Porch begun

Work on the porch roof began this week. In the original design, the porch roofline was extended with a canopy over the garage. Because the front door is higher than it was originally planned to be, the top of the porch is also higher. If we had kept the original design with the canopy, it would have been a lot higher than the garage door. John thought this would look very strange, and after some convincing, I caved and agreed to drop the canopy. The revised design will mirror our immediate neighbours' homes, so that's a plus.

As you can see in the second photo, the underside of the porch roof is finished in cedar, like the soffits. I think it will be nice to have wood above our heads as we come and go from the house.

Garage and basement poured

The cement floors in the garage and basement were poured today. That giant truck is the cement mixer; the photo on the right is of the finished garage. A few bits to be sanded, but overall it looks pretty good.

The drywallers, however, didn't show today. Maybe tomorrow, we'll see.

The week ahead

If all goes as planned, this will be a very busy and productive week chez Boucher-Thurston.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the drywallers are coming in tomorrow. They estimate that it will take them four days to board the entire house, followed by five days of finishing (mudding and sanding). Having the drywall done will be wonderful for many reasons, not the least of which is getting the drywall up off of the floor so that everyone can move around the house without having to do triple sow-cows. We're looking forward (a little anxiously) to seeing how the curved walls turn out.

The concrete floors will be poured in the basement and in the garage tomorrow. This is wonderful, because once that's done, our talented stair builders can come in and build us a way to the basement and into the house from the garage. Once the stairs are built, work can begin on our bedroom balcony, rooftop patio and front porch. We can hardly wait!

The shower in the third-floor bathroom will be completed this week so that John and I can start tiling it next week. We've placed the order for the tiles, and expect them to be delivered to the house next Monday. Between now and then we'll figure out how to tile a bathroom and screw up the courage to do it.

There are a few other things on the go this week, but let's not count our chickens. We'll keep you posted as we move along...

Drywall prep

After a few delays, the drywallers are scheduled to finally begin the drywalling in earnest tomorrow. In preparation for their work, the Botan crew installed some strapping (thin pieces of wood) in the ceilings throughout the house. Although not strictly required, the idea is that this will prevent nails in the drywall from popping as the house settles over time.

Garage drywalled

The garage has been drywalled, and the cement floor is due to be poured tomorrow. More gravel will be added to raise the level of the floor, then the cement will go in. Once that is done, we will be able to put in some stairs to the house from the garage, and have the garage door installed. This is great news, because then the house will be secure.

Kitchen wall up

The half wall between the kitchen and the stairs is now in place. This will be helpful in keeping us from plunging to our deaths after a few drinks out of the beautiful cooler Shawna and Chris got for us for our wedding. Sadly, the half wall covers our pigeon footprints, but we know they're still there.

Swing in waiting

I grew up with my wonderful godfather's handmade swings all around me: at my grandfather's farm, at my godparents' home, and at their cottage. My uncle Jim's swings held me, my sister and my cousins all of our lives. We loved them. When I was young, my Uncle Jim said he would build me a swing as a wedding present. That was a long time ago, and I was sure my uncle didn't remember it. When John proposed last year, my mother told me that my godparents wanted to give me something special. Since I was marrying so much later than I'm sure my godparents expected, I didn't feel I could really ask for the swing. I wasn't sure my uncle even made them anymore, and they certainly take some work. My mother made the suggestion to my uncle, and to my complete delight, he agreed to make one. It turns out he is still very active in the swing-making business.

Our swing is now ready, and we love it! The photo on the left shows our disassembled swing, which will be transported from Bryson to Ottawa in pieces. The photo on the right is of my godparents' swing, to give you an idea of how it will look when it's put together in our backyard. At our request, my uncle didn't paint our swing. It will stay natural cedar, to match our back deck and balcony. It will age to a greyish silver just like our cedar decks. The cedar comes from my Uncle Allen's farm, which was previously my grandfather's. It means a lot to me that this very special piece of my past will be a part of our future.