No pun intended, but I can finally say that we are on the home stretch regarding the new home. It started about a year ago, with drawing up the first set of plans. They were 100% freelanced by yours truly. When they were taken to the builder for a review and estimate, the weaknesses of my architectural skills came to light. The main issue being the design of the roof structures. What I thought would be something simple for a truss manufacturer to do turned out to not be true. There were also a few other things I had drawn that caused the idea to be over budget. So Nora and I started looking at designs on the internet and found one we both loved. There were a few changes made to it, but nothing too major.
Ground was officially broken in October, with the foundation completed before deer season. Then things sat for a planned waiting period for the concrete to cure and for the holidays to pass and the crew returned to start the framing soon after the first of the year. If you have been following long, you know that the framing and weathering-in of the place went smoothly and quickly. The progress in the past month or two has been slower, but it was ok with Nora and I, as I had the kitchen cabinets to do and we had lights, plumbing and furniture to pick out.
Well, I can report that the wall of base cabinets that will include the kitchen sink, dishwasher and fridge/freezer is just about done. The cabinet that will have the sink on it needs to have the doors (already made) installed and then all of those cabinets need the finish put on them. However, the finish could almost not be easier. There is a fairly new product out there called Rubio Monocoat that can stain and seal in one simple coating. It can be applied by brush, rag or even things like a squeegee if you are doing a big surface such as a floor. Just apply it, wait a few minutes and wipe any excess off. It cures 80% in 24 hours and takes about a week to fully cure. I have already tested it out on a scrap of the cherry I am using for the cabinets and it was a breeze to apply and looks awesome.
The base cabinets for the wall that has the range on it are built and most of the drawer slides have been mounted, which leaves me to have to build the drawers and then the drawer fronts and door frames and finish them. The uppers will go fairly quickly, as they will just be the cabinet boxes, face frames and doors. Nora has said that we can move into the house once all the base cabinets along the walls are done, so that could very well be next week sometime. Here is a shot of one of the cabinets completed, with just the finish needed. The scrap of wood that I tested th Rubio on is leaning against it on the bottom left.
Grace and Nora have been busy assembling some of the new furniture, things like tables, chairs, etc… Grace is actually doing most of that assembly work because she loves to do it and is also very good at it. Plus Nora has to work during the summer too, so is not around as much. Today, Nora started to empty the big shipping container that we were able to use to store a lot of things that were in the old place and will be going into the new and this Thursday the shipment of the big furniture pieces is arriving and will be installed by the furniture company. So a week from now, we should literally be within spitting distance of the finish line for moving in. There will still be quite a bit of work that will need to be done once we are moved in, but it will be so wonderful to be living in the new digs. We all feel so blessed to have been able to do this project and it really could not have gone much smoother…except for me spending all of last September in the hospital while Nora and Grace pretty much emptied the old house and filled up the shipping container.
If we do get moved into the new place sometime next week, we will not be in it too long before we have to go out of town. We are all going to the Mayo Clinic so that I can have a cardio MEMS put in on August 15th. It’s a device that measures the pressures in my pulmonary artery. They install it much like a stent and is done on an outpatient basis. It will give my cardiologist some great data to help with improving my heart failure. Since it takes less than a half hour to do, our plan is to come home the day I have it put in.
There really has not been too much more going on up here. The weather has been nearly ideal, with highs in the 70’s and some low 80’s and comfortable humidity. This past Thursday we did hit 89 degrees with a dewpoint of 75, but I barely noticed, spending the whole day in the shop!
We have also gotten enough rain to let the grass seed fill in nicely. Here is a shot of the yard behind the shop, taken a few days ago and here is a shot of the front yard of the house, taken this afternoon after I cut it for the first time. Still needs to fill in a bit and the straw needs to decompose, but seeing as though it was planted just a few weeks ago, I could not ask for more.
I think that about covers it for this one, I will try my best to write next weekend and share with you the progress on the house. Thanks for stopping by and…
Good Night From the Keweenaw..
–JD
