Our first SNOWFALL...(10-29-08)

We now take time out from our regular blogging to show pics of our first snowfall in Nicholville.

We barely made it up the driveway. We had a good 12 inches!

From the driveway looking back to the meadow and road...

THE HOLE...

Yep...there's a hole in my roof...

And they laid the next course...

The chimney gets taller...

Okay we've hit the roof...now what???

Make a hole you say??? In my roof??? I'm not sure I can watch this...

That's Richard preparing to make the first cut. And yes...I'm going to have a hole in my roof. But I'm assured it will only be for a day...or two...

It's a good thing I know Richard and Mike are perfectionists and I trust them, because let me tell you...it was very unsettling to see my wonderful roof suddenly have a hole!

This is Lee...

He's been hard at work finishing off interior walls.

Maple flooring...Our first look!!

This is our first glimpse of what the downstairs floor will look like. In order to install the toilet, Richard needed to get this part of the bathroom floor done. Rick spent several days planing the boards.

Richard then laid them for us and installed the toilet! We will be be going with a clear coating that should high light the wood grains and protect the wood.

More bathroom stuff...

The upstairs "over toilet" cabinet was installed.

A straight on view...We like having lots of storage in the bathrooms!

The downstairs one!

So of course...

We just couldn't wait to see it stained.

And then urethaned...and we had 2 days of perfect weather to get it done!

Lee's Door...

I arrived back to find lots of things done in my absence. This is a "hand-made" door by Lee!

It's one very impressive door...nice and thick made from the same wood as our upstairs flooring! It just suits the garage perfectly. Such craftsmenship...Thanks Lee!

ROAD TRIP !!!

I'm on a road trip. So, there won't be any updates until my return. I'm headed back to CT bright and early tomorrow morning, and then on to NYC with my sister for a long weekend! It's a yearly thing...be back next Tuesday.

Rick will be in charge of taking pics in my absence. I leave the camera in very capable hands. At least half the pics already posted here were the result of his photographic efforts.

And may I just say....YIPPEE!!!

The garage was finished in 3 months...

I just checked back on my dates. Although they did begin notching and chiseling the beams earlier, it appears that work actually started around July 14. So the garage was built in 3 months! Three months of hard work and dedication by both Rick and Andy.

Next Monday the Overhead doors are due to arrive. We will be painting them red to match the windows. Lee is hard at work handcrafting us a "people door" made from 2" thick tongue and groove left-over from doing the upstairs flooring at the house.

Garage loft area...

It is wonderful up in the loft.

The loft door is quite large. We are trying to decide exactly what will be going up here.

The garage is finished...YIPPEE!!

Rick and Andy finished yesterday!

The hayloft door was the last thing to be finished.

Hayloft from outside...

Driveway view...

More good stuff...

Drawers and empty space (on left) for dishwasher...

Cabinet over refrigerator...

Cabinet over stove...

The Island...

The beginnings of a kitchen...

Lots of excitement...

The beginning of the island...
The sink goes under the window...

The rest of the island goes in...

Oh...and we cheated a bit...

We had this pile delivered...just in case! Not knowing if the wood we had cut would be seasoned enough...and not knowing if we would have enough time to get enough split for this first winter...we decided to be safe and have a pile ready to go!

So this pile sits out in the meadow. We had hoped for a wood shed to stack it in, but that will have to be a project for next summer.

Scavenger Hunt anyone???

This one was easy to find...

This one had been run over by a bulldozer!
Okay I can pretty much see most of this one.

This one has been overgrown...it was the hardest to find! And yes...there IS a pile of wood there!

We've started to split wood...

So, the cold weather is coming and the wood stove is going to need...well...

wood ya know! As the trees were cleared for the excavation we carefully made piles of logs that (hopefully) would dry all summer and be ready to burn this year. We finally bought the log splitter we needed and yesterday I went on a hunt to locate all the piles. I kind of recalled there being about 5 different locations. Things had been moved around naturally, but I went looking hoping to discover where they all were. This was the easy pile right out in the open easy to get at and split. But wait...where are the other piles???

The Schrader Fireplace...

Here's the wood stove! See it has our name on it? This stove came from Bethany and we have used it for 30 years! It opens and has a screen so you can enjoy the beauty of the fire when not using it for heat!

The blocks will be covered in Buck's County Limestone. And Mike will be building us a wonderful hearth for the stove to sit on!

Nuts and bolts...Wires and pipes???

Well what do you call all this??? Mechanicals? Systems?

Just love the color coding for the water!!!

Mike and Richard have started the chimney.

Look...I can multi-task !!!

I can pet Jess AND stain a door at the same time...

Eh?

A little this...A little that...

Downstairs paneling done in hallway...

Kitchen window trim ...over sink light fixture and window sill...

Laundry closet in downstairs bathroom...This will have bi-fold doors to hide the washer/dryer. My previous laundry room was in the basement so this will be very nice!

It's beginning to feel like a HOME...

With the doors installed it gives you a warm comfy feeling inside the house. It was a very exciting day and we were thrilled!

The dining room door to the deck was something we weren't sure about. All those panes of glass! But, we really love the look. And it brings so much more light into the Dining Room and Kitchen. Once again I must give the credit to Rick. He had a vision and ran with it.

Dining room doors...(more pics)

Here they are laid out on the floor prior to installation...I spent 2 weeks staining and urethaning the door exteriors. We had the good weather AND as the deck isn't going in for awhile yet it seemed best to get the outside done.

These doors are the reason for the lack of updates around here.

The guys are checking the fit...

And checking it again...