Tile? Smile!

We made a quick stop at the house on Saturday on our way to visit friends of ours up in Frisco.  The girls stayed in the car watching Madagascar which gave us a chance to walk through the house and see some of the progress.  We also brought Bailey into the house for the first time to let him have a look around.

The main area of progress has been interior trim and tile.   This first picture shows the girls' bathroom with the tile mostly installed (not yet grouted) in the wall.  Natalie & Isabel are especially excited about the "sparkly" tile that we used for the accents.

This next picture shows the interior window trim in the office.

This next picture shows the floor tile in the guest master bathroom.

This is the shower floor in that same bathroom.

I realized that we haven't posted a picture in a while of the exterior of the house so I made a point to take this picture and post it.  You can see that the team has made a lot of progress on the siding.  Just about the entire house is completely covered in siding with the exception of a few areas on the front (you can see here between the two gables).  Also missing is the metal that will be down below and on the bumpout.  That won't be installed until it gets a little warmer, probably in April.

This detail picture shows you what the completed exterior finish looks like including the timbers, the tongue & groove cedar under the roof and the facia boards capping the roof ends.

Kitchen taking shape

A quick run up to Breckenridge today and some definite progress in the kitchen to report.   Here's a picture showing a side view of the kitchen island.  Next to where I'm standing is where the wine fridge will sit under the counter.

This next shot is taken from roughly the same place but it shows the view of where the sink / bar will be opposite the island.  The gap you see is where the dishwasher will sit.

 Next this picture shows the cabinet which will hold the ovens and again the gap for the wine fridge.  The cabinet to hold the wine next to the fridge came out really nicely.  The cabinets above the wine fridge currently have temporary plywood which will be replaced by clear glass when the finish work is done.

This is another view of the island taken facing the mudroom.  The stove will sit on top of the double drawer cabinet where you can see the gap.

Finally, this picture shows the drink prep area (at the end of the counter next to the wine fridge, closest to the great room).  This is going to look really cool when the countertops are installed.

After some discussion we also finalized the interior window trim.  Here's an example of what it will look like in the picture below.  This is the small, high window on the North wall in the girls' room.

Interior doors

We visited the house again this weekend and were a little disappointed with what felt like slow progress over the past couple of weeks.  The good news is that the interior doors and cabinets are on site and look beautiful.

The front door is actually installed - in the picture below you can get a sense of what it looks like.  It's a 3 panel knotty alder door, 8 feet high and 3 feet wide.  It's pretty substantial - we opted for the thick panels which really came out nicely.

Below is an interior door in it's frame.  Also 3 panel knotty alder doors with the thick panels.  We went with 1 3/4" thickness on all the interior doors versus 1 3/8" which is pretty typical.  This gives the doors a more substantial, solid feel.

The picture below, taken from 'head on' gives you a sense of the glaze on the door and how it gives a feeling of texture.

The cabinets are also on site, below is a picture of one of the kitchen cabinets after we tore away some of the protective plastic.  I think this cabinet will hold the double oven but I'm not 100% sure.

Pretty dry walls

After a 2.5 week hiatus between work travel and a great week long vacation in Mexico, we were very excited to get back up the hill and see what kind of progress was being made on the house.  

On the outside, the biggest change is in the siding on the south side of the house as well as the corbels that have been installed.  The real changes are on the inside where :

- The drywall has all been hung, screw inspection is complete

- The walls have all been taped, textured and are ready for sanding & painting

- The beams have been installed across the main level and at the roof peak

This first picture shows the timber that's at the peak of the roof overlooking the foyer and great room

This next shot is taken from the end of the kitchen right about where the bar will be back into the kitchen / breakfast eating area.

There actually was some progress on the exterior siding, this picture shows the siding & cedar shakes on the back of the house around the dining room slider.

Here's another pic taken from roughly where the kitchen island will be out into the great room.

Finally, a picture in the master bedroom.  This place is really starting to look like a house.  Next, the drywall guys will finish the texturing, the tile guy will begin laying tile in the mudroom and the bathrooms and the doors and cabinets will be installed.  Stay tuned.

Baby it's cold outside

This Saturday, we made an attempt to get to Breckenridge only to be turned back at the Eisenhower Tunnel by the second huge traffic jam we ran into that morning.  It was a very windy day with wind gusts in excess of 100 MPH which seems to have really snarled things up.  We finally made the smart choice to head back down to Denver so it was very reassuring to show up today (Monday) at the cabin and see that it was still standing with all pieces in tact!

Not only was the building still standing but Greg and his team have made some serious progress since our last trip up the hill.  First, in the garage they have finished with the drywall installation and are awaiting the 'screw' inspection so that they can tape & texture the interior of the garage next week.

The other huge change is that the gas and electric meters are now installed as well as the pressure tank for the water system (see below).  The good news for the construction crew is that the heat is now on and the slab is heated up to maybe 60 degrees which is a long way from the freezing cold they've had up to now.

To help out with the radiant heat that's now running, the insulation is now also installed on all interior and exterior walls as well as the ceilings.  This, of course, gives the house a much tighter feel and although the girls are bummed that they can't walk through walls anymore it's nice to see the flow of the space as it will be when it's done.  In the picture below you can also see the bathtub for one of the upstairs bathrooms that's been delivered and should be set in the next week or so.

Here's another shot of the insulation in the ceiling above the dining room as well as the wall that separates the upstairs guest room from the great room.  It was an 'option' to add all the interior insulation but we felt it was important for better soundproofing along w/ the 5/8 inch drywall instead of the 1/2 inch drywall that you see in a lot of homes.

Also completed this week was the heat tubing for the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms.  In the picture below you can see the heat tubing in the guest suite upstairs.  On Wednesday, Greg will pour gypcrete over this heat tubing to provide a slab for the heat tubing to warm for the upstairs heat.

There has been additional progress on the siding as well - this picture below shows the back of the garage which now has the siding complete on the lower section as well as the cedar shake shingles up top.

Looking good, Billy Ray

We took a quick run up the hill yesterday with the whole family, minus Bailey.  He's not our top choice for a guest after his last trip where he got himself lost for 6 hours and ended up wandering around Hoosier Pass covered in snow.

We were very happy to see some real progress when we drove up to the house.  This picture below shows our first glimpse of some of the exterior finish work.  On the front of the garage, you can see that the cedar shake shingles are installed above the garage door.  In addition, the corbels are all installed (the large timbers) and they've begun installing a bit of the lap siding below the shingles on the left side (right above where I'm standing in the picture).

Looking a little closer, you can see that the tongue & groove cedar has also been installed on the underside of the roof.  We think it looks really great and it's cool to see the way the outdoor lighting has been integrated.  In the shot below you can also see the exterior window casing detail around the window in the attic above the garage.

On the North side of the house, you can see some significant progress on the 8" cedar lap siding.  This will end up looking a lot like the garage with cedar shake shingles in the peaked part of the house and the horizontal siding below.

Some serious progress

Lots of progress up in the high country since the last time we visited the house about two weeks ago.  When I pulled up in front, I was really excited to see that the front of the house is finally looking like the architectural drawings with the big gable over the front entry and the shed roof just about done.

You can also see in the picture above how all the timber framing supports the shed and gable roofs and is starting to look pretty cool.

The first big change as I walked into the house was the great room windows are finally in! They look great and really open up the space.

I walked up close to the great room windows and took this next picture which shows just how amazing the view is out the back of the house.  We'll have this view from our master bedroom, the great room, the dining room and the guest master upstairs.  We are very lucky that the trees up in this area are all spruce & fir so we don't have any issue with the pine beetles that have destroyed many pine trees in the Colorado mountains.

Another unexpected piece of progress - the fireplaces are installed in the great room and our bedroom.  The picture below is the wood burning fireplace that can generate 50,000 BTU of heat when operated at full capacity.  We are really looking forward to burning this thing when it's cold up there which will be all winter long.

I hiked around back to take this last photo which shows the back of the house with all the windows & the sliding doors installed.  We are really getting a sense of what this is going to look like when its done!