April 8 Update

This has been a crazy busy week at Cattail, with everything finally happening at once and hordes of workers and subcontractors at the site. Among the seemingly hundreds of decisions we’ve made in the past five days are these:

Landscaping (see pictures - grass got literally planted today, amazing); we interviewed the landscaper, inspected his work, and are contracting this out ourselves

Steps to the creek (see picture)

Stones by easement (see picture)

Drainage for the drives

Split-rail locust fence along the front

Electrical and water to the camper

Cabinet fittings

Desk for my office

Built-in bookshelves around fireplace

Rollout bed and window seat and cabinet and shelves for the bonus room

Handrails for the balcony/upstairs hall

Ramp for the sideporch and entry to laundry room

Tile for the baths (we interviewed the tiler, inspected his work, and our contracting this out ourselves)

Dozens of little electrical and lighting decisions

Moving the powerpole and burying the lines to the house

Built-in wiring for the TV, dvr, iPod, etc. hookups behind the fireplace

More Amish furniture for the upstairs (one more bed, one dresser, and two rocking chairs) – that entailed a trip to Hickory.

Location and hookup for gas grill

We also visited our banker and our attorney, and we hiked to a nearby mine up the Bolens Creek road to pick up a few pretty rocks for the fireplace.

And we also found a designer (the woman who has helped us with our cabinets) to help us pick out the paint colors for each room (that will be a walk-through when we come back in a few weeks).

I’m sure I’m leaving something out, but it is been both exhilarating and tiring. Not to mention we have gone on long walks every day with the doggies.

The other pictures here show the color of the roofing (sans copper metal over the dormers and porches) and if you look carefully in the chimney picture and the dormer picture you can see the “battens” going up over the “boards” that comprise the “board and batten siding.”

Tired as we are, we are already looking forward to our next trip, in about three weeks!