THE UNVEILING!

Howdy Y'all!

This is probably a good time to thank you for your continued support and positive comments about the blog. When we started this, it was a way for us to memorialize the building process and build a story around this house project, and to consolidate all of the responses to questions we were getting about "how is the house project going?". But, along the way it turned into a stress-relieving vehicle for us, and gave us a positive outlet for the invariable frustrations that come with building a house into a home. So, thank you all!

Of course, just as soon as we sent off the last blog, lots of things started happening around the house. Yessiree, things have picked up! 

Most notably, the stone masons have reached the halfway point in their efforts to kill off all of the stone piles. The entire front of the house is almost complete, except for the front entrance. They have almost completed the garages so that we can begin constructing the forms to pour the motor court wall and driveway. Garage doors are slated for next week, so the clock is ticking to get the rock up there.

Powder Room exterior wall. Done!

As we watched today, quite a bit of rock work was done after the setting of the transom beams over the garage doors.

Starting the base level.

Here is an example of the iron "L" beam (lintel) that was set above the doors to act as a 'ledge' on which the rock will sit. This puppy weighed 300 lbs. and took five of us to get it in place. Once positioned on the stone columns at the ends, it was bolted into the transom beam, and can now pretty much support any stone weight from above. Clever, simple technology that is pretty standard for stone-faced garage doors.

Placement of the L beam (lintel).

The finished look.

Side view of the main garage.

Part of the complexity of the stonework, and the length of time to get it completed, is the number of arches we have on the exterior of the house. To be honest, Jan and I were simply not aware, during the architectural design phase, of what that really entailed, and the amount of detail involved to get the 'look' right. (None of our previous homes had arches.) Having said that, it isn't an uncommon stone process here, so the craftsman are familiar with what it takes to set the stone properly. In our case, and those of other ranches here, wooden templates have to be constructed for each individual arch in order to set the top stones properly. Like Roman aqueduct architecture, the smaller arches can literally support themselves and the weight above, but the larger arches need the lintel steel beam technology. 

One of the patio arch templates.

View of multiple wooden templates built for each patio and window archway.

Window templates for the front entrance arches above the door.

Wooden arch template (inserted) for the Media Room fountain wall.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch….(always wanted to say that!), the Pool Guys were busy with the 'good and the bad'.     The Bad - we found a few tiles on the infinity edge that we weren't happy with (chipped), and a couple of stone scupper pot caps that we felt were substandard quality, so the pool guys were out replacing those today. To their credit, they also recognized the problems and moved to correct them before we asked to have them replaced. 
The Good - work started on building the fire pit on the lower deck. Do S'mores go with wine?

Laying the firebrick and exterior stone facing.

More of the same.

Note the steel lintel beam for the main patio arch. (Feels like St. Louis.)

The finished product just waiting for wood and fire.

(Shhhh. Jan thinks it's her new hot tub.)

And, finally, the unveiling of the trim paint began today that had been covered up while the room walls were being painted last week. Note that Jan and I were in Seattle when all of the trim work was being done, so today was the first opportunity to see it sans the plastic covering. Overall, it looks terrific! There are a couple of things that will go on the final 'punch list' for rework (there always are), but in general we are very happy with the color, finish and tone depth of the woodwork.

Great Room doors and window.

First look at the Great Room fireplace.

Prep Kitchen trim work.

Main Kitchen.

Master Bedroom windows and door.

Office/Den windows and door.

Either we made the pool too deep, or I'm getting shorter.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

This is for all of the Seahawks fans out there (minus those who think Sherm Richard's comments were cool). 
Go Hawks! (Graphic courtesy of Beau Granger. Thanks, Beau!)

Super Bowl! Go Hawks!

That's all for now! See ya later!
- John and Jan -