New Plans Completed

The revised plans for the addition have been finalized!  We've got our contractor on board and he is in the process of getting all of the permits with the town.  The long awaited start date is targeted for mid-October!

Here's what has been changed since the originals...

First Floor

1-Widened the doorway going from the family room into the new kitchen.
2-Closed off the hallway between the foyer and the new kitchen, and move the basement door to the kitchen.  This allowed us to add a coat closet, which I really miss having!
3-Moved the fridge down and sinking it in (taking some of the closed off space from change #2).  This will allow the fridge to be less intrusive.

Second Floor
These were the big changes that prompted the whole re-working of the drawings (we decided to add the first floor changes in, while we were at it!)

Here's the original:

-As we started exploring the possibilities of remodeling our current master bath, we found it would be a nightmare dealing with the old plumbing.  We think it will be wiser to do all new plumbing in the new construction.  So, came up with some ideas for how to revise the second floor plans...

Idea 1

Idea 2

Idea 3

We like idea #3 the best, so talked it over with the architect (made some tweaks) and he revised the plans...

Updated:

-You can see we added a nice big walk-in closet by stealing some additional space from the laundry room.

We also decided that we didn't need a full basement under the new construction.  It sounded like it could become a nightmare to break through the original stone foundation to allow for the necessary egress.  Plus- we hardly have anything stored in the current basement, and will have even more space down there once the washer & dryer are moved up to the second floor.

I need to get the back porch cleared out in the next two weeks or so... and I need to take some good "Before" photos for the walls that are going to be opened up!

Family Room- New TV table

Recently we decided to get rid of the TV cabinet that was in the Family Room.

I liked the old one because it had doors that closed to conceal the TV when not in use.  The problem was, it was just so big & boxy.

OLD:

NEW:

The slate on the side panels match the colors in the stone fireplace really nicely.

The finish has a bit of distressing, which goes with the coffee table.  I like the wavy glass cabinet doors- and was happy that the remotes can "read" through them.

The "drawers" slide out to hold the remotes and DVDs.

The room feels much more open...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And we added a chess board.
The boys are now all wrapped up in having chess matches.  They have small plastic sets of their own, but we decided to bring out one that we had purchased on our honeymoon.  It's fossil marble & onyx, and we fell in love with it instantly.  It was HEAVY carrying it back home as a carry-on... good memories!

Mike had the great idea of using those little stick-on pads on the bottom of the board.  So now, it's getting lots of use and no chance of it scratching up the new coffee table!

Butterfly Garden

Along the fence that goes between the driveway & the back door, Mike has been working on the landscaping.  At the gate closest to the back door he put a Butterfly Bush.

It's been beautiful this summer, and I have some great shots to share...

We got some furniture delivered on Friday, and we did more work on the tree house over the weekend... I should have those details & photos ready in a few days!

Building a Tree House- Phase 4

Sorry for the lack of updates on the blog!  August was a busy month between family vacations and then preparing for back to school.  But we've gotten a few things done around the house in between all that!

Here's the latest on the tree house... 

The roof is almost done- Mike put up the plywood and tar papered it.  Now we just need to do the shingles.

Rope entrance is complete- We got a nice gauge rope for the boys to climb up and down.  Mike knotted it at intervals to make it easier for them.

Here are photos of the inside:

This is the "rope entrance"

This is the "ladder entrance"

Now we're working on the crows nest entrance... you can sort of see it here:

We're taking down those boards on the tree in the foreground, and replacing them with new.  

The boys will have a little bridge going from the tree house out to a little stand within that tree on the right.  We've ordered cargo netting for the sides of the bridge.  

I'm hoping we'll have it totally done in the next week or two!

Related posts:
Phase 1: Building the platform
Phase 2: Framing the sides & putting up siding
Phase 3: Ladder & roof framing

Tree House- Phase 3

We're keeping things moving with the tree house...we left off with half of the siding completed...

Mike finished up the siding, and then turned his attention to building a nice sturdy ladder.

He buried the bottom support pieces to keep everything in place:

It's also attached to the tree house at the top of the ladder, so no chance of it tipping. The end of the ladder extends into the "room" a bit, which gives a nice handle for getting your balance coming in or  preparing to go down the ladder.

Next up was getting some structure in place for the roof:

 The weird angles made it a little tricky, but I think this will look great once the plywood & shingles are up. 

(Right now we have the blue tarp over it to protect the wood from rain)

I'm so impressed with how Mike's put this together. 

Just a few more steps to go before it's ready for the boys to take over!

Related Posts:

Phase 1: Building the platform

Phase 2: Framing the sides & putting up siding