First night on board!

Greetings on Memorial weekend to everyone! Giving a few thoughts to the men and women of the generations before us who personally sacrificed for what we as a nation hold dear.  And thinking of the new young American men and women around the world on the front lines tonight,...thank you for your commitment.  Driving from McLean to Lake Anna, we pass through two major battlefields of the US Civil War (Chancellorsville and Wilderness) and I always reflect on the courage of both sides, while dreading the cost in huge battle casualties (Wilderness: US killed & wounded - 18,000, Confederate killed & wounded, 10,800).  Just some memorials on this day...

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So, we are moved in, having spent the Memorial weekend at the house!  Kinda like luxury camping while we figure out what we need and what we forgot that a brand new house needs. Continuing to wrap up the details of the house finishing and the grounds refinement.  We were rained out last week on gravel delivery for the driveway, so hoping for gravel and hydro-seeding this week...

First time seeing the house at night.  The 17-year cicadas are incessant during the day with the droning squeal, but fortunately calm down at night.

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Camille getting in some early evening archery practice with her recurve on the future front lawn...she's very good, I don't recommend crossing her.

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We pulled "Phantom", our Jet 14 sailboat (built the same year as me, 1967) out of the winter underbrush.  Here, after a wash down, she is poised to enter her new protective home in the basement.

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A view of the "boathouse" basement.  This side of the basement will eventually be the workshop and tractor area, with the boats moving to the other side of the basement once we get the other double-doors installed.

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We are turning-to on the bedroom paintings in order to get the carpet installs underway.

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Next: landscaping & driveway

Phase I almost complete!

With the interior fairly complete (Phase I), our minds have turned to the surrounding grounds.  We received our Certificate of Occupancy last week, but unfortunately could not spend the weekend at the house due to Jenny's and Camille's commitments.  Just a few items to finish up inside the house: stove vent, stove backsplash, a repair to a chipped master bath sink.  Roof gutter and downspouts should be scheduled for next week.  Jenny, Camille and I are painting bedroom doors and trim so that we can call in the carpet people for the three bedrooms.  Outside, Ed Benes directed Randy the excavator on the final grading all around the house and we should be ready for gravel to finish the driveway base.  With that set, we'll schedule in the hydro-seeder to try and set a lawn for erosion control and basis for future landscaping. Not a lot of details to show this week, but some outside shots:

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The two back house corners with the steeper slope are the areas of concern.  Some future landscape walls may be needed to best control runoff and ease of maintenance.  We also have a plan for water barrels fed from the downspouts, at these corners.

Here's the front view as of Friday with some initial driveway stakes in place.

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And here is a photoshop version of the image above, showing final driveway layout and initial lawns.

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Approaching the finish line...

One of my favorite movies is "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman.  And in the last few weeks of this house construction project, 'little-big' is the name of the game:  some things are big and appear little, and some things are little but appear big.  We're not down to the details, we're inside the details.  Now that I've confused you, let's recap the past two week's progress:

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Hickory floors were sanded and natural stained several times, resulting in a great depth and warmth both on the floors and stairs.

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The fireplace stone received a final grouting. Jenny requested a warmer grout that really matched well with the veneer stone.  The cedar mantel and supporting cedar corbels are in place as well.  And above, the great room fan is installed and operational.

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Kitchen: Practically done, appliances in place and hooked up, cooking with gas!  Island footing area to be worked, IKEA provided wood toekicks with the stainless steel cabinets, can do better we think!

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Stove double-oven in place.  Exhaust hood in place but will be vented outside.  Stainless steel backsplash will be added on the wall between stove and hood.

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Screened porch, now screened!

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We wanted to go with typical frame-type screened doors for the front and back but all the Home Depot reviews were horrid, so we selected storm doors with screen panels, I don't think it detracts from the look and its definitely more solid.

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1st Floor guest bath.

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2nd Floor guest bath. Picture mirror is on the way to complete...the picture.

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2nd Floor guest bath shower details.

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Cabin room, we love this room, great light!

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Master bath shower area, rain shower head overhead.

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Master bath tub area.  Tub deck toward the back. Shower area to the right. Circle window on the left.

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Front view after final trim painting.  Next up:  driveway improvements and hydro-seeding of the dirt areas.  Final inspection scheduled for this week, looking forward to spending days there instead of hours....

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The punch list...begins

You know it by the trade name "punch list", or just by your own experience of getting to the end of a project or renovation, where the big things are done but there are those little details or minor omissions that need correction.   We met today with Matt and Ed to go over the punch list.  At the same time, Gino was starting on sanding the floors in preparation for natural staining and several coats of clear coat on the hickory floors, so the house is his for just over a week.  Other developments:
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Starting construction of the second set of basement doors.  Evolving the design to a steel frame instead of the hardwood frame.  Had a local welding shop produce the two door with hinges welded on.  The outside will look very similar to the first set of doors, but I think it will be more rigid and definitely a time saver for me, while still fitting within the budget.
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 In  addition to the door frames, I asked the welding company to make door handle brackets for both sets of doors.  A pair of these with 1 inch wood dowel between them, will be set on each door.
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Fridge in place.  Width fit was perfect but now realize we need some trim panel over it.

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Stove in place, hood install in progress.  Notice how Matt pre-stained the floors under the appliances before the main floor sanding & staining that began today.  Toekicks will be installed after the floor finish is complete.

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Powder room vanity.  Jenny chose the walnut slab from Vienna Hardwoods.  I cut to size and finished it.  This will get us thru the final inspection, we have some cool ideas for some stonework and wall colors after that!

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Stairs down to the basement. Continuing the nautical look with the sconces...

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Utility area detail.  Blue tank is the water pressure vessel fed by the well head pump.  The yellow lines are the propane going to the on-demand water heater on the right, and also the stove above.  No more water company bills, but now need to ensure electric power for the well head pump or have a standby source in the event of temporary power loss.

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Lamps installed by back basement doors.
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A different view of the screened porch.  Exterior lamps in place, additional trim boards to be added, screen panels between the columns, and screened doors.  Now our minds turn to what will be in front of, and behind the porch...

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View of the house from across the swale.

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We are blessed with many Dogwood trees around property (see the white flowers), some in better health then others, after having grown in the shadow of pines.  We will try to save the healthiest but many will probably go in the land clearing. 

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Another Dogwood flower view.

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Hey, we're on the map!  "7817" Our neighbor built this new mailbox post on the left since the original was full and today I set our box in place down there on the end (thanks Dean!)...

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On the way home past the local dairy, I noticed the Holstein dairy cows seemed to be in heaven with the lush spring grass and warm sunny day temps....so I snapped a quick pic.  The Virginia countryside is in prime spring, everything is blooming, cool & lush ready for hot & humid...we're ready for it!

Spring color

We bid welcome to Spring... and the color it brings!  Pinks and reds, as the cherry trees in DC have just peaked (one thing I miss from my daily commute to & from the Washington Navy Yard, witnessing the day-by-day progression), and the redbud trees are out in force.  We have a few redbuds sprinkled in the woods about the property but mostly on the small size.  There's a magnificent redbud down by the marina dock that I noticed today.  Some blue, as I noticed a Bluebird pair has made a nest on top of the front porch light, and they hung around the nearby trees all day today while I was in & out. I didn't remove the nest as I've never observed Bluebirds before, and I remember it's good luck when animals feel safe around your home.  And some color for the house exterior...Nevada Sand, but it seems a bit on the yellowish side...we're still trying to get used to it.  May change it in the near-future but the budget requires us to stay the course for the time-being.  The painters did a great job though!  And the screened porch is really coming along (see the photos).

Other progress: fridge, stove, & dishwasher have arrived and will be installed in conjunction with the hardwood floor finishing next week.  Jenny found a great mantel timber and I cut it to size, sanded it, and cut corbels from it.  Final plumbing and electrical work should be done in the next few weeks, moving steadily towards final inspection!

So, a photo tour around the outside:

Hooking up & heating up...

Back from a chilly but inspiring vacation to London, Devon, and Cornwall.  A nice warm, sunny day at the house site to see the fireplace stonework, light fixtures installed, most of the tile work complete, and kitchen granite finis.
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AC units installed, good timing for warmer weather to come.

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Siding complete, including the screened porch, or the "Parthenon" as I'm calling it.

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View into the screened porch, the center beam will host a ceiling fan...and maybe an old wooden canoe suspended over the top beams.

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Fireplace stonework, really love the way it turned out!  Awaiting a wood beam mantle supported by four wood corbels.

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Living room view over the hearth looking south.

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Front view of the fireplace (woodstove).  The stone veneer is from Eldorado and the hearth stones are travertine.  Jenny picked out the mantel timber today from Vienna Hardwoods, and I'm looking forward to band sawing the corbels.

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View over the kitchen island.
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 Over the kitchen island toward the sink, pendant lighting fixtures installed as well as the sink faucet.
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View of the kitchen from the living room.  Chandelier will preside (once lowered) over a round dining table.  Wood floors will be clear coated, and after testing the finish, we found the polyurethane will warm up the wood floors nicely.
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As the bath tile completes in each room, vanities and light fixtures are going in.  Need a nice picture frame mirror here...and we have plans for some guest-oriented side cabinets.

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The cabin room gets some ship lamps, and Jenny simulates some underway heel....

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The east bay of the basement gets some light shed on it.  This will be the workshop and tractor garage.  The wall insulation might well get this space nicknamed the "Looney Bin"...and maybe we were a bit crazy to jump into this property,  but Jenny & I are looking forward to some furniture-woodworking, boat-fixing, wine-making in the years to come.

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So, some old-world inspiration from our England trip.  This is the Bishop of Winchester's mansion.  The house is so-so, what I like is his pea-gravel driveway leading right up to the house, with green lawn bordering.

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A carriage house in Winchester, fits the bill for a future art studio-over-barn at BramaSole.....