Counter tops

The counter tops have arrived and have mostly been installed. The kitchen island is all maple butcher block that is still covered in cardboard. I've only heard negatives about choosing white laminate counters. But I've had them for 25 years, love the 'color"..is white a color? and the fact that a little bleach easily takes care of any stains.

Stonewalled

"Anything Grows" has begun work on the front stone wall for the house, as well as the steps that will lead from the driveway to the house. By the end of the week there may be grass seed planted and some perennials for the

start of a garden.

Under Contract

We've signed a Purchase and Sales agreement for our house on Butler Drive, so this morning I happily pulled up the For Sale sign. It's been a great home for 24 years so it wasn't easy to put the house on the market, but the new family makes me feel really good about the sale.

Cabinets or Cupboards?

Bruce Simpson, whose shop designed and built the kitchen cabinets, installed them today. Maybe they are cupboards? Anyway...they are beautiful, natural cherry. I'm debating about what sort of hardware to put on them. I don't want anything to detract from them. Countertops will be white f ormica, the island will be maple butcher block, appliances are stainless. Those blue tabs you see in the photo are just little pull tabs so you can get them open until the hardware is put on. I am open to suggestions!

Our New Dining Room Table

These cherry logs, from the cherry tree that had to be taken down at the end of the driveway so that we had clear vision onto the road, will be made into 6/4 boards at Lathrops saw mill. After they are kiln dried Don will make a new dining room table. It will be a long and broad farmhouse table, with plenty of room for you to join us!

Showing you the doors

The interior doors are all going to be natural fir, four panel doors with oiled bronze hardware. These doors are on a closet in a downstairs room.

Bathroom cabinets

The bathroom cabinets and shelves for the master bath have arrived and are being installed.

Septic system update

John Scott, the excavator, is making fast work of the septic system. There will be a nice little sledding hill or mini-ski jump off the south side of the mound system.

Gravity hasn't failed us yet

Despite pressures to build a septic system using the 'new fangled' pumps and tanks, Don has insisted on going with a gravity run septic. There are no pumps to fail, power outages to endure, or yearly inspection contracts to sign with our Prespy Mound system. What does seem absurd is to have to import fill when you've already got 42 acres of dirt. But, finally, this week the waste water (aka septic system) will be installed. It too is required for the COO.

Bottom Floor

The basement, which is really a hybrid of a second floor and a basement, is getting it's engineered, quarter swan, floor. It's a floating floor that 'floats' on a pad over the concrete floor and radiant floor heating, rather than being nailed down. It is a darker, wider plank floor than the upstairs birch.

Exposed!

While clearing trees, undergrowth and brambles for our COO (certificate of occupancy)down by the driveway entrance, we came upon this old, half buried, (what we are guessing to be) horse drawn plow. Yet another old piece of farm equipment to add to our inventory. It is inspiring me to find out more about the history of this little bit of farmland.

Caged Queens

A batch of new queen bees were picked up in St. Albans by Don and Tim King. They will be used to expand into new hives. In the meantime, they really aren't liking their cramped quarters.

Trimmed out

The windows are being trimmed inside. It's a simple design, intended match the lines of the rest of the house.

Pine Floor

In the folklore of Scots pine a common theme is their use as markers in the landscape. We have used the Scot pines that we had to fell from the land to put up our house as some flooring. Perhaps we have marked with this Scot pine floor, the spot from which it lived and now where we will live. This picture is of the Scot pine floor in our bathroom. Maybe by tomorrow afternoon the mudroom and powder room will also have pine floor installed.

One could do worse than be a swinger of birches

or have a beautiful birch floor underfoot. Our birch flooring is almost all installed and it is beautiful. There are all sorts of colors and patterns. The birch hardwood is from Vermont, which was purchased from Lathrops in Bristol, Vermont.