We are dried in

Roofing was completed last week, and they've begun framing out the second floor. At some point, we'll be able to see the outline of three bedrooms and two baths upstairs. The first floor remains a different story -- at present, it's essentially one big room, with a small bedroom on the side. Windows are being ordered, to be installed at some later date.

Last minute skylights

Summer finally has arrived. Good weather has offered an opportunity for work on top of the house. The dormers have taken shape, and the roofers worked over the weekend. At the last minute, we decided to add some skylights to brighten what will be the back bedroom.

Forgot to mention...

We forgot to mention that the facade of the house will look dramatically different in a few weeks. We will be adding an old-style front porch that runs the length of the front of the house -- 36 feet long. To the left of the front door (in front of the mudroom and breakfast nook), it will be 5 feet deep. To the right of the door (in front of the living room), it will be 13 feet deep. We intend to use the porch as our outdoor entertaining space (in addition to our garden in the back).

The trusses are up!

The crew took advantage of the damp days to assemble the front and back walls of our second floor, and stowed the walls flat underneath the tarp until a break in the weather pattern. Today, they made the decision to go for it. In a single day, they lifted the front and back frames into place, affixed the trusses and set plywood on half the back half of the roof. Frightening to think how far along we would be if the weather had been good these past few weeks. If the weather holds, they hope to lay plywood on the front half tomorrow before framing out the sides and beginning work on the inside of the house.

Slow moving

We had a new foundation poured for the mudroom and breakfast nook. To the left of the photos will be the ground-level entry into the mudroom, the floor of which will be either slate or stamped concrete. To the right will be the breakfast nook, which will be set higher up on the foundation. We've also included a photo of the 80 year-old backing to our coved ceilings, which we are losing as part of the project. We have been cursed with unpredictable weather, and have not witnessed two consecutive days without rain for quite a while.