May 29, 2017

Happy Memorial Day to all. We honor the veterans who have made our way of life possible.

This will be my last post under the "Building Our House" heading. I'll start a new page titled Summer 2017.

We have come a long way since we moved in but still can't get our cars in the garage!! We took a brief pause to enjoy a visit from Bunny and John-our first guests!! They came on Thursday and we tried out our new grill. It took 45 minutes to get it to 400 and then 30 minutes to cook steaks! I was really upset--until the next morning, when I looked at it closely and realized that I had it set on low the whole time! On Friday night we ate at Emily's and then Saturday night I grilled hamburgers and brats-they were awesome once I understood how to use the grill! We enjoyed our pool time all day Saturday. Sunday we went to church and then to Brick's for brunch. John had the most amazing beer battered banana french toast! I have to go back soon to have that again. Sunday night Mike and Jeannine came over for cocktails and we had such a nice time sitting around the pool. Mike got a yellow submarine for his birthday so he brought it over to try out. We tormented Skipper with it-he jumped on the raft and we drove the submarine right up to his face and then dove it. He went nuts! Bunny and John left about 9 this morning and we didn't accomplish much after that. On a somber note, Marina is not doing well. She won't eat very much and sleeps most of the time. She goes to the doctor tomorrow for blood work so we will see.

We had a great time with the new unicorn!!

 

 

May 23, 2017

We can't believe it but we are  in!!  Things sort of fell apart after my last post. We started getting a bit panicky and just started throwing things in boxes and driving them over here and dumping them in the garage. The movers came about 9 Friday korning, were loaded by 12 and left the new house at 3. My car was stuffed with last minute things and it still isn't unpacked! Oliver was a big help but he tended to take a box from one room to another so I have makeup mixed with dishes mixed with potting soil! Makes it hard to find things. It was Sunday before I found the box with my underwear!! We went back to the house on Saturday because all my Christmas decorations were in the 3rd floor attic, along with a LOT of other stuff. Oliver made 3 trips to the house and then a trip to the dump. I cleaned the house and finally got back over here at about 1PM.

The ADT security guy was here from 8 until 5 on Thursday-he left and when we left, we turned on the systme and one of the garage door sensors popped off. We called him and he came right back and was here until 6:30. The DirecTV guy was here for about 5 hours and has to come back-we packed one of our receivers!!

We were able to find sheets so we were able to sleep pretty well Friday night. marina and Skipper were a bit disoriented so I was up 3 times in the night with her but she seems to be doing better now. She still gets confused and lost if we don't watch her but is starting to know how to go outside and get back in.

We have been working very hard to get the inside of the house organized. I just CANNOT live in chaos. On Sunday Oliver was carrying things into the house and missed a step and fell flat on his face. I heard this huge crash and found him sitting on the floor in the hall outside the laundry room with blood gushing from his nose! I wanted to go to the hospital or at least urgent care but he refused--of  course. I sat him down with an ice pack and then I had to leave to go to a church brunch. John came while I was gone to pick up a couple of things, so Oliver had some company.I got home at 4:30 and had to leave at 5:30 for another church function so it was a long day for me.

On Monday Mike and Jeannine moved and a friend of theirs brought dinner over for the 4 of us. What a nice treat that was-we couldn't remember the last time we had an actual meal! Then tonight, a friend of ours brought dinner over for us, so we are living well now! Some furniture was delivered Monday-the dining room table and chairs and 2 occassional chairs for the great room. We have a lot yet to come.

It has been storming on and off here since last night. We have a tornado watch right now and some hail and lots of rain and lightning. We are too tired to care!!

My "landlady" texted a picture to me a while ago. We forgot to pack all our liquor!!!

Here;s poor Oliver after his fall!

Today I saw this work boat go by. It's like being on the Mississippi!!

Marc came by on Thursday and out up the chandelier in my bathroom. He spent a long time and finally got tired of putting on all the little crystals soI finished them today! Our sheet "curtains" should disappear tomorrow when they come to install our plantation shutters!

We  have everything in pretty good shape.

The island looking toward the great room.

The dining room

The great room looking towards the kitchen

Lonely little chairs!!

I spent hours getting my closet in order!!

Oliver spent a lot of time on his office

And the sitting room

Guest room 1

And guest room 2

My piano room!! I finally played for the first time in about 3 weeks!

Things look pretty good until you open the door to the garage!!

 

May 16, 2017

Well, we have made great progress since Thursday but we are exhausted!! We have made countless trips with the truck and my car and the garage is full of boxes. But NOTHING comes into the house unless it has a home so everything ninside looks really good-a few clothes in our closets, linens in the linen closet, pots and pans put away. The attics here are almost empty and today Oliver fini9shed moving his workshop. THAT was a huge job but all that remains are a couple of heavy pieces of equipment that the movers will handle on Friday. I have about half of the kitchen moved and will get the rest tomorrow-I hope. Then just our bedroom and bathroom to deal with on Thursday. I'm trying to clean as I go along so hopefully won't have too much to do when I come back on Saturday morning. Jan, our "landlady" but really our friend, is being so kind and insists that I not worry about the cleaning but I want to leave everything in as great a condition as possible.

We had our internet installed yesterday and the DirecTV and ADT installers will come Thursday morning. Tomorrow our new furniture for one of the guest rooms will be delivered. My furniture lady in Savannah told me that on Monday we will get our dining room table, 6 chairs, 2 chairs for the great room and possibly our entertainment center! That would help the echo that we now have in the house!

Marc came over today to walk us through all the systems in the house and to look for any issues that need to be addressed. There are really no issues, just a couple of minor paint touchups. They did a perfect job on the house and we could not be happier. On Thursday he will come back to hang the chandelier in my bathroom. The driveway was almost completed today-looks like they need just a little bit more gravel. A guy from the pool company came today to walk us through all those systems. Our heads are spinning from all the instructions we received today.

We can't wait til Saturday, when we DON'T have to move anything! On Sunday we have church, a church group brunch and at 6:15 I have to co-host our church newcomer's reception. Maybe I can't wait til Monday!! Stay tuned for more pictures.

One of MANY trips Oliver made!

 

May 13, 2017

Before I start my whining about how sad I am that I'm not the Queen anymore, I need to share some truly sad news. My friend Sue Shannon and her dog Cody, both of whom I have known for almost 9 years are responsible for us bringing Skipper into our family. We puppysat for Cody for a week and he a Marina hit it off-in other words when they were fighting for food, toys or attention, they never actually bit  each other, so we just KNEW she wanted a baby brother. So along came Skipper and they became the Three Amigos. I can't count the number of walkies, birthday parties, presents exchanged these three enjoyed so it was terrible shock to hear from Sue that Cody had died Monday while she and Tom were in Italy. We are all so saddened by his sudden loss. Our hearts go out to Sue, Tom and Rocker, and especially Jerry.

This is the first walk we ever took with Sue and Cody. Marina nipped his nose that day and on every other walk we ever took!

The Three  Muskateers-Cody on Sue's  lap, Marina WANTING to be on Sue's lap, and baby Skipper just wantimg to see what was going on!

RIP little buddy, your buddies miss you.

And now on to my personal sadness. As of 10:30 Thursday, our house and pool were officially approved! Not without some last minute drama but approved nonetheless. In  spite of impeccable and precise plans drawn by Jeff and approved by the county building department and in spite of exact to the nth degree implementation of those plans  by Marc who micromanaged every saw cut, every nail, every doorknob, every blade of grass, the inspector informed then that well AFTER the plans were approved and well AFTER the house was past the point they were dicussing, a code change was made and our house didn't meet the new code. We were of course irate, sad, scared, sick to our stomachs, assumimg the worst-all our money gone, no place to live, a 3600sq ft ghost house overlooking the river. But as always Marc called and said there's a little problem, we should have it fixed tomorrow. The next thing we know he's got  all kinds of workers there fixing every little thing and when the inspector came Thursday (and may I  say it didn't hurt that she was a female as Marc can be devastatingly charming) she readily approved the house and the pool. And by 10:40, Oliver was moving in! We were so excited and immediately loaded the truck up with the porch furnitureabd brought it over (after I took my VISA card down to my insurance agent's office to make sure we were covered! We worked all day yesterday and only stopped for a small celebration on the dock with Mike and Jeannine who also got their CO and worked all day today. Things are moving along well and by the time the furniture truck comes Friday, we will slip right on out of 1 Tuxedo and into 109 River House. There are a few minor things to be done so we will have the pleasure of Marc's company for a while longer but I have to face the fact that I am no longer the Queen, that Jeff and Marc and their wonderful subs  are going to have a special relationship with some other woman who wants a big closet built and SHE will be the new center of attention of the dozens of people it takes to build a home. My time in the sun was so short! I think I'll have to build a bigger house next time!

Seriously, these 2 guys could not have been more respectful, more caring, more professional, more determined to give us exactly what we wanted, more generous with their time (hours spent looking at plumbing fixtures, tile, lighting amd Marc's personal nightmare- wood floors)- and just in general fun!! We had a great time AL  the time and we will miss them so much. Ithink I'm going to start saving so I can build another house!

It all started with my closet. Jeff asked what we wanted. A big closet I said. OK, a nice sized closet, he says.NO-a BIIIIG closet. Well, he says,we don't usually start there but I suppose I  can draw a BIIIIG closet and then put some other stuff around it-a kitchen, a bedroom, a couple of  bathrooms. That should work! OK, I say,but don;t forget the chandeliere in the bathroom. And I loved the surprises. I mentioned just one time in passing how I would like to have huge sliding doors out to the porch and we never discussed it again because we have hurricane glass and it would be hard to  find in doors that size. Then one day we are looking at  plans and what do I  see but huge sliding glass doors! You can surely see why I feel like a queen!

But since I'm not a Queen, I'd better get to sleeps so I will be ready to carry another 50 boxes over to the house to unpack! More pictures will  follow but here are a few of my favorite things.

I made the decision early on that my clothes would NEVER AGAIN hang on plastic or (horrors) metal hangers so I have been buying and storing away padded satin hangers. A closet fit for a Queen!

We are thrilled with the way the porch turned out. If you can't find us, look out there!

 

 

 

 

May 7, 2017

Except for a couple of very minor details, the inside of the house is done! The cleaning crew worked til 8:30 last night and they were back again this afternoon working on the garage. Everything is sparkling clean and we can't wait to move in!!

My view from the kitchen window

Ferom the kitchen to the great room

From the great room to the kitchen

The view from our bedroom windows

The upstairs great room

One end of our master bath

 

May 5, 2017

We are literally just days away from the house being completed. Everything insdie is done. Marc hung the last 3 mirrors today and the ladies have been working crazy hard cleaning all the windows, all the cabinets, the plumbing fixtures, kitchen counters, lights and floors. They are almost finished-they were still working when we went over at 5:30. Looks like maybe just 1 more day for them. The landscapers were working hard today laying sod in the front yard, finishing putting in plants and trees and spreading more gravel.in the driveway. The pool is finished and running and I think the painters are done. All that's left is the final inspection and the Certificate of Occupancy. We hope to start moving things over next week, prior to the movers coming on the 19th. I have tried to clear my calendar as of today, with the exception of my Thursday morning at Summit Place. The furniture store called to say they were going to deliver our new dining room table on the 22nd-of course the chairs won't be here until June!! We can hardly believe that this exctiting time will be over in two weeks. It feels a bit like when we finished the Great Loop-a what now feeling. No telling what we'll be up to next!!

The house looks completely different with grass and plants instead of sand.

Marc hung the master bath and guest room mirrors today

Marc hung our TV on the porch. It was NOT an easy task-he had to make a trip to the hardware store and change the plug and cable outlet but as always, he got it done. I think he was wrapping up the cable here-but then again, he may have been crying!!

I sure hope these aren't our new "deer resistant" plants being munched upon!

 

May 2, 2017

I woke up this morning in a very melancholy mood. I was thinking about the past 15 months. We had our first meeting with Marc and Jeff on February 29, 2016, and there have been very few days since then that I haven't talked, emailed or texted with one or both of them. We are coming to the end of our journey and I think I will feel a void in my life where they have been living for all these months! I have made VERY few decisions without these guys and I'm not sure I will be able to decide anything without their input! We are so grateful for their help and the fantastic work they have done for us.

Today we took a LOOOONG boat ride. We went 20 miles up the Intracoastal Waterway and-surprise!-20 miles back! When we came back to the house, the pool was being cleaned, the painters were caulking outside, the glass people were (I think) installing shower doors and some ladies were inside cleaning! We are so close to being finished and not sure how we feel about that!!

The refrigerator was installed on Sunday! We are thrilled with our outdoor kitchen!

The white house in the distance on the right is ours! Can you believe this body of water is called Lucy "Creek"!

 

April 30, 2017

We had a fun day yesterday at the Marine Corps Air Station air show. We met Mike and Jeannine there and it was hot, although there was a breeze that helped. We've seen so many of the stunt pilots, so ate lunch for most of that part, but we love seeing the F-18 demonstrations,  the F-35 flights and of course the Blue Angels. Traffic afterwards was a nightmare! God bless the Marines, they keep our contry safe but trafffic control is definitely NOT their strong suit!!  We stopped at the house on the way home to check the pool and it is full! The pool company had been there and removed the hose but they are not quite done with it-a little acid washing to do yet and they won't put the cleaner heads in for about 30 days so that the concrete can cure.

We haven't scheduled much for this week and plan to spend the time packing. I have quite a bit done already but there is a LOTleft to be done in the next 2 weeks.

The F-35 can stop and hover in one spot and can also break the sound barrier!

The Blue Angels were, as always, awesome.

The pool looks great.

 

April 27, 2017

The house is SO close to being finished!! The outdoor kitchen is almost done-just the refrigerator to be installed. Today they boxed in the vent tubes over the hood and it looks great. They started putting on the kitchen backsplash and should finish that tomorrow. Marc worked for 2 days putting up all our towel bars and rings, tissue holders and mirrors. He has 3 more mirrors to do and he will be done with this job that he doesn't much like!! The light in my closet was moved and looks fantastic! The painters are painting the quarter round and toucjing up all the marks on walls. Rob, our plumber, finished his job yesterday. The pool is supposed to be plastered tomorrow. I think they will start cleaning next week and hopefully we will have a CO (certificate of occupancy) very soon so that we can start moving things over there prior to the officialmoving day. We are so excited and so pleased with how everything is turning out. We could not have had better builders than Marc and Jeff to help us every step of the way. Compared to some of the stories we hear, our build went incredibly smoothly!

We love this mirror we found for the powder room!

Got the mirrors and towel bars/rings up in the big guest bath

Rob moved the bathtub a bit and Marc installed all the accesories. We love our master bath!

Our outdoor kitchen is almost finished!

I just love my closet. I never go in the house without "visiting" my closet

Loving the backsplash. The new refrigerator is coming tomorrow and the kitchen will be done.

 

April 21, 2017

A whole lot has been done since Monday. The kitchen appliances were delivered Tuesday. They llok great, except for the refrigerator, which had a broken shelf and a gazillion pieces of glass all over the inside. It went back and a new one will be delivered next Friday. They will also deliver the pedestals for the washer and dryer, which I neglected to order the first time! The electricians put up several lights-the dining room chandelier, a light in the hall outside the laundry room and pantry, the light in the powder room, and one in Oliver's closet. On Monday they will move the chandelier in my closet to it's proper location. The plumber installed all the rest of the faucets and moved the tub back 3 inches-it had looked like it was standing in the middle of the room but now looks great. The carpet upstairs was installed today and the dishwasher and oven/microwave went in. The biggest thing was the ginormous hood on the outdoor kitchen. It deosn't look quite so big now that it's installed. Marc still has to put the wall around the top of it.

Other than that, I spend my time shopping and then opening boxes when they come! We got 4 stools for the island, 4 bar stools for the outside kitchen, all new cushions for the porch, a new TV for the great room, and ordered an entertainment center for the TV to go in. The money is pouring out like an open faucet but hopefully we are almost at the end!!

Here are the kitchen island stools-we love the retro look!

One of the bar stools for the outdoor kitchen-there are cushions that go on them.

A picture of the entertainment center we ordered

The dishwasher-I get a kick out of it that it has a light inside!!

The oven-the appliances are black stainless steel. No fingerprints!!

The cute light for the powder room!

The dining room light-it's really high until we get the table under it so that nobody knocks themselves out!

The carpet

The hood for the grill and burner

 

April 17, 2017

We hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter. We had a nice week-end-went boating on Saturday and Sunday Oliver ushered at church and then we had a nice dinner. In between we did some packing. Trying to do a few boxes every day.

Today the cabinetmakers worked on our closets and the pantry, and the Larry and his assistant worked on the tile on the summer kitchen. Marc put the mantel up-Oliver did a great job on it and it looks beautiful.Not sure what else this week will bring but I'm sure things will happen!!

Here'sOliver's wonderful mantel.

Here's the tile-the part not tiled is where the mega-hood will go!

The pantry, with lots of shelves, places for sheet pans and wine racks.

And my closet!!!!

Not sure why the middle drawers aren't installed yet.

 

April 14, 2017

Lots more got done today!!  The landscaper planted 2 palm trees and 4 live oaks today, the cabinetmaker installed a lot of the drawer pulls and finished the front of the island, the plumber installed the sink and toilet in the powder room, and the tile guy started working on the summer kitchen. Oliver packed a few more things in his workshop and made another trip to the dump, and I packed 4 boxes of cookbooks. I made a ton of phone calls-Directv, Hargray (wifi), and our insurance agent. The bar stool I had ordered for the summer kitchen came, Oliver put it together and we took it to the house to see if it worked. It looked great so I came back and ordered 3 more. Then I found a very cool counter height stool and ordered 4 for the island. Since our furniture won't be here for 8 weeks, at least we'll have a place to eat..and drink!!

Here are my palm trees

And the live oaks-you have to look hard to see them!

The kitchen cabinet pulls

The master bath hardware

The island is finished

The stairs were stained today

The powder room

The summer kitchen

The tile for the summer kitchen

 

 

April 13, 2017

I can't believe it's only been 3 days since Iast posted! Much has been done since then. The wood floor was finished on Tuesday, although they are still cleaning it and attending to a few spots that need attention. Tuesday I went on a Graden Club outing to Nemours Plantation. We had a great time. The weather was awesome and we had a wonderful presentation by the biologist in charge and then took a ride in a wagon to look at flora and fauna. We saw tons of birds, including eagles, lots of alligators, learned how the rice fields were irrigated, and saw lots of different trees. After the tour we all ate our "sack lunches". Oliver said it was like a school field trip except he didn't have to sign the consent form! It was a nice break for me from all the house stuff. Yesterday morning we went to Savannah to the furniture store. We ordered our sofa, love seat/chaise lounge and 2 chairs for the great room, 6 chairs to go with the dining table we bought last week, and a queen sofa bed for the media room. We also looked at some amazing bar stools for the kitchen counter-made out of steel and hand hammered. Just gorgeous but really pricey so we are sleeping on those for a few nights!! Yesterday afternoon we took the boat out for a ride and it was a beautiful day, although it got choppy when the wind and tide were opposed. The boat really rides well, though, so we were totally comfortable. Today I went to Summit Place and on my way home I stopped at the tile store and picked up a bunch of samples for the backsplash. Met Oliver and Marc at the house to find it a beehive of activity! The cabinet guys were there finishing installing my closet, Oliver's closet and the pantry--they couldn't do that until the floor was in. They will finish tomorrow, after they install all the cabinet knobs and pulls. I just can't wait to see my closet all finished! They were also putting in the concrete tabby aprons in front of our garages, front porch, and Oliver's workshop. The rest of the driveway will be gravel rock. This is very common down here because of our sandy soil. We would have serious drainage problems if we used concrete all over. We had quite a time narrowing down the backsplash. There were several that we all liked and we finally narrowed it down to 2-one quite safe choice, a gray triangular tile with white dots here and there. It looked great and would wear well on your eyes but didn't really have much pizazz! Oliver has been a bit worried about the house being too one note-so much gray-so he really liked the other one. It is a glass tile, in varying shades of charcoal, and really provides a lot of contrast. I was torn between the 2 so we went with his  choice--something that doesn't happen very often!! Can't wait to see it installed. This afternoon we met with our insurance agent to discuss our options for coverage.

Now the BIG news!!  We have a moving date!! The movers will come on May 19th but Marc tells us we will have a certificate of occupancy probably a week before that, so we will be able to start moving things over there around the 12th!! After all these months, it just doesn't seem real that we will be in the house in a little over a month. Thanks for taking this ride with us!!

Here is an eagle's nest I saw at Nemours

And here we are in our wagon!

The floor almost done!

We saw this osprey on it's nest yesterday on our boat ride

We have a real backyard!!!

 

April 10, 2017

On Saturday, Armando and his crew came and put the screen up on our porch. It will be so nice to be able to sit out there this summer. After that we had a quiet week-end. I started packing and got the entire dining room done and today packed one of my cabinets in the kitchen. Oliver made a trip to the dump with a bunch of paint and other stuff from our attic. The biggest events happened at the house-the landscapers started sodding and putting in plants in the back yard, the wood flooring was delivered and they started installing, and Rob (our wonderful plumber)  installed the disposal and some of our faucets. Everything looks great and is moving along at a great pace. I have met with 2 movers to get estimates and set up tentative moving dates!

Here is our landscaping

I love my beuatiful touch faucet in the kitchen. And the disposal works by that little push button in the counter-no more fumbling for a switch!

Faucets in the guest bath

The wood floor going in!

 

April 6, 2017

We spent most of the day at the house yesterday. We met Jeff there at around 9:30 and the landscapers were there starting to put the irrigation system in. At the same time, the pool people where there putting the first coat on the pool deck. Shortly thereafter, Hilton head Stoneworks came with all the countertops. Then the HUGE hood for the outdoor kitchen was delivered. It was a busy day! We came home and cleaned up and then my niece Ashley, her husband David and my sweet great nephews Cooper and Sullivan came for a visit. They were in Hilton Head for a week and took the time to drive up and see us! We were so pleased! The boys were little angels. True love is when you give your very favorite kazoo away because you can't stand the tears rolling down those sweet cheeks!!! We had a BIG storm and I was worried when they all left but Ashley tected me at 9:45 to say they were back at their hotel and the kids were in bed.

Next week should bring hardwood floors and the landscaping in the back yard!

The guys digging for  the irrigation system.

It was really windy and the pool guys had a hard time taping around the pool so that they could apply the coating.

Oliver, Jeff (one of our builders) and Mark (our landscaper). VERY serious discussion!

The countertops arrive!!

I was a nervous wreck when they brought the island top in!!! It weighs about 1600 pounds!!

 

But...no problem!!

The marble in the master bath

The summer kitchen!

Ashley and family

 

April 4, 2017

We had a wonderful day yesterday! Debbie came on Sunday and we spent quite a bit of time at the house, measuring and planning. Yesterday we went down to Savannah to a huge furniture store and spent over 4 hours there. We ended up picking out a love seat/chaise lounge, a sofa, 2 chairs, a dining room table, theater seating for the media room and a sofa bed for that room, Debbie was unbelievable. She has an undergraduate degree in Interior Design and a graduate degree in Industrial Design and she really knows her stuff. Once the designer at the store realized that we had a "professional" with us, she and Debbie pretty much took over. We sat on dozens on sofas and chairs and they were able to help us understand what we were actually looking for! THEN the fabric-picking started and there were literally thousands of fabrics. Paula and Debbie picked out samples for us to pick from which made it much easier. We ended up with a lovely gray and beige palette that is exactly what I  was looking for-although I never could have put it together without their help. Wedidn't get home til after 4 and then we had to go to the house and make sure the colors worked with the wall paint. It looks fantastic.

This morning we met Marc at the house to talk about several items-the fireplace mantel, the chandelier in my closet, and the landscaping estimate. Tomorrow the countertops are being installed. Marc had to go to Washington, DC today but Jeff will be there to make sure all goes well. The pool people are supposed to be there and we are meeting with the landscaper to finalize plans. Hopefully he will start the next day-he is going to work on the pool area first so that we can get that finished. Next week the flooring will go down and on April 18 the appliances will be installed. Then the cleanup and paint touch up and we should be just about done! On Monday a moving company is coming to give us a quote.

We  went into town for shopping at the thrift store followed by lunch and then Debbie left to go home. She is going to draw out all the furniture we picked on the house plans just to make sure it is all going to work the way we think it will. We are now waiting for the guy from the Hilton Head Boathouse to deliver the trailer for our new boat and apparently there was something I didn't sign that needs to be done. We're exhausted so it's early to bed for us.

Armando, who heads up the crew that did all the framing, was here this morning to fix something or other, and he brought his little grandson with him. This little guy is adorable-a real charmer-and smart as a whip! I wanted to keep him but he said no!

We saw this on the road near our house! Glad we didn't see the snake that made this trail!

Here's the sofa/chaise lounge fabric(stripes) and the other one will be throw pillows.

This is the sofa and the fabric for those pillows.

There will be 2 chairs with this fabric

Interestingly, most of these beautiful fabrics (except for the chairs) are sunbrella so will be very durable and won't fade-important because we have so much sun in that room.

Stay tuned-hopefully tomorrow we will have pictures of countertops!!

 

 

April 1, 2017

They finished the house and we were able to move in today!!!! April Fool's!! But actually, the electricians worked today and got a lot done! Here are a few pics

First, this was the plumber's work! The fixtures in our master bath shower

The light over the stairs

Not a great picture but these are the lights in the master bath. They are really a pretty Venetian glass. I think we will turn them so they are down-facing

We love our front door lights. Marc did a wonderful job helping us with these. He said most people go too small and now I totally agree!

My amaing closet light! It has to be moved but I love it!

 

 

March 31, 2017

Busy couple of days-but aren't they all? yesterday was my nursing home and bell choir practice day. In between, we signed the papers for the new boat, which was delivered this morning. I ran over to the house to help the plumber determine where to put one of the shower heads and then came back to the house to meet the pool repairman while Oliver and our Grady White salesman Chris took the boat to the launch ramp. Then I went over to the house again to look at the lights that were being installed. They are so beautiful. They installed all the ceiling fans (6 of them), the pendants in the kitchen, the foyer light, the light on the stairs, the mudroom light, the lights in the pool bath and laundry room, and my beautiful closet chandelier. There are still quite a few inside, and all the outside, lights to be done but hopefully those will be installed next week. Rob, our plumber, was very busy too, installing my bathtub and the sink in the pool bath. Everything is looking just perfect. Debbie is coming Sunday and on Monday we are going to Savannah for furniture shopping.My niece Ashley and her family will be in Hilton Head next week so we hope to have a day with them. Another busy week ahead!

The boat at the houase and then coming to the dock

The fan on the screened porch

The foyer light. The one on the floor goes in the stairwell.

The kitchen pendants

 

March 29, 2017

We are just wrung out from the past few days! On Monday, Oliver and Mike left our dock at about 9:45 to take the boat to Hilton Head to be picked up on Tuesday for delivery to the new owners. I picked Jeannine up and after a stop at Pier One to pick up some mirrors she had ordered, we drove to Palmetto Bay Marina. This marina was almost totally destroyed by Hurrican Matthew. Every slip was destroyed, there are broken pilings sticking out-or just barely under the water-and they really have no place for boats to tie up. We found the dry dock manager and he showed us the one space for a boat and told me how to direct Oliver in so that he wouldn't hit a submerged pole!  Jeannine and I went to the very nice restuarant and had a drink while we waited. The guys finally got there about 1:45 and we talked them in and tied them up. They were MORE than ready for a cold beer, although they both said it was a really nice ride. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We had lunch and then drove back to Beaufort. The boat was picked up yesterdaymorning and we just heard from the buyer that it arrived in Massachusetts at 5AM this morning. We hope to get our new boat this week-end!

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day for us but today was crazy! I took the dogs to the groomer at 7:30 and then went to the dentist for a  cleaning. After I got home, we went over to the new house and met with the landscaper. He did a great job designing the landscaping and he, Oliver and Marc agreed on the plans for the driveway. It is going to look really nice. While he was still there, Ellen (a friend and neighbor who works for the shutter company) came to measure the windows for plantation shutters. The granite guy was there doing the templating for our countertops, so Marc was busy helping him, putting the sinks in both the indoor and outdoor kitchens. We discovered we did not order a faucet for the outdoor sink so he called the plumbing place and had some pictures sent to me so I could pick one. The plumber came and he and Marc distributed all the fixtures to the appropriate rooms.Later this afternoon the tile guy came to start grouting the tile on the screened porch. We can't wait to see some of the fixtures in when we visit tomorrow. I think the electricians will start putting up lights either tomorrow or Friday. I am SO excited to see our kitchen island pendants!

Here is the boat tied up in Palmetto Bay

Marc and Rob carrying the bathtub in. Marc said it weighs about 2000 pounds. Good thing he and Rob are such manly men!!

Love my kitchen sink.

 

March 25, 2017

A lot has gotten done in the past 2 days! Yesterday all of our lighting, plumbing fixtures and outside kitchen appliances were delivered! Our garage is full of it all. One of the trucks got stuck in the sand in front of our house and was there almost all day. Another truck came to help but the chain pulled his hydraulic lift right off so he left and the poor guy had to wait for another truck to finally come and pull him out. Oliver had to stay to protect the septic field-he was afraid the truck might drive over it-and then he had to sign for all the deliveries! The painters were there changing the color of the ceiling in the master bedroom-I really missed on it the first time but I like it now!  Today we met the fence people at 8AM to go over where the fence would be and then Oliver went to help some guys do some repairs at the historic Chapel of Ease that our church owns and maintains while I went to the grocery store. In the afternoon I went to the piano recital-I didn't play this year because I was just too busy to prepare-while Oliver washed the boat. On Monday he and Mike will take the boat to Hilton Head and Jeannine and I will drive over to pick them up, and then we'll all have lunch. This coming week will be busy as well. The granite people will be coming to template for the countertops and then 7 days later they will install them. After that comes the wood floor. We are so excited now that we are so close.

Look at the big holes the truck made in our "yard"!!

Here's all our "stuff". To the left is all the plumbing fixtures-sinks, toilets, bathtub, faucets, etc. The big boxes in the foreground are the outdoor kitchen appliances. They weigh a TON!! To the right are all the lights for the inside and outside,

We're happy with the fence. We left enough room for grass for the dogs and to plant a few things.

We also got our hand rails for the steps

Here's my new ceiling

 

March 21, 2017

Today was a VERY busy day at the house! The air conditioner condensers-or whatever they are called-were installed and the cabinet guys spent all day installing cabinets and closets. Not all the closets are done because some need to wait until the hardwood floors are installed, but a lot oif the work was done. My closet had 2 walls finished and even a light installed so I could hardly get myself to leave! The electricians were busy when we left. Everything is moving so fast! We are beyond excited.

Here is the kitchen island

One of the master bath vanities

The vanity in one of the guest baths

Two of the walls in my closet

The ac things

The pool equipment is connected

 

March 18, 2017

It's been a very busy week. We went to Hilton Head on Tuesday to sea trial our new boat. It was cold and windy but we enjoyed getting out on the water and seeing how well the boat performed.On Thursday we had our newfloating dock installed and one day this net week we will deliver our old boat to the marina where the hauler will pick her up for her trip to the new owners in Massachusetts. On Wednesday night we went out to dinner with Mike and Jeannine to celebrate our birthdays-mine on the 15th and Jeannine's on the 21st. This morning we went to church for a morning-long class on how to pray for others. We enjoyed it very much. This afternoon I finally had a chance to take some picturesof the colors in the house. I'm really very pleased with my final choices. The air conditioner compressors should be installed this week along with the handrails for the stairs from the screened porch to the pool and the mudroom to the pool.  The pool fence was supposed to be installed this week but wasn't. Hopefully net week. The summer kitchen appliances should be delivered the end of net week. The coountertop templates are to be done the 29th, with installation about a week after. The cabinets should go in the net couple weeks as well as some of the closets. I think the flooring must be going in soon since my kitchen appliances are scheduled to be delivered on April 18th. It's all very eciting as we near the end. We just paid our first rent check so we are especially anious to avoid many more of those!

kHere's our new boat

Love my gray colors!

My yellow pool bath

The birthday girls!

 

March 10, 2017

There's a lot going on but nothing that makes for good pictures! The painters have been there all week, caulking and sanding, and I think they will start painting next week. I am very nervous about the gray I finally settled on so am anxious to see the first wall get painted. Hoping I like it! The pool people are getting ready to connect the pump and heat pump and the fence should be installed next week. Hopefully I 'll have some pictures next week.

One personal note-yesterday Marina had a fainting spell for the first time in almost a year. Her cardiologist said it might just be an anomaly-she was outside and I'm not sure if she was running around or not. No changes to anything at this point, unless she has more spells. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Here's my many-talented builder Marc doing a little grading on the yard

Oliver and Mike have been working hard on the entrance to our neighborhood-is it a neighborhood with only two half-finished houses? The electric gate is operational, the special boxes that let the fire department and county workers come in are installed and have been inspected by the fire chief and we actually have a street sign!!

March 8, 2017

Evereything is moving so quickly now that as soon as I take a picture, it is out of date! We were over there yesterday-trying MORE paint samples- and there were about 8 people working!  The painters are there caulking and taping and getting ready to paint. The carpenter is bulding the outdoor kitchen, the appliances for out there are at the warehouse and the electricians were finishing in that area. The fence for the pool area will be installed next week and I think Marc said the air conditioner units would be placed too. The final electrical inspection should be this week and then we can have power, I think. Aftre the painting comes the cabinets, the bathroom fixtures, the countertops and then the flooring. We've started talking about landscaping and the driveway, so we are getting very close!

We sold our Mainship because we weren't using it like we thought we would. We don't leave Marina any more unlsess we absolutely have to and she isn't able to enjoy boating anymore. But Oliver enjoys fishing so we went to the Savannah boat show on Friday and bought a new Grady White. He had  a GW when he was very young and he's always wanted another one. We're having a floating lift installed for it so should have it here in a couple of weeks.

Life remains busy as always. Oliver and Mike have been working on the entrance-yesterday they put in our street sign! Now we're a real street! I continue with my piano lessons and church activities. I'm traing to become a licensed Eucharisitc Visitor so that I will be able to take communion to our shut-ins and my nursing home friends, and continue with my other work there. We are expecting some company in the next couple ofmonths. My niece and her family will be in Hilton Head next month and we hope to spenda day with them. Oliver's daughter-who has a degree in Interior Design-is coming to go furniture shopping with me and hopefully Bunny and John will be the first visitors in our NEW home Memorial Day week-end! Can't wait to be moved and sitting on our porch watching the river!!

Here's the frame for the outdoor kitchen. Left to right-the gas burner, the grill, the sink and the refrigerator. There will be a raised bar for eating.

The french doors were installed for my piano room.

Oliver with Captain Dave from Wicked Tuna

Oliver's new boat!

 

February 28, 2017

Quick note-our septic system is in and buried and our main electrical line is in and buried! AND I MIGHT have picked all the interior colors, thanks to my FABULOUS and TALENTED landlady Jan who taught me all about the science of color while we sat in the cardiologists office with Marina today! We had a nice visit from Jan and Jeff yesterday and took them to the new house and she gave me all kinds of great advice! It takes a village to build a house!

Look how far they had to run our electric line.

 

February 27, 2017

SO much has been done in the past 5 days! Today our "landlords" were here and we took them over to the house and they loved it! There were SO many workers there-about 5 guys working on the septic system, and another 5 or so working on the trim. The electricians ahve put in many of the outlets, the tile in the bathrooms, mudroom, and laundry room is finished and all the brick steps are done-2 sets out to the pool, the front steps and the steps from the garage into the mudroom.The stucco fireplace and chimney are done andlook great! We are so pleased with how  everything is coming along. It doesn't seem possible that we have been working on this for about a year and it is almost finished. I klay in bed at night and picture myself walking through each room. all furnished, and I am so happy!!

Here are the bathrooms-first Larry working on the master bath shower

The guest room shower. My guy Marc is a rock star at picking tile!!

The fireplace is awesome

Steps out to the pool

Not the most exciting part but certainly necessary-the septic system!!!

 

February 22, 2017

I haven't updated for 8 days and the house is practically done. Just kidding but they ARE moving along so quickly. I haven't been over there since Saturday but Oliver provides regular updates. He says the crown molding is beautiful and coming right along. I have seen the trims on the windows and i love it! We get more excited every day.

The propane tank was buried today.

The stairs are finished

The front stairs are done and I think all the others will be finished this week.

I think all the tile is done and I will get over there on Saturday to take pictures. Next week the fence around the pool should be installed and the septic field should be put in. Jeff is working hard on all my closet designs. Not sure what comes after all the trim is done but I continue to obsess over what color of gray I want to use. The stucco appears to be almost finished and the fireplace looks really nice. We are so looking forward to moving in soon!

 

February 14, 2017.

Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy Birthday to my beautiful niece Sarah!  As you may know, Oliver and I don't think we need a special day to celebrate so we went to Food Lion and picked out cards for each other, which we read and put back on the rack, and looked at balloons and stuffed animals and had Lean Cuisine while we watched expensive meals on Food Network!

The house is coming along so well! Today I met Marc at the lot to look at the tile for our outdoor kitchen. This guy is a genius when it comes to tile! His picks are spot on and I would never disagree with him!! I am so pleased with how everything looks. I think I need to start packing for the move!

Here is the tile for both upstairs guest bathrooms.

One of our talented tile guys working on the subway tile in guest bath #2

I LOVE the tile in the master bath. We made a change at the last minute but I love it!!

We have some kitchen cabinets!!

This is what the garage doors look like. This is Oliver's workshop.

Oliver's latest boo boo. He walked right into the grappler on the tractor. Knocked him down but he got back up!! As he llikes to say....if I'm not bleeding, I'm not working!

 

 

February 11, 2017

The pool deck is finished, although there will be a decorative finish applied at the end.

We have garage doors! The guy was working this morning to put the door opener on the 3 in the garage but Oliver's workshop is finished!

We have tile in the mudroom, the pool bath and the storage room. Also the laundry.

 

 

 

February 9, 2017

THIS is how fast things are moving at the house! Since I posted yesterday, the whole house (and garage) has a first coat of primer on walls and ceilings, the tile guy continues prepping and will start laying tile on Monday, and the pool deck is almost poured! It's so fun seeing things come together!

The pool deck

Primer

Some drone pictures of the house

 

February 8, 2017

We had a nice visit this week-end with Phyllis and Bobby and Phyllis's daughters and granddaughters. Her birthday was on friday and on Sunday the kids had a ladies luncheon for her. Oliver, Marina and Skipper stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn while I went to the party and then later they all came over to see everyone. Katherine (Phyllis's older daughter) had her dog with her and Skipper and Tuckett played until they could hardly move! Poor Marina got a little confused and anxious and we had quite a time getting her back to the car and the hotel. She went to the vet on Monday and she is doing much better, although she has something going on with her back leg and is limping. Hoping it is just arthritis or a sprain because she is not a candidate for any surgery because of her congestive heart failure. She is on a pain med and seems more comfortable.

Today we went to the cabinet maker to make a decision on one of our cabinets. I wanted a special drawer for paper towels-I don't like them sitting on the counter and when you put them under the sink, you drip all over the floor when you reach down. They came up with a nice solution-a drawer right over the pull out trash bin that will hold the paper towels and a couple spares. All of our cabinets are done and we were able to see them all! They are beautiful-especially the hood for the cooktop and the dark gray cabinets for our master bath and the kitchen island. Dustin (cabinet guy) says they will be installing the upper cabinets next week so that the crown molding cab be installed around them.

We stopped by the house and all the inside doors and materials for the trim are there, as well as the tile. Everybody was at lunch but it looks like Larry the tile guy has started on the master bath. The pool people are getting ready to pour the pool deck and it looks really good. We increased the size of it a couple of weeks ago and it was a good move. We have just the right amount of deck for our lounge chairs and table and chairs. As soon as they pour the concrete, we will start getting ready to put the fence in. Things are moving so quickly now and we are so thrilled with it all. Everything looks even better than I thought it would!

Here's Dustin with some of our kitchen cabinets.

This picture looks kind of funny because I flipped it over. They had the cabinets upside down on the floor. The cabinet to the left is for the built in oven and microwave.

The kitchen island is to the left and then the 2 master bathroom vanities. Isn't this color great?

The doors and the trim materials

The prep for the tile in our master bathroom.

The forms for the pool deck.

 

 

February 3, 2017

Just got a copy of today's inspection on the house and it is 64% complete! We are so excited. It's hard to believe that we will probably be living there by June! The drywall guys have been working hard to get all that work done and Larry our tile man is supposed to start work next week. Marc and I spent some time at the tile store this week and he has calmed me down about the interior paint. I have gotten 15 different samples of gary and 3 of yellow and still have not decided for sure. Now I think I will wait until the tile is installed  and start again.

On Sunday we are taking the dogs and going to Charlotte for our dear friend Phyllis's birthday party. I am invited to the luncheon and Oliver will stay at the Residence Inn with the pups and later we will all visit with Phyllis and Bobby. Home on Monday.

Marina had some blood work last week and her liver enzymes are a bit out of whack so we are going back to the vet next week for more checks.

Here are some of my MANY colors of gray!

The dolphins

Our sheetrock

We LOVE our porch ceiling!!

Look at my friend and neighbor Jeannine killing that tractor!!

 

 

 

January 25, 2017

Things are moving so fast on the house I can hardly keep up with my pictures! Today we had a great meeting with Jason andPaul, from Aqua Blue Pools, along with Marc. We decided to add a bit  more decking to the pool and Marc helped us figure out where to put the fence. Jason and Paul have been fantastic to work with-they know exactly what we want! The deck will probably be poured in the next couple of weeks. Our weather has been so nice this winter that all I can think of is how I will be able to swim almost every day next year!!

The sheetrock was just delivered on Monday and today they hung the whole first floor! Tomorrow they should do the upstairs and if our good wetaher holds, they should be able to tape and mud and be finished by the end of next week! We are ecstatic over how well everything is going. Tomorrow I will be getting more paint samples and trying to finish picking all the interior paint.

Stay tuned-we may be moving in soon! LOL.

They put the roof on Oliver's workshop. Isn't it cute?

We LOVE the ceiling on the screened porch!

Looking from the kichen to the great room

From the great room towards the front door

Towards the great room with the porch fireplace

The stairs

From the great room to the kitchen

 

January 24, 2017

Just a quick update. yesterday we went over to the lot for a "Homeowner's Association" meeting-which we held in Mike and Jeannine's truck, since there were only 4 of us!! It makes voting really easy! But the BIG news yesterday was the huge truck that pulled in, carrying about 300 pieces of sheetrock!  It was fascinating watching them unload.  A guy with a remote control picked up the sheets and turned them on the side and then carefully moved them to the front door, the garage door and the upstairs bathroom window! Now every room has a stack of sheetrock and I think they plan to start putting it up tomorrow! Soon we will have real walls.

See this guy "driving" the sheetrock into the garage?

 

January 21, 2017

I'm just amazed at how much has been done on the house in the past 4 days! The roof is finished, with the exception of a places that need trim, and of course the workshop. But the good news is that it was completed in time for the inspection on Wednesday so the insulation was blown in and now we are ready for drywall! I think there is another inspection on Monday and the drywall should be delivered so I guess they will start on Monday or Tuesday! It will seem so real once we can actually see rooms! They also are working hard on the porch. The ceiling is being put in and it is awesome! We love the shape and it all came from just a mention to Marc. I have become quite accustomed to the way he works-we barely mention that we would like to have something done a certain way, he doesn't say anything, and a few days later, whatever it is we wanted...happens!! I just had a discussion with some people yesterday who are getting ready to build a house in North Carolina and they asked me how we picked out builder. I told them that we interviewed a few companies but when we talked with Marc and Jeff, we just knew! I guess it's like finding a  spouse-you know when you find the right fit! This week we are meeting with our pool contractor to lay out the pool deck. They will probably finish the pool in the next month or so and then we will have the fence installed. Our weather has been so nice this winter and if I had a heated pool here, I would have been swimming the whole time. Can't wait to get into the new house. We still don't have a clue when that will be-I try to trick Marc into estimating but he never falls for it!!

We had a busy few days. Both Marina and Skipper had check ups, I did morning prayer at Summit Place and went to bell choir practice, yesterday I docented at church and last night we had a Foyer group dinner with our group from church. It was a great time. Today is gloomy with rain on and off. Tomorrow we will be cheering for the Packers against the Falcons. go Pack Go!!

The roof looks so good!

The porch is looking fantastic!

One of our extremely talented framers!! The proch ceiling is going to look fantastic!!

The insulation is in! The house is quieter now.

The electrical boxes. We sure have a lot of wires!

 

January 17, 2017

The house is moving along at a geat pace! We've been blessed with good weather-only one day since the hurricane that they couldn't work! We are hoping that they finish the roof today, so that there can be an inspection and then they can start with the insulation, drywall, etc. It's been fun watching them build the outside but now I'm ready to start seeing what the inside will look like! They are working to finish the screened porch and the last bits of painting.

We spent quite a bit of time washing the boat on Saturday-it had really gotten quite dirty.Other than that, the past week has been pretty typical with grooming for the dogs-and me and Oliver! - garden club, bell choir practice, nursing home prayer service, etc. The big event,of course, was the Packer's heart attack win over Dallas! I paced for the entire fourth quarter. We hope they beat Atlanta, but we won't be crushed if the Falcons  go to the Super Bowl!

We had a nice outside lunch on Friday. We needed it after our week of winter!

Look at this crazy guy flying this ultralight! He buzzed the bridge and waved at everybody.

The pool people came and put the tile border in. As soon as the roof is done, they will finish the pool!

The house looks pretty from the dock!

I cannot watch the roofers climbing all over the top of the house!

The finishing work on the porch. We can't wait til next year when we are watching football on the porch, with a fire going and dinner cooking on the grill!

 

January 9, 2017

Happy New Year to all! We are looking forward to moving into our new house seometime in the first half of this year! They are working hard to finish the outside, in spite of the harsh cold weather we have had this week!  We had a quiet New Year's Eve-as always, ringing in the year with champagne at about 9PM. We went to church on New Year's Day and then I started taking down our decorations. Finally finished with that last Saturday and we have everything stowed in the attic until next year-or actually until we move.

Spent some time with Marc and Jeff last week. Marc helped us finish our lighting picks and wonder of wonder-we finally agreed on hardwood floor! We agreed on one and a couple of days later we changed our minds. Marc went back to the store with us and we found one we both liked! It turned out my problem was with the type of wood. The one we originally picked was a European Oak, which is very popular now, but I have NEVER liked oak and this was no different. We found a beautiful walnut that I really liked and Oliver agreed with so we are set! The next day Marc and Jeff spent time with us going over our allowances. I was worried that we had totally blown our budget but turns out we are in pretty good shape-over in some places but under in others. Marc has been great about helping us stay on the right track.

We have had very cold weather since Friday. We didn't even walk the dogs on Saturday although we walked over to the house. The poor painter was there caulking and his fingers were blue!! We were greeters on Sunday morning and stood outside for 30 minutes in 30 degree temps! By tomorrow it will be in the 60s and in the 70s for the rest of the week!

On Saturday Armando and the gang were working on the garage, putting up nice little roofs that go over the doors that we didn't even remember would be there! Really looks nice!

This is the poor painter. It was about 30 degrees!

Today they started the roof!!!!

 

December 29, 2016

Just a quick update. After looking at all 234 colors of gray at Sherwin-Williams, we finally picked the color for the house. Of course, it was the one Marc and Jeff suggested so I could have saved a lot of time and 7 samples of paint if I had just taken their advice to begin with but I continue to believe that I know more about home building than they do! And I continue to be proven wrong. Along the way, though, I have come up with colors for the walls inside, for the ceiling in the master bedroom, and for the kitchen island and vanity cabinets in the guest bathrooms. Next week we are going down to the granite fabricator to make sure the white we are going to use on the kitchen cabinets is the right white. Things are moving along so quickly now. I didn't go over to the house for 3 days and totally missed seeing the front with the siding before it was painted! Not that I'm complaining. Today Jan, our landlady, her 2 daughters and her sister came by so that the girls could see the house their parents bought! They are such a nice family and I always enjoy seeing her. It's great that we will still be neighbors when we move to our new house and they move here. She and her sister had a Welsh Terrier when they were growing up so they just loved seeing Marina and Skipper!

This is the primer coat but this will be what the house looks like-of course all the trim will be painted white.

 

December 26, 2016

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was quiet but very nice. On Christmas Eve morning I went to church at about 7:15 to start setting up for Christmas Eve services. I was alone in the church for about 45 minutes and it was such a special and spiritual time for me. I treasure my altar guild work-it is an honor just to touch the communion ware and the wine and host.

The house is coming along, although the work is not quite as noticeable now. The electrical wiring is almost all run, and the plumbing is almost done as well. Thye are putting the siding up and on Friday we went with Marc to pick out the wood for our floors. Last time we went, it did not go well. We were tired and couldn't come to an agreement but this time went much better! We still picked out different pieces but eventually with Marc and Kevin's help (Kevin owns the store) we reached a happy compromise. As Marc says, there are thousands of feet of wood, so we needed to be happy with what we picked!  We now have almost everything picked out, except for door knobs and other minor things!  We had a couple of paint samples made up today for the outside. The other day we went up to Habersham to look at a house and we liked it but thought it was a bit greener than we want so we had that one made up and another one that is a bit more gray. They will be ready for paint soon so we have to make a decision. We also changed the placements of the fan and lights in the great room, based on where we want to place the furniture. Marc  and Jeff are so good about that kind of thing! When they realized where we were going to put our TV, they drew two different arrangements nof furniture so that we could decide exactly where we wanted the lights and fan. We often talk about how much guidance they have given us in this process and how many mistakes we would have made without them!

Here is the beautiful altar on Christmas Eve morning

And here is the house with some of the siding on

 

December 17, 2016

This is such a busy time for us-and for everybody! Church has kept us hopping, with Lessons and Carols, where Oliver ushered, Altar Guild, which I serve on and December is my month, and Bell Choir, which plays tomorrow and again Christmas Eve, when Oliver will also usher. This week we took a quick trip to Michigan for an early Christmas visit with my mother and family up there. It was FRIGID but I managed to get out and take a couple of sled runs down the hill behind her house-just to prove that I still can! We're home now and getting ready for a cocktail party we are hosting Monday night.

The house looks great! They have come to a slow point in the process. They are trimming out the eaves and the windows, getting ready to do the siding. They are making the trim look SO nice-I never really noticed trim until I saw this and now I look at every house and none look as good as ours!! They also have the gas lines run to the house, in preparation for the propane tank to be buried after the first of the year. Marc and Oliver met to discuss where to place the tank-this is the first decision I have not been involved in!! The fire brick is installed in the fireplace and Oliver's workshop is wrapped and ready for siding. I love Saturdays. That's the day I go to the house and walk around and dream about living here! We can't wait!

Here is wintry Michigan. We were sitting on the grounsd at the airport.

Oliver's workshop

The fireplace

The gas to my cooktop

The trim on the windows

And the BEAUTIFUL trim on the eaves!!

 

 

December 9, 2016

Busy day here. Getting ready to go to the Rectory to help set up for our Advent party tonight, but so mnay cool things have happened at the house that I just have to post some pictures!

Our pendant lights came today. There are 3 that go over the kitchen island (13" diameter) and then a smaller one (7" diameter) that goes over the sink. They are beautiful and we can't wait to see them hanging up!!

The house is all wrapped up-not because it's cold (it is!!!) but because on Monday they will start putting the siding up!!

The HVAC system is being installed. We will have 3 different units-this is one of the evaporators

And now-best for last!! Our fireplace! Oliver is beside himself with pleasure over this!  We changed the plan at the last minute but as usual, Marc came through for us. He knew exactly what we wanted and made it happen. Of course, it requires a hole in our roof!

From the outside-this time next year we will be sitting on our porch with a fire going, watching TV and grilling our steaks!!

We are so excited about this house, and so pleased with how it is coming together. We can't wait to move into it!!

 

December 4, 2016

We've had a busy week, primarily taken up with doctor's appointments and hospital tests as my doc thought I had a kidney stone but turned out to be an infection. Had a lot of pain but now am on antibiotics and feeling better. Enough about that!!

The house continues to progress rapidly! We spent a couple of hours with Marc and the electrician the other day, making sure we had all the switches, plugs, etc in the right places. I had no idea it was so complicated but Marc and Darby knew exactly how it should all be done so they didn't need much input from us!  Rob, our plumber, continued his work as well. We ordered our kitchen pendants yesterday and they are beautiful. The house has been all tidied up for an inspection tomorrow and I think that the siding and roof are next on the list.

Last night we went to a party at Marc's house and had a grand time. We spent quite a bit of time talking to people who are working on our house-plumber, electrician, carpenter-and we continue to be so impressed with this whole process. They are all relatively young and so energetic and dedicated to their crafts. They rave about how wonderful it is to work for Jeff and Marc and we understand why everything is going so smoothly. Everyone is on the same page and we really believe that they are all committed to making sure our house is done absolutely perfectly. Although we do see the house on a daily basis, we would feel totally comfortable if we NEVER saw it!

The FEMA contractors have been at the lot for the past 3 days and have cut down many of the high branches that were just hanging and tomorrow they will be back to pick everything up. The property is going to look beautiful.

I don't exactly know what these things are called but I understand that they go from the foundation all the way up to the roof and will hold everything together should we get another hurrican-which we sincerely hope never happens!!

We have stairs!!! Oliver and Marc are studying them.

 

November 24, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We had a very nice day. Drove to Savannah and had a wonderful dinner with John and Jeannette. She is a terrific cook and we had quite a feast-turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, corn casserole, chicken dumplings and pumpkin cheesecake. We were all stuffed and sat outside in the beautiful warm sun after dinner before we drove back home.

We walked the dogs this morning and went over to see what had been don on the house. They have the front door on, most of the front windows in, and the big sliding door to the screened porch in! It all looks so good and we get more excited every day! The plumber comes Monday to do the upstairs rough-in and I think there is an inspection Wednesday. I think soon they will start the siding and then the roof. Can't wait for them to move inside!

One day this week we went up to the attic to take down the last of the hurricane shutters and brought down all my Christmas decorations. Tomorrow Oliver will power wash the house and then we will start decorating the house. We have many holiday parties coming up, a trip to Michigan, and a Christmas cocktail party here, so we need to get ready as soon as possible. Debbieis coming on Wednesday for a few days and we're really looking forward to her visit.

Here's all my decorations piled upn the guest room

Front door and windows!

Sliding doors

 

 

November 19, 2016

First, the every day stuff!  On Tuesday I went to Bray's Island with Mark Warter, one of our Deacons at church, for a meeting about our assisted living ministry. Tomorrow I will be giving a short talk at each of our 3 services about this ministry and he and one of our Stephan Ministers helped me with the content. On Friday we met Marc in Hilton Head and finished picking our countertops. Now we have tile, carpet and countertops finished! Will re-visit the lighting right after Thanksgiving. Skipper's birthday was yesterday so we had a little party for him last night. He and Marina weren't very cooperative with the picture taking! Today Jeannine and I had lunch at Beaufort Bread Company and then went to an art show at the home of a friend of Jeannine's who makes beautiful pottery. I bought a tray and a bowl that will look great in our new house.

Our new house!!! Everytime I see it, it looks better than the time before! We just love everything about it and it is going to be absolutely spectacular. Marc has been such a great help in selecting the finishes. I love everything we've picked.

Hope everybody ahs a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for I hardly know where to start!

Here's Skipper's birhtday party

The front of the house looks so pretty! The columns and roof are almost finished

Oliver is thrilled with his workshop. It has windows that will give him so much light!

The screened porch is really taking shape

Here is the sliding door for the porch

And the side lites for the front door

This is the quartz we picked for the guest bathrooms-I love it!!  Looks so nice with the floor tile

Mike and Jeannine's house

November  14, 2016

I'm not sure that these pictures will show much-the colors don't show up. But since I keep this blog as a permanent record, I'm going to put them on anyway. You'll have to use your imagination-or come visit us when it's all done!

This is the tile (big piece), shower floor (pennyrounds) and trim (mosaic) for one of the guest bathrooms. There is a bit more gray in the floor tile than you can actually see, and some really interesting textures in the trim tile. I love it.

This is the tile for the second guest bathroom, which has a bathtub. The floor tile is the same as the other bathroom but the tub surround will be a white subway tile with a border of gray subway with two gray pencil lines. The subway will all be in the bigger size, like the white one above the pencil and the gray one under the white.

The upstairs will be carpeted and the carpet is just kind of a mid tone gray with a slight pattern. It looks beige in the picture but is actiually gray.

This is everything together-the upper left is the master bath and the darker gray on the right is the laundry room, mudroom and pool bath.

November 12, 2016

It's been a busy week since I last wrote!  On Tuesday night I went to my first Garden Club meeting. Yeah-I know-ME at a garden club??? But it's a very nice group of ladies and I hope that I will learn enough to do some landscaping at the new house as well as planting a vegetable garden. Jeannine doesn't know much about growing vegetables either but we plan to give it a try! On Wednesday we had a great-but long-day shopping with Marc! We have a great time when he's with us. We learned a lot more about him - like he was born in New Zealand! - and he is a great shopping buddy. Hope he'll help me when it's time for Christmas shopping! We spent the morning looking at granite and picked out our kitchen, outdoor kitchen and laundry room granite as well as marble for the master bath. Still will have to find something for the guest bathrooms. After a yummy lunch, we started on lighting fixtures. If you heard a loud noise that afternoon, it was my head exploding!! If it wasn't for Marc and Karen (I think she was the light lady), we would not have gotten through even the outdoor lights. I had no idea there were so many lights to pick out! Marc makes it easy because he brings the plans, we look at everything that needs a light, and then he marks them off as we pick them. We did all the outside lights, the foyer, the light over the stairs, the kitchen, the laundry room, the mudroom, all the garages and Oliver's workshop, the screened porch and hallway lights. THEN we did 7 ceiling fans-my head was spinning faster than the fans. I think the only thing left is the sconces for the master bathroom and the dining room light. When we got back to Habersham, Marc took us to a house they are just finishing to look at paint color and some bathroom tile. I liked the wood floor and we might be changing our selection. I love the flooring we have in our house now and Marc was working hard to source that for us, but I keep seeing red undertones in it that I don't think I'm crazy about and the floor in the house we looked at was definitely more brown. Also, it came from their regular supplier so would be easier to get and I hope maybe less expensive! Monday we are meeting Marc back at the tile store to look at tile for guest bathrooms and carpet for upstairs.

Thursday was a busy day too as I did morning prayer at Summit Place and had bell choir practice at 4 followed by the Institution Service for our new Rector-the bells played for the service. Friday was piano lesson day and then I was docent at church. Today was a fun day as I didn't have to get up early and I got to go look at all the work that was done on the house. A LOT was done and it looks so pretty.

This is the granite we have picked for the kitchen. We like LOTS of movement. This will go on the perimeter walls where the cabinets will be white and also on the island where the cabinets will be dark gray.

You can't see this very well because it was behind another piece but this will go on the island on the outdoor kitchen and in the laundry room.

The big piece is the marble for the master bath countertops and the charcoal door is about the color that the cabinets wil be

Here are a few pictures of how the house looked this morning

This is from the left side looking across towards the screened porch

This is my closet with it's own roof

And from the right side

This is the house from the dock

And from Mike and Jeannine's house

This is the pool and porch

This is Mike and Jeannine's house

And finally, FEMA has been on our street this week picking up trees. The pile of bigf trees came from just one neighbor's house!

November 6, 2016

We're having a quiet day at home trying to recover from our big Parish Faire yesterday. Oliver worked many hours getting booths put together, arranging for dumpsters and porta potties, and other tasks. I worked in the Kid's Kingdom for 2 hours, helping kids become "fishers of men" and then worked the gate for 2 hours in the afternoon. Found time to do a bit of shopping, though. I bought a topiary reindeer and 2 big glittered trees-they made a big mess in Oliver's truck! We were so exhausted last night that we were in bed by 6:30-which was actually 5:30 after I turned the clocks back!  We did make it to church this morning, where Oliver ushered, but we've dome nothing this afternoon.

The guys made GREAT progress on the house this week! We now have rafters on the garage and both sides of the upper floor-I imagine this week they will finish getting all the rafters up. I hope they also frame the screened porch, as I'm really anxious to see how that will look. It's so much fun to walk through the house now that I can see what it will look like. Right now it seems quite big to me but that comes and goes, it seems.

Here's the front of the garages

And here's the back of the house. Skipper made his first walk-through!

 

November 3, 2016

Today they blew the gunnite in the pool and it was so interesting to watch! They had to put plastic over the house because it is so messy. There's a big truck that is putting out a powder, that goes through an air hose and when it gets to the pool, it is mixed with water and sprayed on. Then the guys take big implements that they use to scrape it all smooth. How they do it, I don't know. Later they will spray on the colored coating and then they will wait to put the tile on until the siding is put on the house, in case something is dropped!

These are the guy who is spraying and the guys hand dhaping.

And when it was all donne

These are the brick masons doing the edge of the screened porch.

This is the view from the front of the house-without all the construction materials, of course.

 

 

November 1, 2016

Things are quite hectic at the lot today!!  There are about 4 guys working on the pool, about 5 working on the house and 2 guys putting the tile down on the screened porch. Plus workers at Mike and Jeannine's house, and Oliver and Mike working on the trees. Oliver said Mike and Jeff were there earlier as well, but I missed them. I try to stay out of everybody's way but every once in a while I just get so curious that I can't help going to see what's happening!

It's only been 2 weeks tomorrow since they started framing and they are already on the second floor!

 

 

The screened porch has to be tiled before they frame that room. They'll cover the tile with plywood and hope that not too many tiles get broken! They won't grout until after the room is finished.

 

The pool is almost ready for the gunite (concrete). That will happen on Thursday. All those pipes sticking up are the in floor cleaning system.

 

 

October 28, 2016

Happy Birthday yesterday to my beautiful sister Bunny!

Yesterday Oliver dropped a tree that fell on his head and arm. He was a mess but says that it didn't bother him!

 

Today the tractor that Mike and Oliver bought was delivered. Mike was out of town but Oliver had a lot of fun playing with it-moving brush and tree limbs!

The house and pool look great. The second floor is well on it's way and the in-floor cleaning system of the pool was installed.

 

October 26, 2016

A lot has happened in the past 4 days. Monday we drove to Southern Pines to visit Oliver's first boss at Wyeth, Olin Welsh and his wife Faye. Oliver often says that Olin is one of 2 people who had the greatest influence on his life and he recently celebrated his 90th birhtday. We had a great visit and went out for a very nice steak dinner.

They have been working hard at the house! They are starting on the second floor already. Today they started digging the pool! I know we don't need a pool til next spring but because it is only 6 feet from the house, they wanted to do it now, before the whole house is built and while they know they have good weather. We had cocktails and snacks on the dock with Mike and Jeannine and dreamt about when we will be able to leave the dock and go to our houses!

Here are a few pictures of the pool progress.

 

This smiling man is Aramando! He is the supervisor of the framers and is so nice! Today he showed me pictures of his 4 yeard old grandson and his miniature horse. What a cutie!

 

October 22, 2106

I am SO EXCITED!!!  We have WALLS! Finally I can start to get an idea of what this house will look like and it will be awesome!!I have no imagination whatsoever so unless I can see it in 3-D, I have no idea what anything will look like. I had such a great time this morning walking through the house and picturing it finished, with furniture (and clothes and shoes) in it. We've been blessed with such beautiful weather, which is supposed to continue into the foreseeable future, so I think there will be a lot more to see in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Oliver and Mike spent another full day yesterday cutting up more trees. I don't go when they are there as it scares me to death but Oliver assures me they are very careful. This HUGE tree fell right on the wood pile he had spent hours making right before the hurrican! You can see where the wood pile WAS

 

The pantry straight ahead and the laundry room to the left. The refrigerator and built-in ovens will be on the wall in front of the laundry. The wall is cut back to allow for a full sized refrigerator instead of counter depth.

 

This room (where the ladder is) is my music room. It will have french doors

 

This is the kitchen. The sink will be under the window

 

Oliver in the master bath. My sink is where I am standing, that box of sand is where the tub will be and his sink is where he is standing. The water closet is to the right and then the shower is next to that

 

The hall from our bedroom to the bathroom. My closet is to the left and his closet is to the right.

 

From the front porch through the foyer and great room

My closet from outside-it has it's own roof!

 

Oliver's closet-it has it's own........door

 

The screened porch. Interestingly, the floor will be tiled before the framing is put up.

From the kitchen across the screened porch

 

From the river side

 

 

October 20, 2016

Yesterday was a busy day for us. Mike and Oliver went to Charleston in the morning to look at tractors. There is a lot of heavy stuff to be done at the lot and they have decided that it would be cheaper in the long run to buy a tractor and do it themselves than to pay to have it done. So at noon Oliver called to say they had picked one out, with all the accessories, and they were just checking with Jeannine and I to see if were OK with the purchase! It was a lot more than I thought it would be but they are having so much fun working together so I was fine with it. When they came home, Mike and Jeannine re-launched their boat and picked us up to take a little ride. The weather was just spectacular-sunny, warm, not a ripple on the water. We rode around looking at the hurricane damage and realized again that we were amazingly lucky. There were boats sunk and docks destroyed all around us.

Here are 2 sailboats that ended up just feet from a house

 

This is the remains of Dataw Marina and you can see the masts of 2 sunken sailboats sticking up

 

There were some people in a small boat tied up to this half sunken boat. We hoped they weren't looting!

 

This dock was just twisted from the high water

 

If you look closely at this pole, you can see the gouge on it (right above the red mark) where the dock was when the water was  at it's highest. THAT'S how high our boat was! Glad I didn't see that.

 

Oliver and Mike

And Jeannine

 

Our great room windows

Oliver in the master bathroom

They did all this work just yesterday! We're excited to see how far they get today.

 

October 18, 2016

Our yard guy came yesterday and finished cleaning up our yard and it looks SO much better! We feel almost back to normal now! Oliver and Mike have burned almost all of the debris at the lot, except for the big trees-Oliver said it looked like a funeral pyre yesterday! Flames 20 feet into the air!

Looks like tomorrow they will start building UP on our house! A lot of lumber was delivered today, they took all of the forms off, the swimming pool guys came and did the rough-in plumbing so we should start seeing some real progress now.

Tomorrow Oliver and Mike are going to Charleston to look at Kubota tractors. They are planning to buy one together to take care of the lot.  The chances of finding another couple who wanted to build here who would be so completely compatible are astronomical. Mike and Oliver agree on almost everything and love to work together!

Here's some of our lumber!

 

Here's the edge of the screened porch and the guys who will start framing tomorrow. They were studying the plans!

 

Here's the roughed-in plumbing for the pool

Oliver standing in the pool!

 

Oliver in his workshop

 

Here's a big tree that fell on our boardwalk!

 

October 16, 2016

It was good to be back at church this morning. We had a wonderful sermon on being grateful-written BEFORE we had so much reason for gratitude-and we heard about all the things our church has been doing to help the community-delivering hot meals, providing groceries to needy families, cleaning up yards for the elderly and disabled, providing places to do laundry, and many other things. We will continue to provide assistance wherever we can until everyone is back to normal.

The weather is just spectacular-sunny, warm but not too humid. So everybody has been out cleaning up. We walked around our neighborhood for the first time and there are SO many huge oak trees down but other than a couple of sheds, no significant damage.

The foundation for our house was poured yesterday!!!  They didn't get the screened porch or Oliver's workshop poured but they will be back tomorrow to do those. The framers will start tomorrow also so we hope by the end of the week we will have the beginnings of a house! I really need to see it, as the foundation looks so SMALL to me! I can't figure out how they are going to fit everything into it. Oliver says I am spacially challenged and I keep reminding myself that the footprint of this house is significantly bigger than our current house and everything seems to fit in here! Here are pictures and more to follow as the house takes shape!

Here is Oliver in my closet. It is the last time he is allowed in my closet!

 

Now I'm in my closet, looking across the master bath and then the powder room and the front porch is to the left with the garage beyond that.

 

The garage, with Mike and Jeannine's house in the background

 

Oliver standing in the golf cart garage. closer to the camera are the 2 stalls for our cars and then a storage area.

 

The laundry room is on the right side of all these pipes and the kitchen on the other side and the mud room beyond that.

Looking across the foyer to the master bedroom

Oliver back in my closet-looking across the great room

The left side where all the pipes are is the pool bathroom and the other side is the mudroom. The pool bath will open out to the pool and also into the mudroom.

Standing at the front porch looking across the great room-where the cement comes in a bit is where the dining room and then kitchen are

Looking across the screened porch to our boat (still can't believe it survived!!) There will be a 16 foot sliding door out to the porch. The pipe sticking up is for the sink in the outdoor kitchen

 

 

 

 

This is one of the big trees that our builder cut and moved for us

 

October 14, 2016

Well, Hurricane Matthew has been and gone and we didn't fare too badly overall. Matthew formed in the Atlantic at the end of September and soon became the main topic of conversation here as it looked like it might be headed our way. By Monday when we met at the lot with our builders and pool builders, it appeared that we would at least get brushed by the storm. Marc said he hoped they would get the foundation poured on Thursday, to protect all the work they had done. Unfortunately on Tuesday the Governor issued an evacuation order for Beaufort County beginning at 3PM on Wednesday and all the county offices shut down. No building inspection, no foundation.

We spent all day Wednesday putting up the hurricane shutters. Once we got the hang of it, we went fairly quickly but it still took us about 8 hours.I did many of them myself while Oliver did the ones that required him to go out on the 2nd and 3rd floor roofs!

We packed up the car, drained some water from the pool, turned off the gas,and left for Charlotte at about 4:15. There was NO traffic through Beaufort-it was almost spooky. The police and national guard were out, prepared to block off lanes and turn all traffic in the outbound direction but there were few cars! We sped along I-95, slowing only when we got to I-26 and found that they had the entrance ramp blocked. It confused everybody until we came upon an exit that was apparently going back towards Columbia but it was crazy busy so we kept going until we got to 521, which we knew went all the way to Charlotte. There was no traffic but a lot of 2 lane roads and it got dark so we couldn't go very fast. We got to Charlotte at about 9, just 45 minutes longer than the usual trip.

We were able to watch the progress of Matthew and it became obvious that we were going to take almost a direct hit. Phyllis and Bobby were fun to be with but we were so nervous it was hard to settle down. Phyllis did a sewing project for me and we went on a trip for chicken food but the weather wasn't very nice. On Friday night we took them out to a good steak house for dinner.

The storm hit Beaufort on Friday and Saturday  and it became hard to get any information. Our friend Charlie passed a lot of videos and pictures to me on Facebook  but we couldn't get any direct info on our house, boat or lot. We had to leave the boat tied to the dock and felt sure we wouldn't ever see it again!

By Saturday we were stir-crazy and driving Phyllis and Bobby crazy too. So I found a motel in Orangeburg that accepted pets and had a room. That would put us 140 miles closer to home so we decided to go. We thought the traffic  would be terrible, as the evacuation order had been lifted for Charleston, but it wasn't bad. We were in O'burg by 2PM. Sadly, it is a dry county and I had no wine. Happily, our friends Mike and Jeannine had evacuated to some friends there-who just happen to own 2 bars! So they came to our room at the Rodeway Inn (not saying it was a dump but visitors couldn't stay longer than 10 minutes-talk about a quicky!!) with beer and wine. We went out to dinner and planned our return.

Now HERE is the part that drove us absolutely nuts! We had a phone number for the Beaufort Sheriff's Department Emergency Division  that would supposedly keep us up to date. However, they only changed the recording once a day, in the morning, and the chirpy, happy sounding little girl voice on the recording grated on my nerves! The Governor lifted the evacuation order for several counties but not ours. Then she lifted the order for Beaufort County but said that local authorities would have the final say. We had planned to leave at 5AM Monday with Mike and Jeannine but then the hotline and Facebook page for the Sheriff's Dept. said that not everybody would be allowed  to return. The deal was that you would be stopped at a checkpoint and they would check your address. If you didn't have power, they would not let you in and you either had to turn around and go.....somewhere!....or you could shelter at the high school. Plus, they said that in NO CASE would people on Ladys Island be allowed in..and that's where we live. So we resigned ourselves to another night in O'Burg. Mike and Jeannine live in Beaufort proper so they could go home and left early Monday morning.

At 7:30 Jeannine called to say they were almost home, there was NO checkpoint anywhere, no traffic, no police, nothing! We threw everything in the car and left Orangeburg. No traffic anywhere-75 miles  an hour the whole way. We were so anxious-so afraid  that when we turned onto the highway home there would be a checkpoint and we would be turned back. You could have heard a pin drop in our car! Finally turned onto Hwy 21 and nothing. We held our breaths until we got past the high school. Nothing. At that exact time, the Beaufort City manager  issued a statement that everybody coming back would have to clear a checkpoint! We drove right on through a very deserted Beaufort and got to within 1/2 mile of our house when we were stopped by a tree in the road. Turned around and did a detour and came home on a different street.

Thoughts on our government. Were they confused? Were they deliberately lying to us? Did they think that if they put out false information it would stagger the people coming  back into a more manageable way? Are they totally incompetent? I'm sure there will be plenty of discussion in the coming months and elections may be interesting!

All the islands past Ladys Island - Harbor, Hunting and Fripp-were still restricted because of a washed out road. We had bought a generator the Monday before the storm so we had a refrigerator, a light, we could make coffee in a crockpot and charge our phones and flashlight batteries. We have a gas cooktop so I could heat water and we could take baths.

Here's our dinner

 

The pool was full of tree branches and leaves and I cleaned it out the best I could. The pool guys came on Wednesday and did some more cleaning and shocked it, and today we turned it on so it is almost back to normal. We cleaned up the yard and Oliver burned most of the debris. There were 2 trees down across the road at the entrance to Tuxedo Park but FEMA cut them  apart and pushed them to the side so that the electric company and emergency vehicles could get down our street.

Here's the entrance to our street

Here's the pool

Oliver put his golf cart to good use

 

 

No wonder we don't have power! This transfomer was right across the street

Sadly, our lot  took significant damage. Lots of little cave-ins and washed out areas. The foundation workers were there first thing Monday morning starting to re-do everything and Marc (one of our builders) was there Tuesday. Thankfully the boat rode out the storm just fine-not a scratch! The wind was exactly the right direction and although the surge was quite high, our dock is well built.  Many people lost their docks and a whole marina just around the bend from us was destroyed and many boats lost.

Here's Dataw Marina before and after

We had 15 big trees down around the common area but none on our lot or on Mike and Jeannine's house, which is under roof! Mike and Oliver have been working hard to get the trees cleared off the road. I spent my time taking down the hurricane shutters from the first floor and washed all the front windows and porch furniture. Oliver says the upstairs windows stay up until Thanksgiving!

We got very lucky yesterday. Initially, we were told that while the repairs to the foundation  were complete, the building inspector couldn't come until Monday, so the foundation couldn't be poured until Tuesday. But yesterday-Thursday-the inspector called Marc to say he was driving by and could do the inspection. He approved it, the electrician did all the rough in and the concrete trucks are coming tomorrow! Armando, who is in charge of framing, can't wait to get started Monday or Tuesday! Also, while Marc was at the lot, he jumped on the fork lift they keep there, grabbed a chain saw, and helped the guys clear 7 trees from the road. Oliver said they would never have gotten it done without him. To add to an laready good day, our power came back on at  5:30! On a not so good note, we found out that our credit card was hacked so we had to  close it and get new  cards. A real pain because we have most of our bills automatically paid. But not the worst thing that could have happened!

So, we are pretty much back to normal now and next week will get back to our regular activities. We know how blessed we are and we thank God for our good fortune, and for all the good thoughts, prayers and messages that came our way. We are very lucky.

 

October 3, 2016

SOOOOO-Hurricane Matthew is heading our way. Talk about bad timing!  We met at the lot today with our builders, our pool salesman and our pool construction manager. The engineer was here doing compaction testing, the termite people were coming this afternoon to treat the soil before the foundation is poured, and then tomorrow and Wednesday they are supposed to finish prepping the foundation and Thursday the foundation is to be poured. They are trying to get it done before the weather hits so that they don't have to start over on the foundation again. Assuming all goes well, they plan to start on the framing next week. The pool will be dug and the gunite shot in the next 3 weeks and then it will sit until spring when it will be finished. Of course, all bets are off if we get a direct or close hit from Matthew.

Here are all my guys. Left to right is Jeff, one of our builders, Oliver, Jason, our pool salesman, Marc, our other builder and Paul, our pool construction manager.

 

October 2, 2016

So we went over to the house this afternoon to take a bunch of pictures while there was no work going on. It seems really small to me-don't know how everything is going to fit!!

Oliver's workshop. The pipes are where his little bathroom will be.

This shows how far his workshop is from the house-I'm standing right next to the front porch

I'm standing on the outside wall of my closet looking across our bathroom

This square room is the mudroom and the pool bath. The pool is to the right

This is the screened porch. The pipe is where the sink for the outdoor kitchen will be.

Looking across the front porch to the great room

This is from my closet looking across the length of the house

 

Looking across the kitchen to the screened porch.

This is where the pool will go

Looking from the front porch. Kitchen to left, then dining room, thrn great room

The pipes in the foreground are for the laundry room, then the kitchen, then the pool beyond that

 

October 1, 2016

They got a lot done on the house this week. All of the plumbing was roughed in and they are working on digging around the forms for the footings. We were there this morning and they were working hard so we came home and I fixed breakfast for them and had Oliver run it back over to them. Hopefully they went back to work refreshed and ready for several more hours! After all the trenches are dug, they will put in the steel reinforcing rods and cover the packed down dirt with a wire mesh and THEN they can bring the cement trucks in for the foundation! Hopefully that will happen next week although much will depend on that stupid hurricane that is moving through the Caribbean. They can't do the foundation unitl they know they will have a dry day so if we get a bunch of rain, it may push it off another week. GRRRRRRR. Monday we have a pre-construction meeting at the lot with our builders and the pool company. We may well have the pool done long before the house is finished.

This morning we unpacked my bathroom chandelier to check all the parts. There are SO many parts to put together-18 strings of crystals that have to be attached and then 75 crystal pendants!!  We didn't put it together-just checked all the parts and found 2 that were defective. I called the company and they said they would send 2 replacement parts. Got the email and they were sending the wrong parts so I called back and had the customer service rep send me a highlighted picture of the parts she was going to send and they were correct. We're just putting it back in the box and we will let our electrician deal with it!!

We have been so busy lately and it doesn't seem as though it will let up any time soon. In the past 2 weeks I have seen the dermatologist for my regular check-up (all was well) and my retinologist to have the nevus (mole) on my left retina checked (all was well) and we have both been to the dentist. On Thursdays I am at the nursing home in the morning and at bell choir practice in the afternoon. Yesterday I was the docent at church and tomorrow Oliver is an usher. This morning I baked cookies for two church functions. We have a prison ministry and this week they need 5000 dozen cookies to deliver to the prison so I made chocolate chip cookies for that, and then next Friday night we have our dessert and conversation event for newcomer's. This is an event we do 3 times a year for people who want to know more about our church. we generally hold it at the Rectory although this time we will be at the Bishop's house. All of the clergy and staff of the church attends and I co-chair this ministry with another lady. Usually we get some help doing the baking but everyone seems to be busy so I am baking two different kinds of cookies, lemon bars, a cake, cheese crackers and making a fruit tray, and bringing lemonade and yogurt covered pretzels. Oliver will go with me and be in charge of the name tags. To add to my piano lessons and church activities, I have been invited to join a garden club that meets one evening a month. Anyone who knows me is aware that I know NOTHING about gardening and HATE to get dirt on my hands but I figure with the new house I might want to do some gardening so.... Besides, there are several ladies from our church that belong and the meeting starts with cocktails, so how bad can it be?

Later in October we are taking a short trip to North Carolina to visit Oliver's first boss at Wyeth. They have know each other almost 50 years so we try to see Olin and his wife every once in a while. They live in the Pinehurst area so after we visit with them, we will go over to Charlotte and spend the night with our closest friends Phyllis and Bobby. Our wonderful dogsitter will be staying with the furkids so we are looking forward to a little break.

Other than that, not much going on here!

Here's a quick picture from this morning

 

September 24, 2016

The work on the house continues at a slow pace-although they still assure us that once the foundation is poured, everything will go quicker. This week they brought in 31 truck loads of dirt and have it all spread, and all the forms are built and reinforced. The pool people were out Thursday to look at where they will rough-in their plumbing and they will do this after the real plumber comes Monday to do the rough-in for the house. Then there will be some digging, some steel reinforcing rods inserted, some smoothing and damping down of the dirt and then one day the following week when they know it won't rain, the cement trucks will come and pour the foundations for the house and the workshop. We can't wait! Tuesday or Wednesday we are going with Marc (one of our builders) to look for our granite countertops and then back to the flooring store to finalize our hardwood selection. We got our estimate back for all the plumbing fixtures and I was $1300 over budget so I made a couple of changes and came in $93 UNDER  budget! We know we will go over on our tile allowance, because we hadn't counted on tiling the 610 square foot screened porch, so I am really trying to stay within budget on things that aren't critical to me. I hope to stay within budget on the flooring and maybe on the granite, although we are pretty picky about what we want in the kitchen, so maybe not!  Then we have to do the lighting which my builder syas everybody exceeds but I bought my chandelier for my bathroom today so that won't come out of the budget. My biggest question mark is on the cabinet allowance-we have $40,000 to spend on kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room cabinets which seems like an awful lot to me but I really have no idea until we talk to the cabinet maker. I'm anxious to do that!! We just decided we would NOT have a pot filler on the outdoor kitchen so now we are pretty close to being in budget for that and the pool, which are lumped together.

This morning we went over to the lot for a bloody mary lunch that Mike and Jeannine hosted for their neighbors in their old neighborhood. It was a beautiful day and we had lots of good food and a really nice time. Their house is framed so it was fun to walk through it and see what it will look like. They have an unusual lot so had to build an unusual house but it is going to look really nice.

Here's what the lot looks like today. The open space to the right is where the pool will be. Next to it is the screened porch.

 

 

This is the garage

 

Party on the dock

 

Mike and Jeannine's house

Here is my bathroom chandelier!! Isn't it pretty?

September 17, 2016

Happy Birthday yesterday to my sister Nancy!  Hope it was a perfect day. We had a nice dinner last night with a group from our church. There were 10 of us, including Bishop Hathaway and his wife and we sat and talked til after 10. Every month someone else hosts the group-we  will be hosting a pre-Christmas cocktail party. Looking forward to that, as we used to always have a huge party in Port Washington!

We did a bit more house shopping this week. Met with Marc, one of our builders, at the tile store. One of the first things they will do after the foundation is poured is lay the tile on the screenedporch, as they need to frame over it. While we made the final decision for that, we also picked all the tile for our master bathroom and the backsplash for the kitchen, as well as the tile for the laundry, mudroom, and pool bathroom. It was great fun-Marc loves to pick tile so he was a big help and our sales lady Sloan did a great job. Next we went to the hardwood floor store and spent quite a bit of time there. We have a major difference of opinion-Oliver likes a mid to lighter color and I like a dark wood. We looked at a European Oak in a very light color which is very "trendy" right now but didn't reach a decision. After looking at hundreds of pictures online, we are back to a mid  to darker range so will go back in a couple of weeks to make a final decision. On the 27th, we are going to pick out the granite for the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry. That will pretty much leave only the lighting as the last of the major decisions to make. This is a lot of fun but also stressful!

They are still building the forms for the foundation but the plan is to start the framing in about 3 weeks.

This is the tile for the master bathroom. Marble for floor and shower walls, herringbone for shower floor, and shiny stuff between the white pencil for the border in the shower.

This is the tile for the laundry, mudroom and pool bath.

This is the kitchen backsplash. The white and gray with circles will go under the hood, over the cooktop, and the rest will be gray subway. The cabinets will be white, except for the island which will be gray. We are debating having two colors of granite-one for the perimeter counters and one for the island. Will depend on what we find.

 

September 13 2016

We had such a nice week-end! Left Sunday morning at 7AM for Jacksonville to see the Packers-Jaguars game. We got to the Hyatt at about 10:15, were able to check into our room and then walked over to the stadium. It was REALLY hot-I saw it read 92 at one point and it was really humid. The stadium is really nice-it looks bigger than it really is but the seats are all pretty comfortable and they do some fun things. For instance, Jaxson, their mascot, does a flip from an enormously high set of lights and then bounces on his bungee cord down to the field.

The stadium is on the St. Johns River so we got a little breeze

There was a nice 9-11 tribute with a huge flag and a flyover by some Navy jets

Another cool thing at the stadium are the 2 swimming pools-you can watch the game from the pool

 

We were happy that the Packers won so enjoyed our walk back to the hotel. We had a beautiful view from our room

 

This was a water taxi full of happy Packer fans

While we were  in Jacksonville, there was a big gathering of Welsh Terriers in Greenville. One of the events was a costume party which was MCed by Monte Durham from Say Yes to the Dress! This beautiful girl Welshie is Molly O-quite famous among Welsh Terrier owners

 

 

 

We came home Monday afternoon and we were happy to see our puppies! This morning we met Marc, one of our builders, at the plumbing supply showroom to pick out fixtures. We were there for 2 hours and we selected our free standing tub, another bathtub for one of the guest bathrooms, 5 bathroom sinks, 2 pedestal sinks, 10 sets of bathroom faucets, 6 toilets, 3 different shower heads for the master bath, the kitchen sink, the kitchen faucet, and sinks for the laundry room and the workshop. My head was spinning by the time we were finished. Friday we go back to the tile store to finish picking out tile for the screened porch, and for all the bathrooms, the laundry room and the mudroom. The next big selection will be all the countertops. I've already picked appliances for the kitchen and the outdoor kitchen. We also need to do flooring-hardwood all downstairs and carpet for upstairs, and paint for all the rooms and for the outside of the house. Don't see how this will all get done in the next 7-8 months but aI guess it will! Stay tuned.

September 10, 2016

Went over to the lot this morning and even more was finished. They have some of the forms up for the foundation, although not all. Also, Tuesday we will be going to the stone work place to look for countertops with Marc. Not sure I have described our builders yet. Marc Hayward and Jeff Thomas are both 45 and went to Georgia Tech together. They both have degrees in architecture and in construction management. They built over 300 homes together in Atlanta and then decided to move to Beaufort where they both have family. Jeff is very creative and loves the design part of the business. He is soft spoken and is the "fuzzy" side of the business. Marc loves the hands-on part-he supervises the building process, loves to hellp clients pick out tile and granite and hardwoods, and I imagine he can be a stern taskmaster to the sub contractors. Together they make the perfect team and I adore them. Jeff is an angel about all the changes I have made so far and he gently tries to advise me-Marc comes right out and says "that won't work or that won't look good". I trust them to keep us from making major mistakes.

Here are a few pictures from this morning.

We have GREAT water pressure-this is actually running into where the pool will be!!

 

 

There is a tree in the middle of my closet!

Why do houses look so big on paper and so small in person?

 

 

 

September 9, 2016

Things are moving along quickly now. They started building the forms for our foundation Wednesday and were hard at work this morning when I was over there. The plumber has been digging the trenches and laying the water lines from the road to our lot. One of our builders came out and put their sign up-I don't know why this was a big deal to me but it was! We signed the contract for our pool and picked out the finishes for the pool, the tile at the waterline and the surround, and our pool guy is meeting with our builder on Tuesday afternoon to work out the details. We are meeting with our builder Tuesday morning and going to look at countertop materials. Our windows and doors were ordered yesterday. Meeting sometime next week also to pick out hardwood flooring and plumbing fixtures, so we are really going quickly. Oliver is so happy-he gets very restless when he doesn't see activity.

Other than that, we are doing the same things as always. Oliver went with me to my piano lesson on Wednesday but had to stay in the car because he had a cold and I didn't want Pat to catch it. Probably didn't help, though, because then I came down with it yesterday! Then we went to the car dealer to have my oil changed and get a nail pulled out of a tire-luckily they could patch it.Then we went to the pool design studio to finish the details there, so it was a long day. Yesterday was my weekly visit to the assisted living facility, then had lunch with a friend and then bell choir practice started back up yesterday afternoon. Today I was docent at church from 1-4.

Sunday we are leaving at 7AM to drive to Jacksonville to see the Packers whip the Jaguars (we hope). Our dogsitter is coming so we will stay overnight and make our way back slowly on Monday. We have 2 more short rtips planned-to see Phyllis and Bobby and Oliver's first boss at Wyeth, and then to Grand Rapids for pre-Christmas with the family, and then we will likely be here until the house is finished. Exciting months ahead!!

Here is part of our water line trench. They got it hooked up and Oliver says we have GREAT water pressure!

 

Our sign-I look at it as a sign of things to come!! The other sign is for Mike and Jeannine's builder. They are a little bit ahead of us-their foundation was poured today.

 

 

 

 

Here they are putting in the forms for our foundation. They have to take another tree out for what Oliver calls my storage unit-my big closet!!

September 3, 2016

We survived Tropical Storm Hermine with no ill effects! Lots of leaves and small branches in our yard and pool and a few trees down around-but not on-our lot so we consider ourselves fortunate. Oliver and Mike are headed to the lot now to cut up 2 trees that fell across the road at the lot and I have cleaned the pool out so our work will be done after today. Others not so fortunate. Everybody on Lucy Creek either moved their boats or took them out of the water but us. We put an extra fender on and checked the lines and the boat did just fine.

On Thursday we went with Marc, one of our builders, to 2 different tile and hardscape stores to look at tile for our screened porch. They will be pouring the foundation in a couple of weeks and needed to know exactly what tile we plan to use and Marc really likes looking at tile. He was a great help to us and we enjoyed having him with us for a few hours so that we could find out what the building schedule is! We picked out a nice tile for the floor-it's a darkish gray with some texture in it and we think we picked out the tile for the outdoor kitchen surround as well. Still not 100% sure about it so am posting a pic for any and all opinions!

We decided we are due for a little break after all the angst of the past few months so next Sunday we are headed down to Jacksonville to see the Packers play the Jaguars in the first game of the season. It's a 1PM game and Jax is only about 3 hours from here, so we'll leave early Sunday morning and then stay in Jax Sunday night and take our time coming home on Monday. Our dogsitter will be here with the kids so  it will be a nice getaway.

These poor people just moved in 2 weeks ago. I guess they are lucky that the tree didn't fall the other way!

Here's one of the trees Oliver has to cut up today. This is the road to our lot.

This is the construction dumpster on Mike and Jeannine's lot. The tree was trying to be cooperative!

This is the only tree that partially fell on our lot so Oliver will just cut off the tips of the limbs.

The  worst damage! We didn't open the door to see if there were any survivors.

OK-here's the tile for the floor and the outdoor kitchen. What do you think? The mosaic tile would go on the sides of the kitchen and a lot of the sides will be taken up by the refrigerator and the doors under the grill. Still, we are worried it might look too "busy". But we love the colors and think they would blend the floor and the fireplace nicely.

August 31, 2016

Today is the red letter day!!!  We broke ground for the new house! We didn't know they were coming but we had walked the dogs over to the lot and I saw a truck parked out on the street so Oliver walked over to talk to them. The guy said he was supposed to come to this area but didn't know which lot he was to work on. Oliver let him in and then we went home and then he went back later to find them knocking down the 3 little trees that stood in the middle of the lot! We are so excited. They said they would start  in August and they barely made it! Tomorrow we are going with one of our builders to look at tile for the screened porch. The original plans had called for a tabby floor but last week we realized that we HATE the tabby floor on this porch so decided to go with a tile. Our builders were surprised but made the change and now we have to pick out the tile before they pour the foundation. They will go with us to every supplier to make sure that everybody understands what we are picking out and to (hopefully) try to keep us within budget. The tile floor is a budget-buster so we already need to try to find places to save.

I spent a most interesting morning with a woman from church. Last year, if you recall, I played the part of a woman buried in our church graveyard for our Parish Faire and Bazaar. Sharon, who I met with today, was her great niece and she was kind enough to take me to the home where Elizabeth had been raised, and took me all over St. Helena Island. The MacDonald/Sanders family has been there for many years. The house we went to was built in 1810 and the MacDonald Market, which was built in 1887, and was out of the family for many years, has now been bought back and is a lovely consignment store. Sharon and her brother-in-law took me upstairs - ahuge area that was once a boarding house. After all our touring, we met Mac, her husband, for lunch at the Foolish Frog which is across from the Market. It was such a nice morning!

Here is Oliver's new mower-look how serious he is!

Here's Oliver's workshop site-back where his truck is

The site where the house will be

August 26, 2016

Oliver has been so excited waiting for his ginormous zero-turn riding lawn mower for his new house! Even though the house won't be done until next spring, he will start doing some mowing over there right away-probably tomorrow, I'm guessing! Today we went and looked at two more pools-we are trying to decide between 2 pool builders and think we have finally narrowed it down. The decisions are making my head spin!!

August 24, 2016

We finally got our zoning permit today! There were a few hiccups alongs the way but it is signed and now our builder is off to the building permit department. Hopefully they will be able to start some of the work next week. This county is crazy to try to deal with-they even need a permit for the sign they put up to show the sub contractors where to go!! Everything else with us is fine-Oliver busy with his church committee and me busy with all my church stuff and piano lessons. I hope to have some pictures to post SOON!!!!

 

August 9, 2016

I'm starting this new page because today we got the final plans for our new house and our builder submitted them to the county for permitting!! We are so excited-seems like we have been talking about the house for a long time but nothing much has happened. We hope to break ground within a couple of weeks or so and then we'll have things to look at! In the meantime, I have taken some pictures of the plans. Today I spent hours cutting out 1/4" scale furniture and arranging it in the rooms on the plans. Some of the rooms are a lot bigger than what we have here so new furniture will be in order. I'll also continue to use this page for general updates-not that I think we will be doing much besides house building!

The pictures aren't great - some of the pics make the house look curved and it really isn't!!

This is the front of the house

The side of the house going into the garage

Rear elevation

Oliver's workshop-it isn't really curved!

The first floor-the study is my music room

The rest of the downstairs-the laundry room, mudroom, storage, pool mechanics. The mudroom and the bath have doors out to the pool deck.

The upstairs

The garage

Oliver's workshop

And my favorite-the screened porch. This is where the outdoor kitchen will be with a grill, side burner, sink and refrigerator. The fireplace is actually wood-burning, not gas, and the steps actually go out the front of the porch towards the river. I was playing with my furniture arrangement!

Our plan was certainly to downsize but  things got a bit out of hand. I do think that we have done a good job of increasing the space we will really use, and decreasing the space we don't use as much.

Stay tuned for more pictures as the building get underway!