end of july.

There has been lots and lots of activity at the house over the past few weeks. There has been more plumbing and wiring that is being completed but it is hard for me to photograph the nuances of outlets and switches in a creative way. Smile. Dave has completed all the finishing carpentry on the new mudroom back entrance, and the new cedar siding was primed by Two Guys Painting.

I continue to work at selecting the perfect exterior paint colors. I thought it was interesting to find this yummy color under the existing paint on the siding inside the porch. I was pleased that it is very close to what I have selected as the main house color so far.

I am still working on my trim colors and my "punch" accent color. (I am close.) I have been studying a very old postcard (from maybe 1915) that friend Julie Lindstrom gifted me with after we purchased the house. She found it on eBay! Colors are such a beautiful thing.

contest answer.

First, thank you for the interest and the guesses. (Many of you have shared your guess in person.) We are honored by the interest people are taking in our dream-come-true house.
No one guessed the correct answer.

THE ANSWER: The second set of lines on the floor around our queen-size bed - which is a 10'6" square by the way - is the size of our current bedroom!

I can't even photograph our new bedroom in a way that shows how spacious it is! And let's just say, we will appreciate the room. I already daydream about sleeping here with the balcony door open to the fresh air in the fall and winter. (The original screen door is being re-screened almost as I write this.)

a blog contest.

We are having a contest. You can see in the photo above that I marked the placement of our queen-sized bed with masking tape on the floor of our Master Bedroom. I did this because I needed to mark the placement of the lighting fixtures & switches for the electrician.

THE CONTEST QUESTION: What does the other set of lines around the bed represent?

(Answer will be revealed in one week. Leave your answer in COMMENTS.)

mike has been busy.

This past weekend was a busy one for Mike. He got the concrete slab poured that the air conditioning units will sit on. He was able to elicit Baker's help for this project.

One evening earlier in the week he put up the wood panels for the wall between his workroom and the playroom in the basement. He wanted this wall to be wood rather than dry wall.

This weekend he also managed to cut the hole through the almost 12" basement wall to access the foundation space under the new mudroom. A door will be put in to access this crawl space. He also cut in the venting hole for the heating and cooling system.

And in his free time he celebrated his 55th birthday.

what turns mike's crank.

Want to learn a quirky thing about Mike Blanc? He gets jazzed when he sees electrical wiring that is orderly. He is thrilled with the work that Renz Electric & Plumbing is doing.

it keeps me hopping too.

House activities keep me busy too. I am working on picking the exterior paint colors because Larry Shelly's Two Guys Painting crew will start toward the end of the month. So far I have not nailed the colors. I have been picking out lighting fixtures, sinks, faucets, mirrors - you name it.

Sister-in-law Melinda Johnson adds to our fun with her enthusiasm and regular visits to the new casa to check our progress. Since I had an extra hand and my camera, Melinda is showing where the PB Audrina Chandeliers will hang above our night stands in the Master Bedroom - and where the PB Parisian sink will be in the Girls' Bedroom. (Had I told you that one of the bedrooms upstairs had plumbing for the sink? The Kerl family used one of the upstairs bedrooms as kind of an apartment for a family member. The room even has a little "knocker" on the door.)

I also try to bring cookies or bars to the guys when we have a large crew at the house. We really appreciate the work they are doing.

the last couple weeks.

It is hard to keep up with all the work that Dave, the electricians & plumbers, and Mike have been doing on the house. I am just scratching the surface here, but I need to catch up so here is a nutshell version:

Dave got the shingles on the new mudroom roof. We were happy that we could still get the same shingles that the previous owner used, and find out that they are a good quality shingle. (I do secretly wish that the house still had the original shake shingle roof...) Dave is also almost finishing putting new cedar siding around the new kitchen windows and around the new mudroom entrance.

Matt Anderson and the Renz crew have been doing a marvelous job designing the duct work to efficiently cool this old house. Every bit of duct work had to be designed, made and installed since the house did not have a central air system before (and was heated with radiators.) This is amazing for me to think about... and something I have never had an appreciation for before, but do now! We are excited to use the radiant heat system that this grand old house has always had alongside the central heating & cooling system we are putting in.

I have not even touched on the myriads of can lighting fixtures that have been installed in the ceilings, or the numerous light switches that have been carefully placed. And I don't begin to understand the new power boxes or the organized labyrinth of wires that run through the walls. But Mike does love to go through the house and show me how amazed he is by the "beautiful work" they are doing and marvels at how organized the wires are. (I smile and nod.)