house all wrapped up for shipping

It's been a busy few weeks, and I'm trying to get caught up on the blog, because.....tomorrow is set day! But first, my last visit with Bill, the wonderful floor manager at the Huntington Homes factory. Our modules were outside, all wrapped up for "shipping" - 15 miles down the road doesn't quite seem like shipping to me, but I suppose it still counts! Bill pulled out a funny little staircase on wheels, and up we climbed into the kitchen/dining room module.  

Bill, unlocking the deck doors.

Our little half bath, waiting for the sink that currently lives in the back of Dave's car.
And probably some art, and a coat of paint.... but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

The half bath door, and a tiny bit of the entry door. 

My very favorite space. 

  We absolutely loved our little 500 square foot apartment - it had great light, amazing passive solar in the winter, a lovely and quirky little bathroom in the peak of the roof, it was our first home together, our first home as a married couple - I can go on and on. The one thing it lacked was expansive counters - space where we could make both dinner and an apple pie. 

  This kitchen is a funny blend of two of my favorite childhood kitchens - the one my parents remodeled in their 1860's farmhouse, and my grandparents kitchen at their house on a lake in Maine. In many ways, this house is very similar to the house in Maine - though it has upstairs living space, and their house had an unfinished attic, and finished basement living space. We went to the lake, as we called it, year round - though my father's brothers and their parents usually didn't. For me, it was home - the deck seemed almost magical, creating an outdoor living space, where we spent hours, talking, preparing and eating meals, and, of course, chucking ice cubes over the rail. Underneath the deck was a dirt pile, and in the summer, my cousins and I had sandbox toys, many of which were our father's, when they were children. We went to town on that dirt pile - the remnants of some project, maybe putting in the well? When I was very small, we drew our water for bathing, cooking, and dishes up from the lake, and my grandparents filled Clorox bottles with drinking water and brought them to the lake from their year round home.  

  But, enough traveling down memory lane, and back to the project at hand - the open kitchen/living/dining space was one thing I loved about that house, Grandma and my mother making dinner while I colored, or did homework, Grandpa or my dad sitting and reading - the ability for everyone to have their own space, but also be all together. And so, we've replicated that, to some extent here, and the deck, as well.

Here's a little detail of the half wall, on the stool side. 

The flooring we chose! (And Bill's feet)

Looking into the kitchen, from the dining/living side.

Looking straight out, towards the deck.

Bill, moving the wheeling stairs again, so we could peek into the
windows of modules that were all wrapped up, and without exterior doors.

Cloudy view into the office,
where some door casings wait to be installed on set day.

Factory visit two, and foundation forms taken off

Such a lot of progress was made in the factory over one week - all the walls are sheetrocked now, and many doors have been put in. It's really starting to look like a home, now! The floor manager told me that they'll be putting in the kitchen next week. 

Living Room, looking toward the staircase.

Bedroom window

Living room corner
windows from inside. 

The same corner windows, from outside.

Deck door! 

Standing in the kitchen, looking toward the entry door.

Deck door, from inside.

From the entry, looking into kitchen/dining.

Exterior siding. I just love this color!

Bedroom closet doors

Sometime later in the day, I was out at our site, and the concrete crew had taken the wall forms off!

It's all really starting to take shape, now! 

Foundation Wall Forms

                         Our foundation walls have been poured - still in forms in all these pictures. 

Foundation forms from the side

Foundation wall forms from the front - lots of bracing.

Forms from the back corner of the house - where the deck will be!

Forms from the other side - looking toward the neighbor's property

Forms from above, looking toward the view.

Panorama of the wall forms, looking toward the view.

septic, foundation floor poured, just about ready for set day!

One more post before I post pictures of the house being set on its foundation! Wow. It seems like this journey has been so long, and so quick, all at once. 

  The guy from the company drilling our well surveys the foundation, while waiting to chat with the guy who was putting in the septic system, and who has done all of our dirt work. 

The plumber, putting in floor drains and other plumbing in the basement - we'll have the washer and dryer down there, and they're plumbing for a set tub/utility sink, and planning it all so that we could frame off a room in the basement and have a bathroom with a stall shower, and stack the washer and dryer. 

Last but not least, here's the floor of the foundation, poured and sealed and ready for the house! 

Actual House! (At the factory...but still!)

Last week, I didn't work until later in the day, and Dave was able to work while I was working....so, we got to go visit our house-to-be at the factory, together! I'll probably go visit again, tomorrow. It's so amazing to get to see the house in the factory, and get more of a sense of it. What a sweet cozy home we're going to have. 

All three modules that are visible in this picture are ours! 

Looking from the entryway/kitchen into the living/dining space.
The framed out half wall will be the kitchen peninsula, and Dave is standing in front of the deck door opening.

Dining/living space (we haven't yet decided which this will be) and the kitchen peninsula wall. 

Dining/living space, with our corner windows! 

Half of upstairs, looking through the hallway, into the other bedroom.

What will be the other half of the bedrooms.

And because there are apps for that, Dave edited a couple of pictures we took to give a sense of the view!

This will be the view from the front door!

                          

And this, the view from the corner windows! (approximately) 

                           

Foundation Work, Day 1

So, the foundation work has begun! First, the crew that came out assembled the forms, and then they waited for the concrete truck to show up - this took a while, since the concrete truck got lost.... perks of living in rural VT! 

Concrete forms!

Concrete forms.

The step-down is to keep the foundation below the frost line - up higher, there will be dirt backfilled around the house, so it doesn't need to be down so far.

Concrete forms, taken from above.

First concrete pour!

Finishing up for the day!

Site Work, Day 2.

They dug the hole for the foundation! It's amazing how much more of a sense of the whole thing something as simple as a foundation hole gives the house site. This will definitely be mostly pictures and captions.

Dave's mom, his sister, and our nephews came to visit, so they are in many of these photos!

Heading over to explore in the dirt and foundation hole.

Lots and lots of wild raspberries. Yum.

Dave's mom, exploring the future basement.

Jamie, Dave, and Simon, exploring.

Looking down from the top corner. 

The big pile of dirt. 

Theo, on the big pile of dirt. It's about the height at which bedrooms will be located.

Both boys, adventuring on the dirt!

Grannie watches Simon climb up.

Simon looks down the long steep side of the pile. 

Taken from the top of the pile, looking down. 

From below, looking up. 

Panorama, taken from the same perspective. 

Another panorama, taken from below, looking up.

Mama, holding both her boys. 

Uncle David reads books before dinner.