day 207: doors

our doors came in this giant truck. the driver attempted a crazy off-road maneuver and had to call in a tow truck.


15 doors in two crates


dad and uncle steve opened the crates and walked the doors individually to the garage.

day 189: slate

slate tile down the hall to the laundry room and master bedroom

day 188: painting

painting continues despite the heat wave.

day 186: slate

brian tiled most of the kitchen floor yesterday.



mom's handiwork on the screen porch ceiling. painting in all the grooves of the barn siding ceiling was a bear.

day 185: slate

the first tile was laid today. mom shared a picture from this afternoon.

day 180: prep

dad priming the screen porch ceiling


brian, the tile installer, installed backer board for the slate floors upstairs.

day 179: tile layout

i asked dad + mom to layout out some slate tile so we could choose a final pattern.

16"x16" slate, running bond: foyer, hall, powder room, laundry, kitchen, pantry, basement, etc.


12"x24" porcelain tile, running bond: master bathroom walls + floor


tiler hauler noted, "My shirt matches the wall paint!!! :-)"

day 179: wood

a few years ago dad hired some amish guys to come to the farm and harvest a couple trees from the upper woods. they came in the winter time when the ground was frozen so it was easier for their horses to haul out the trees without having to deal with all the mud. so they took the trees away and milled the logs down into these 5" wide cherry boards that have been waiting patiently for us to build the house. hopefully they all seasoned equally and are all the same color.

this morning dad and uncle paul moved the tongue & groove wood strip flooring from the 'storage house' to the new house. again, it's the tractor to the rescue.

day 176: stain

the original plan for the screen porch was to paint everything white to match all the trim on the house. but then we got used to seeing it in natural cedar. so we wanted to rethink our decision. i used some photoshop magic to help get an idea of what the screen porch would look like painted vs. stained.


mom staining the porch railings + columns


good thing that we chose the cedar colored flooring now that the porch is also stained cedar. so now they match even though the flooring is something similar to Trex.

day 175: tile pickup

dad borrowed uncle paul's giant pickup truck and drove down to get the tile. it's close to an hour drive each way, and he had to make a second trip since our order was so large. he picked up 16x16 slate tile for the basement family room/kitchenette/hall/bathroom, a different 16x16 slate tile for the upstairs foyer/powder room/hall/laundry/kitchen/pantry, and a 12x24 porcelain tile for the master bathroom floor and walls. He may have also picked up white 3x6 subway tile for the 2nd bathroom.


tile came from Pro Source in Cranberry Twp


16x16 slate tile


uncle paul used the tractor and a chain instead of unloading the tile one box at a time. notice the back tire lifting off the ground from the weight of the slate.


garage staging area. the rest was driven straight to the basement and slid inside using wood 2x4's.

day 174: paint

dad sent pictures of the house with paint. enjoy.


the entry/foyer/Link. mom declared that the house would be painted YELLow.


the kitchen will have white cabinets. Dad is picking up the slate floor right now. counters TBD.


hearth area. the niche to the right of the fireplace will be a full-height built-in cherry bookcase. stone will surround the fireplace.


looking past the fireplace into the living room, which has the only other color right now.


TV wall of the living room.


this wall of the living room will be covered (mostly) with built-in bookcases, painted white.


the garage just has a coat of white primer. i thought i'd give your eyes a rest from the yellow.


Bedroom 2 down stairs. the sun really bounces that yellow paint around. furniture should help tone it down some.


even the storage and furnace rooms are yellow. haha!


most importantly, we have gas lines now for the kitchen range + furnace + patio grill!

day 174: more paint

here are a few more pictures of the paint.



basement family room looking into the kitchenette


stair and basement hall. the color looks most accurate in these first two images.


master bedroom

day 164: ceilings

still waiting for the gas line. waiting. uncle paul finally got the plumber on the phone today. he promised to come by the house early in the week and run the gas lines for our propane range, patio BBQ hookup, and backup furnace.


it's nice to have amish workers at the house again.


the drywall crew came back to put on another coat of plaster. dad begged for a picture of Jake.


the guys had to walk around in stilts to work on the walls.


i returned from picking out paint to find the drywall crew putting a heavy texture on the ceilings with something that looked like a big mop. i said, "uhhh, can we stop this?" i didn't realize people still did this anymore.... i'm still in shock. so the basement is textured, but half of the upstairs will be smooth. sigh.

day 163: concrete block

if you jerry-rig a hose to a dehumidifier, it will run continuously without anyone having to empty the water it pulls out of the air.


i had a really long hose so i ran it all the way to a ditch where the floor drains will drain out of the basement.


pile of drywall waste.


uncle paul gave me some brief instructions on how to operate the tractor. so i drove it from his place over to the farm and used it to haul concrete block from behind the chicken coop that will be demolished at some point. driving the tractor and working the bucket was fun. hauling block on the other hand...


i did a lot of work.


the stack of old concrete block was full of spiders, some field mice nests, and a whole lot of other bugs. but i also saw a lot of spiders in the house over course of the weekend, like this one.


uncle steve pointed out this snake under the screen porch. he came over to see the house and talk about possibly installing the wood trim. my uncle, not the snake.


did i mention that we have two bird nests in the porch ceiling? it's fun to see the robin chicks pop up their beaks looking for food. but this dumb dove mostly just sits and stares.


after a hard day's work, it's nice to sit back on the screen porch, relax a bit, and enjoy the view.


mostly i just looked down on my hard work. it looks like about 170 block.


everything grows quickly on the farm. and it's surprising how many of those growing things have thorns.