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. 

Taking a Break

The house is coming along albeit slowly. We had been, and still are, working from dawn to dark daily and needed a break. On a recent past Sunday we decided to work only in the morning and take the afternoon off. We took our two dogs, Daisy and Molly, and drove through the magnificent Leelanau Peninsula just north of our home in Benzie County, taking in the glorious color as summer changes to autumn, the wonderful smells of fall in the air, apple orchards, wine tasting, and time spent near Lake Michigan.

Omena Bay - part of West Grand Traverse Bay which is part of Lake Michigan

Our favorite winery and tasting room located on Omena Bay

Woolsey Memorial Airport, Northport, MI

The little building at the airport is built of all native stone.

An apple orchard/farm specializing in antique/heirloom apples. We had a lot of apples at home so bought only a gallon of marvelous fresh-pressed apple cider.

This lovely lady greeted us at the antique apple orchard.

From the back - dreadlocks.

Almost a month since my last post . . .

Someone once said, "time flies when you're having fun". If that's true then we must be having a blast up here in northern MI. I can't attest to having a blast as we work throughout each and every day painting all the new drywall in the house and sealing all the clear pine trim and all interior doors but it is getting done and we are saving a bit of $$$$ doing this part of the building ourselves.

Looking into the house proper from the entry as we prepare to paint.  We are using low VOC paint throughout.  The "big closet" (see below) is to the left with the front door (not installed yet) to the right. The door to the backyard (will have a doggy door cut into it) will be to the left and the garage is behind the camera.

The "Great Room". The smaller window is in the kitchen looking to the east.

A wonderfully big closet in the entry.

A smaller closet in the entry.  The door into the garage is to the left.

In the pole barn - some of the 2000' + linear feet of trim. We are using a PolyAcrylic to provide a clear finish - much nicer to work with than polyurethane.  The PolyAcrylic has almost no odor which makes it a tad healthier for people and the planet.

Doug is getting a bit punchy from all this . . .

 The hole in the wall is the future laundry chute.  The window is in the kitchen.

Looking from the Great Room into the Office.  The entry room is to the left of picture.

Doug is trying to use up the last little bit of primer.

While we are painting inside our contractor, Matt Kroll, is putting the siding on our house - sage green - we love it.  This is the garage - the tiny piece visible in the center is the entry (octagon window) with the house in the background.
Choosing a siding was not easy - vinyl is an oil based product which we had hoped to stay away from but we also had to factor in cost. This particular vinyl is insulated which will help on heating/cooling of the house.

Matt Kroll, Kroll Contracting, on a makeshift scaffold as he puts up some of the garage siding.  As of this writing the siding on the entire structure is about 1/2 complete.

Where Does the Time Go?

My eldest son, Brian, texted, "Mom, haven't seen any blog updates for awhile."  I thought he must not be paying attention because I had "just" posted a new blog, or so I thought.   However, as you can see from the previous post which I just published today it was from July 28 and I had forgotten to publish it. A lot has happened since then including the stark realization that we will not be able to move in by our contract date of Sept 1.  Not happy about this but nothing to do except roll with the punches.


The chimney for the future wood stove is now through the roof. It won't look so tall, awkward, and out of place once the cupola which will fit over the point of the roof is in place.  The cupola is necessary to vent the attic.

Looking at the back of the house. The mid-section is the back of the entry and to the far right is the garage. In the forefront is just a tiny pile of dirt. The piles in front of the house are really mountains.

Doug and Travis (plumber) are connecting pipes for the Geothermal.  Check out those trees. :D

Steve is sealing the outside of all windows.

The insulation people are here and will be working throughout this weekend.

Onward and Upward

I had totally forgotten that I had started this back around the end of July. Better late than never, I guess.

Our girls, Daisy (brown) and Molly (black w/brown trim) are checking out the new greenhouse foundation and floor. Thankfully, the whole thing turned out correctly the 2nd time around.  The girls approve - they like to go out here and lay in the sun. :D

Wiring and plumbing are in the works.

Even though the footprint for this house is relatively small it is still taking a lot of lumber; a lot of trees, to build this house.

We have ceilings (above). I learned that in the "trades" the ceiling is called a "lid". Go figure! 


This is the geothermal heat pump in the mechanical room - lower level of house - three wells were drilled outside to provide the necessary water flow to make this work for both heating and cooling the house and for hot water.