Tag: barn

Spiral duct work, stairs, and more.

new french doors.
pantry & stairs (from kitchen).
midlevel bedroom (with interior window).
midlevel bedroom (from the inside).
exposed spiral ducts (into master bed).
exposed spiral ducts (into master bath).

As promised:

Here are just a few updated photos, and quite a bit of progress has been made. We now have permanent (as opposed to temporary, make-shift) stairs, the exposed spiral ducts are in, and we’ve gotten a jump start on drywall.

Not pictured: electrical wiring and plumbing are also well on their way.

All very exciting.

Delinquent bloggers.

So, it’s clear that we have been quite lousy at this whole blog thing. We have a bevy of excuses: our weekends have been filled with events, it gets dark too early to get over there after work and snap some pictures, we forget our camera every time we’re there to do work, the list goes on.

But just because we haven’t been posting, it doesn’t mean that work hasn’t been done. And just this past weekend we got there with our camera to snap some updated shots.
They will tell the tales of progress far better than my words alone.
So we’ll get them up soon.
Promise.

Working outside.

We were quite busy this weekend, and the primary focus was the exterior. We did a bit of staining and painting. We just barely put a bit of stain on thebarn stain close-up. front porch, but we did stain a large part of the front of the house, and painted the trim as well.

On Thursday, though, Billy and I had taken the day off of work. We were fortunate to spend quite a bit of time at the barn with Tom. He got some more windows installed, and we also repaired a few of the floorboards. So it’s official: people can no longer plummet through cavernous holes from the main level into the basement.
Hooray for tiny victories.

Front door.

Front door.

As this project progresses, we are finding such joy in each little piece.
It was very, very cool to see the latest update.

Tom cut a hole where a window once was and installed the front door to our home. Once that was completed, he put in the treads to the front steps; (he waited until there was a door, of course: why would we have needed steps if we couldn’t enter that way?!).

And weeks ago, Billy and I had pulled out one of the stanchion posts from the horse stables; we want to reuse them elsewhere in the house, since the stables will one day be our basement. We suggested that one be used out front for the main entrance, and Tom made it happen.

Exciting stuff (for us, at least).

Summertime.

Now that it’s summertime, most of our weekends are filled with commitments. And when we’re not otherwise committed, we’re committed to the barn. But every once in a while, we have a rare moment to slow down. We managed to get to my hometown, Point Pleasant, for the 4th of July holiday, and had a beautiful day on the beach. There we saw my elementary school art teacher, Mitsy; (she’s relaxing in the blue chair in the photo). Needless to say, I haven’t seen her in years. She asked what was new, and inevitably the barn came up in conversation. Mitsy said, “I love American barns! They are perfect geometry.” Spoken like an artist! What a cool thought, and so very true…… as we’ve surely learned, with our posts and pegs and Y-beams. Perfect geometry.

All hands on deck.

All hands on deck.

It was all hands on deck today at the barn…… both figuratively and literally. Tom was in town with Dave and Adam, both my brother and my father came to help, and Billy and I joined in, too. And in a flash, the front porch was built. Pretty awesome.

Tom also found a front door (which will be installed just about where the window is overlooking the porch), so that will be a functioning entrance before long. Speaking of entrances, Tom also had installed a new side door, which means that our house no longer has to be padlocked. Also pretty awesome.

Aside from the porch going up, a window was installed, the hall closet was framed out (thanks Tommy and Dad!), the driveway was cleared, the scraps were sorted and tossed, and the upper and mid-levels were cleaned up. This was certainly the most productive day we’ve had in quite some time. It was good for both our house and our spirits.