it's curtains!

Our bedroom curtains are up (or at least the main curtains: sheers will be put up in a little while, as soon as Rose has time to finish them).



Here's a shot from the side: you can't really see our view out, due to the light blasting out the image...but still there's a sense of how the light enters the space:

window trim

Window trim:

Bathroom:



Above the landing:



At the top of the stairs, looking north:



In the bedroom:



More to come.

Laconic today.

floors and tiles and paint and things

Lots of work getting done the last couple of days. On the exterior: the back window's rough frame-out is nearly done:



Inside: the first coat of paint is on the walls and ceiling:



The tile installer has put down the gypsum-board underlayment. In this shot you can also see a swatch of the accent color that will fill this wall below the ledge at the very top of this image, as well as the alcove in the bedroom. The actual color has more red to it - it's hard to get accurate color given the reliance in this photo on late-afternoon natural light or flash, which tends to wash out darker colors). You can also barely make out the tile we'll be using in the bathroom (more visible at the larger size):



And the flooring has begun to be put in place:

panefully

I'd mentioned before that the large window space in our bedroom, in the previously existing dormer, had been left as a big hole covered with plastic sheeting, in order to allow large objects like drywall and the plywood subflooring to be lofted up through that window. Well, the last of those large objects is up (that subflooring), and as the drywallers continue their mudding (slowed down some by the weather: damp but cool, so no A/C but no heat either - our contractor brought over an electric heater to speed the drying process), the last window was finally put in place. Here's what it looks like, before its framing is put in place, from inside and out:

more windows

The trim on the exterior of the stairway dormer is nearly done (except for painting), as you can see here:



And the eyebrow dormer window in the front of the house is being restored. Rather than rebuilding the decaying framing (visible in the first image below), they merely applied epoxy to fill in and strengthen that framing, which will then be painted to match.





In other news, the insulation has been reapplied, and while some small areas persist in beginning to tear away, they're small and few enough that we will merely fill them in with spray-on insulation foam and count on the rigid insulation we'll be attaching on the ceilings to eliminate any weak spots. All in all, the insulation problems have set us back about four weeks (going back to my July 12 entry detailing its initial installation and the misadventures of Soffity the Squirrel).

Unfortunately, in any project of this scope some sort of unanticipated setback is nearly inevitable. Fortunately, we had no particular timetable or deadline we needed to meet.

nothing to do with Bill Gates

We have windows! Most of our windows have been installed (not the largest one - they're still using that space to loft large items into the space). Here are some photos.

Inside the bathroom, looking west:



Top of the hallway, overlooking our back yard (I didn't get a good shot of the other window overlooking the back yard, which is behind the bathtub):



The windows at the top of the stairs:



And the same windows from outside - in this distant shot, you can also see one of the windows overlooking the back yard (the same one, in fact, whose inside view is above):



And finally, the "eyebrow" window at the front of the house:



They've also cut down the top portion of the stairway wall, which eventually will be replaced with metal railings:



On the left of this image you see the drywall that will be installed shortly.

bathing beauty

Some plumbing work done today. They brought up and located Rose's bathtub (I say "Rose's" because she'll be its primary user by a good margin!), and in what will be the shower area some of the control and drain mechanisms are in place:



The beginnings of the reframing of our eyebrow dormer have begun as well: