New Porch

These pics show what the crew did today. The porch roof is on. Everything in this picture that is now cinder bock will be covered with stone, plus a ton of fill dirt will cut down the overall height you see here.

The picture with the jeep shows 20 feet of azaleas and day lilly bulbs that I dug up and temporarily transplanted so that the fill process, after the septic is in, won't destroy all the planting that were along the road.

Locust Posts

It all started with this pile of locust logs, cut in Yancey County.

The above picture shows several pieces of unstained cedar, from the Tennessee border. The real gnarly piece on the bottom is our fireplace mantel.

These two pieces are locust, from Yancey county. When stained, they will frame the fireplace.

These two locust posts, from Yancey County, are now stained and will support the bonus room.

Ron Chandler makes all this - he is the former principal of Pensacola Elementary School.

Here is another picture of the fireplace, which Tony worked on today. It will be all stone, all the way to the cathedral ceiling. Picture the above locust logs and cedar mantel framing the opening.

This picture is from the kitchen - the two posts you see here will be replaced by the stained locust poles you see in the above picture with Randy and Ron. They are on either side of the split level bar/counter which separates the kitchen from the Great Room.

March Update - Downstairs

This is the fireplace - notice how high the cathedral ceiling is. The fireplace and chimney will be faced with stone, and there will be a 55" TV above the mantel. The fireplace itself will be framed by stained locust posts, which are "themed" throughout the house (see "Upstairs" update as well as description below for more details).

This is the master bed room - very high ("tray") ceiling.

Great room looking towards the kitchen and the bonus room (upstairs). There will be two stained locust poles supporting the beam you see that goes from left to right. The window in the center of the picture is over the kitchen sink, and the window to the left is in the laundry room.

The workers completed the framing for the roof over the front porch today.

View of deck up the stream.

This is a little hard to explain, but there have to be two very sturdy beams supporting the upstairs hallway and bonus room. Rather than using steel beams, we are using actual locust trees (stripped of bark and stained). Randy and Ediwin picked out four nice ones, and the other two will be split and used for the fireplace and also for two exposed corners at the end of the downstairs hall. This will tie the great room together and give the house more of a mountain cabin look rather than a country home look.

March 3 Progress Report - Upstairs

This is a bit hard to describe, but it shows a small part of an upstairs guest room - this room is shaped like a Z with a straight bar connecting the top and bottom; interesting and full of usable space. The dormers create cool ceiling lines.

This is the upstairs hall facing toward the bathroom - look high on the right and you will see a special shelf for pottery, pictures or Christmas decorations - it can be lighted.

This is the upstairs hall looking towards the bonus room and down into the kitchen.



Looking down the hall to the upstairs bathroom and towards the fireplace in the great room; the railing will be made of stained locust beams and wrought iron.
This is the storage area above the master bedroom, accessed off the larger of the two upstairs guest rooms. It will be drywalled, and there there will be shelves and hanging rods in here.




This is the storage area above the kitchen, accessed from the bonus room. On the right you can see the framing for the recessed book shelf.

Bonus room - a custom bilt king size bed disguised as a window seat will be folded together under the windows.
This shows the stairs going up into the bonus room - all the sloped ceilings up here will be stained tongue and grove.