Beginings of a Breezeway...

Yesterday they put the floor of the breezeway in.  They cut a hatch in the floor where the closet will be so we can access the wiring between the house and the garage.  Today they worked on putting up the breezeway walls and putting the trusses up. He is hoping to get the roof on and get that closed in first so he can keep his saw undercover while we are getting all this rain. It is looking like it will be a rainy next few days too, but they are still planning on working in the rain.

 It was a Very hot beginning of the week. Monday and Tue were in the 90s. Jean and Louis were out there in the Heat all day then is would down pour at night. They still managed to get a lot of work done.

This is what it looked like end of day today. 

Frost walls are up!

Jean finished the ground work the other day and the frost walls went up.  The rest of the week the guys back filled and flattened out the area the floor will be going. Travis took a day off and he and his dad spent most of Friday moving rocks and raking out the fill that was dumped in the back yard.  They should be starting the framing this week some time. Dad came down last weekend to drill the hole in the concrete for the wire to run from the house breaker box out to the breaker box that will be put in the garage.  It is all coming along nicely.

 The forms the day before the concrete came.

 Walls are up and Jean brought his wife along to help him back fill all day. They worked like dogs and it was a hot day.

Most of the back filling done

 parts of the yard are still a mess and will need some work. This area near the well had a vernal pool so we dug the area up and are going to put a drain pipe in to keep that area dry and even so we can grass it in and create more yard.

 The guys showed up early today to work on flatening out the area the floor will be poured soon.

 All flattened out

 We are going to have a larger area of lawn in the backyard now too with all the fill they put in the woods over there :)

 can't wait till this is all grass and we can put things back to normal.

Just a picture of Bonnie for good measure. and of the flowers i planted in the basket Travis's mom got me for my birthday.

Breaking Ground

Today is a big day. Travis and I both had the day off today to witness the beginnings of the garage and breezeway.  They broke ground at about 7am this morning.  They have been working all day in the on and off rain.  The concrete guy just showed up to take some measurements and they are going to start pouring the footer soon.

Bonnie taking over

 We had to move one of our raised beds because it was too close to where they were digging.  I lost some of my plants but it will be worth it.

 Building permit displayed.. doing it by the book

Just for Fun

The next year we decided to put the House on hold while we improved our social and leisure time. I sold my motorcycle and Travis sold his old beater truck so that we could buy a new Truck (F250 superduty) and a new Boat (Key West 176 w/ 115 4stroke yamaha outboard) 

 It Turned out to be one of the most epic summers of great weather and we spent most of it out on Casco Bay and Sebgo lake enjoying our new toy

The deck

When the house was built it was intended to have a farmers porch on the front so after a couple years in the house we decided that it was time to add it on. We hired the guys who built our house to come put just the floor of the deck on then Cliff helped us with the railings and lattice work to keep the animals out from under it.

Still need to take a picture of the completed project to put on here.  It will be two years this summer that it has been there.

Finished product taken today.

The Staining project

After the shed was finished we started by staining the shed and then moved on to do the entire house. 

This was a major learning experience for us. We had to start by bleaching and pressure washing all the shingles before we could start staining. I am not a big fan of ladders so Travis did most of the up high work while worked on the lower parts of the house and the front.  Cliff came with a bucket lift to help us do the tall side of the house where the walk out basement door is.

Travis's next project was to build some garden beds and a picnic table.

Our first year with a garden we got an amazing harvest of tomatoes and Zucchini.  Our cucumbers and carrots and some of our lettuce got eaten by our Groundhog (Greg).  

Guess it is about time

So with the start of our biggest project yet, I figured it was about time to start our own blog to document the Improvements we have made since buying our first home in 2009.

This was what it looked like from the end of our driveway.

 Front view when we first bought in 2009

 Basement Bar

 Dining Room

 Downstairs half Bathroom

 Upstairs Bathroom

 Our Room

 Guest Room #1

 Guest room #2

 And my Favorite room The Kitchen.
All the rooms look different now that we have put our personal touches/clutter in them. Most of these pictures were taken the first week we moved in. 

This was the first time we had the family over to check out the new place.

THE SHED

 The beginnings of the shed. We had lots of help on this from Cliff and some of our friends.

 Dad (John) came down to help close it in.

  

Siding and roof on. The cedar shingles take patients to put up.

Finished product filled with wood and the rest of our junk.