Holiday Update

 Saturday, December 28

The new kitchen comes alive…sort of

We spent a little bit of time buffing up the new space for the holiday season.
Here is the view toward the front of the house (toward the street).
The sink will be located below the three windows.

It was fun to put up "counters" to create the feeling of what the new space will be.

Note the peninsula coming out into the new space.  We are all looking forward to using that area.

This view is across the peninsula toward the screened in porch.  

Note the eating area will feel very spacious yet intimate.

Here is the exterior view on Christmas morning.  
The siding continues and the garage doors will be ordered soon.

Exterior winter view

Monday, December 16

Late afternoon light....

Here is a view of how the back exterior is progressing.  Note the porch is taking shape, there is trim around the doors of the garage (no garage doors yet), and the small roof overhang is complete where the door to the mudroom will be.

Cars in the garage!

Saturday, December 14

"We have contact!"

With a big snowstorm predicted for Saturday night into Sunday morning, we decided it was time to christen the garage with our cars.

Sean, Gordon, Alex and Halsey cleared aside some space for the car and truck to be pulled into the garage in a line - now with an extra deep garage-
38 feet- it is possible!

Here is car #1 - to quote Sean: "We have contact!!"

Here comes the truck = fantastic!

Wood for the kitchen

Friday, December 13

A lucky day!

Here are two photos from the portable sawmill that was brought to Platt Builders today.  Halsey had 7 beams he salvaged from a mill in Newton, MA.  This machine turned the beams into boards by cutting them down into the same thickness.  

They were able to get over 1000 board feet of lumber that will be used 

to make our kitchen cabinets!

Doors and windows

Wednesday, December 11

 Some exterior and interior close ups....

Steady progress is being made on the exterior of the addition.  The focus now is on the small roof overhangs.  Here John is putting on the roof that is located over where the new door to the mudroom will be on the ground level next to the garage.

This picture was taken from standing in the new screened in porch.

Above is a view of the new doors from the exterior of the new addition while standing in what will be the new porch.

The photos above and below were taken at approximately 3pm.  

The light is STREAMING into the new space.  

Completion of the front siding

Saturday, December 7

The siding on the front of the house was completed this week after the fantastic work over the Thanksgiving weekend!  The pictures below show that the last part of siding on the front of the house is now complete.

 

There is a bit of house wrap still showing because the small casement window on the left will be moved to the right prior to the completion of the addition.

Overnight we had a small dusting of snow!

This is a view that I have been showing from the corner of the property

 throughout the addition process.

And yes, I have created a della Robbia again over the front doorway for the Christmas season.  Lots of fun, fruit, nails and hot glue!

Brad and John of Webster Framing have been working steadily on the house since Veteran's Day.  They have watched the comings and goings of our family schedule and also noticed the progress of this project happening in the new garage. Yesterday the della Robbia was finished, and they asked what it was and the history behind it.  I thought nothing of it and left for the day.  Brad and John took it upon themselves to put it into place over the front doorway when they took down the staging from the front of the house. What a wonderful surprise to come home to at the end of the day!!

Friday, November 29

The clapboards continue (and so does the cold!)

The progress continued up the side of the house on Friday, and the temperature hovered at 32 degrees...thankfully there was not any wind!

Here is a nice view from the back yard.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 28

Siding on the front of the house

The rains came and went on Wednesday 

...and Thursday was bright and cold!

On Thursday, Halsey, Jeff, Alex and Gordon made progress on the front of the house -

Strapping was nailed onto the house, then the trim boards, and clapboards were nailed on by hand...

After all that work, we had a lovely late afternoon Thanksgiving dinner!

Tuesday, November 23

Roof is on!

The roof was put on Monday, just in time for the snow that fell early Tuesday morning, and the anticipated rain and windstorm for Wednesday....

Sunday, November 22

Sunset update:

After a VERY cold Sunday (high temp 21 degrees) we bundled up for our weekly Sunday site cleanup and prep for the upcoming week.

Halsey, Alex and Gordon moved some staging from the front of the house to the back.

Below is a view of the porch looking toward the neighbors.

Here is a close up view of the vaulted ceiling in the 
screened porch where the skylights will be located.

The sun was setting so I ran up to the second floor of the addition to see the view toward the back yard. 

Below is the view on the second floor toward the street.

Here is the view from the street of the new addition with windows.

Below is the view inside the future kitchen of the three windows that face the street.

Friday, November 22

Steady progress....

It has been a steady week with Brad and his crew here working on trim, preparing the roof for the roofing crew and working on interior strapping.

These two views above were taken earlier in the week.

This view was taken from the sidewalk walking back from town.

Taken from the corner of the lot.  Halsey calls the house the big blue pumpkin.

This is an awesome perspective as this is what is seen from the top of the walkway. 
The house is in proportion, the addition will look seamless and not take over the main body of the house.

Monday, November 18

Interior views-

An update on the view from my kitchen window.

This picture was taken at approximately 3:30pm....

Note the light pouring into the future kitchen.

Below is the current view in the future kitchen looking out toward the back yard. 

The light is streaming in and the walls have been framed to reflect where the french doors will be located to get out to the screened in porch.  

There will also be a door off to the left that will go to the porch.

Below is another view from the future kitchen looking toward the screened-in porch.  The door to the right will lead to brick steps that point toward the sidewalk.

The space is beginning to have the feel of a room.

Saturday, November 16

Many hands....

There were ten guys who worked on framing on Saturday.   

Cars were parked everywhere and it was the place to be and get work done!

The primary focus today was taking off part of the shed dormer (the window that was in the guest room) and building the roof back to the original pitch.

Even the electrician joined in to help demolish that part of the roof!

Alex is standing on the staging outside the window in the above photo.

Below, the window is now gone and a roof has taken it's place.

Bye-bye guest room...

We have been feeding lunch to the guys who work on Saturdays- today the menu was roasted turkey sandwiches! The smells wafted over while everyone was busy- a gorgeous day to be outside working.

The roof trim has also been put in place today.