Finished Front Facade

 

Covered Porch Framing

 

Deck and Covered Porch

 

Eaton side with windows

 

Windows, Shingles and Covered Porch

Laurie and I had a beautiful drive to the lake yesterday where I was surprised to find so much progress on the house in the past 3 days! The excavators were there putting stone into the basement to prepare for concrete. The roofers were working on the shingles, several of the windows and doors have been installed, and the framing contractors were putting up the lakeside covered porch. I was excited to see the house with the front porch roof on so that we now have the entire frame of the house finished! Laurie and I had a great lunch at Uno's and we hung out on the dock all day. By the time we left the porch was ready for shingles. The rest of the windows will be here in a few weeks. The stain will be put on in the next week or two. It is so much fun to see all this progress!

Second Story...Going Up!

The great room
The kitchen and entry The loft!
The lake facade

This was an absolutely gorgeous weekend at the lake. We were the guests of the Kaplan Family and they have been extremely kind to let us stay with them several times this year. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed hanging out on the dock. There was also a lot of skiing and surfing.

The roof is almost finished although my camera battery died before I got to take an exterior picture from the front. I will be back on Thursday so I will definitely be ready for an exterior shot. The loft is HUGE! It felt very exciting to stand up on the second floor and look out the framed window spaces.

The living room will be a challenge to arrange furniture in but the rest of the house all feels pretty easy to work with. Thursday I will meet with Mike and Art for a final window walk-through and to plan the electrical rough-in. My oldest friend Laurie will accompany me. The last time we were at the lake together was in 1985!

Big Big Steps!

Oh my god you guys! While Isabel and I are in New York City enjoying Legally Blonde: The Musical, A Chorus Line, shopping, sightseeing and just generally loving The Big Apple, the house is actually turning into a real house! It’s really exciting to see something that we’ve only seen as line drawings come to life in 3-D. Isabel and I took the train from Pittsburgh into New York City. It was a great way to get to the city.
This week the construction took giant leaps forward with the roof framing on each wing and interior framing of the bathrooms, closets and the master bedroom. While Art was figuring the order for the trusses, he decided to configure the upstairs so that we have two giant storage areas. Shout out to Art!
You’ll notice that there is a giant tree in the middle of the house. This is the signature style of Yellowstone Log Homes and it’s a really cool look. In fact in the lower level of the house the bottom half of the same tree will help support the house.
This week’s pictures were taken with David’s cell phone since I have the camera here in NYC with me. I can’t wait to see it in person!

WTC Sphere

This giant sphere stood between the two towers at the World Trade Center site. It is currently located in Battery Park.

Top of the Rock - Rockefeller Center

Isabel's Favorite Show

Manhattan from the top of the Empire State Building at night

NYC

Lower Manhattan taken from the Staten Island Ferry

The start of the deck!

I drove down on Saturday to take a look at what had been done this week. I wasn't expecting much since there has been so much rain but I was pleasantly surprised to find several new and exciting additions. The log work is almost done and the deck is framed in. There is a good amount of decking in place. Mike ordered the roof trusses this week and I am looking forward to getting the roof framed in so that I can really see what this house is going to look like!

At home we have been doing mock-ups of log walls for our stain selection. We have settled on Woodguard in a Colonial Cherry finish, which is a dark reddish brown. It should look great with the dark green windows and dark gray roof.