It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Spring has truly sprung in the southwest corner of PA. After a frost last night, the sky is blue, the temps have soared to over 60* and daffodils are blooming all over the place! We spent the entire morning out on Poplar Ridge, and invited friends to come and see the big trucks! The kiddos had a great time running, exploring and getting muddy.

They poured concrete for our patio on the first floor and our porch on the second floor today. We decided to tint the concrete a "sandstone" color, so that all of that expanse does not end up looking so much like a huge sea of, well, of grey concrete! Here is a shot of them pouring.

This is the nearly finished porch. You can see how well the concrete color goes with the block on the garage.

Here is the patio from the front. The girls put their little hand prints in the concrete to the left.

One of my friends was impressed that our builders are a pretty good looking crew of guys. Unfortunately, I usually get pictures of their backs (and no, it's not intentional). Here is a picture from the front for once. This is R, fixing the patio where J accidentally ran out into it and left big holes. You can see the little foot prints on the floor where she came back in.

They have also gotten a bunch of wiring done inside. Here is the wiring for the chandelier and 2 ceiling fans in the Great Room.

We leave for our Disney vacation this weekend. The house will probably be done when we return. (Or is that just wishful thinking?)

Bits & Pieces

Our trip to Poplar Ridge this week was mostly for a fishing trip. I fished around in the garage for a couple of hours, looking for summer clothes and shoes, cotton sheets, suitcases, arm swim bands, speaker wire, etc. I was mostly successful, although I couldn't find my summer clothes, and in the process found several boxes of china on their sides, or under stacks of books...oops!

Our doors are here. The front doors are all wrapped up so I can't see what they look like. These are the 2 sets of french doors, the inside side is showing, which will be finished wood. The outsides of all the doors are forest green.

They have been preparing this week to pour the patios on the West side of the house and on the South side under the deck. This photo is taken from the South-West corner of the house, looking toward the garage. One area of fill, on the right front of the photo has settled a bit. The other hole, in front of the garage, will be all concrete. This is to reinforce it for the stone fireplace we hope to build there at some point.

The deck is also framed out. It will be an interesting shape to mirror the roof prow. This shot is from the Great Room.

I didn't realize that I cut off half the roof of the house in this shot.

We are looking at decking samples. We are using composite decking because I am tired of staining the deck every summer...I don't want to do it ever again! We are the most interested in the 2 samples on the right.

I have been pondering how to decorate the tray ceilings in the Master Bedroom and the Study. I found these ceiling tiles, and a paint technique that looks like copper that I really like!

The concrete truck is supposed to come on Tuesday morning, so we try to be there for that. I guess the builder is planning to work on plumbing and duct work for the next couple of weeks. Once the duct work is in, the central vacuum guy will come out to do his bit...they are estimating the 9th or 10th for that. The tubs and showers are to arrive this week. I can hardly wait each trip to see what is new!