Back Porch Steps

Back Porch is complete except for the screening. Butch has ordered the EZ Screen for both this porch and part of the wrap around porch. It can be very buggy here so we compromised on screening - some parts of the porch are and some parts aren't. Have a feeling that most of the time we are "out" we'll be in the screened section...just sayin'!

Painters and Paint Colors

Leo has been prepping and working on the house for quite awhile now. I'm thinking we should call him "Steady Eddie" as he is so diligent with his work. We are indeed thankful to have his services. He also painted our barn.

Mary, Leo's cohort in painting, has also worked on the barn and continues to share her skills at our new home. Mary is an excellent glazer and she will do the glazing on the kitchen cabinets and the beadboard facing on the bar. Note: The shades of Sherwin Williams "Bamboo" on the wall. Various shades will be in the Master Bedroom Suite - bed and bath - and the Sun Room.

Andre, Leo's helper, works on prepping walls.

Laundry Room paint samples (Sherwin Williams "White Raisin" - looks yellow) resulted in our choosing the upper/lighter shade. The boys painted the room yesterday making the room cheerful and bright...just the atmosphere to do laundry and ironing (what's that?!?!?!?!).

Sample of Sherwin Williams "Stucco" which will be on the majority of walls in the house - neutral sorta toasty shade - and it is already up on the Guest Bedroom walls and looks great. Just the feeling of warmth we were going for! I love it when I'm right!

Gnome Replacement Operation in Action

Sadly, our colorful Garden Gnome, who has been watching over our building site, bit the dust somehow. (Sorry Grace and Marvin...) We found him smashed to pieces one morning so Operation Gnome Replacement was put into action. A trip to Eureka Springs with Peg and Charlie resulted in the perfect new Gnome. He is playing an accordion - a tribute to our limited but ever joke-producing Polish heritage. So now instead of two-steppin'around the house, we'll be doing the Polka!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Morris Hanks, our outrageously wonderful builder and good friend, help sister Peg and Butch decide on the best place for the "Tickle Washer" in the jet tub.

Porch Views, Porch Views, and More Porch Views...

Chase and Steven add rails to the back side of the porch...

Stairway from the lil' sittin' porch off our master bedroom/sun room...

Side porch views..

Our new generator so we are never without an energy source! This will convert our natural gas into electricity and help reduce our energy bill - especially with the A/C in summer.

Laundry Room and Master Bedroom Closets Get a Painting

Both laundry room and closet cabinets and shelves will remain white. Thanks again Georgi Irwin for your closet design input!

Fun Showing Off Our Piece of Heaven in the Woods...

Jim Hoben, a friend from our Tyson Chicken days, gets a tour of Clearwood on his visit to Fayetteville.

Peg and Charlie Weniger, my sister and brother-in-law, have been up here twice now as they travel the country on their Harleys. Next time they're here the house will be finished and we will be in our new home!!!!!

Visitors

Frances and Lon Jones pay a visit to the new home construction site.

Porch and Cabinets Progress

Our framers have been busy laying the porch out. We are using an artificial material - the name escapes me at the moment - and we are looking forward to the luxury of their being maintenance free. However they are not trash-free courtesy of our rascally raccoons!

Front Door is looking most welcoming!

Laundry Room Cabinets are in temporarily...

And Our Sittin' Porch

One of the reasons we loved this house design soooo much was the porches. We picture ourselves out on the porch much of the time when the weather allows. Part of the porch will be screened in so we have an area that will be bug free during the worst of the buggy season. The balance of the porch will be open for our non-buggy season. This was a compromise and I know we are going to be happy with having both options.

Our porch floor is underway and we are thrilled to have our "framer guys" being the installers. They do such a professional job on everything they touch. Great guys to have around too!

Front steps being expanded per plan and the side stairs being constructed. I feel like Scarlett...just need the billowing skirt and Southern accent to decend the stairway! Ahhh Tara...

Closet Designs

Thanks to Morris, the trim guys and my friend, Georgie, we put together a very practical closet system. Each of us added ideas to help make the closets just the way we wanted them!

This photo and the next are of the Master Bedroom Closets which are in the Bathroom Suite area. We each have a closet...this one is Butch's and mine is a mirror image of his.

Guest Bedroom (aka The Diamond Head Suite) Closet

Time For an Update

Finding time to update the progress on our new home has been tough. We made an earlier than expected trip to FL to see our granddaughters, then on to a 65th Birthday Celebration with Butch's HS (Stranahan Class of '64 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL) classmates in Charleston, SC. And to top off a wonderfully full trip we spent several days in Franklin, NC with our dear friends Jim and Judy Ives.

Arriving back in AR we hit the pavement running...decisions, decisions, decisions...and I want the house to be just perfect so those decisions are not easily arrived at. Anyway, those are my excuses for not updating the blog sooner.

While we were gone and over the past few weeks...

The kitchen bar has been set. Notice the face of it will be beadboard. Also note the crown molding. It is in all rooms now except the laundry room and closets. Morris found a simple molding that is perfect for the style of the house.

Our laundry room has one large pantry closet/cabinet.

Regular cabinets in Laundry Room and on next photo note the pull down stairs has been installed.