Back Porch Railings

The back porch railings have been completed!

 Just in time, with the snowy weather that was approaching- this makes getting up & down those steps so much easier (since they get pretty slippery when wet or snowy!)

They also finished adding the bead board for the  ceiling of the porch.

The back light had already been installed, but it looks nicer now!

We got out there and hung up our little rooster bell.  

The boys love when we ring it for them to come inside from playing.  We had to decide between this rooster bell, or our other cast iron bell which has a little bird on it. The size of this one seemed better here.  We'll use the other one on either the well house, or maybe one of the barns (we already have a boot door knocker on the workshop!)


Here it is during the blizzard over the weekend! -->

Outside Trim & Porch Post

While the guys are drywalling inside, the contractor has started the trim work outside.

The back porch is looking more substantial (still missing railings, but getting there!)

Here's how it looked last week:

It's a little hard to see in photos, against the white house wrap, but there are white trim boards that he's working on now...

Column-ish details along the back, on the sides of the windows...

Back Porch Progress

A tiny bit more progress on the back porch...

They removed the support beam from the side, so that the wrap could be applied to rest of the exterior.  It was switched to a board that is standing where the column will eventually go.

There will also be railing on the side.

We debated back and forth over whether the column should be round like the front porch, or square to match the details of the exterior trim on the back of the house.  We decided upon the squared off.

Back Porch Flooring

One huge improvement that's been made is the back porch steps (this happened about 2 weeks ago now- I'm a little behind on posts!)

The steps are so much better than the overturned bucket we had been using to get in & out of that back door!

We chose mahogany wood, so it matches the front porch.

Once the contractor put them in, he advised getting them sealed as soon as possible.   This lead to having to decide on the color of the stain.  We tested some out on some scraps that were left over...

Once we decided, Mike sanded down the bare wood, used tack cloth to get rid of the dust, and then did 2 coats of stain.

Sanding in progress

Applying stain- just 5 boards at a time.

We will have to paint the risers, but waiting to do that until the construction is done!

I love the warm color of the stained boards.  I'm hoping that the kitchen floors come out similar!

Roof Details & Back Porch

The framing guys have done more work on the outside, adding some detail...

The top roof will be getting a fabricated slate (the same as is on the front porch).  It will be a dark gray color to match the real slate roof on the main house.  The materials were supposed to arrive from New Hampshire last week, but are delayed (something about the truck breaking down...)  It should be here early next week.  Fingers crossed!

The areas of roof on the sides & porch will be standing seam metal, also in dark gray.

Those window holes aren't the real size, that's just what they've been using to get in & out of the rooms.  I'm looking forward to them getting the full size windows in!

Here's a look at the architect's drawings again...

They have also now started on the back porch...

Under the Back Porch

One of my favorite parts of the demolition is getting to see what's uncovered!

As soon as the demo guys left, Mike & I were out there checking it out!

I am so in love with the stone foundation!  I found it interesting that there were little support walls made out of stone too.  The support wall on the left was made of cement- obviously a later fix.

There was a pile of dirt and rocks that we had fun sifting through.

We put the big rocks aside to use for little garden walls (like we did for my picking garden).

The rocks were really heavy, so Mike got the tractor out to move them.

We were careful to watch for any bits of pottery- and were very excited when we found some!

The terra cotta flower pot wasn't anything great- it probably got kicked under the porch at some point.  

But the little bowl was really neat

It had a "Luxembourg" stamp on the bottom.

 We also found some little pieces of broken dishes.  Some had leaf patterns & flowers.

My favorite of these is the black & gray triangular piece on the bottom.  

It's hard to make out the pattern in the photo, but it has little flowers.

I am very excited to see if we find more when they excavate for the foundation- would love to find an old bottle or something like that!

Demolition

I'm so excited to finally be posting about this project moving forward!  It's been rather quiet on this blog, but we've been doing some little projects through the winter- I was just less than motivated to write them up.  I'll fill you in on those updates, in between the bigger posts about the addition progress!

The first step of getting started on our addition was to rip off the back porch.

Within a few hours, we went from this...

Outside

Inside

To this:

We plan to use the windows that were in the back porch to replace some that are needing repair (or we just don't like!) in the workshop.  I also hope to use one or two for a crafty project :)

So, each window was carefully removed and stored away in a barn.

(I'm sure the work men LOVED that requirement!)

That left us with a pile like this...

...which will be going into a dumpster, which will arrive soon. 

We marked out the place for them to drop it in the driveway.  

This placement will allow us to still drive around it.

Now we have to get used to going in & out of the front door, and taking the dog out using his leash (it had been so nice just letting him run out the back door all winter!)