A Digital Short (very short)

WARNING: Guest blogger alert! Heather here. Reporting on the dogged progress of the elusive LenMar House!

If you'd like to see this larger go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np1TyzHvjzk and click for full screen.

Homeowner Haiku

WARNING: Guest blogger alert! Heather here. Reporting on the dogged progress of the elusive LenMar House!

Dad fires up tractor.

Mom says "Wait, there's your phone."

Dad, in earmuffs, CRUNCH.

Moving Day Past

WARNING: Guest blogger alert! Heather here. Reporting on the dogged progress of the elusive LenMar House!

Maybe you missed it or maybe you were there for the adventure that was moving day! Stay tuned for further updates.

House occupied, though not quite completed...

WARNING: Guest blogger alert! Heather here. Reporting on the dogged progress of the elusive LenMar House!

I was up a couple of weeks ago on a frequent flyer ticket (you can't beat a ticket for $7.50!) while John was in Daytona for the weekend.

A brief update. The folks moved in on a temporary certificate of occupancy and haven't looked back! The old house isn't quite empty. Rob and Pete were living there. Pete still is, actually, while he works in a lab job this summer. Yep, he's gonna cure cancer one day, but in the meantime he works in a lab and occasionally goes on rounds with the docs and is still living in the old house. Good thing because the lawn would take over like in a horror movie!

Anyway, here is the pictorial update on the new house. Keep in mind these are candid and reflect the "just moved in clutter" that naturally occurs.

If you came in through the garage, you would end up in the laundry room. Through the door is the kitchen. Note the pink moving day tag on the file cabinet. You'll see a few of those.

To the right of the washer and dryer is a half bath. Still waiting on the mirror, but now with added privacy bonus of a shade! Now anyone on the driveway can't see things they shouldn't.

From the kitchen this is the view of the great room (the "living room" half specifically, the other half is "dining room"). The giant fan above the couch and the plethora of windows makes the room really comfortable and breezy.

This is the kitchen as viewed from the great room. Just to the left out of the picture is the laundry room and the pantry. Just to the right out of the picture is the hallway to the bedrooms.

The pantry is enormous. (Imagine "enormous" in a slightly Scottish accent and John laughing his head off at me for being unable to pronounce normally! Hiccups destroy me...) It has two, very large, 6' tall rolling shelf carts to store things on. Very nice.

On down the hall. On the right, the first door is the guest bedroom. Likely to be the Pete Crash Pad during the school year.

Just across the hall from the guest bedroom is, appropriately, the guest bathroom, replete with chair for bathroom coaching. If you're like me and don't need any backseat driving while in the bathroom the chair functions well as a "set your stuff here while you take a shower" chair.

Just steps further down the hall and your reach the master bedroom door. You can't see it but there is another window on the wall on the left. The wall on the right has a big old dresser. This room hasn't been painted yet, but when complete it will have lovely purple gray walls like the bathroom below.

This is obviously just the shower, the big news on this being all the natural stone has been sealed and it is now usable! To the right, out of the picture, is a window, a big jacuzzi tub, another window, then 2 sinks, then a toilet room with a window.

The master bedroom has a walk-in closet as well. There is a window in there too! This picture only shows the left half. The right half bulges out a little bit and has a large IKEA closet unit in it.

And now on to the basement! It is largely unfinished. Those earlier posts of Norah and Kitty riding trikes around on the concrete still apply. The only room that is done is the office. To the right out of the picture is a double bookcase. 2 enormous windows! How will he ever get anything done with so much to look at!

The picture above shows the sunset over the hockey swamp from the dining room table. A week or so after this was taken, during family reunion, the grading was done on the yard. So it looked less weedy, more even, but still retained it's "possible amateur hockey rink in winter" appeal.

Well, that's all for this time. Stay tuned ....

Geothermal Ground Loop In

On Sunday we packed a picnic lunch and headed out to the house for a day of painting. But first, I took some pictures outside. The geothermal gorund loops had been installed earlier. We were not able to get up to the house while they were doing this, so all we have are pictures of the aftermath.

Geothermal Trench

When they were about 200 feet from the house, they ran into an underground "river", as it was described to me over the phone. It turns out this just means there was more gravel in the clay and water was running through it. However, they need to head in a different direction to avoid it, so they took a sharp turn and headed east.

Geothermal Trench Sharp Turn

The back of the house looks kind of cool through the trees, almost like it is in the middle of a woods instead of a meadow.

Marlene setting up the picnin lunch.

The only change to the front of the house is a grayer color to the Trombe walls as they continue to get them smooth enough for the high-adsorptivity, low-emissivity film.

Still Smoothing Trombe Walls

While we were out there, Karen and Tim and kids stopped by after Mass. The girls looked cute in their dresses.

Picture taken at their house.

Michael enjoyed the view from my shoulders.

What a smile!

We ate lunch on the picnic table (how peaceful!) and then got to work on the painting. We were able to get the ceilings done in both bedrooms and my office.

Oak Doors & Trim, Marble Caps & Floor

We met with the builder at the house today. Afterward I took pictures while Marlene tested exterior paint colors. The trim is mostly installed now, including the railing by the stairs.

Stair Railing

The oak, 2-panel doors are mostly installed also. The only doors not installed are those that were not delivered by the lumber yard.

Doors in Pete's Room

Pocket Door in Master Bath

Also the marble caps were installed on the shower threshold and the tub half-wall.

Marble Caps

And speaking of marble, my office tile was laid and grouted.

Office Tile

Marlene bought a couple samples of exterior paint to try on the siding. We chose the darker of the two.

Painting Test Colors

And this is what the front of the house looks like. Still no front door or porch columns.

West Face

Bedroom & Bath Tile Laid

We went back on Sunday to check out the beautiful bathroom tile and take pictures. Marlene had picked out all these different tiles and the listello and it all looked fine to me. However, I was not prepared for how beautiful it looked when it was actually installed in the room. I was astonished.

Master Bath

Shower

Shower Detail

The bedrooms were tiled but not grouted yet.

Master Bedroom

Pete's Room

The oak trim is installed on the half-wall at the top of the stairs and going down. It looked better than I was expecting.

Oak Trim

My office was not tiled yet. Marlene had laid out the tile in a pleasing arrangement taking into consideration the amount of white veins in the black marble.

Tile Staged for my Office

Not only was there progress this week, but the tile looked better than I anticipated. How nice!

Great Room Tile and Cove

We stopped by the house on Saturday to drop off the recently purchased grout for my office tile. We were on our way to a meeting so we did not have much time to check things out. The tilers were hard at work as we poked our heads into the various rooms. A lot of progress was visible. The bathroom tile was especially pretty and the great room was moving along nicely. The edges of the room are now tiled and the cove for the indirect lighting has been installed. It is starting to look like a real room!

Great Room Edges Tiled

Cove In Great Room

When we went downstairs to see how they had done with the tile in my office, we were greeted with this unpleasant surprise.

Len's Office

There was more water outside the office, too.



We think (hope) that the water came from a hose not being turned all the way off and left lying on the basement floor. We have not had any water in the basement since they poured the floor until this point.

Tiling, Trim, Countertop Template

A couple days later we stopped in again to check on progress. They were still tiling and trimming.

Master Bath Tile Started

The shower in the master bath is being done using a mud set (rather than the thin set being used elsewhere. It starts with a layer of mud applied to an expanded metal lath. We caught the tradesman, hard at work.

Mudding Shower

The tile in Pete's room was only a little further along than last we saw a couple days ago.

Pete's Room

The counter top guy was creating a template for the granite.

Kitchen Counter Top Template

We also caught the trim carpenter hard at work on the cove for the indirect lighting in the great room.

Cove Under Construction

Installing the Cove

The three attic access panels were trimmed in, too.

Foyer Attic Access

Tile and Oak Stairs Started

The much-anticipated tiling has started. Some prep work was needed in the master bathroom before the actual laying of tile, such as installing the bathtub and creating a shower base.

Bathtub Installed

Shower Base

Everything needed to be moved out of the great room and the bedrooms. A lot of it ended up stacked on the wood flooring.

Oak Floor As Storage Platform

The bulk of the great room has been tiled with a porcelainized ceramic tile. The edges, where tile cutting is required, remain to be finished.

Great Room Tiled

They were just starting to lay the tile in Pete's bedroom.

Pete's Room

And another crew was installing the oak risers and treads on the stairs.

Oak Stairs

And they continue to work on getting the exterior of the Trombe walls smooth. Most recently they ground the high spots off. You can see the white dust on the shingles to the east of the upper level Trombe walls.

Trombe Wall Exterior