Looking at the Interior -- The Living Room Module

Here are some more images of the interior that include more shots of dining room table that we designed and that Smith and Vallee crafted from the fir tree from our lot. It was initiated this week when my family visited from Wisconsin. We were able to comfortably sit eight people at the table -- as designed. Again we're very happy with it.

Looking at the Interior -- The Spline

In this picture of the upper "spline", Marta Kitty is at her favorite post. We really like how the windows turned out here. We also like the flow of the two levels and staircase. It turned out to be a really nice space.

Looking at the Interior -- Master Bedroom

Patrick designed the Master Bed and Closet. Then Smith and Vallee crafted the designs out of the fir tree from out lot. We are very happy with both pieces.

You can start to get a feel for the interesting light patterns of the inside space.

The furniture has arrived

Well, the arrival is a story in and of itself. I rented a u-haul truck from Eastsound at 1pm on Thursday and drove directly to the ferry landing to catch the 2:20pm. The ferry arrived in Anacortes at 3:18. So, I made it to Edison by 4:00. Smith and Vallee was putting the finishing touches on the furniture. They loaded it for me and explained the nuances of the pieces. Smith and Vallee did a wonderful job of collaborating on and implementing the design. They are truly pieces of art. At 5:00, I was back on the road and I made it to the ferry landing in Anacortes at 5:40 for the 7:20 ferry. I was a little worried about the July 4 week-end, but I made it OK. On Friday, we hired some muscle (four high-school football players in need of a work-out) to move the furniture into the house - all without incident. ... The truck was returned before noon on Friday.

Some of you may remember that we cut down a giant fir due to it's location and the fact that it leaned toward the house site. I helped an on island sawyer (Kai) cut four logs into slabs. Those slabs were kiln dried in Edison courtesy of Smith and Vallee. They did the cabinetry in the house and made the bar top from the fallen fir.

Anne and I also designed a dining table (the mediocre picture in this post - I'll post better pictures soon), a master bed frame, and a master closet kit. Smith and Vallee fashioned them out of that same fallen fir. We haven't named the table yet, but it will be something like "ice on fallen fir". ... Note the glue-laminated legs which bring in an element from the outside -- glue-lam beams. ... Smith and Vallee liked the table enough to display it in their art gallery for a few days. ...

Now we'll actually have some place to sit and eat when my family visits later this month.

The Paint is Complete

It's been awhile since I've posted.

Well, it's July on Orcas. That means our 2 weeks of summer are almost here. ... Only half kidding.

It was warm enough for the outside paint to stick over night. So Javan painted the house and covered up the one mistake we made for material choice on the inside. It's all beautifully done.

We're left with the typical punch-list for the builder at this point. We'll work our way through that. ...

And we have final occupancy

On 16-Mar-2011, we received certification for final occupancy. The main issue related to the grab rail has been solved. As you can see the permanent posts have also been installed and the temporary posts will be removed shortly. ...

Also, Kevin from Orcas Electric worked to resolve some electrical concerns.

Once the i's are dotted, the t's are crossed, and the forms are signed, final occupancy will be official.

By Popular Demand ...

... here are some pictures of the house with railings.

We still don't have final occupancy, because the railings on the stairs don't meet the IRC-2006 standard. Arghh. I won't go into detail or provide any conjecture as to why, but the drawings we received did indeed have the wrong height. Unfortunately, at that time I hadn't yet memorized the IRC-2006 spec which states that railings must be between 34 and 38 inches tall as measured from the front of the step and that the grab rail must not exceed 6 1/4" in circumference.

Sigh. I do like the look and feel of the railings though. The basic design ideals we provided were executed well.

So, we still don't have final occupancy. My prediction is sometime next week for final. We arranged for Kevin from Orcas Electrician to tidy up some items and the grab rail will need to be installed. The other items are trivial. I've asked Method to come back just once more to button it up.

Sigh.

After the weather turns in our favor, Method will come back to paint the outside of the house and stain the main doors. We also have a door that we haven't acquired yet that will need to be hung.

After that, Method will come back after a year and fix any cracks and items that need attending.

Almost there.

Rain Falling on Railings

Not sure the rain water is supposed to pool on the deck like this, but it looks kinda cool for now. Have to add the drainage on the deck to the punchlist. ...

The rain drops hanging off the railings is pretty cool.

Mainly, I was just playing around here.

Nice View from up Here

Patrick took advantage of the great weather and got up on the roof over the week-end to keep it in good working order for the catchment system. Water shoes worked really well for both grip and softness. There were a few surprises up there like a few items left over from the roofers and areas where the fir needles had collected. Two hours later the roof and gutters were clean.

There really is a nice view from up there. Perhaps a roof deck will be in order some day. First, there are a few other things to attend to.

Oh yeah, I didn't take these pictures, obviously. So, ignore the copyright. They are attributed to Anne Bertino.

Snow Falling on Railings

Snow? Again? Time to buy an AWD vehicle. ...

Photo attributed to Anne Bertino.

Curiosity did what to the cat?

Anne spent the first night in the house on Saturday. The cats slowly got used to their new surroundings and started to explore on Sunday. Today they are helping Anne seal the tile with some super green sealing product.

Photo attributed to Anne Bertino.

On the 124th day, God said let there be railings.

And we saw that they were good.

Photo attributed to Anne Bertino.

A few more days

The railings are due to be delivered on Monday. In the mean time, the entrance is blocked with caution tape. I told the builders that it looks like a crime scene. The railings are the last step needed for us to live there.

Not too much else to report at this point. There's a temporary railing on the back patio to make access safer over the week-end. We're close.

Here are a few pictures that provide unique perspectives of the stairs before the railings are in place. ...

We've started to move some boxes in ...

... but the progress is still slow.

The stairs and decks are up. Our design for the 90 degree staircase was executed to perfection. The only down side is the use of treated wood instead of metal for the landings. We made that concession for cost and ease of build reasons. Hopefully, we won't be cursing that decision in the future from a maintenance perspective.

The design of the stairs fit much better with the concept of the house than the design that was supplied by the architects. Notice too the shadows and interesting lines that are cast from the staircase.

The posts that you see are temporary. The real posts for the big deck in front and small deck out back are in now, and hopefully the posts for the stair landings are on their way.

Visits by the San Juan County Inspector are on-going and the appraiser is due for his "final" visit on Saturday - at this point. ...

The inside of the house is done for the most part. At least what can be done is done. I have ideas to "finish" some the low voltage wiring: Cat5 and Speaker Wire. The sound system components have also been picked out and will be purchased after the sticker shock wears off.

Decks Ahoy

The 4 decks are basically complete. There's a small deck in back, one in front, and two landings for the stairs. The stairs will run next to the house then turn 90 degrees at the lower landing.

There continues to be progress inside. Ivan has the inside stairs complete, Wes stopped by to tidy up the cabinets, attach the hardware, install the desk areas, install the media center door, and install the bar top, which was made from a tree that we had to cut down. It looks beautiful. The dishwasher also got installed.

The water tanks are full up to about a foot from the top. That's a little over 10,000 gallons and that makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable.

Grout Redeux

After much consideration we requested that the grout in the bathrooms be removed. We had speced a much lighter color than what was used the first time. I had almost talked Anne into keeping it until we went back to our place in Phoenix and saw the grout there. Then we both decided it had to come out. Oh well, a few steps forward a step or two back.

Belongings

It cost $4000 to ship this? It would have been cheaper to show up at UPS with 65 boxes.

Progress - Inside and Out

SLOW progress

Well we didn't meet our goal of moving in during 2010. The holiday season and weather definitely took it's toll on the schedule. Our new target is the end of January. Our belongings are also in transit and will need to be placed in storage until the house is ready to accept them. At least our belongings will be on Orcas Island. That's half the battle around here.

There has been some progress on the decks outside. The deck out back (not in the plans) was built to allow us to enter, the two landings for the front stairs were also built. The large deck off the living room will be framed this week.

Ivan continues to do fine work inside. The ceiling in the spline and the doors are installed. We'll need to rethink the laundry closet a bit so that the washer and dryer fit, but Anne and I believe we have a solution. Ivan's also been working on the window sils.

The mechanical room is also up in running for the most part. One of the pictures shows the solar tubes on the roof.

There's some last minute design going on to ensure that the front steps convey the proper

feel for the entrance of the house and meet my requirement for easy maintenance.

We'll try to be patient as Method wraps up their work and hopefully we'll be in our new home by the end of the month in the comfort of our new bed. Wish us luck.

A blower door test is scheduled for Monday - enhanced by Infra-red imaging. I'll have Anne report on the results. We'll see if the test results and the remaining capital allows us to go any further under LEED.