Late Summer

Summer is winding down and this weekend is the last bank holiday of the summer.  Last weekend we were in the Cotswolds with friends.  This weekend is the final lazy weekend before the start of school on Sept 2nd.  Today we checked on the house and there is finally progress...

Last weekend - lunch with Bill, Cindy & family

A sunny day on the lake

Garett's apricot tart

Standing in the future kitchen

The back of the house - to the left and right of the steel beam will be a glass wall and door

Garett on the top floor landing

Garett and Ryan on the 1st floor (2nd floor US) - TV room is behind them and guest bath is to the right

Structural Beams and New Floors

Quick post today.

Garett and I went to check on the progress of the house yesterday.  Luckily, there weren't any fires this week. Some of the structural beams have gone in and there is a new floor in the guest room. We've also been selecting the tile and fixtures for the bathrooms.  More on that soon.

Garett conferring with the builders on Saturday. You can see the new floor above.  The space where the builders are standing will become a powder room and a pantry off the kitchen.

My favorite Victorian corbels are gone (see below)

Hopefully we can recreate the corbels in the new version of the house.

Garett standing in the front hallway.  Eventually there will be walls separating the hallway from the reception room. It's hard to spot, but there is a random dresser in the reception room.

The front door and doorbell ("pull") to the right of the door.  We will probably replace all of this, but I'd like to keep the brass handle. Not sure about the letterbox.

House Update - Some Excitement This Week

Garett and I try to visit the house at least once every week to check on progress.  Today when we stopped by our neighbors asked if we'd heard about the fire on Tuesday. Um...no, we hadn't heard about the fire.  After Googling the story, it appears a car broke down and parked near our house.  An electrical fire started in car #1 and the wind blew the fire into car #2, which was parked directly in front of our place.  Cue a couple of loud explosions and a fire ball.  The neighbors were worried that our house might catch fire.  And for good reason!  Sadly, a dog lost its life. However, everything appears to be in order with the house.

Recognize the "Yes" scaffolding? This picture was in one of the papers.

Another picture from the paper.  Firefighters had it under control in about 45 minutes.

Possibly a few singed bricks and some melted material on the scaffolding. Otherwise, nothing appears out of the ordinary. Onward with the build!

They also delivered the steel beams this week. Ryan is testing one out.  The beams are laid end-to-end all the way into the back garden.

Ryan is looking from the kitchen up to his room while Garett checks out the test pit (to ensure the foundation holds when they dig down).

Another debate this week was over the staircase.  We haven't decided yet if we're keeping it or rebuilding it. We're leaning towards keeping/fixing it, but it's not in sound condition.

Apparently they don't build 'em like they used to.  No one has the skills to build a curved handrail anymore, so the only way to preserve the handrail is to keep the whole thing.

Stay tuned...