Only about a month to go!!

The guys have been hard at work! We have a ton of new insulation in the walls (EcoBatt) and in the floors and attic (icynene). Needless to say, we should be kept warm! That is a LOT of icynene!





By the way, these three windows in a row are original to the house!

The drywall was mostly finished last week, and it will be sanded this week. Check it out...

This is the bedroom...

This is one view of the bathroom, looking into the closet.

Another view of the bathroom showing the shower.

The backdoor has been installed. You can see into the bedroom to the right.
Also, our rickety old basement stairs have been replaced now (after EcoBatt was added under them too), so now all of our steps are the same width AND are level. What a concept!

Our homework for this week is to finalize our paint color choices! Stay tuned for our next update...

Sledding videos.....

Sledding after a recent 8" storm. Just down the street from our house at the Montford Community Center.
http://vimeo.com/9094826
http://vimeo.com/9094976

Good to go......

The interior framing work has been completed and everything passed inspection on Friday. Most of the remaining work will take place indoors.....safe from the relentless snow and ice storms we've endured. El Nino is sticking it to us! The locals say this is the worst winter in 20 years (lucky us!). We've stayed roughly on budget so far, but did decide to upgrade the shower with some additional glass panels which should open the space up a bit.

Next week we'll be insulating and beginning sheetrock installation. We will also be meeting with a landscape architect to discuss the backyard layout. We are hoping to move towards a permaculture design that incorporates nice garden space, rain gardens, and a play area for mocha. We've got a blank slate right now (see below)......

View looking into the bathroom

German siding on the southside

View of backyard during one of our weekly snowstorms

We also had our storm windows installed last week. These were purchased from company called Allied Windows in Ohio that specializes in customized windows for historic homes. They all fit perfectly and have helped weatherize our house tremendously. The interior windows are especially slick...they incorporate magnetic strips to seal out the elements. Hopefully we'll avoid another $300 power bill next month.

Interior storms....almost invisible

Exterior storms on the front of the house.

Taking shape.....

The weather has continued to cooperate and tremendous progress has been made. The crew has completed construction of the roof, interior walls, and demolished old exterior walls of the house. All of the old windows were successfully saved and will be integrated into the new building...not that we wanted them, but this helped to pacify the Historic Resource Commission. They do look nice...and the sunsets over Mt. Pisgah are an added bonus! If only we could build an observation deck on top....



This a view of the back of the house. Three of the original windows were used here. The fourth will be used in the "mud room" area.


This is a view of the remodeled sun room that will now become a laundry room and walk in closet. The area adjacent to the casement windows will serve as the closet. The door leads into the existing middle bedroom.



This is a view from the new bedroom looking into the new bathroom. The shower walls have also been constructed. The windows were designed to allow natural light in while maintaining privacy.


As the framing is almost complete, we expect to have plumbing underway sometime next week. We'll be back at Lowe's picking out paint colors before we know it!

Back at it......

Happy new year to everyone! Hope you survived the holidays....we went straight from moving to Thanksgiving to Christmas in the blink of an eye. We also endured the worst cold snap Asheville has seen in many years. Good thing the storm windows are on the way....

While the cold/rainy weather definitely slowed construction on the addition, the crew has made amazing progress over the past 2 weeks. Similar to what we did in Wilmington, we are adding a master bedroom and bath to the back of the house. Construction will include a remodeling of the rear sun room, which will become a walk-in closet and laundry area. The rear porch will also be closed in to create a mudroom style rear entrance. This will take us up to about 1,500 sf total with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

Hopefully, things will be wrapped up by early April and we'll hosting barbeques on the patio in May. Stayed tuned for more updates!

View of new addition from backyard.
View from the south (looking into the bedroom)

View from the north (looking into the bathroom)

The house is ready!

Within the past week, the finishing touches have been put on the house. It looks completely beautiful! All the fixtures were put in, cellulose insulation was blown into the attic, everything was cleaned up, the yard was graded out and landscaped a bit, the porch was painted, and the windows were super detailed. It is unbelievable how wonderful the windows look now. It's probably hard to tell from the pictures, but the window glass is super clear and wavy due to age (+80 years old). The guys worked really hard on this house and did a great job! It looks super sharp!

We were supposed to move in this weekend (after supposedly closing on Friday, Oct. 9), but a few things got messed up. So, we now won't be closing until Wednesday, Oct. 14 and moving in Thursday, October 15. No word yet on when we will begin the addition, but hopefully within a couple of weeks after moving and getting settled in. You know we can't sit still but for so long before beginning a new project! :-)

We are really excited about the place and can't wait to move in! Thanks for checking out our pictures.

Our cute little hut...





Newly painted porch.


Good size backyard. Perfect for a garden, a dog, a patio set, and a house addition.

Can you believe this is the same tub? Amazing!

New "Class 5" toilet.

This turned out great.

Back bedroom.

New closet in back bedroom. (Looking towards bonus room/future laundry room.)

Front bedroom/Brent's office - french doors and fireplace required.

Family/living room fireplace.

Dining room floors.

Dining room.

And..... kitchen!

It's a race to the finish line...

Wow, so here we are... only one week away from closing! A lot has been done in the past week. All the light fixtures have been hung, trim paint on the outside of the house has been painted a softer cream color (no more dijionaise), kitchen cabinets and granite went in, and the bathtub was reglazed. Also, new Icynene spray foam insulation was sprayed in the basement under the floors of the main level. Check out the pictures! The place is looking awesome!

Now we're on the "home" stretch. Plumbers will be coming next week, the floors will be finished, all appliances/fixtures will be installed, and the yard will be fixed up and landscaped in the front. Wish us luck with our closing and moving days next Friday and Saturday! Thanks for checking out our pictures! (Don't forget, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger. Then, hit the back arrow to go back to the blog.)

New trim paint - what a difference that makes! Compare this picture to one of the very first ones.


New coal basket inserts. They use natural gas to help heat the house and provide for a nice ambiance. This might be the only true "clean" coal... :-)


New Iceynene spray foam insulation. This stuff is super green (http://www.icynene.com/m-green), and will help keep us really warm this winter!

The reglazed bathtub. Looking sharp!

New cabinets and countertops in kitchen, so nice...

Cabinets and countertops...

Fan in second bedroom (we chose the same fan for the other bedroom and family room).

Light fixture in bathroom (before bathtub was reglazed).

Art deco-y light fixture in dining room.

Hallway light.

Front porch light.