Power On

It is sooo exciting and encouraging to see upright lumber! The power is back and the first walls up are the garage. Yay!

North side of the garage, first floor.

The house has a floor!

Power Out

The past two days have been cold and very windy in our area. As I was counting our blessings that we still have power here at home, we received news that our building site has been without power since yesterday. The plan is to rent a big generator to power the framer's tools so we won't lose our crew to another project.

As of 4:30 p.m., crews have restored power to more than 188,000 Puget Sound Energy customers. Around 26,000 customers remain without power as of 5:15 p.m. The map above shows our building site as the red dot. The other markers are power outages.

Sunday visit November 9, 2014

A dark and rainy November Sunday afternoon at Lake Sawyer. After a couple days of framing it looks like all the floor joists are in and the slab in Jay's garage is marked for interior walls and stairs to the second floor.

Day 2 of Framing

 

Lumber! I love it. My father was a carpenter and I have fond memories of the smell and feel of lumber. I even drew pictures on his lumber scraps. This photo was taken standing at the NE corner of the house. You can see the home of our neighbors Marci and Ken to the South. They are about three months ahead of us in the building process. The change of direction of the floor joists in the great room is where the fireplace will be.

This photo is looking North and gives an idea of how our house sits in comparison to our North neighbors, Marlene and Matt.

These pillars look like free standing space modules (if you read my previous post) but actually they are the supports for the sky bridge that connects the second story of our house to the second story of Jay's garage. Torrential downpour this morning so we have standing water on the new garage cement slab and lots of lovely mud. Click on these photos to enlarge. Annie found a plastic water bottle.

Let the framing begin!

Good news today! Framing has begun. Our builder, Chris, encouraged us to visit often because each day there are big changes. I hope we can go take a look (and take photos) tomorrow.

A little about the Craftsman Cottage style of our house. In the beginning, we considered a very modern style - boxy with big expanses of glass and clean lines. Then we fell in love with our old favorite, the Craftsman - at least it will look like that from the outside. The design of the inside of the house began based on duplicating the kitchen remodel NCompass did for us three years ago when we thought we were going to stay in our current house forever. We love our cherry cabinets (Baywood) and our stainless KitchenAid french door refrigerator and dishwasher. I do not love my JennAir downdraft range. The gas burners are great but I have never bonded with the gas oven. My new range will be dual fuel so I'll have my electric oven back.

I'm working on selecting exterior paint colors; the interior colors will be much easier to imagine when we have walls. I knew I wanted the exterior of the house to be a sagey green and I love the Sherwin Williams color, 6207 Retreat. While looking at Pinterest photos with that color, I found a blog called Life on Sunset Hill. The blog is several years old and is about building a home in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Unfortunately, most of the blog images are missing which prompted me to email the blog author, Cheryl. She graciously sent me personal images of the house so I could see the color. Yesterday Jay and I were in Ballard and I had a chance to see the house in person. A beautiful home and I love the color!

I just finished painting my studio Sherwin Williams 1635 Water's Edge and love it. I did this as a test to see if I would like that color for the Master bath. I think the Master bedroom will be a little lighter, maybe 1634 Santorini Blue, the same color planned for a ribbon of color detail as shown on the sketch above. The main trim color will be 6385 Dover White. Our original plan was to have the cedar shingles on the house be natural cedar color but I am struggling with the fact that they will eventually fade and turn gray so my latest plan is to just paint them the main body color. Any or all of this may change.

Another cancelled inspection

The city cancelled our garage slab inspection for Monday and they don't inspect on Tuesday so that puts us out until Wednesday for an inspection. A few days doesn't sound like much of a delay but when you look at it against a schedule of people and equipment, it is frustrating.

The stump is gone and space modules

The stump grinder guy was at the property Friday and ground down/dug out the stump from the maple tree that grew on the property line between us and our neighbors. He also got rid of stumps along our North property line (that is left in this photo) so our Utilities can come in. We passed our inspection and have back fill. I'll see it in person today and take more photos to post.

When I first asked Jay what those round cement things are, he told me they were space modules. Sounded reasonable to me. They take up space and provide support? But, when he heard me repeat the words as I do when I want to remember exactly so I can post the information to this blog...our space modules are in!... he realized he should tell me the truth - that he doesn't know what they are called.

Backfill and waiting

I was away for the weekend with the women of our family for our 30th annual Women's Weekend. Jay and Annie went to the property to see the progress. Looks like we have some back fill! But, now we are waiting again...the city can't get there to inspect until Wednesday.

forms off

Mill Pond Cottage October 8, 2014

Today, late afternoon, Jay decided to drive out to the lake to work on lily pad removal. Annie and I went along. The forms are off the foundation and it looks very beautiful. Utilities and back filling comes next.

Foundation!

Mill Pond Cottage Foundation 10-5-2014

Mill Pond Cottage Foundation 10-5-2014

Foundation Forms

October 2, 2014 Foundation forms for our house

October 2, 2014 house and detached garage

October 2, 2014 detached garage

We are so pleased with the way Chris and Mike of cMac are moving this along and we are grateful for dry weather for their crew.

Sewer Permit

Another step forward, today we got our sewer permit. Last mention of Soos Creek Water and Sewer was in my post of January 29.  Thank you Lynn and Stephanie for your help.

Looking back

I just found these photos of our property taken in the summer of 2013, days before we started clearing.  All are taken from the road: the top one is looking south, the bottom one looking north. The center one shows our fence and the driveway. The property had been neglected for 20+ years and we were excited to liberate it. Lots of trash, ground bees and red and black biting ants lived there.

Wheee...

Wheee...here we go! Suddenly, our new home is materializing. A magical time.  For this photo I'm standing where the detached garage will be. That's the hole for the house closer to the lake, near our North property line. We are very pleased that we chose builder Chris Welch and cMac to make our dream come true.

Orange: fall and progress

The first fall leaves from our big maple match the bright orange stakes that mark the perimeter of our house - signs of fall and progress. We met our builder Chris and his Superintendent, Mike at the lake this morning (in the rain) to review positioning of the house. A slight adjustment from the original plan will give us a great view of the lake but minimal sight lines to the next door neighbor. Each lot is only 50 feet wide at the water's edge so it is important for everyone to be considerate of their neighbor's privacy. The excavator should be there tomorrow. I'll be writing much more about our builder and his team in coming posts. We are beyond excited.

Finally!

Hard to believe...we FINALLY have a building permit and can move forward! This is the front of the house, which I think of as the back of the house because it faces the street, not the lake. These french doors of my studio will open onto a private courtyard. Our excitement about this project is renewed. It has been a very long, hot, lake-less summer, waiting.

September 18 Good News

When all is said and done, farewell to summer yesterdays. We are happy today after receiving the good news that we can finally begin to build.

Sept. 6, 2014 marking stumps

A beautiful Saturday at the lake. We marked stumps for the stump grinder. The neighbor's house is looking great!

One Year Anniversary

It was one year ago today that we signed the papers to purchase our Lake Sawyer property. After the initial clean up of trash and the demolition of the cabin, there hasn't been much for us to do there. The property has just been sitting while we found a house designer, designed the house, decided upon a builder, then applied for the building permit. Today Jay mowed while I ran the weed eater. Annie spent most of the day on a long cable. We all look forward to a fence for her. My enthusiasm for the property has been rekindled. I spread poppy seeds for blooms next summer.

Imagine

Imagine our dog, Annie, stepping off our porch onto the grass on her way to the lake. Meanwhile, that is real-life progress on our neighbor's house.

progress...but not ours

Life goes on for the neighbors but we are still waiting for our building permit to be issued so our builder can begin. In a few days it will be four months that we have been waiting since we submitted on April 9, 2014.

3 month anniversary

A Bright Tomorrow, oil, 6x6 inches

It was three months ago today, April 9th, that we first submitted our house plans to the City of Black Diamond for our building permit. We are still waiting. I have nothing to report except that we look forward to a bright tomorrow. So, with nothing to do but wait and paint, I have named today's painting "A Bright Tomorrow."

new mugshot

Looks like our property has a new mugshot on King County public records.  This was taken from the street before I weed eated the area outside the fence.

25 June 2014 Neighbor Foundation

The neighbor's foundation forms are in. Things are moving along for them. We are still waiting for our permit to be issued. That's my best guess at the property line. The lake was to my back as I took this photo.

Big Changes June 2014

Big changes at the lake created by tree removal on the next-door lot in preparation for a new home. Looking west (facing the street), the pink stake is our south property line - our lot is on the right (green grass). We will have more SUN because the neighbor's big firs are gone.

Looking east toward the lake, our big maple is on the left. The maple that used to be on the south property line (see my previous post) is gone, part of the neighbor's clearing project. If you look closely you can see the big stump waiting removal.

The lily pads are back but the fat white flowers were closed on this cloudy day. Mrs (or Miss?) Duck sits on the end of the dock with an eye on her baby (tiny speck to the right). Somebody has been pooping a lot on the dock!

building plans re-submitted

I can hardly believe we have had our property almost a year. In the beginning I was reluctant to show on this blog what a mess the property was. Our new neighbor (building a new house on the lot next to ours) referred to the little house on our property 'the Unabomber Cabin.' We l look forward to living next to this couple with their apparent sense of humor.

Inside our Unabomber Cabin

Demolition September 2013

Mother's Day at the lake 2014

A Mother's Day visit to our lake property. Plans are still in review for the building permit. In this photo I'm standing near where the door of the house (facing the street) will be, looking West. That's Jay's Prius and Annie in the distance. Now, I turn around...

I'm standing on the gravel pad where dumpsters were parked for the demolition of the original cabin, looking East toward the lake. Our new house will be next to our big maple shown at left, even with the neighbor's home to the north, 55 feet from water's edge.

Approaching the lake. This might be the view from the laundry room?

This is probably the view from the dining room. The lily pads are returning to the lake - a sure sign of spring with summer not far behind. We are located in the little "boot" at the north end of Lake Sawyer. This has always been our favorite part of the lake. In the drawing below, we are at the top of the bright turquoise "boot." Read more about Lake Sawyer below.

Lake Sawyer is located in the city of Black Diamond, Washington, and is a significant regional recreational resource for the area. Lake Sawyer is 280 acres in size, and its watershed encompasses approximately 8,300 acres. As part of the Big Soos Creek basin of the Green River watershed, Lake Sawyer serves as a pathway for a late winter run of Coho salmon. Coho salmon travel through Lake Sawyer on their way to spawning grounds in the Ravensdale and Rock Creek systems. Resident rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, kokanee, and various warm water fish species are present in Lake Sawyer as well. As the fourth largest lake in King County, Lake Sawyer is a primary recreation area for swimming, boating, fishing, and aesthetic enjoyment.