The Paint Swatches

For those of you who enjoy life in states outside the northeast, here are a few recent pictures from Western Mass.

Every December for as long as they can remember, Andy and Chris' family converge at Auntie's house near Leominster for Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. Apparently there was a storm during the day of this year's Christmas get-together, but we all decided to make the 2-hr drive regardless. We had a great drive - everything is all hushed and muffled with that much snow on the ground. The road conditions were pretty poor, but that made things all the more adventurous.
This is what the car looked like when we arrived. The Swedes sure do build a good car for weather like this.

Karen busied herself on Saturday sanding and applying some poly acrylic to the railing to the loft. She likes to pose, too. You can see one of the color choices in the background there, but don't expect to see it again. It lost steam fairly quickly in the committee, and at final tally, only managed a 25% approval rating.

Here is the paint swatch in the kitchen. Unfortunately... or fortunately, I suppose... this color fared even worse, and ended up with no votes at all. Some described it as too sugary, too sherbety, and one committee member even said the color made her feel like she needed to brush her teeth. Hmmm... not good feedback for Behr. We'll keep looking, but both of these walls will end up some shade of green or another.

We finally finished the last two feet of wall in Chris and Karen's room. And yes, we practiced workplace safety at all times. The ladder is on a chair which is on the dining room table, and that rests squarely on the floor. With the rafters in place, we trimmed the sheathing boards to fit around them. For the space between the rafters, we cut boards to size and used the pocket jig to provide mounting holes into the rafters. Pocket holes are basically a fancy way to toe-nail. Toe-nailing here would never meet the WAF.

A bit more paint on the wall, and a bit of sunshine on the floor.

Like I said... she likes the camera. Though just between you and me, I suspect she kind of has a thing for the cameraman, too. Just sayin'. She was applying the poly acrylic at this point, and seemed pretty pleased with her progress.

Ever wonder what the snow looks like when it falls off a tin roof? Mindy probably won't park her car here anymore. Andy shoveled it out on Sunday morning, and we have moved things around so we don't need to be in the line of fire.

The 6" of snow we had on Saturday night made a pretty sight on Sunday morning. Church was postponed until 3 in the afternoon to give people a chance to 'dig out', and we had a good time getting the snow all straightened away.

A few weeks ago, we had a faulty connection in the tractor somewhere, so we shoveled the driveway by hand. Yes, all 800' of it. We are thrilled to have the tractor doing its part now, and were very happy with how much easier it is than shoveling. I know, hard to believe.

Between the bucket on the front and the blade in the back, our little tractor is a very useful tool. With some practice over the next few months, this process will get more efficient, but even so, it's fun to move snow!

The Drywall Progress

Mud. Lots o' mud. That's how things are going now, with progress being made in the kitchen, two bathrooms, a bedroom, and a hallway. With more progress being thought about in another bedroom and another bathroom. Yes, it seems like it will never end.

This is the South wall in the loft. There is a 3-bent bedroom on the other side of the wall where Andy and Mindy are living for now. This wall continues from the peak to the basement, so there is a considerable amount of surface area here.
We installed two medicine cabinets in Chris and Karen's bathroom. They are surface mounted, but will eventually be replaced with flush mounted built in cabinets. The wall they are on is 4.5" deep, so the permanent cabinets should be big enough for all sorts of things.

At 10:30 am, the sunlight matches directly with the orientation of the house, and the light from the window parallels the grooves on the floor. Plus, it's pretty. :)

This is Andy and Mindy's bedroom at the moment. What, doesn't everybody keep tablesaws in their bedroom? We spent some time working here on Friday and Saturday, and have made a bit of progress with the last of the insulation and a bit of drywall. The South wall also has 16' of window sill installed, along with drywall below the sill. Consensus hasn't yet been reached about the wall above the sill. The possibilities include bookshelves, sheetrock, bare wood, and several combinations of each.

We anchored the final pieces of insulation to the foundation with 4" tapcon screws through some 2x4s that we ripped in thirds. With the rigid foam stuck tight against the concrete, the air spaces that would cause moisture accumulation are eliminated.

The boys' bathroom under the stairs has seen some attention, and with some sanding and another skim coat or two will be ready for painting.

The same bathroom, but on the vanity side of things.

This is the view from within Andy and Mindy's room. As you can see, there is lots of light coming through the egress windows on the South wall. The craft room in the background is much darker because it is so closed off, but every room with southern exposure is very bright. The doorjams are secured, and the double french doors are primed, but not yet installed. We will put those up after all the woodworking tools are cleared out of the room.

Another view of the South wall, showing the window sill and the sheetrock below it. There are some 2x4s stacked on the sill that are as twisty as can be. We made the mistake of leaving them flat on the concrete floor for too long, and they have all twisted beyond the point of being usable.

The snowshoes all hung on the wall... thanks, Mom and Dad!

The Vestibule Supports

So... this post is pretty weak sauce, but it's better than missing the whole week, right?

Mindy gets credit for most of the pictures this week, since Chris left his camera somewhere over the holidays. Mindy likes to take pictures of her boys. :)

While the sleds were buried under the snow a week or so ago, Mindy and the boys improvised and found a place to slide on their own. Incidentally, you can see the supports we put up to strengthen the vestibule roof.
Another view of the slide. Also visible here is the back side of the woodpile. We are pretty curious about the heating needs for the house, and we figure we have between 1 and 2 cords of wood stacked back here. We seem to light a fire in the later afternoon/early evening most days, and that keeps the house plenty warm. We open a window when we clear 80 degrees, but 70-75 feels awfully nice when it's single digits outside.

New pajamas on Christmas Eve! I don't think the boys understood the pose, but we thought it was funny. Benson didn't.

Thank you, Mom and Dad! We have seven pairs of snow shoes hanging in the mudroom now thanks to Andy and Chris' parents. They'll take some getting used to, and we are all looking forward to a really big snow so we can try them out.

The boys enjoy watching car videos on Chris' computer. On a work related note, you can see the sheathing boards cut and placed on the windowsills in the background. The boards had just come in from outside, so we let them dry (shrink) for a few days before we nailed them down.

Like I said. Weak sauce. We'll have more up early next week, because we actually have made some good progress on the downstairs that we're excited to share.

The Boys' Bathroom

Signs of the season. We had our first big snow of the year this past weekend, and everything is beautifully white. The sleds, unfortunately, are buried underneath the snow somewhere. Perhaps we'll have a short thaw so they can be recovered before spring.
Andy spent some time in the boys' bathroom this week, framing in tricky bits and putting up drywall. Between the stairs and the plumbing, there is a lot of time-consuming work here.

Same view as the previous photo, but a little further along. With some good tape and mud, this will look really good soon. We put up a bit more drywall after this shot, and only have a few more night's work in here before we can start to finish off the surface.

The other side of the shower. The supply for the shower head is visible here, and will be plumbed directly through the wall.

Between the two weekend days, we had just about 18" of snow. On the right side of the house, above the living room, you can see where a large section of snow slid off the roof. When rain falls off the house, it drops straight down once it clears the edge of the tin. Snow is a totally different story. Snow gathers mass and inertia, and hits the ground about 10' from the house - exactly where the roof pitch would put it if the roof continued all the way to the ground. There is quite a 'wumph' when it hits, so we will definitely not be parking any cars alongside the kitchen windows!

We didn't clear the snow on Saturday, but three out of four cars drive through the snow just fine. The Miata knows when it is out of its element, and stays parked safely at the top.

Over the stone wall and into the clearing. The trails through the woods are gorgeous this time of year, and the hemlocks in particular really add to the scenery.

This is what the cars look like after tromping through a foot of snow. Sometimes we go up the hill a little sideways, with all four wheels spinning. Totally accidental, of course. Safety first!

The Ice Storm

First off: the local library doesn't trust its patrons with a right-click, so I am unable to adjust the order of these pictures. If they don't comprise a flowing narrative, please forgive me.

For those of you not in the Northeast, we had a major ice storm last week. The worst ice storm in decades, they say. We lost power at our house for only three days, but some people in our area are still out of power, and may not have it back by Christmas. The utility companies have said they basically have to rebuild their entire distribution grid. Lots of work for everybody, that's for sure.

Andy took the day off work when he saw all the ice. Smart move. It would have been a long, slow drive. Andy and Mindy went for a walk with the boys down to the brook, which was really moving with all the rain that had fallen. There is a video of this section of the brook at the end of this post.

Dory had a great time hopping around down by the brook. She is always happy to bound around.

The brook was pretty swollen, and approached both banks. It didn't overflow like it has in years past, but it was still an impressive sight.

Andy's artsy shot through some ice and over the stone wall to the house in the background. We missed most of the major ice by about 100' of elevation. Just a little higher and we might have had lots of trees down like some neighbors had. In the sunlight on Saturday and Sunday, the sparkling ice was incredible, though. Not something you see very often.

Andy and Chris fiddled around outside on Saturday. We straightened up the back of the house, cleared some parking spaces, and cut a lot of kindling. We should have kindling for at least a month or two.

What to do when the girls are out shopping? Take things apart on the dining room table. :) The generator saw a lot of use this past weekend with the power out, and it was making a rough squealing noise. It turned out to be a bearing in the genset, which will be replaced under warranty this week.

Ethan was awfully excited to see the generator. We ran it a few hours a day to run the refrigerator and the Christmas tree lights. Candles provided enough light and ambiance for the house, and the wood stove kept us plenty warm.

Eli fell asleep next to Dory one night by the wood stove. Cozy as can be.

The Vestibule

I know, I know... the Christmas tree has nothing to do with building the house, but the outside shots show a little glimpse of what it is like to arrive at the house at night, with the glow of the wood and the doll-house like view of the inside.

Mindy likes to put the Christmas tree up on the weekend after Thanksgiving, so that is the Skyline tradition now. No, we didn't cut the tree from our land. Our trees are all forest growth, so they're either 70' tall and scraggly, or they're 3' tall and thin as a whisp. We could grow some just for Christmas, but those will all be a few years out. This tree came from a local tree farm, a cut your own place just up the road.A little further away, and a lot more fuzzy. Night shots are difficult without a tripod, and it's apparent that Chris didn't use one for this picture.
Getting ready for snow. One of the ag tires for the tractor needed to be inflated, so Chris took it to a shop to have the bead reset, and Andy bought a compressor on craigslist. Yes, we go there again. :) Ahh, it's good to be back. The front tires are set at 30 psi, and they're both on the tractor now, ready for the first snow. It's a little tractor, and we expect to have a lot of fun clearing the first good snowfall. After that... it may get pretty tedious.
We finished the North wall of siding on Saturday, complete with a motley selection of boards. Function over form, right? Besides, this is the back of the house, and aside from the blog, doesn't see much action right now. In a few years when the garage is in, and the bbq pit is done, the back of the house will be its own destination. Until then, it's the place where we pile everything that will one day fit in the garage.
Speaking of a garage, we decided that we needed somewhere to store our tools and spare parts and such. A full on garage is out of the question for this year, so we designed an addition to the house, one that will keep the weather off a few things over the next few months. Brian helped us finish the last bits on the North wall, and then stuck around to help design and install part of the vestibule. We chose the North side of the house, and will use the flat area just outside the craft room window. It's protected from the weather already, so with a roof overhead we hope it will really be a decent spot.
This isn't the final structure, but it's a solid start. We have a few more boards to put up for strength, some for looks, and some for convenience. It covers a 10' x 12' area.
A more distant view, but taken at the same time, so no further along in the process. Benson is familiarizing himself with the tractor. He thinks he's big enough to drive it. We think he's the right size to drive it, but we're not going to let him loose on it quite yet.
Benson helped nail the roof on the vestibule, and had a good time up there on the slant. He said he had a really good view from 12' feet off the ground. We really like the red of the finished boards, but these natural boards certainly have their own beauty, too. They will all be grey by the time spring comes around.

The South Wall of Siding

Andy installed the ballisters on the stairs to the loft this week. We haven't fully committed to a plan for the end of the railing or the top of the posts that support it. We're working on it. Sort of. It came up about a month ago, but we haven't discussed it in awhile.
Mindy had some fun at Ikea last week, so the boy's room is pretty well sorted. There is plenty of room for books, toys, and three little boys.

Robb and Colin, a father and son siding team, came out with some other friends on Saturday again. It's fun to get together with good people and do good work. This was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we had lots of turkey and pie for lunch.

This is one of the retaining walls that help the house to settle into the ground. There are two more much like this one on the other side of the house. The windows on the half wall are pretty low to the ground, and we wonder if we'll need to shovel snow away from them during the winter.

Harold Gushue came out on Saturday, too. At 91, he's the oldest helper we've had out here. He even brought his grandfather's hammer to use on the house. Harold built a cottage on an island off the coast of Canada a long time ago, so this was all old hat to him. The view from the cherry tree. Maybe I should have taken this picture at night - then you wouldn't be able to tell that we'd run out of painted boards! I think we'll run out of primed boards before we're totally wrapped up, but they'll be ok for the next few months. By the end of the day we had boards past the windows on this wall. The East wall isn't in any of these pictures, but it's about 75% done. With as much help as we've had, it has been great to work on multiple walls at the same time. Ladders really become the bottleneck at that point.

The parting view from Saturday afternoon. With the siding up, it really looks like home now.

Words cannot describe the joy we feel when we come home to the house. With smoke curling up from the chimney, the lights of the Christmas tree in the central dining room window, and that beautiful red wall settled into the hill, it's an amazing thing to behold.

We truly appreciate every moment that has gone into this project, both our own and from all of our friends and family who have helped over the last year or so.

We love it!