, I am thankful for Sherwin Williams and their superior paint. Okay, maybe that's a bit overstated but painting was the focus of our four-day holiday. 

Before we enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with the family at Jeff's restaurant, I had time to paint the new laundry closet. I chose Rapture Blue SW6773, the same color I used for the picnic table project last summer. This is another beautiful color from Sherwin William's "Coastal Cool" collection.

The finished laundry closet adds a pop of color to the connector hallway. Too bad it will be hidden behind doors soon!

Scott chose Lemongrass SW7732 as an accent color for the connector. This muddy yellow/green covers the north wall of the connector from the second floor landing all the way to the basement.

A view of the north wall on the first floor, partly painted with Lemongrass.

The finished accent wall looks great! The color changes throughout the day as the sunshine moves from window to window.

Our old buddy Watery SW6478 was called in to play for an accent in the master bedroom. We used this same soft aqua in the second floor bedrooms last year.

 The ceiling cove looks great with this pretty addition!

In other news . . . Scott rebuilt the temporary railing at the top of the connector stairs. Leo supervised, as always.

We also spent a bunch of time painting the great room and casual dining area but I neglected to take any photos! The challenge of the tall ceilings required the use of several ladders and extension poles but we've made a huge dent in the task. The color we selected for these areas plus the hallway and connector is Muslin SW6133. This soft off-white is the perfect foil for the other bolder colors we have used as accents throughout the house. 

With the painting nearly finished, the contractor should be able to begin adding all of the wood trim. Then we will get to start the fun adventure of staining all of the windows, doors, and baseboards!

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Color Has Arrived!

Painting.
Painting.
Painting.
Yes! We've done a lot of painting over the past few weeks. It seems like it has taken a long time to prime all the walls and paint all the ceilings but our efforts have paid off, and color has arrived!

This is Griffin. Since I've been visiting Sherwin-Williams on a regular basis, he didn't call Security when I took his picture. The whole crew at SW has been very helpful!

Color 1:  SW7640 Fawn Brindle

We chose a soft brown/taupe for our master bedroom, closet, and hallway. Even though it looks like wet concrete, it has created a cozy space! I admit, I really liked the name as it references the deer that call noTTafarm home.

I took a vacation day on Monday, November 12th, and completed the first coat.

While I have fun with color, Scott makes his own brand of fun by painting the ceilings. It's a back-breaking task but he did two coats on every new ceiling without so much as a whimper. Good job, Scott!

Color 2: SW6875 Gladiola

I decided that the pantry should be a fun, bright color since it's "my" space and will be mostly behind closed doors. This color is the same deep orangey-pink that I used for the lawn chairs last summer.

Everything started out really well.  What a cheerful color! But, the more I painted, the more I started to second guess my selection. And by the time I was done, I seriously needed these:

Yikes! That paint was bright!

So . . . after church on Sunday, I was back at Sherwin Williams for a new color.

Color 3:  SW7757 Recycled Glass

Two coats of Super Paint later, the pantry was still a cheerful color but without the potential retina damage.

Half-way Done

All Done!

Color 4: SW6394 Sequin

The parlor was painted in August, 2011 in this sunny gold. By painting a portion of the hallway behind the new kitchen this same color, the new and old portions of the house have a connection. 

Beautiful and Bright!

The painting will continue this week. We have a few more colors to add but the bulk of the first floor will be a more subdued color . . . details of which will be revealed in a future post!

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

The Week of Snafu

This week was a little "off" at noTTafarm. A series of odd events threw wrenches left and right - so I am glad it is Friday.

Allow me to elaborate, in no particular order:

1.) Wednesday morning, our good coffee maker decided not to work so I had to use my back-up coffee maker.

2.) Friday morning, our back-up coffee maker decided not to work so I had to have a cup of instant! (Those of you who work with me on a daily basis know that this probably led to a little grumpiness until my at-work coffee kicked in.)

3.) Wednesday, the countertop manufacturer came over to make templates of the kitchen and master bath counters. They discovered that the corner drawers I am so proud of will whack right into my stainless steel farm sink if you try and open them. The only solution is to uninstall and move most of the cabinets on the west side of the kitchen south by 2 inches then add a filler strip.  Fortunately, this task was easily completed on Friday.

4.) Tuesday, Scott discovered that the toilet we purchased almost two years ago for use in the remodeled 1920 bathroom wouldn't fit. It seems that the soil stack was positioned two inches too close to the wall. The only solution was to order another new toilet with a shorter rough-in position.

5.) Thursday, Scott was excited to see that the new toilet (along with all the accessories for our new master bath) arrived via freight at his workplace, less than two days after placing the order. As he moved his Escape into position to move the items from the pallet, the Escape decided to remain in "reverse." No amount of moving the gearshift would help, so he had no choice but to call a tow truck. I came to pick him and the toilet and all the accessories up in the Mini...and after an hour of waiting, we were on our way home.

6.) While we were waiting for the tow truck, an expected delivery of wood trim was made at noTTafarm. When we arrived home two hours later, Leo was missing! The silly delivery people let our kitty out in the dark wilderness! Luckily, Bibbers kept an eye on him and they both came running when Scott went outside with the flashlight.

7.) Not only did they let Leo out, the wood trim is not all the correct size. Scott and our Project Manager are going to go through everything but it looks like most of it will need to be re-done.

8.) Monday afternoon, just as the electrician was leaving for the day, he noticed a switch in the parlor that he had missed because the temporary wall had hidden it. It was a few days later when he had time to return and install the switch, thus allowing three light fixtures in the 1920 hallway to finally work.

9.) Also on Monday, the electrician (his name is Troy) was working in the master bath, making-up the wires for the new sconces. The only problem here was when he leaned on the countertop infrastructure, cracking off a big chunk...so that's going to have to be glued or replaced before the counters go on.

Whew! That's enough whining!

Good things happened this week, too!
A.) I painted the master bedroom, closet, and adjacent hallway...and they look great!
B.) Scott installed the new, new toilet in the 1920 bathroom and it works! I will not reveal who got to piddle first but it wasn't me.
C.) The Escape is repaired and it cost less than $300 so that's no so bad.

Stay Tuned for The Weekend's Progress!

Good Morning, Mr. Deer!

Even though we see them nearly every day, Scott and I are yet to be bored by the deer that visit. We've watched two fawns grow up over the past few months, and there is usually a Gang of Nine hanging around the combine at dusk. Wednesday morning, we were treated to a rare sighting of a buck! We stood in the great room and watched him walk through the west yard with a few lady friends. Amazing to be that close to such a beautiful animal!

Our great room is going to be a wonderful space to relax and watch the noTTafarm wildlife (we just need some flooring, lighting, and a chair or two.)

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

P.S.  As a reminder:  hunting is not allowed at noTTafarm. (Unless you are killing snakes and then remember rule #2:  I don't want to see them or know about them.)

Prime Time

Priming walls and painting ceilings continued through the weekend. So far, we've use up nearly 5 gallons of ceiling paint and 10 gallons of drywall primer - so we must be getting something accomplished!

Scott dragged the extension ladder in from the barn to reach the tippy top of the south great room wall. Lucky for him, he also got to do the tippy top of the north great room wall. The fun part of all of the priming is remembering that you still have two coats of color to come.

We were happy to have Carl and Marita lend a hand (ok, 4 hands) on Saturday! They tackled priming the walls in the bedroom while Scott and I worked in the great room. This room, its adjacent hallway, and closet are all ready for "real" paint!

On Sunday, Scott figured out how to secure a ladder and a 2x8 to the floor to create a makeshift scaffold over the connector staircase. It worked!

In spite of all the painting that needed to be done, Scott couldn't resist the urge to peel all of the factory-installed protective plastic off the new windows. I thought the plastic was transparent but the view out of each and every window is now fantastic! The photo of the great room above does not do it justice - so you'll just have to visit noTTafarm to see how great it is.

And now for something a little different . . . 

When I left the house to attend a church conference late Sunday afternoon, the 1920 bathtub was sitting in the landing where Monte and Jason deposited it on Monday. Scott had worked on sealing all of the tile in the bathroom, and had moved on to touching up the drywall, so the tub was safe where it sat.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived home a few hours later and found this...

. . . the tub was in its place in the bathroom!  

All by himself, Scott wriggled the tub down the hallway, using a piece of carpet to help scoot it along. He described in detail the tilting, wedging, lowering, and praying that it took to maneuver the tub into its spot. He even got to take the dusty and grimy plastic wrap off the tub, revealing the pretty yellow paint I selected oh so many months ago.

Scott also brought the toilet and pedestal sink into the room to get ready for installation. The plan is to ask the plumber to hook up everything when he's here this week working on the new addition. 

The only thing standing between me and painting this bathroom are those damp portions of spackle on the ceiling.

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Special Deliveries

It's election day, America!  Just as Scott and I were headed out the door this morning, aiming to make it to our polling place right at 8 AM, a big truck arrived with our cabinetry! We couldn't resist the urge to take a peek so we stuck around and watched the delivery. 

A sunny morning for cabinet delivery!

The driver earned his pay today, maneuvering with ease around the trees in the south yard. The truck's ramp easily bridged the new patio.

One of the master bath's base cabinets was among the first to be unloaded. The crew of two from Cabinetry by Design unloaded all the parts and placed them in their respective rooms by following a numbered layout. A different set of cabinet dudes (that's right. dudes.) was on-site later in the day to install everything.

The first of the kitchen cabinets brought in was the incredible corner. The special drawers I insisted on are even better than I imagined! I am so glad to have this awesome storage space (4 deep drawers) rather than a traditional lazy susan. The fronts of all the cabinets are solid birch and will soon be stained a dark espresso.

By the end of the day, all of the cabinets were in place!

The refrigerator and microwave will be housed in the kitchen's northeast corner.

I love the width of the cabinets that will flank the range - made all the better by using the exposed-brick chimney to house the range hood exhaust flue.

 Another view of a drawer in the corner cabinet.

Not to be outdone by the beautiful kitchen - the gorgeous master bath vanity! We'll have plenty of storage within this 11'-6" span.

In addition to all the cabinetry, UPS delivered the light fixture for the casual dining area today! Because the 48" wide fixture was delivered to Scott's office fully-assembled, Scott had to strap the box to the top of the Escape to get it home.

Scott took a break during election night TV coverage and opened the giant box.

A whole bunch of tape and bubble wrap secure the fixture. We can install it in the dining area as soon as "someone" paints the ceiling.  I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow after work!

This is a catalog cut of the fixture, a "Flight Ring" by Bruck Lighting. In addition to the lights attached to the perimeter, four spot lights will be added.

Here's a close-up detail shot from the catalog. Each little LED lamp is held to the frame by tiny springs.  Very cool!

Oh my goodness, what a day! 

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!