Back to today's events. But, before I get into that, I have to digress a bit. When we were planning this house, Dave and I wanted to have one large room to share for both of our office spaces (making the house a two bedroom instead of three). Since I have been retired, we have enjoyed working on our computers in the same room. It's our time to chit-chat with each other. We don't watch the same TV shows, so we don't spend time together doing that couch-potato activity.
However, we were informed that for financing purposes, we needed to have three bedrooms. This was a big disappointment, as I'm sure it would cut down on our chatting time. You know how it is, when you have to get up and go into another room to share something, it becomes much more of a chore. So, you just stay put and evaluate how important it is to get up and share the information.
So, we had decided that after the house was complete, we'd go back and knock out a large area in the wall between our offices and trim it out to become an open conversation "window." We knew we couldn't completely remove the wall after the house was built because the project was too big for us--flooring and ceiling surfaces would need to be redone.
However, Dave and I are perfectly capable of trimming out a conversation window. And to meet the 3-bedroom criteria when the house is sold (after we are taking a dirt nap), it would be easy for someone to wall-up the "window" by reinserting 2x4s and replacing the drywall.
So, that brings us back to driving in to the building site today. On the drive, Dave says he has a great idea for creating the conversation window: "Let's ask the builder to create the framing inside the wall between our two offices so that it would be easier for us to knock out that part of the wall for the future conversation window."
I quickly got on the phone with Brad to ask if this could be done. He called Robbie to ask. But, unfortunately, Robbie had already built that wall. Brad asked how much Robbie would charge us to go back and re-do that wall to include the conversation window. Robbie generously offered to do this change for us at no charge (in this blog, I'll not share Robbie's reasons for his generous offer, as it was a one-time offer only to us). But, Robbie, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts as we know time is money. (Read on to see pictures of the frame-out for the conversation window.)
As usual, when we arrived the work crew had been busy for several hours already and had made significant progress since yesterday.
Here's the status as we arrived.
Front View of House
View from Garage into Kitchen
In this picture, the entry door from the garage into the kitchen is in the foreground. The pantry area is framed out on the right, and the washer/dryer area is on the left. The dining room is in the background.
L-Shaped Frame for Kitchen Counter Bar Area
Dining Area (Bar Frame at Left)
A Wise Person Brought a BIG Fan
Dustin did not return with the work crew today. Seems the heat was too much for him. But, he worked very hard while he was here yesterday.
View From Dining Area Toward Master Bedroom
Our offices are framed out along the left side of this picture. The master closet is framed out at the far end of the house. The master bedroom will be at the far end of this picture on the right. The kitchen bar frame is on the left in this picture.
Robbie Standing at Front Door
This is the status of the house when we left for lunch.
We decided to head out to Home Depot in Hartwell to obtain the doggie doors that we will install later in the process. Robbie wants to frame out the opening for the doggie doors, so we needed exact measurements. While in Home Depot, I found the perfect light to go over the kitchen bar between the living room and kitchen. It was a floor model and had been discontinued, so we got a great deal on it. Just couldn't pass up a perfect light fixture. The fixture is 3-ft wide and the bar is 4-ft wide (with the countertop overhang). So, it should be a nice divider between the two spaces. Our general deco theme for this house is the Arts & Crafts style--can you say Frank Lloyd Wright?
Sorry this picture has so much clutter. It was taken inside the back of the car, so there are boxes of doggie doors behind the lamp.
New Over-the-Bar Light
Close-Up View of One Globe
We stopped at Arby's on the way back and brought our lunch back to the Observation Station to be devoured.
And, look at what we saw when we got back to the site--a garage!
No sooner had we sat down when the crew began to install the garage header beam. Here's a series of pictures as (L to R) Johnny, Robbie, & Chris struggle to install this huge header beam.
After the header beam was secure, Chris did a tight-rope balancing act to finish off the top plates around the frame of the house. Chris is standing on the top of the house to the right of Robbie.
At the end of the workday, Robbie had to remove his construction trailer. As you may have noticed in previous photos, the trailer was parked behind the stack of trusses. Therefore, he had to drive around the back side of the yard and come over the hill on the left side of the house. Unfortunately, the squeeze was just too tight (no matter how much he tried to re-negotiate the area), and he removed the trailer's right bumper when he scraped the trash dumpster.
After the crew left with bumper in hand, we did our perusal of the progress today. Here's a few pictures of their steadfast accomplishments for the day.
Dave is walking inside the garage in the following picture.
Living Room
Dave is standing between the living room and the dining area. The wall on the left separates the living room from the bathrooms.
Dave Peering Out the Kitchen Window
Outside Wall of Garage and Kitchen
Here's some visuals of the conversation window "frame-out" that Robbie created for us. I hope you will be able to "picture" what we are doing. I know it's a difficult concept to grasp when we only have a two-dimensional picture to share.
I added "walls" to this view of the conversation window to hopefully give you an idea of how it will be open between our offices--I hope you have a vivid imagination.
Another extremely productive day at the new house. Robbie and his framing crew are truly amazing. They work constantly. There are no breaks and I just marvel at how they keep going in these extreme working conditions. Our hats are off to them. And, we'll see them all on Monday--hope they come hungry!
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