Sunday, November 6, 2011

A Few "Finishes"

We had a busy Friday and Saturday as many things were wrapped up.


Friday, November 4, 2011.  After weeks of trying to do this ourselves we finally decided to call in the "pros". It took Rod and Terry Morris less than two days and the greenhouse is finished - YAY!!!!



Siding will now be finished on this part of the house.


I held my breath.  WHEW!   Terry did not fall through the glass. 
The metal pole is part of a thermostatically controlled system to open the vents in the "roof" of the greenhouse. 

 Brothers, Rod and Terry Morris, the greenhouse "pros".

The Morris brothers travel the country putting up Florian greenhouses.
Just as the greenhouse was being finished and Rod and Terry were packing up their truck for a long drive back home to IN the new owner of our Airstream showed up. It just so happens that the Airstream is also going to IN behind this white truck. Adios to our home of 7 months; it served us well.



On Saturday our contractor, Matt Kroll, showed up and finished the hole in the wall which is our lovely completed laundry chute.
Down the rabbit hole?   No, just down our laundry chute.
Now tell me, have you ever seen a more attractive laundry chute? :D


With the greenhouse complete  it was time to move my Rosemary trio out to the greenhouse where they are now in residence.  These three were much smaller as they traveled with me on the front floor (passenger side, of course :) of the Jeep as I drove them from AZ to MI seven months ago.  They have weathered many changes in climate and temperature and are healthy, happy and growing like "weeds" :D.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The Greenhouse

We gave up trying to put up the greenhouse by ourselves. Rod and Terry, in the photos below, are sub contractors for Florian Greenhouse, the company that built our greenhouse, and THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!  :D   Doug spent a couple of hair-pulling weeks trying to figure this out and finally called Florian for help. It just so happened these two were in southern MI putting up a greenhouse for someone else. Fortunately they were able to come up here and do ours. They started this morning and will be finished with it tomorrow. YAY!!!!!!  :D


    Rod, Terry, and their work truck arrived while it was still dark this morning.
Doug (next to the Jeep) pulled our trailer into place loaded with all the greenhouse parts.
Doug and Matt (our contractor) had gotten this far with the framing. Now it's up to Rod and Terry to finish the job.
Framing is finished - glass is going on.  Thank goodness for a beautiful, sunny day after a week of rain.

Close to being finished.


Stay tuned for the finished product. :D


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Moving In

On Thursday, October 20, 2011 we received a temporary certificate of occupancy which means we can legally move in and live in the house while the remainder of the work to complete the house for a permanent certificate is being done.  Those items include completing the solid maple staircase, building the greenhouse, decks, some of the knobs on interior doors and some trim.  There is also a tiny bit of electrical and plumbing to be completed by the subs. We also need to install our closet organizers as we have lots of closet space and no shelves in any of them. We have begun the closet project which is going to take more time and more $ than we expected.  I also must go through the entire house and touch-up paint everywhere the walls need some extra work.

First fire in our Vermont Castings "Intrepid"
Garage with its new "apron" (cement pad)


Doug is preparing to add the stone work to the lower portion - below the siding.
Our new kitchen :D. Sliding door to the right will go to the greenhouse.
Lazy Susan in the corner - I wonder how it ever got that name?
There must be a way to rotate this but there is no button marked "Rotate"?  Kitchen sink with view over adjacent field.
Master bedroom: slider will open onto a future deck, bifold doors = closet,  door at right enters into bathroom.
Standing at top of stairs looking down to the Entry. The white door leads to the garage. Bifold doors are closets.

Lower level bathroom + laundry
"The Big Maple" behind our house has lost most of its leaves in preparation for the coming winter.
South - our closest neighbor has horses. Trailer belongs to contractor. Future pond will go where the trailer is.

Doug is setting up a workspace to build the greenhouse.

Greenhouse will go here.

Our yard on east side of house. Hay field is beyond the trees and adjacent to our land on the east.

Hayfield - the dogs love to play here.

More of the hayfield.

Looking at the house from the hayfield.


The Girls: Molly (black) and Daisy (brown) enjoying their time in the hay field. The trees/woods behind our house are on our land. Trees to the right mark the boundary between our land and hay field.  The owners of this field gave us permission to let the girls play here.