Rooms to Play

 

 

Today, the roof structure was added above the garage. Which means that the kids' play room has really taken shape. It looked like a huge room when it was just a flat sub floor surface.  I was worried that it would get a whole lot smaller after the roof was added and the sloped ceiling and knee walls were added to the sides. Thankfully, it still seems like a room large enough to hold all the kids' toys. We're hoping Santa will bring a ping-pong table and Craig has already identified the perfect spot for it.

 

 

This is a view of the play room from the front right corner of the house.

Here is the play room from the door into the room. The window will be on the front, right of the house.

The room below was our special addition to the house. The house plans called for the downstairs living room to have a two story ceiling. We decided that we had rather convert that area to what we are affectionately calling the "Man's Room." Since I will be using the guest bedroom as my sewing/ craft room and the kids have their own play room, we thought it would be nice for Brian to have his own room for his office, pool table, golf trophies, etc... So here Brian is checking out his room.

This is the upstairs landing.

The view of the foyer from upstairs.

The First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the kids. John Thomas is in third grade at Ogletree Elementary and Caroline is in kindergarten at Auburn Early Education Center. Both were excited about the start of school, just not about the 6:15 wake up call.

Brian was gone on a work trip to Kentucky, so Grandmother Jo was called to the Plains to assist with the first day of school activities. I don't know how single parents do it. Maybe they have extremely helpful children who listen and do what is asked of them on the first attempt.  I would not be a parent of that kind of child. My kids like to cuddle with each other on the couch, delay brushing their teeth, avoid putting on shoes, complain about what they have for breakfast and pretty much act like getting to school on time is something that is not too important.

We made it to John Thomas's school -almost on time. After a few obligatory photos taken by the school sign, he finally made it inside and met his new teacher, Mrs. DeWeese. We then set out to Caroline's school and hit bumper to bumper traffic. There are probably 600 new kindergartners and all of them and their parents were trying to enter the school at the same time. It took us so long to get from JT's school to the inside of Caroline's school, that her class had already started by the time we arrived. I didn't have a chance to take a photo of her with her teacher, which is something I have always done for the kids on the first day of school.

So since I missed out on one tradition this year, I decided to start a new one. After the school bus dropped the kids off at Grandmother Ree's house, we headed over to the new house. I decided it might be neat to take a photo of the kids by the front door of the house each year. Of course, this year, there isn't a door yet. But there is a frame built around where the door will be.

We got to the lot just in time to meet with Craig and Joe, the framer.  Jo, the grandmother, had suggested after visting the house yesterday that we needed a laundry shoot from JT's bath down to the laundry room. So, we spent some time trying to figure out if it could work out. The framers should be working tomorrow on the rafters, so hopefully we will soon see the complete outline of the house.



Onwards and Upwards

Today we got to see the first walls of the second story of our house go up. And I got to climb a ladder and actually walk around on the second floor. John Thomas has been asking for a zip line from the second story of the house to the back yard. When it was time for me to go down the ladder from the second floor, I was wishing for a zip line myself.

But, I made it safely down the ladder. I was able to get some photos from both the ground level and while I was upstairs (or in this case up-ladder).  Everything seems to be going fairly smoothly with the framing. It would really help if it would not rain. I'm worried about the sub-floor becoming too wet during these daily showers. But the foreman there today assured me that it could rain 20 more times before we needed to worry. The green coating on the plywood is supposed to help keep out moisture, but it has rained so much, the boards seem to be getting soaked.

One of the benefits of building a custom home is that you get to pick exactly where you want windows and doors placed. We have kept fairly closely to the interior design of the house plans, but we have changed a few things around. When I got to the lot today, I noticed that one of the interior walls on the second floor didn't have the new changes done. Luckily Craig and Maribeth were close by and I called and they came over to check it out and get it corrected. I knew all that time I spent memorizing the house plans would come in handy at some point.

Sub-floor being delivered to second story.

Front of house, dining room 1st story,  guest bedroom 2nd story

In the foyer, you can see our current set of "stairs."

Maribeth deciding on an opening for the closet in the guest bedroom.

Guest room looking out to front of house.

Putting up the back wall in Caroline's bedroom.

Craig, standing in John Thomas's bedroom.  Wall to JT's bath lying on the deck.

Maribeth is double checking the house plans.

Enter the Matrix (or the First Floor of our home)

I've been to the lot several times this week. I even took the kids one cool morning and hung out on a beach towel watching the framers work. But, every afternoon this week, there has been rain (or karate class). So we haven't been able to explore the house. I try to stay out of the way of the workers and try even harder to keep the kids out of the construction zone. So the evenings are when we truly get to get a feel of the house. Plus, it's really the only time that Brian gets to get caught up on the building progress.

Even in the evenings after the workers are gone, it's a constant struggle to keep the kids out of trouble. There are lots of stray nails, loose boards and mud for them to seek out. Brian and I spend as much time yelling at the kids to quit doing whatever dangerous activity they are doing as we do getting to explore the house.

Tonight was no different as the kids found a two by four lying cross ways over a shorter two by four that they could use as a homemade see-saw. Thankfully, no injuries to report, but I do fear that one of these posts will one day include a photo at the emergency room.

As you can tell by the photos, there are a lot of 2x4's that are crossing each room bracing the walls. John Thomas thought they looked like lasers. I did too- hence the title of this post, "Enter the Matrix." Every room has these support boards, so it is quite a maze.

It looks like all the interior walls are complete and the floor joists are ready for decking on the second floor.  It was really neat to be able to visualize what the rooms are actually going to look like- to see how large our closets and bathrooms will be. Next week, second story walls and then the roof structure.

John Thomas and Caroline in between the living room and the kitchen.

This is the dining room. You can see half of Caroline standing in the kitchen looking through the butler's pantry into the dining room. Kind of like a "Where's Waldo?".

View from living room out the front door. The stairs will be on the left wall next to the garage.

The back of the house.

Front of house.

Looking into the garage. Which I can finally admit to being a very large garage. It didn't seem that big until all four walls and a roof structure were built.  Craig even measured my van and then showed me how much room I would still have in the garage even with the van parked in it.  I guess we will be able to have a golf cart one day and have room to park it!

An Auburn Sky Over Our Auburn House



Today was a rainy day in Auburn, but luckily the framers were able to add a few walls this morning before the flood gates opened.  Brian, the kids and I went to the lot after dinner tonight to see the progress. We ended up meeting some new neighbors and talking for so long, that it was almost dark before we went into the house. As we were walking up to the house, I noticed the sunset and the sky were a perfect mix of Auburn Orange and Blue.

This "Sky Trak" was delivered this afternoon which must mean the framers will be starting on the second floor in the next few days!

The First Walls

It was an exciting morning on the lot. We're finally getting some vertical movement on the house.  Everything so far has been on a very horizontal plane. And much of it has been below grade. So to see upward movement was a lot of fun.

Today was "Bring Your Kids to the Lot" Day. John Thomas, Caroline and Emmerson were all on hand to supervise the wall construction.

Walls are built lying down and then are put up as a whole piece.

Craig and our framer, Joe, were consulting the plans.



Building walls require a lot of strength!

John Thomas had his i-Pod to keep him occupied.

Caroline is the "Queen of the World"!

The first wall goes up!  This is the back wall in the living room, where there will be a double door leading out to the covered porch.

When I took this picture, the flash went off and it scared one of the workers because he thought it was lightning! They must not be used to having photos taken when they are working.

This is the back wall of the master bedroom.

This is the left side wall of the house where the dining room, butler's pantry and kitchen will be.

Sub Floors, Yard Sales and a Wedding Memento

The kids and I returned today to Auburn after a three day trip to north Alabama. This weekend was the annual "World's Longest Yard Sale" and going on at least 50 miles of it is a tradition in the Walker/Ellis family. I was hoping to find some antique chandeliers, but unfortunately there was more junk than antiques at this year's sale. I did find a few decorative items for the new house- an old stained glass window, a tole painted tray and some old doorknobs to use for a coat rack in the mudroom. I would include photos, but I left everything at my mom's since we are so short on space at the apartment.

I did bring back a brass and crystal chandelier that will be used in our dining room. It had been in storage at my parents' house. When I saw it again and saw that it had a plug in wired to it, I realize that this was the chandelier that Brian and I used at our wedding reception. I think I had bought it at a yard sale at some point, just because it looked like my other chandeliers and I'm sure I got it cheap. When we were planning the wedding reception, I thought it would be neat to hang a chandelier from the tent for added light and ambiance. My dad wired the plug to it and I think I have a picture of him climbing up the ladder to hang it on the tent the morning of the wedding. It has lived in storage in a galvanized tub ever since (ten years!). I'm happy to know that we will finally get to use it in our new house and that it will be a nice reminder of our wedding.

We all went to visit the lot this afternoon and saw that the framers had finished the flooring which means walls will start tomorrow.

From garage looking at where front door, stairs, dining room and kitchen will be.

Brian checking out the subfloors.  I still can't tell if the house seems small or if it is just an illusion.

Front, left corner of house looking back towards master bedroom.

I like this table that looks like it was built to hold the house plans!