Merry Christmas!

These pictures were taken this afternoon, Dec 24. Even today we had some workers on site. These guys are amazingly dedicated to their work, and are real craftsmen. We marvel at their skill and appreciate their attention to detail. We are so aware of how fortunate we are to be able to participate in this project and to receive from all these men such a wonderful home.

Downstairs rooms

Shown below are porch lights, and then downstairs rooms, including a very neat electrical closet!

Inside views

It is a race to the finish to get the house done in time to move in Jan 12-14. We have been busy selecting paint colors and finalizing details. Cabinets are going in, paint being applied, and all the interior detail carpentry being done. I counted 18 pick up trucks outside one day. Below are some recent interior pictures of the main floor.

Great room



Loft looking at fireplace

Stairs to loft

Master bedroom



Master bath tub area

Master bath

Deb in her kitchen

Pantry



Laundry room



Main floor



Dining area

The Pond

Given that we had a lot of water running down the hill, it had to be diverted around the house. When the drainage ditches took shape, we realized an opportunity to create a pond in front of the house. Unfortunately, the landscapers didn't get to it until very late in the year, so they have been laying the front walk stones and building the pond in freezing weather, but doing a great job. The front walk included a large piece of stone acting as a bridge over one of the drainage ditches.

Ouside work and fireplace

Below are pictures over the last month. Trees planted at top of and along driveway (barely got them in before ground froze), driveway paved (on the last day of year that blacktop plant was open!!), front of house landscaping (large stone bench being installed), leach field dug and ready in back, and stone pillars supporting back porch now in place. Inside, the fireplace now has a large single stone hearth. All the stone is coming from Chester, VT.

Thanksgiving

Below are a few random pictures from Thanksgiving, a day that seemed especially poignant to us this year, given all that we have to be thankful for around our new home. The septic field and all the back yard grading are now in, shown in the first picture, ready for state inspection. Cabinets are being installed, shown in pantry and stacked up ready to install in kitchen. Doors are going up, shown are front closet doors. Stairs and all the interior carpentry finishing work is in progress. The red birch floor is down on the mainfloor, a small uncovered segment is shown below. Meanwhile, outdoors, our carpenty crew is finishing the siding, and the masons are finishing the stone columns that support the porch. Last, but not least, the electricians are doing all the panel wiring, including then new generator, shown in the last picture. The house is now being heated by the geothermal system that is functional. Great to have heat without propane in NE! We are now in the race to the finish, starting our packing at 7 Juniper Lane, which we will vacate after 26.5 years on Jan 15, 2011!

November progress

The first few pictures show some new trees planted to screen the house. Very exciting to see some trees. They are at top of our driveway and along the north side of drive. The masons finished the front porch piers this week except for the granite caps to be placed) and are now working on the piers under the back porch. The picture looking up the driveway shows where the water runoff collects, so we are going to build a small pond there. The picture of the back yard shows the excavation being done to finish the leach field and add a rain garden to collect runnoff water (stones under mulch in circular area close to lake).

The next 5 pictures are indoors. Fireplace is finished (except for hearth stone to be cut) and the plastering is all done. The hardwood floor is in and ready for sanding. In the basement (3rd pic) the trim and doors are almost done. The 4th pic shows the geothermal heating/cooling units, which are now operational pumping water out of one high flow well (we hit 50-80 gallons of water per minute at 150 ft) and pumping back into a second well. The last picture shows the neat plumbing of the 2 well systems, with variable speed pumps, one for geothermal, one for domestic water. Since they are variable speed, only a very small (stainless steel) holding tank is required, instead of the large ones usually associated with wells, and the variable speed pumps are much more energy efficient.

Lots of progress still needed before our move in by Jan 15!