Progress Update

The studio is basically done! Yeah. There are still a few details which need to be finished. The final inspection will be on Dec. 27 hopefully. Jeff and I had to put the interior painting on hold in order to prepare for Christmas. We will get to it in January. All the Christmas decorations are finally up and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jeff's sister and our two sons. My Mom is also here with us until the first week of January. I feel so blessed to have family here for the holidays.

It was fun to decorate a new space. We put a tree in the entryway area and decorated it with lights and ribbon.




So from our house to yours, we wish you a Very Merry Christmas and hope that the New Year is full of many blessings.

Day 113

Well, we are almost double the number of days we were told it would take to finish this project. I do believe we are almost finished! There are just a few small things to do and the final inspections.

Last week they installed the floor in the kitchen/living room areas. It is Brazilian Cherry and it is beautiful.


I will be so glad when I can get everything back in order. We had to clear out the furniture and all the things that were stored in the island and cabinets that were going to be moved. Just to give you an idea of what life has been like for the last 5 months, here are a few pictures of the state of affairs at the Jones' house.


I feel like I am living in an overcrowded antique store!
We've had a few more glitches. The fire inspection did not go well as the electrician neglected to bring the existing house up to code concerning replacing smoke detectors and CO detectors. The smokes in MA have to be hard wired with battery back up and one in every bedroom plus the hallway. We had one in the hallway but none in the bedrooms. None of the hard wired had battery backup so we had to replace them all. The electrician should have know this! I have made it a policy to not "dis" anyone on this blog but I will be happy to share the name of this electrician if you ask so that you can stay clear of him! I would NOT recommend him!
The bamboo floor needed to be replaced due to scratches that were put in the floor during construction. I have my suspicions how they got there and let me just say, I do not believe that it was the contractor but one of the sub-contractors. Figure it out!
Anyway, we are getting down to the wire. The closet guy has pneumonia so he has not been able to install the pantry closet. All those closet items are sitting in the dining room. Thanksgiving dinner may be interesting this year!!!!!
Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had over 12 turkeys march through our yard on Sunday! What a sight that was!!
So I will leave you now with a picture of the completed kitchen/living room floor. We love it!

Day 107

I love the landscaping! They finished up the brick walk and laid the flagstone entry. It looks awesome!!! It will look even better when the trash can is out of the way!!!









They added this cute little lacy evergreen. It has a really long name and I can't remember it's common name but it is perfect for the spot.





This ground cover is called Arctostaphylos uva-ursi "Massachusetts". That's a mouth full! It gets pinkish-white flowers which become red berries in the fall.






Small plants such as Woolly Thyme (how appropriate) and Pink Pussy-Toes (for all you cat lovers) are planted in between the bluestone. Some of these small plants give off a scent when walked on. I love this look. It is so "cottage-y".


And the "piece de resistance" (read it with a French accent!) is the herringbone brick walkway to the front door! Now this is where a weaver lives!!!!!

Day 105

What's that? It's a broken cable line! Oh My! The landscaper has been working like crazy. Unfortunately the cable cord was only buried about 3 inches deep so it was cut on Thursday in the process of grading the lawn! But not to worry! The "Cable Guy" was here this morning in the rain and fixed it.
I have a lot of pictures to post as a lot has been done on the landscaping since Wednesday.




Do you think there are enough trucks here?! They sort of filled our whole street. I think we will have to give a "thank you for being so patient" party for the neighbors. They have gone through the noise and disruption with us.

The stone wall being built with New England field stone. It will taper to meet the driveway level. I've always loved the charm of those New England stone walls that you see all over the countryside. It is so perfect for this setting and project.

The shell patio in the back brings that ocean side feel to "the cottage by the sea" affect. Besides it smells like the ocean is in the back yard! I love that smell! I can't wait to get a firepit and a few Adirondack chairs out there. Now there's a Christmas gift idea for any family members who are reading this!


This is the beginning of the front walkway which will be red brick laid in a herringbone pattern. It only seemed fitting for a nice twill structure to be the pattern for the entrance to a weaver's home!

I love the new plantings. Two of these trees I had never heard of before. One is a Japanese Angelica Cryptomeria and the other is a Hollywood Juniper. They are both so interesting and different. The one in front is a Blue Girl Holly which I have always loved. I will have wonderful Holly cuttings for the holidays. The smaller plants by the front steps are variegated Laceleaf Hydrangea. They will have a beautiful white flower summer to fall. Right now they just look like twigs sticking up out of the ground.

The landscaping should be done by Wednesday. We are hoping that they finish up on the interior part of the studio this week. They still have the flooring in the kitchen and living room to do. And then the closet people can come in and do the pantry closet. I'm getting anxious that it will not be done in time for me to get the house in order for Thanksgiving. Hmmmmm, wasn't this supposed to be done a month ago so this would not be an issue?! Turkey Day is fast approaching.

Day 103

Will it ever end?! Today they started to put the driveway in. That means more big machines showed up! I 'm sure the neighbors are tired of this too. I just hope they still speak to us!




The landscaper also showed up today and started his work laying loam and mapping out the plan for the brick and bluestone entrance and the crushed shell patio in back. That means more trucks and machines!
We are so excited about the landscaping plan. He did a great job of coming up with a design that would give us the feel of an English "cottage by the sea".
My utility sink was installed on Monday. This is where I can do my dyeing of fabrics and yarns.


I've been working on painting the doors and woodwork. There is a lot of wood to be painted! When I got my hair cut today, the hairdresser asked me if I had been painting! You guessed it, I had paint in my hair!

Day 100!

I can't believe it has been 100 days since ground breaking! We are 40 days over the contractor's estimate and I have to admit I'm ready for the "boys" to go home!

Friday's work was concentrated on grouting the tile floor, hooking up more lights, and working on some of the finishing touches like trims and closet doors.

Jeff and I also went to a nursery to discuss the landscaping plan. We loved the plan that the landscape architect came up with but it is always a shock at how much it costs!!! And we are doing the simplified plan!!! I still have sticker shock! Oh My! The pressure is on for me to sell a lot of my work once this is done! Just remember, I can help you with your Holiday shopping!

Day 99

Some progress has been made this week. The tile floor in the entryway and the utility room was put down. It was installed and then taken up and re-installed! The contractor was not happy with how it looked so he re-did it. What a Guy!!! I have to admit it does look better now. It was just slightly off in places but changing it made a big difference. The grout has to be added yet.


The tile is a light sandy terracotta color. It looks whiter here, too much dust and tile mud!
The baseboards are going in and the heat finally has been hooked up! It's starting to get cold here in New England!


The electrician came back today and installed alot of the lights. They look great! Yeah we are illuminated!





The garage and porch lights are old world carriage house style.
Lights over the sink area in the utility room

Recessed Lights in the studio area
Not all the lights are hooked up yet but we are slowly getting there. Now if we can just get the electrician to stay on target and finish the job, like SOON, we'll be happy!

Weekend Review

They finished up the floor in the studio and office and all the shelving is done. Now we have to paint everything.

Jeff and I worked on painting the entryway and hallway into the kitchen and house. Here I am on the plank "cutting in" the cathedral wall and ceiling with October Sky. It was only a little scary!



Today was a beautiful fall day in New England. Jeff had the day off so we spent the day on Cape Cod. I can't believe we live so close to The Cape that we can just take a day trip and we are anywhere on The Cape! We went to The Oyster Festival in Wellfleet (and we don't even like oysters!) and than stopped at all the antique stores we came across.

Day 94, A New Light Shines!

A lot happened today. The base flooring for the tile that will be in the entryway was put down.

The electrician accomplished a lot of work. The automatic garage doors are hooked up now and they work. The pendant light in the entryway and the ceiling fan were installed. Other lights have been installed but the power is not on yet.
























They had to re-do the book shelves in the office but they look much better now. They needed to be adjusted so that the cove lighting above the bookcases will illumine the space correctly.



Additional shelving in the office area where I can store paper supplies and have my Stereo and CD player. I can't weave without music!!!!!


It's finally beginning to look like there may be an end in site. There is still a lot of painting to do and additional things like the driveway and basic landscaping to get us through the winter need to be done but I think the major part of it will be finished soon. I'm hoping that I will be able to move looms and yarns in by November. Then we will have a PARTY!!!

Day 93

The flooring went in today in the main part of the studio! It looks great. As I mentioned before, it is Bamboo. It is a Carbonized Bamboo which means that the caramel color is derived by steaming the bamboo to bring out the starches and sugars which then turn a light caramel color. I love it!

Day 92

The pendant lights for the studio were installed today!!! Yeah. They look great. They do not have power or bulbs yet but at least they are in. They are 12 feet long and will give off direct and indirect lighting using a high color rendering lamp. (Lamp is the technical lighting term for what all of us call a bulb!)




The drawers are in and the shelving is almost done. Handles have to be put on the drawers yet.







Bookcases in the office area
Jeff and I were able to get some more painting done over the weekend. Check out the entry way cathedral wall. It is called Ship's Harbor. The coat closet doors have also been installed.

The utility room is painted Pirates Cove Beach! Are you getting the theme here?
They expect to be putting the flooring in soon. We've chosen Bamboo for the studio floor! It is a totally Green product and is renewed in 5-7 years. I like that we are helping the ecology by using this product. Not to mention that it is beautiful! I can't wait to see in on the floor.

Day 89

We're flying now!!!!

Progress is happening. The wall painting is complete in the studio. The red wall in the office and extension into the studio space looks great. It goes well with the off white color called October Sky. Check it out.



























No, that is not a space for a fireplace although I must admit I wish I had thought of it. It would make a great fireplace! It really will be a storage place below where my warping board will hang. OK, for those of you who are not weavers, a warping board is used to measure the length of the yarn which will be put on the loom. There are all kinds of jokes out there about warped weavers and warp and weft, but I won't go into that!
The steel door to the garage has been installed. It is spring loaded to shut automatically as required in the fire code. Uh Oh! I can see getting locked out the first time I bring groceries in!!!! The rest of the garage and house may burn down but not the door!!!

The most exciting part is they have started to build the yarn shelves and install the drawers. The room is starting to have a personality! I'm already picturing the colors of the yarns on the shelves.