Our castle has really become our castle in the last two weeks. The grill chimney is a striking addition to the front of the house. I told Rowan it is like we are building a damn castle in the front yard. Makes her feel like she is back in bloody old England! It is REALLY going to be wonderful to have the grill inside the chimney so all of that greasy smoke can be sucked up the stack and out of the front porch dining area. I fear we will never eat inside again :o)
The carpenters finished up the inside framing for all of the walls so now we can see how our new vaulted ceilings are really going to open up the living space. The electricians also started running the miles of wire to all of the light fixture locations, recessed cans, switches, outlets, fire alarms, etc., etc...... all the while Rowan and I are starting to spend a lot of time looking at samples of this and samples of that. Lights & flooring are the main attractions at the moment. It can just make your head spin at how many things there are out there to choose from. It would be so much easier if we only had four or five choices for these things. Doesn't make it any easier that we are trying to be environmentally conscious about our choices too. Ugh!
Here are some photos:
The living room ceiling. You can see we have added an opening in the wall up high so we can see the skylights from the kitchen. This will be a great spot to sit some of our art glass collection.
The kitchen ceiling
The boys framing in the archway between the entry and new dining room.
The stone porch and grill chimney taking form.
The huge stone mantlepiece for the grill chimney. It is amazing how these guys lift these stones. There will be roughly 16 tons of stone in the porch when it is finished and these three guys will be moving, cutting and laying all of it!
The grill chimney is getting more exciting by the moment.
I can almost taste those grilled pork ribs! :o)
The top chimney cap taking form
We started getting REALLY excited once the guys turned the corner and started laying the front wall of the porch.
We are so impressed how these rough-around-the-edges stone masons can take this limestone and make it sooooo beautiful. It is really something!
The finished product. We can't wait to see how the addition of the arch between the top of the posts will look once it is added. We have a completely different house.
The search for the perfect flooring and lighting is endless. Here is a photo of my desk where most of the organization for the project is taking place (the paperwork is endless). We are starting to narrow our choices down a bit and think we will use quarry tile in the new entry foyer (you can see it on my desk).............
.....and, we have chosen Marmoleum tiles (similar to vinyl composition tile) in 6 to 9 different colors for the washroom/pantry. We are still refining our choice of colors, but they will come out of what you see in the photo below. The small 7x8 ft. room should be very playful with a colorful floor.
We have also been looking through endless lighting catalogues - mostly the latest in LED technology. It makes one's head spin how much is available in this exploding new technology. We have decided to use recessed cans that can take traditional screw-in base lights that are now being made with LED technology. The advantage of a no-heat bulb that lasts 18 years is what makes the LED so attractive. The bulbs are more expensive now, but will become widely available to the home consumer market in the next 12 to 18 months. We believe the extra cost will pay for itself by year 5 of it's 18 year life. :o)
My calendar is the one thing that is helping to keep me from going absolutely mad (besides Rowan's calming nature). It helps me to not schedule the plumber the same time as the flooring installation and to get the carpenters out of the house while the electricians are here to wire everything.
It looks like we are finally about half way through our project. Stay tuned for 6 to 8 weeks of more excitement coming soon..........
