The stain glass window arrived the other day but it was too big, so we redesigned where in the transit
frame the window would sit and this made the window too small. Now being too small is a much easier
fix than too big so she added some lead to the frame and vola' it now works. The glass was made by
Amber Jones who is the daughter of the guy who made our lamp in the kitchen so it was nice to keep it all
in the family. We are very pleased with the job she did on the window. You can see the window on the
recent photos.
We still have not yet hooked up our woodstove. The company sent the wrong pipes, perhaps we do not
need a woodstove?
We also started to meet with landscapers about a stone patio for the back of our house, hopefully this will
fit into our budget and we can have it installed this spring.
Our next project is getting a back up generator for the house as we tend to lose power often in this
location.
Pattie met with a tile guy about installing some of the orginal tiles from the house, some will be a
backsplash in the kitchen and the rest will go around the firplaces where they originally were.
I lucked out and found the oak planks I was looking for, Pattie's sister's boyfriend's brother (did you
follow that?) had some in his barn so I was able to buy them from him and Bobbi was nice enough to
bring them to our house for me.I spent the last week planning, sanding, cutting, staining and varnishing
them and I hope to install them this Sunday. I had to stain and varnish them prior to installing them
because we need to use the staircase to get in and out of the house at this moment and I did not want
footprints on the finished product. hopefully the next time I update the process we will ahve a woodstove
working.
It has been a busy last twenty days at times it seemed like we were back in the beginning stages
especially when the generator was being installed and they killed all the power and I was back to
working with extension cords again. Yes the generator has been installed, although not without it's
problems first the gas hook up was never changed from natural to LP (generator peoples fault) and then
the regulator the gas man had put on was faulty (someone's fault) however in the end everything worked
and we now have a back up generator for the whole house. That will come in handing during those
winter ice storms.
We also had John Pratt in to install some crown molding I tried and tried and decided it was better to
hire someone to do it than to kill someone trying to do it. It looks great. We had him install it in the living
room and dinning room. Pattie is now thinking of adding more... sorry John. the electrician showed up
and moved a lamp and a few other things that we needed done. The sheetrocker John Coady came back
to repair the hole in the ceiling from the heating system problem, the tile people arrived to install the
backsplash and I installed the back stair steps, more baseboard and door trim and also hooked up the
woodstove. This too will be nice during those winter storms. All in all a very busy two weeks I forgot
what it was like to have contactors around the house all the time and now I am once again looking
forward to them leaving. Not that they are bad it is just a lot of work and it keeps me from getting my
work done but in the end it all needs to be done
The pace slowed down a bit in the last two weeks as most of the contractor work scheduled was
finished.The backsplash was installed behind the cooktop and looks good. I was able to finish all the
trim work in the dinning room and the downstairs hallway. I also started to paint that trim work for the
holiday. It does not look like all of the trim work on the first floor will be done in time for Thanksgiving
perhaps by Christmas???
The electrician still needs to install the lights in the barn as well as a new service for the barn, the
wrought iron railing for the stairs leading to the basement is being made and the marble for the hearth
of the fireplace is on order.
This part of the project is both exciting and annoying it is exciting because each little improvment really
makes a difference but annoying because it takes so long to make each little improvment. I guess this is
a lesson in patience.
November 27, 2007 Day 806
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Last week we enjoyed our first Thanksgiving at Cross Point Farm. We hope this will be the first of
many to come. Sunday we started to decorate the house for our first Christmas. It is so nice to finally
be able to enjoy the house and start building memories around our new home.
Speaking of building this is a web site that chronicles our progress on the house so I should update
our recent advancements. The trim work in the Parlor was finished in time for Thanksgiving and now
all that is left on the first floor is to finish the trimwork in the Music Library and finish painting all the
trimwork. The lights in the barn are up and working and look great! Scott Tindal has ordered the iron
for the staircase and will start working on that as soon as it arrives and the tile work around the
fireplaces go in on Wednesday. With the decorations going up for Christmas it is now time for me to
get busy and finish the first floor once and for all. However history tells me it will not be the last time
I work on it.